Papadopoulos, << `pah` puh DO poo luhs, >> George (1919-1999), headed the government of Greece from 1967 to 1973. He was an army colonel when he and two other officers seized control of the government. King Constantine II remained head of state, but his power was greatly reduced. He later fled from Greece.
In December 1967, Papadopoulos resigned from the army and declared himself prime minister of Greece. In 1968, Greece adopted a new constitution that greatly increased the power of the prime minister. Papadopoulos then suspended freedom of the press, the election of Parliament, and other important rights. In June 1973, he abolished the Greek monarchy and declared Greece a republic. Under a revised constitution, Papadopoulos became Greece’s first president. Later that year, military leaders overthrew him. In 1974, Papadopoulos was charged with treason. He was sentenced to death in 1975. But the government later changed his sentence to life in prison.
Papadopoulos was born in Elaiokhorion, near Patrai. He graduated from the War Academy in Athens in 1940. He served in the Greek Central Intelligence Service from 1959 to 1964.
