The reign of terror has been effective in Greece; resistance to the colonels has formed mainly abroad.

Prominent among the anti-junta groups is the Panhellenic Liberation Movement led by Andreas Papandreou.

Such organizations have kept international attention focused on the actions of the junta, but it is the regime's own ineptitude and lack of legitimacy that lead eventually to its downfall.

The two immediate causes of the fall of the colonels are the Greek student movement and events in Cyprus.