POST – WAR PERIOD
1950-1974
The reconstruction of Greece after almost a decade of fighting was hard and painful. From now on, the international Cold War loomed over domestic political developments to a huge extent. During the initial post-war decades, there was huge immigration from a largely agricultural Greece to industrially developed countries, such as the USA, Canada, Germany and Australia. The rural population also started to migrate into cities that were now growing larger (especially the capital) massively changing domestic demographics. At the same time, new goods and technologies, such as the TV and domestic appliances, were arriving from the West and having an impact on everyday life. The years following 1960 saw an increase in mass tourism, the development of the construction industry (housing and infrastructure works) and the transformation of Greek society. The dictatorship of the Colonels (1967-1974) ended with the coup d’état against Makarios and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The monarchy was abolished via referendum.
