Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Athens grew steadily throughout the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In
1923, with the Treaty of Lausanne, nearly one million Greek refugees from Turkey des-
cended on Athens.
Athens suffered appallingly during the German occupation of WWII, during which
time more Athenians died from starvation than were killed by the enemy. This suffering
continued in the bitter civil war that followed.
The industrialisation program that was launched in the 1950s, with the help of US aid,
brought another population boom, as people from the islands and mainland villages
moved to Athens in search of work.
The colonels' junta (1967-74) tore down many of the old Turkish houses of Plaka and
the neoclassical buildings of King Otto's time, but failed to tackle the chronic infrastruc-
ture problems resulting from the rapid growth of the 1950s. The elected governments that
followed didn't do much better, and by the end of the 1980s the city had a reputation as
one of the most traffic-clogged, polluted and dysfunctional in Europe.
In the 1990s authorities embarked on an ambitious program to drag the city into the
21st century. The 2004 Olympics deadline fast-tracked projects such as the expansion of
road and underground metro networks and the construction of a new international airport,
and forced changes across the public and private sectors. As Athens absorbed more than
600,000 migrants, legal and illegal, the city's social fabric also changed.
The New Millenium
The 2004 Olympics legacy was a cleaner, greener and more efficient capital with new-
found pride, buoyed by a decade of booming economic growth. But the optimism and
fiscal good times were short-lived: financial crisis and widespread disenchantment with
the country's governance darkened Athens' mood.
December 2008 riots, sparked by the police shooting of a teenage boy in Exarhia, saw
some of the worst social unrest in decades. As the seat of government, and therefore the
source of the reforms required by the 2010-13 bailouts (sponsored by the European
Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank), Athens is now
regularly beset by strikes and demonstrations. Nevertheless, small businesses persist and
Athens' creative life continues to flourish in the face of adversity.
