What Every American Should Know About Europe

by Melissa Rossi

  At war’s end, Venizelos discovered the promises made by the Brits and the French were mostly bogus. He could forget Constantinople, and the Brits fancied Cyprus, but the victors invited him to take the area to the west of Constantinople (Thrace) and several important cities on Turkey’s coast—if he could. Greece continued to fight, this time in the nasty three-year Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). One highlight: reclaiming Izmit in 1922, the Turkish army massacred the mostly Greek population, setting the city ablaze in an inferno that drove them into the sea. The war ended in a mass repatriation: 1.3 million Greeks living in Turkey fled to Greece and 800,000 Turks ran the other way, with thousands dying en route.

  Athens’ population swelled by a million overnight, causing food and housing shortages, widescale unemployment, and unrest.

  Bad news wouldn’t let up: King Alexander died in 1920 from a monkey bite. His father Constantine I returned, only to be dethroned in 1922; he was succeeded by his son George II, who was deposed the following year. A military junta ran Greece until 1935, when George was restored to the throne by plebiscite. The Great Depression throttled Greece, dictator Metaxas took over in 1936, and then the Second World War rolled around. Exhausted, Greece did not want to fight: in 1940, when Mussolini asked to traverse the country on his way to battles, Greece replied Oxi—no way—and they still celebrate “Oxi Day” today. The refusal was costly: in 1941, Nazis, Italians, and Bulgarians marched into the land at their most brutal, ultimately leading to katoxi, the Nazi occupation lasting through World War II. Fierce resistance brewed up immediately, led by Greek Communists. Rightwingers and royalists later joined to push out the occupiers, and Greece was thrashed between the Nazis and the resistance fighters. In 1944, factions within the Resistance turned against each other, launching a brutal civil war that lasted for five years.

  During katoxi, the Greek population shrunk by 8 percent: over a million died, many from starvation, which killed 100,000 during the first occupied winter.

  World War II was over, but as civil war raged on, British and Americans intervened in Greek politics. Fearing that the popular Greek Communists would lead Greece into the Soviet Union, both tried to quash Communism in Greece. Brits purged Communists from the Greek military; Americans doled out $400 million to fight Greek Communism. The two democracy-loving countries—believed to be running a shadow government within Greece—also suggested that the government fudge votes to ensure Communists would not win. The U.S. government, then under President Truman, also demanded that Greece issue “Certificates of Political Reliability” to Greeks who did not harbor left-wing sympathies. Without the certificates, required until 1962, Greeks could not vote or get a job.

  Despite the maneuvering, the left remained popular: in 1964, Socialist George Papandreou was elected prime minister in what was Greece’s first leftist victory. Immediately under attack by the powers that be, he was shoved out the next year. He looked likely to win the 1967 election, but surprise: two nights before the elections, three colonels staged a coup—and their junta took over Greece. The United States is widely believed to have ordered and backed the coup, and the U.S. quickly recognized the junta’s legitimacy. Called “The Glorious Revolution”—by the junta, at least—the coup ushered in seven years of repressive, inhumane dictatorial rule during which foreign newspapers disappeared, Greece lived under curfew and martial law, and dissent wasn’t tolerated: eight thousand Greeks died in the first “glorious” week.

  On November 17, 1973, the army stormed a student protest—killing twenty youths by rolling over them with a tank. Worldwide wrath fell upon the already-loathed colonels. Desperate to keep control, the colonels embraced the cause of Cyprus, which Greece had been trying to annex for decades. The junta backed a coup on Cyprus, hoping to rope Cyprus to Greece. The coup failed and took the junta down with it.

  The 1973 tank-rolling incident bred militant discontent, namely the small but lethal November 17 group. Blaming the U.S. and Britain for the junta, the group targeted Western VIPs, killing at least two dozen, four American diplomats among them. Greece didn’t crack down on the assassins until just before the 2004 Olympics, when most were rounded up, tried, and convicted.

