1. Georgios Grivas was the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in Cyprus, then-known as the Supreme Military Defence Command of Cyprus, which in the event of war would lead the Cyprus National Guard and the Hellenic Force in Cyprus.
22 Facts About Georgios Grivas
1. 2.
Georgios Grivas died only six months prior to the 1974 Cypriot coup and subsequent Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
3.
Georgios Grivas grew up in Trikomo as a child, after attending his village school, he studied at the Pancyprian Gymnasium in Nicosia from 1909 to 1915, living with his grandmother during this time.
4.
In 1916, Georgios Grivas moved to Greece; according to his obituary in The Times of London, he had left the family home after learning that his father intended him to become a physician.
5.
Georgios Grivas took Greek citizenship and enrolled at the Hellenic Military Academy.
6.
Georgios Grivas completed his military studies at the Ecole Militaire in Paris.
7.
Georgios Grivas graduated in 1919, and joined the Hellenic Army with the rank of Sub-Lieutenant and was immediately posted on the Asia Minor front of the Greco-Turkish War.
8.
Georgios Grivas served in the Hellenic Army's 10th Division and participated in its advance from Smyrna to Panormos and Eskisehir, past Bursa and the Battle of Sakarya.
9.
Georgios Grivas was decorated for his bravery and promoted to Lieutenant.
10.
Georgios Grivas was later selected to study at the French Military Academy and upon his return to Greece he served in a number of posts, including that of a lecturer at the Hellenic Military Academy.
11.
Georgios Grivas was promoted to captain in 1925 and to Major in 1935.
12.
Georgios Grivas arrived secretly in Cyprus in October 1954 and began immediately the formation of his guerrilla organisation EOKA.
13.
Georgios Grivas directed the first EOKA operations from his hideout in Nicosia but soon after he moved to the Troodos mountains to lead his guerrilla teams.
14.
Georgios Grivas recruited Grigoris Afxentiou as one of the team leaders, initially of the Famagusta district.
15.
Georgios Grivas escaped capture twice after he was surrounded by British forces at Spilia in December 1955, leading to the Battle of Spilia, and at Kykkos in May 1956.
16.
Georgios Grivas's views were at odds with those of Makarios who had accepted the above agreements on behalf of the Greek Cypriot population.
17.
In March 1959, Georgios Grivas came out of his hideout and departed for Athens where he received a hero's welcome as the liberator of the Greek Cypriots and was decorated with the highest honours by the Greek Parliament and the Athens Academy and promoted to the rank of General.
18.
Not long after his return, Georgios Grivas was persuaded to enter politics as head of a coalition party but soon abandoned this route after the disappointing percentage his party obtained in the general election of 1963.
19.
Georgios Grivas returned to Cyprus in 1964 after the outbreak of intercommunal violence between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots to take over the Supreme Command of the Greek Cypriot forces organised under the National Guard as well as the Greek military division sent to Cyprus by the government of George Papandreou to assist in the island's defence against a possible Turkish attack.
20.
Georgios Grivas directed the construction of defence forts and complexes aiming at withstanding a Turkish invasion.
21.
From 1968 to 1969, under strict surveillance, Georgios Grivas participated in a resistance movement aiming at deposing the ruling military junta and restoring democracy in Greece, along with a number of Greek Army officers including Colonel Dimitrios Opropoulos and Majors Spyros Moustaklis, Nikolaos Lytras and George Karousos as well as Greek Cypriot students and professionals many of them former EOKA fighters.
22.
Georgios Grivas began the formation of armed resistance cells in a number of neighbourhoods in Athens which were armed with guns and explosives that were brought in secretly from Cyprus.