Dictatorships do not fall from the sky. If April 21, 1967 surprised the international community, the establishment of a military dictatorship was, for the Greek people, a long-expected and indeed foreseeable event.

The purpose of this book is to explain the origins of this event and the operation of the social, political, and international forces that made it possible. From the preface of the first edition (1969)

In a certain way, the Greek tragedy can be seen as a self-contained historical event, as a characteristic symptom of a particular circumstance, or perhaps even as a "source" for decoding the distinctive aura of an era. As is clear to all who witnessed the events closely, this book expressed the ideas, sensitivities, and dilemmas of an entire generation.

Having placed historical narrative in the service of an unequivocal political and ideological commitment, many among us had attempted unprecedented syntheses between our unyielding martial will, our self-perpetuating emotional charge, and the semantic rigor of what we believed to be an "objective" reading of reality.

We might have had the illusion that in this way we could harmonize the explosiveness of our emotions with the flaccidity of semantic rationalizations. Obviously, of course, we were in vain. However, I cannot help but deeply long for those forgotten but life-giving illusions, both my own and those of others.

K. T., May 2020