Social conditions have declined in Greece despite economic growth.

Crowding into cities has given rise to renewed demands for social welfare and better income distribution.

The emigration that had commenced in the late 1950s continues into the 1960s (about four hundred and fifty-two thousand three hundred Greeks have left between 1963 and 1967), and labor groups are much more militant than they had been at any other time in the postwar period.

King Constantine II, who has continued to appoint interim premiers, eventually calls for elections in May 1967, and an overwhelming Center Union victory seems certain.

A group of junior officers, fearing a purge of hard-line right-wingers from the military, puts Operation Prometheus into action on April 21, 1967.

The leaders of the self-styled "Glorious Revolution" are two colonels and a brigadier general, whose regime will come to be known simply as "the junta," or "the colonels."

Supporters of the coup are predominantly officers from lower-class backgrounds who have achieved status through career advancement in the armed forces.

Fearful of losing their posts because of their involvement in right-wing conspiracies, they act out of self-preservation, under the flimsy pretense of forestalling a communist takeover and defending Helleno-Christian civilization in general.

The junta succeeds because of the political leadership vacuum at this time and because they are able to strike quickly and effectively.

By seizing the main lines of communication, they present an unsuspecting nation with a fait accompli.