  Democracy returned in 1974, and Greek politics are now dominated mostly by two families: the Socialist Papandreou and the right-leaning Karamanlis, assorted members of each taking turns leading the country. (Greeks usually vote in line with their own families as well.) Socialist prime minister Andreas Papandreou most changed Greece when he led the country in the 1980s. He liberalized divorce, approved civil marriages, and abolished the dowry. Stridently anti-West, he loved to show up for photo ops with assorted aging Soviets, but he didn’t pull Greece out of NATO or the European Economic Community; for all his words condemning America, he even approved a new U.S. naval base. That had everything to do with arming Greece: Papandreou insisted that the U.S. give Greece at least 70 percent of the billions in military aid she provided to Turkey—and the U.S. acquiesced.

  Tensions between Greece and Turkey benefit American arms makers who’ve peddled everything from fighter planes to missiles to both since they joined NATO in 1952. Until recently, Turkey and Greece also received huge U.S. military grants. Now they’re addicts; if Turkey buys tactical missiles with warheads that explode shrapnel, then you can bet Greece will too. Must be hard for Turkey to keep up lately: Greece signed up for a $17 billion arms variety pack of warships, fighter jets, subs, an AWACS plane, tanks, attack and transport helicopters, assorted missiles and antiaircraft devices—as security for the 2004 Olympics.

  Greeks have plenty of legitimate reasons for anger, but those feelings of historical injustice only hold their country back, just as inner turmoil has for a century. Greece now has cutting-edge infrastructure and weapons, but her society lags behind. Women got the vote in 1952, but Greece remains a patriarchal society where females may work but rarely attain leadership roles. Young Greeks often study abroad, since universities are filled to the brim, and 27 percent of Greeks under twenty-five don’t have a job;8 many shack up with their families until middle age. Poverty runs at around 21 percent, and while the official illiteracy rate is only 3 percent, some put the figure far higher—particularly in villages. Culturally, modern Greece has her own Madonna and Elvis equivalents—Anna Vissi (singer of “You Are”) and Sakis Rouvis (a hip-shaking heartthrob)—but aside from the ancients, the most popular Greek writer is Nikos Kazantzakis, author of Zorba the Greek—who died in 1957. The most sought-after Greek creator these days is Nia “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” Vardalos—and she’s a Greek-Canadian who grew up in less than Hellenic Winnipeg.

  Hot Spots

  Athens: Revered, polluted, overcrowded Athens—where the taxi you hailed continues to squeeze in more fares en route—is home to almost 4 million, almost a third of Greece’s population, despite being designed for only 350,000. She’s modernizing—and even has a female mayor, Dora Bakoyianni.

  The Aegean: Greece is still fighting with Turks over uninhabited rocks here, and the fish for which Greece is renowned just aren’t what they used to be: thanks to overfishing—and fishing with dynamite—stocks are depleted.

  Islands: More than 1,400 trail off the mainland in almost every direction, but only 170 are inhabited, some by only a few dozen residents. Superstitions run strong, including the one that cawing crows foretell death. The mule trails that once led to the hills of irises are now covered by asphalt. Buses take tourists up and bring villagers down: they’re moving to cities in hordes. Corfu, Mikonos, Santorini, and Crete are four islands where you’re more likely to meet holidaying Brits and Germans than Greeks.

  Athens: Birthplace of democracy, philosophy, plate-throwing

  Crete: Not included in the package when Greece became independent in 1829, Crete triggered a Greek-Turkish war in 1897. Greece lost, but after yet more fighting, Greece won Crete back in 1913; it’s now her biggest island and the site of a U.S. naval base.

  Imia/Kardak: This pebble of a Greek island in th
e Aegean almost kicked off a war in 1996: a Turkish boat ran aground here, and when the Greek coast guard arrived, the boat owner refused help, saying Imia was a Turkish island. Turkish journalists inflamed the issue by sticking a Turkish flag on the rock. Both countries sent out warships, and the international community had to pry the two apart.

