March 7

Events

• 961: Nicephorus Phocas liberates Crete from the Saracens.

• 1941: The first British and New Zealand land troops arrive in Greece as a German attack is deemed imminent.
• 1945: Prime Minister Nikolaos Plastiras rules out Communists for his cabinet.
• 1948: The Dodecanese officially become part of Greece.
• 1964: Fighting breaks out in Mallia, Lemesos province, Cyprus between Cypriot National Guardsmen and Turkish Cypriot irregulars.
• 2004: Costas Karamanlis is elected Greek Prime Minister over Giorgos Papandreou. Karamanlis' New Democracy Party receives 45.36% of the vote whereas Papandreou's PASOK receives 40.55%. The Communist KKE is third with a 5.90% share of the vote.

Sports

• 2004: Basketball coach Yiannis Ioannidis and sports journalist Dimitris Konstantaras are elected to the Greek Parliament.
• 2012: APOEL become the first Cypriot club to advance to the quarter-finals of the Champions' League after eliminating Lyon 4-3 on penalties. The regulation-time score was 1-0 which equalised the 0-1 loss in France.

Births

• 1934: Giorgos Katsaros, composer
• 1947: Georgios Petsos, politician

Deaths

• 322 BC: Aristotle, philosopher, teacher of Alexander the Great.
• 2012: Smaroula Giouli, actress