The monarchist anti-communist who established the 4th of August dictatorship
“Then, it is war.”
A Greek military officer turned politician, Metaxas sought an authoritarian national order that joined monarchism to hostility toward parliament. With King George II's support, he suspended parliament in 1936 and established the 4th of August Regime, banning parties and strikes while repressing the left. He also used state intervention and a youth organization to mobilize society, and historians have debated whether his rule is best understood as fascist, authoritarian-conservative, or a regime with a strong fascist component. In 1940 he rejected Italy's ultimatum and led Greece into war, but died in 1941 before the German invasion.
Career timeline
- 1890Second lieutenant, Hellenic Army Engineers
- 1899–1903Studied at the Berlin War Academy
- 1910–1912Adjutant to Eleftherios Venizelos, Minister of Military Affairs and prime minister
- 1912–1913Operations staff officer in the Balkan Wars and military adviser at the London Conference
- 1922–1936Founder and parliamentarian of the Freethinkers' Party
- 1926–1928Minister of Communications in Alexandros Zaimis's cabinet
- 1932–1933Minister of the Interior under Panagis Tsaldaris
- 1936–1941Prime Minister of Greece and leader of the 4th of August Regime
The Greek field marshal who staked the war on the Albanian front
When German forces invaded across the northern frontier, the main Greek army was still tied down on the Albanian front.
Alexandros Papagos was a career officer loyal to the Greek monarchy and the Metaxas dictatorship, and the commander of the Hellenic Army during the Second World War. In 1940 he coordinated the defence against Italy's invasion from Albania and the Greek counteroffensive, but kept the army's main strength on the Albanian front as German intervention approached, weakening the defence of the Metaxas Line. During the occupation he helped form a resistance organization, was arrested and imprisoned by the Germans, and later commanded government forces in the Greek Civil War before becoming prime minister.
Career timeline
- 1906Commissioned as a cavalry second lieutenant in the Hellenic Army
- 1935–1936Minister for Military Affairs and Inspector-General of the Army
- 1936–1940Chief of the Army General Staff, strengthening the military basis of the Metaxas regime
- 1940–1941Commander-in-Chief of the Greek Army, directing operations on the Albanian front and at the Metaxas Line
- 1943–1945Helped form the Military Hierarchy resistance organization, then arrested and imprisoned by German authorities
- 1949–1951Commander-in-Chief of government forces in the Civil War, directing the final offensive against the communist army
- 1952–1955Prime Minister of Greece
The Greek prime minister who accepted British aid under invasion
When Germany invaded on 6 April 1941, he rejected the German demand that British forces leave Greece.
Alexandros Koryzis was a lawyer, economist, and banker who helped organize state finance and agricultural credit in Greece. He served as an official and minister under Ioannis Metaxas's authoritarian regime, but became prime minister as an administrator rather than a party politician. After Metaxas's death in January 1941, he led the government in accepting British military assistance and resisting the German invasion, binding Greece's war effort to the Allied coalition. He died by suicide on 18 April, as German forces advanced.
Career timeline
- 1903Joined the National Bank of Greece
- 1915Helped organize the bank's agricultural-credit branch
- 1919–1920Economic adviser in Smyrna and founder of a National Bank branch
- 1925–1928First president of the Autonomous Currant Organization
- 1928–1933Deputy governor of the National Bank of Greece
- 1936–1939Minister of State Hygiene and Welfare
- 1939–1941Governor of the National Bank of Greece
- 1941Prime minister of Greece, also holding foreign affairs and defence portfolios
A liberal statesman at the threshold of liberation and civil war
At Caserta, he agreed that military command after liberation would pass to the British commander, General Scobie.
A Greek liberal politician, Papandreou opposed the monarchy while also confronting the communist movement, combining social reform with firm anti-communism. During the Second World War he led the government-in-exile and, through the Lebanon Conference and the Caserta Agreement, helped establish a framework for resistance participation in government and the integration of armed forces. Returning in 1944 as prime minister of the Government of National Unity, he sought to restore state authority amid British intervention and conflict between EAM and non-EAM forces, a project that gave way to the Dekemvriana and civil war. He later founded the Centre Union and defended parliamentary democracy until his death under house arrest after the 1967 military coup.
Career timeline
- 1916Joined Venizelos's insurgent government and organised anti-monarchist support.
- 1923Minister of the Interior
- 1930–1932Minister of Education, expanding schools for refugee children.
- 1935Founded the Democratic Socialist Party of Greece
- 1944–1945Prime minister of the government-in-exile and Government of National Unity; represented Greece at Lebanon and Caserta.