  Mount Athos: No women are allowed on this northern Greek peninsula that is home to twenty monasteries and hundreds of monks; even female livestock are unwelcome.

  Hotshots

  Konstandinos “Costas” Karamanlis: Prime Minister, 2004–present. From the conservative New Democracy Party this nephew of former prime minister Konstantin Karamanlis is the youngest Greek premier ever, and certainly the least experienced. Greeks give him a 47 percent approval rate, despite his stance supporting Turkey in coming into the EU.

  PM Karamanlis. In Greece, politics is all about family

  George Papandreou Junior: Foreign Minister, 1999–2004. American-born Papandreou of the Socialist PASOK party is Greece’s finest diplomat and one of Europe’s leading men. Unlike his irascible father (former prime minister Andreas) or his grandfather (former prime minister George Senior), this Papandreou has tried to soothe relations in all of Greece’s problem areas—Turkey, Cyprus, Macedonia, and Bulgaria—and made at least limited progress. Too bad his party PASOK was voted out in 2004, and his job went with it. No doubt planning a comeback.

  Archbishop Christodoulos: Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, 1998–present. Born in 1939, the powerful and hotheaded head of the Greek Orthodox church is pushing the Megali Idea concept again, encouraging Greeks to reclaim land lost to Turks. “We are ready, if necessary, to shed blood,” he says of reconquering ancient Greek territories. “We bless the sacred weapons when the moment demands it.”9

  Karolos Papoulis: President, 2005–present. White-haired Karolos Papoulis, seventy-five, has been active in Greek politics since he worked as part of the anti-Nazi resistance during the Second World War.

  THE ONASSIS DYNASTY

  No modern Greek family illustrates ancient Greek tragedy more vividly than the Onassis clan. Death, jealousy, the depths of loneliness and misery—all set against a backdrop of incredible wealth—are just a few highlights of the shipping family that is still being chronicled in Vanity Fair. Patriarch Aristotle Onassis was born poor, but jettisoned his family’s tobacco business for an international shipping operation that raked in billions. His ability to attract the fair sex was even more remarkable: opera diva Maria Callas was but one who adored him—his first marriage broke up after his wife found him in the sack with the singer—and Callas vowed revenge when Ari dumped her for JFK’s widow Jackie Kennedy. Maybe Callas got her wish. The 1968 Kennedy-Onassis marriage was soon on the rocks, Jackie’s shopping extravagances but one problem in the marriage that cost Onassis over $20 million in its first year.10 In 1973, when Onassis’s only son Alexander died in a freak plane crash, Onassis again sought solace in Callas’s loving arms, since his wife’s arms were, as usual, an ocean away. When Onassis died after a gall bladder operation in 1975, Jackie was out of the will, though she reportedly shook loose some $25 million. About $500 million went to his sole heir, Christina—daughter of wife number one—whose jetsetter life was riddled with drugs and mean husbands. Even more alluring to high-society pirates, Christina, weighing in at around 250 pounds, didn’t have glamorous looks and didn’t fit with the in-crowd. In 1985, she gave birth to Athina, by Thierry Roussel, her fourth husband—another one fated to leave. Christina adored the child, dressing Athina up in Chanel and Christian Dior, adorning her dark curly locks with real diamonds, and holding up the baby as proof that life was worth living, at least for a while. In 1988, Christina died, alone, in Buenos Aires, apparently as a result of a heart attack and perhaps a drug overdose, although some suspect suicide or foul play. Athina, age three, stood in line as heiress to the modern world’s biggest inheritance. In 2003, Athina came fully into her fortune, estimated to be around $2.7 billion. Far more grounded than her mother, Athina apparently prefers four-footed mammals over two-footed party animals. An avid equestrian, she fell in love with Brazilian horse trainer Alvaro Alfonso de Miranda and married him in 2005. Her father, with whom she battled for money, wasn’t in attendance at the São Paolo wedding. Here’s hoping that newlywed Athina doesn’t forget her previous goal: to save the whales.11 Lord knows, with her dough, maybe she can.

