1956
Events
January
- January 3: The National Radical Union is founded by Constantine Karamanlis.
- January 9: EOKA fighter, Kyriakos Matsis, is arrested, along with his brother Yiannakis, by the British.
- January 24: The Democratic Union coalition is founded by Georgios Papandreou and other centrist and leftist politicians.
February
- February 7: Student Petros Yiallouros, a member of ANE, is slain during a protest in Cyprus.
- February 19: Owing to the complexity of the Greek electoral system (three different systems depending on region!), the National Radical Union emerges victorious from the Greek elections eventhough they were out-polled by the Democratic Union.
- February 29: Lina Tsaldari becomes the first woman Cabinet member. She is the widow of former PM Panagis Tsaldaris.
March
- March 4: 17-year old EOKA fighter, Giorgos Charalambous, is killed in Limassol.
- March 9: Archbishop Makarios III is seized at Nicosia Airport by the British colonial authorities in Cyprus and exiled to the Seychelle Islands in the Indian Ocean.
- March 29: Dorotheus is elected Archbishop of Athens and all Greece.
April
- April 18: Maria Desylla-Kapodistria becomes the first woman elected mayor of a Greek city (Kerkyra/Corfu).
- April 22: Greece lose to Italy's seconds 7-1 in a Mediterranean Cup game played in Naples.
- April 23: EOKA fighter, Iakovos Patatsos, is arrested in Lefkosia for the murder of PC Nihat Basif.
- April 27: A RAF Douglas Dakota is destroyed on the ground by a bomb thought to have been placed by EOKA fighters.
May
- May 9: A huge protest in Athens, over the executions of Michalis Karaolis and Andreas Dimitriou, turns bloody as four protesters are killed and 164 are injured.
- May 10: Michalis Karaolis and Andreas Dimitriou become the first two Greek-Cypriots executed by the British during the EOKA campaign.
- May 16: EOKA members Michalis Koutsoftas and Andreas Panagidis kill British Cpl. Patrick J. Hale in retaliation for the Karaolis-Dimitriou executions 6 days earlier.
- May 28: Greek Foreign Minister, Spyros Theotokis, is forced to resign over the Cyprus matter.
June
- June 10: The Lycabettus funicular came into operation
July
- July 9: A major earthquake (7.3 on the Richter scale) strikes Santorini resulting in 53 deaths and more than 100 injuries.
August
- August 9: Iakovos Patatsos, Charilaos Michail and Andreas Zakos are hanged by the British in the Central Jail of Lefkosia
- August 10: Phaedon Mattheou scores a personal record of 28 points against Syria (94-75) at Cairo for the pre-olympic tournament. Mattheou will score a total of 529 points in 44 matches with the national basketball team. In this match Vangelis Nikitopoulos will play for the second and last time in his career.
September
- September 13: Kyriakos Matsis and six other EOKA fighters escape from Kokkinotrimithia Prison.
- September 21: Three EOKA members Andreas Panagidis, Michalis Koutsoftas and Stelios Mavrommatis are hanged by the British in Cyprus.
November
- November 26: Georgios Roubanis wins the bronze medal in the pole vault at the Olympic Games of Melbourne.
December
- December 18: Evagoras Pallikaridis is arrested in Cyprus by the British.
Births
September
- September 14: Costas Karamanlis, Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic
October
- October 18: Giorgos Kimoulis, actor
- October 24: David Stergakos, basketball player.
- October 27: Babis Tsertos, musician, performer of traditional, folk and rebetiko songs
November
- November 13: Anna Verouli, athlete.
Unknown
- Yiannis Kouros, long-distance runner
Deaths
February
- February 7: Petros Yiallouros, during the EOKA struggle.
- February 22: Alexandros Svolos, politician, head of the "Government of the Mountains"
- February 23: Marika Ninou, singer.
March
- March 4: Giorgos Charalambous, EOKA fighter
May
- May 10: Michalis Karaolis, EOKA fighter
- May 10: Andreas Dimitriou, EOKA fighter
August
- August 9: Iakovos Patatsos, EOKA fighter
- August 9: Charilaos Michail, EOKA fighter
- August 9: Andreas Zakos, EOKA fighter
September
- September 21: Andreas Panagidis, EOKA fighter.
- September 21: Michalis Koutsoftas, EOKA fighter.
- September 21: Stelios Mavrommatis, EOKA fighter.
November
- November 14: Queen Elisabeth of Greece (wife of King George II)
December
- December 31: Michalis Georgalas, EOKA fighter
Unknown
- Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos, athlete
- Spyridon I, Archbishop of Athens and all Greece
- Emmanouil Tsouderos, banker, Prime Minister