4th of August Regime
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The 4th of August Regime (Greek: Kathestos tis 4is Avgoustou), also called the Metaxas regime, was the dictatorship under Ioannis Metaxas that ruled the Kingdom of Greece from 1936 to 1941, established on 4 August 1936 with King George II's support by suspending parliament and articles of the constitution. It combined anti-communism and ultranationalism with censorship and political repression, but unlike Italy or Germany kept its ties to Britain. Its classification is debated between a conventional authoritarian-conservative dictatorship and a regime with fascist features; it collapsed in April 1941 and was formally abolished by royal decree in February 1942.
In depth
Formation and character
The regime emerged from the deadlock after the 1936 election, labour and agrarian unrest, and the ruling establishment's fear of communist influence. With King George II's support, Metaxas suspended parliament and articles of the constitution on 4 August 1936 and presided over a conservative, staunchly anti-communist and ultranationalist government under the ideology of Metaxism. He abolished party politics and used martial law, censorship, a ban on strikes, political policing, and exile, while seeking to organize youth and society through the National Organisation of Youth.
Its ideology invoked a "Third Hellenic Civilization" and a "New State" built on a claimed continuity between ancient Greece and Byzantium. It borrowed symbols and organizational forms from fascism, but lacked a mass party base and remained closely tied to the monarchy and Britain. Britain maintained a favorable relationship with the monarchy and regime in view of Greece's strategic position in the Mediterranean.
Classification and agricultural control
Academically the Metaxas government is considered a conventional totalitarian-conservative dictatorship akin to Franco's Spain or Salazar's Portugal, essentially reactionary and lacking the radical theoretical dimensions of Italian Fascism and German Nazism. At the same time, arguments that stress its fascist features and classify it as fascist or para-fascist continue alongside that view.
One study finds that state control over Greece's agricultural institutions increased under Metaxas's authoritarian regime (1936-41), but that the dictatorship inherited most of the traits of a fascist agricultural regime from previous liberal administrations, and that it drew support from agronomists active under those earlier governments.
Termination
The regime effectively ended with the German invasion of Greece in 1941. Key dates are its establishment on 4 August 1936, the Italian invasion on 28 October 1940, the death of Metaxas on 29 January 1941, the German invasion on 6 April 1941, the death of Alexandros Koryzis on 18 April 1941, and the Greek surrender on 23 April 1941. Greek-language sources record that it was formally abolished by royal decree in February 1942, while the country was under Axis occupation and the exiled Greek government sat in Egypt; whether the regime's political repression produced named killings and when the regime formally ended remain disputed between sources.