- 1950–1952Deputy prime minister
- 1961–1965Leader of the Centre Union, winning the 1963 and 1964 elections.
- 1967–1968Held under house arrest by the military regime
Patron of the restored monarchy and Metaxas dictatorship
On 4 August 1936, George II gave royal authorization to Metaxas as he suspended parliament and established the dictatorship.
George II was the Greek king who pursued the restoration and survival of the monarchy through successive political crises. After returning to the throne in 1935, he authorized Ioannis Metaxas's rise and the dictatorship established on 4 August 1936, joining royal authority to military authoritarianism. He maintained Greece's alignment with Britain during the war and opposed the Italian and German invasions, but his exiled government and post-liberation campaign for a royal return placed him in conflict with the resistance forces and left a contested political legacy. He died soon after returning to the throne in 1946.
Career timeline
- 1922–1924King of Greece, first reign
- 1935Returned as king after the restoration of the monarchy
- 1936–1941Head of state under the Metaxas regime
- 1940–1941Exercised supreme command of the Greek armed forces during the Axis invasion
- 1941–1944King associated with the government-in-exile based in London
- 1944–1946King in dispute over the post-liberation return, accepting a regency
- 1946–1947Returned as king and reigned until his death
A KKE leader who bore both the Resistance's victory and its defeat at the negotiating table
Regarding Siantos as 'an agent of the British', Zachariadis in 1946 delayed his own departure abroad, 'in no case wanting to leave Siantos behind'.
A tobacco worker turned labor organizer, Georgios Siantos became a leading figure of the Greek Communist Party (KKE). When Nikolaos Zachariadis was transferred to Dachau, Siantos served as the party's acting general secretary and led the KKE, National Liberation Front (EAM), and Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) through the German occupation. He directed EAM forces during the December 1944 fighting, opposed disarmament, yet ultimately pursued negotiation. In February 1945 he led the EAM delegation that signed the Varkiza Agreement, whose disarmament terms became, amid the subsequent White Terror and renewed civil conflict, the political defeat of the EAM.
Career timeline
- 1920President of the Karditsa tobacco workers' union
- 1922Secretary General of the Greek Confederation of Tobacco Workers; joined SEKE
- 1927Member of the KKE Central Committee and Politburo
- 1936Member of Parliament for Trikala with the Popular Front
- 1941Acting General Secretary of the KKE; led the party during the occupation
- 1944Secretary for Interior and Food in PEEA; directed EAM forces in the December fighting
- 1945Head of the KKE-EAM delegation negotiating and signing the Varkiza Agreement
A military leader between wartime resistance and anti-communist politics
In November 1942, he committed his forces to the Gorgopotamos operation, where British saboteurs joined Aris Velouchiotis's ELAS fighters.
A former Hellenic Army officer, Napoleon Zervas founded the National Republican Greek League (EDES) in 1941 and led non-communist resistance to the Axis occupation. In 1942 he cooperated with the British Special Operations Executive and ELAS in the destruction of the Gorgopotamos bridge, but soon shifted from republicanism toward loyalty to the monarchy as British support and confrontation with the communist movement became decisive. After liberation, he carried his wartime military authority into right-wing politics and public-order administration during the Greek Civil War.
Career timeline
- 1910–1914Volunteered for the army, served in the Balkan Wars, and graduated from the NCO school.
- 1916–1920Joined the Movement of National Defence, served on the Macedonian Front, and rose to major.
- 1925–1926Served as Athens garrison commander and a battalion commander of the Republican Guard under Pangalos.
- 1941Founded the National Republican Greek League (EDES) with Venizelist officers.
- 1942–1944Organized the EOEA, directed armed resistance in Epirus, and took part in Operation Harling.
- 1946–1947Elected to parliament and served in the Maximos cabinet as minister without portfolio and Minister for Public Order.
- 1950–1951Served as Minister of Public Works in the cabinets of Sophoklis Venizelos.
A socialist constitutional scholar who sought to ground sovereignty in the people
At the 1944 Lebanon Conference, he sought to carry the Resistance's representation from liberated Greece into a national government.
Alexandros Svolos was a Greek constitutional scholar and socialist politician whose work connected labour rights to democratic constitutional order. During the Axis occupation, he chaired the Political Committee of National Liberation, helping lead administration in liberated areas and articulate institutions grounded in popular representation, while seeking cooperation between the Resistance and the government in exile at the Lebanon Conference. After liberation he became finance minister in the government of national unity, but resigned with the EAM ministers rather than endorse the dissolution of the resistance army. He pursued an independent socialist democracy between the established right and the communist movement, a position that gave his politics both influence and isolation in postwar Greece.
