Description
Born in a Macedonian village, Constantine Karamanlis rose to become Greece's greatest statesman since Venizelos, guiding the emergence of his country from a Balkan backwater to the status of a modern, democratic, truly European state. This is the first paperback edition of C. M. Woodhouse's life of Karamanlis, originally published by the Clarendon Press in 1982: it is the only such study in English, and the first ever to have been based on Karamanlis's archives, which he made available to the author. Karamanlis's early career up to the end of the Second World War and his first successful experience in government led him to the Prime Ministership of Greece for an initial period of eight years - years which saw the settlement of the Cyprus dispute, modernization of the country's economy, and an attempt to reform public life. His quarrel with the Royal family resulted in resignation and self-imposed exile, mostly in Paris, from where he continued to lead his party and eventually guided Greek public opinion in opposition to the military dictatorship of 1967. As Prime Minister again from 1974 to 1980, when he assumed the Presidency of the Republic, Karamanlis led Greece back to democracy, re-establishing its institutions and widening its horizons by negotiating entry into the EEC and working out a modus vivendi with the Soviet bloc. This fine portrait of a remarkable figure will be of interest to all concerned with the history and politics of modern Greece and Europe.