In this building right here Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas said 'no' to the Italians
and thus the Greco-Italian War started.
But who was Ioannis Metaxas?
Well, he was the leader of the 4th of August Regime, which can be considered a totalitarian
state.
In this video you're going to learn more about his government.
Good to have you back on the channel.
I'm Stefan, a Dutch history teacher and I like to cover history on location.
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After the loss of the Greco-Turkish War, known as the 'Catatrophe', a large population transfer
took place.
Turks in Greece were deported to Anatolia and Greeks living there were deported to Greece.
The resettlement of Greek refugees from Turkey imposed a major challenge for the Greek government.
But it was done.
The economy was repaired.
In March 1924 the monarchy was abolished and the Second Hellenic Republic came into being.
In 1928 the elderly retired Eleftherios Venizelos returned from Crete to unite the Greek people
and during the 1928 elections together with smaller splinter groups, the Venizelists had
captured 223 seats out of 250.
Venizelos's new political period begun well: economic and social reforms were carried out.
Looking at foreign policy Venizelos accepted the geopolitical realities of the new Greek state
and created diplomat relations with other Balkan nations.
Initially Greece didn't suffer that bad from the Wall Street Crash.
But when in 1931 Britain left the gold standard the Greek currency: the drachma came under
immense pressure.
Combined with a series of bad harvests the economic crisis in Greece worsened.
There was a coup in 1933 and two in 1935.
After this was over Venizelos lived in exile and the monarchy was restored.
This meant the end of the Second Hellenic Republic.
General Ioannis Metaxas established the 4th of August Regime in 1936.
He was a fierce anti-communist he used this perceived threat to establish his rule.
The Greek communist party (KKE) saw the light of day in mid-1920s.
But had barily any success in the upcoming decade.
That changed when the results of the Great Depression affected Greece.
Greek communism got more followers.
Under Venizelos they already saw this as a threat and implemented anti-communist rules.
Because of the rise of communism and the Great Depression there were strikes and demonstrations, especially in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
It led to violent clashes with the police.
Ioannis Metaxas came from the army but hadn't worn a uniform since the First World War.
Propagandists would promote him as paternal figure.
This was miles away to dictators like Mussolini or Hitler.
In 1939 a British minister wrote about Metaxas the following:
‘General Metaxas is far from being endowed with the physical qualities necessary for
success as a dictator,’ […] ‘His short, corpulent, ill-dressed figure could never
evoke popular enthusiasm.’
Metaxas hadn't seen any electoral success.
His ‘Party of the Liberal-Minded’ (often misleadingly translated as ‘Freethinkers’)
didn't appeal to a larger audience and won fewer seats than the communists.
So how did he become a dictator in August 1936?
The Greek political landscape at that time was very divided between the Liberals, right-wing
anti-Venizelists and the left-wing communists.
Alignments and compromises led to nothing.
Greek King George II then appointed Metaxas as deputy prime minister.
When in April 1936 interim prime minister Konstantinos Demertzis died, Metaxas succeeded
him, despite having only 7 out of 300 seats in the chamber.
He won a vote of confidence and declared a parliamentary recess.
Around that time waves of strikes occured and people believed a communist takeover was
imminent.
Metaxas fueled these sentiments:
“The occasion and the pretext were provided when the General Confederation of Greek Workers
called a twentyfour-hour general strike for Wednesday 5 August.
The day before the strike was due to begin, martial law was declared, articles of the
constitution were suspended, and parliament was dissolved.
Soon afterwards, all political parties were disbanded, including Metaxas’s own.
The ‘Regime of the Fourth of August’ had begun.”
Unlike Spain there wasn't a civil war in Greece when Metaxas rose to power in 1936.
A Greek civil war would occur, but only one decade later.
One the first day the Greek police went to the major newspaper offices to instruct them
what to publish and what not.
Metaxas took ready-made borrowings from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
Iconic for his totalitarianism was the National Youth Organization (EON) which
became compulsory for the Greek youth from 1938 and included camps with political indocrination.
The Metaxas government also set up Labour Battalions for the workers and they also had a variation of
the Hitler salute – although it is said that Metaxas never returned the salute.
Metaxas made no distinction between the nation and the state.
He saw the state as a living organism which was founded upon an organized national mass.
He spoke of a 'New State' and in 1937 came up with the ‘Third Greek Civilization’.
To students he said the following:
“I forbid any of you, male or female, to have any ideas other than those of the State.
I require you not only to have the same ideas as the State, but to believe in them and to
work accordingly with enthusiasm.
If any of you have different ideas he or she had better not be educated.”
State institutions were further strengthened.
The regime set-up public works to recover from the economic depression.
Strikes and lock-outs were illegal.
An 8 hour working day was introduced.
The social security system, a legacy of the Venizelos years, was extended.
In the 1930s Europe slided more and more to authoritarianism and Greece was no exception.
To put Metaxas on a par with Mussolini or Hitler is perhaps not totally correct.
Since his regime had nothing militaristic or expansionist about it.
Who was expansionist was Mussolini.
He wanted Greece and on the 28 October 1940 the Italians handed Metaxas an ultimatum and that happened in the house you see behind me.
The Italians demanded that Greece should cede important strategic posts and let the Italian troops pass unhindered through the country.
And here in this building it is said that Metaxas answered in one single word: 'Ochi', which is Greek for
'no'.
Most likely he didn't use the Greek word for 'no' as the diplomatic language of that time was French. Overnight Metaxas became a national hero. The Greco-Italian War started.
The Italians invaded from Italian-held Albania.
Italian dictator Mussolini expected a quick victory. He was dissapointed though, because the Greeks put on a stubborn
defence.
In the following month they drove the Italians back into Albania and a stalemate set it. Hitler would eventually help Mussolini in April 1941 by invading Greece from the north.
By that time Metaxas had already passed away. He had passed away in January 1941 due to ill health.
Metaxas was succeeded by Alexandros Koryzis.
He would eventually commit suicide when the Germans were invading his country. To all Greek viewers, I'm wondering: how is Metaxas remembered in your country?
When you were in school, what did they tell you about Metaxas in history class? I'm really curious about it so leave a comment below the video.