Career timeline
- 1915Earned a doctorate in constitutional law at the University of Athens and began teaching
- 1917–1920Director of Labour and Social Policy at the Ministry of National Economy
- 1929–1946Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Athens
- 1941–1943President of the Committee of Macedonians and Thracians
- 1944.04–09President of the Political Committee of National Liberation, also secretary for foreign affairs, education, religion and popular enlightenment
- 1944.09–12Minister of Finance in the government of national unity
- 1945–1953President of the Socialist Party–Union of Popular Democracy
- 1950Elected member of Parliament for Thessaloniki
- 1956Elected member of Parliament for Thessaloniki
Architect of the dictatorship's security apparatus
In 1940, the police deployed a counterfeit KKE leadership and forged Rizospastis to confuse the party's members.
A former Greek Army officer, Konstantinos Maniadakis was a central official of Ioannis Metaxas's 4th of August dictatorship, organizing its security state and anti-communist repression. He combined the Asfaleia's intelligence network with torture and island exile to break the KKE's public activity and disable much of its leadership. In 1940, the police created a counterfeit KKE leadership and forged edition of Rizospastis to confuse party members. After liberation, he converted anti-communism into political capital and served as a parliamentarian, while his responsibility under the dictatorship went largely unaccounted for.
Career timeline
- 1916Graduated from the Military Academy as an engineering second lieutenant
- 1919–1922Served in the Asia Minor campaign
- 1923Discharged after participating in the Leonardopoulos–Gargalidis coup attempt
- 1929Resigned from the army as a lieutenant colonel
- 1936–1941Deputy Minister of Public Security under Metaxas, organizing the security system
- 1941Deputy Minister of Public Security and Minister of the Interior under Koryzis and Tsouderos
- 1941–1949Supervisor of Greek diplomatic missions in Argentina and Latin America
- 1950–1964Right-wing member of parliament
Organizer of a mass partisan war against occupation
In Domnista in 1942, he led a small mountain guerrilla band and proclaimed the emergence of ELAS.
Born Athanasios Klaras, Aris Velouchiotis was a Greek communist activist who became the key organizer linking the National Liberation Front, EAM, with its military arm, ELAS, during the occupation. In 1942 he formed a small guerrilla force in the mountains of Roumeli and built its early base by combining strict discipline with mass politics. Joint actions such as the destruction of the Gorgopotamos viaduct demonstrated the potential of armed resistance, while EAM-ELAS’s growing dominance also sharpened conflict with rival resistance groups and Britain. After the Varkiza Agreement he rejected demobilization, broke with the party leadership, and died isolated in 1945; the communist movement later restored his standing.
Career timeline
- 1920sJoined left-wing and anti-militarist activity and the Communist Party of Greece
- early 1930sWorked on the editorial staff of the communist newspaper Rizospastis
- 1936–1941Imprisoned under the Metaxas dictatorship and forced to sign a renunciation
- 1942.01Sent by the KKE to prepare guerrilla warfare in Roumeli
- 1942.06Announced ELAS and began mountain guerrilla operations at Domnista
- 1942.11Participated in the Gorgopotamos viaduct sabotage
- 1944.10Commanded ELAS operations in central Greece and the Peloponnese after liberation
- 1945Continued armed struggle after Varkiza and died in the mountains
The resistance fighter who brought down an occupation symbol from the Acropolis
On the night of 30 May 1941, Santas and Manolis Glezos climbed the Acropolis and tore down the Nazi flag.
Apostolos Santas was a Greek resistance fighter remembered for tearing down the Nazi flag on the Acropolis with Manolis Glezos during the Second World War. Their action became an early public symbol of resistance to the occupation, and German authorities sentenced both men to death in absentia. Santas later joined EAM and ELAS and fought the Axis occupation, but after liberation he was sent into internal exile because of his left-wing politics, including to Ikaria and Makronisos. He escaped via Italy, received political asylum in Canada, and returned to Greece in 1962.
Career timeline
- 1941With Manolis Glezos, tore down the Nazi flag on the Acropolis.
- 1942Joined the National Liberation Front (EAM).
- 1943Joined ELAS and fought Axis forces in Central Greece.
- 1944Completed his law studies after liberation.
- 1946–1948Was sent into internal exile on Ikaria, Psyttaleia, and Makronisos for his left-wing beliefs.
- 1948–1962Escaped via Italy to Canada, where he received political asylum.
- 1962–2011Returned to Greece and lived in Athens.