  News you can understand: Kathimerini. Everything from politics to soccer: www.ekathimerini.com

  12. SCANDINAVIA: DENMARK, SWEDEN, FINLAND, AND NORWAY

  Quiet Leaders

  Overview

  Despite the biting weather and vicious Viking culture from which they sprang, Scandinavian countries are (usually) seriously civilized, amazingly evolved, and rather utopian—from their beautiful, squeaky-clean squares where candlelit booths flicker, to social welfare systems that keep residents cozy from cradle to grave. Wealthy and wise Scandinavia often plays global moderator, with Norway brokering deals between warring factions and handing out the Nobel Peace Prize, and all of them throwing out mountains of money and teams of advisers to assuage assorted world woes.

  Scandinavian countries, along with the Netherlands and Luxembourg, are the world’s most generous per capita; they’re the only countries to heed UN recommendations to donate 0.8 percent of GDP to humanitarian causes.

  GEOGRAPHIC CONFUSION: SCANDINAVIA VS. NORDIC COUNTRIES

  The term “Scandinavia” is confusing: geographically, it is Norway and Sweden; politically, it refers to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; and in popular usage and lifestyle it often includes Finland and sometimes far-flung Iceland as well—all of which are called the Nordic countries. In this section, “Scandinavia” refers to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland—also called the Nordic countries here.

  Nobel Prizes, annual awards that come with checks for 10 million Swedish kronor—that’s over $1.3 million—are actually a shared two-country venture. Sweden funds the awards and hands out the Nobel Prizes in Literature and scientific areas. The Nobel Peace Prize is given out by Norway. When Alfred Nobel established his prize-awarding foundation, Sweden and Norway were one country.

  Scandinavians are lucky: their sparsely populated corner of the world is resource-rich and stunning in its pristine beauty—filled with thousands of lakes, islands, cliffs, and fjords—and the residents are gorgeous, smart, and globally attuned. Their societies draw from Socialist models, with benefits such as free day care, numerous paid sick days, and subsidized health care, and Scandinavians are assured of having a job—the government will educate them, find them work, and even retrain them in new careers for free. There is a flipside: Scandinavians pay steep taxes—often upward of 50 percent—to ensure that welfare systems coddle one and all. Restaurant meals (perhaps fancy open-faced sandwiches or reindeer stew) sure are tasty, but they seriously hammer the wallet; prices for booze are frightening enough to make you run to AA, and expenses from cars to sweaters and from rent to heating bills make costs in the U.S. appear to be a bargain-basement deal. Besides, what good is living in such evolved societies, when you have to brave cruel, icy winds to get anywhere? (Those ubiquitous Volvos with heated seats help.) Nevertheless, Scandinavians are a contented lot, typically topping global “happiness surveys,” and even though they’re world travelers, few permanently stray from their gardens of Eden despite the teeth-chattering cold. In fact, the big Nordic problem is the opposite: immigration. The issue brings to light what may be the only serious flaw in these advanced countries: many Scandinavians don’t want to share their snowy paradises, which have long been ethnically homogenous. And some politicians have become downright xenophobic and racist in their attempts to eject foreigners and prevent more from coming.

  Until recently, Scandinavians rarely lived alongside people from other cultures, unless you count other Scandinavians—and it’s very telling that Scandinavians do so: a Swede living in Denmark, for instance, is a foreigner. Africans, Middle Easterners, Asian
s, and even East Europeans were rarely found living in the Nordic countries until the 1970s; the numbers have escalated since. When the first mosque in Scandinavia appeared (in Sweden) in 1984, it was hugely controversial and spawned a number of anti-immigrant parties, some now wielding substantial clout.