4th of August Regime

The 4th of August Regime (Greek: Καθεστώς της 4ης Αυγούστου, romanized: Kathestós tis tetártis Avgoústou), commonly also known as the Metaxas regime (Καθεστώς Μεταξά, Kathestós Metaxá), was a dictatorial regime under the leadership of General Ioannis Metaxas that ruled the Kingdom of Greece from 1936 to 1941.

On 4 August 1936, Metaxas, with the support of King George II, suspended the Greek parliament and went on to preside over a conservative, staunchly anti-communist and ultranationalist government under the ideology of Metaxism, which has been described either as an authoritarian conservative non-fascist system or, in more recent studies, as a Greek variation of Fascism; a middle position is that it was a regime with a strong Fascist component or a para-fascist regime. Metaxas himself and some contemporary historians have described the government as totalitarian. In its symbolism and rhetoric, the regime took inspiration from Fascist Italy, but it retained close links to Britain and the French Third Republic, rather than the Axis powers.

Being non-partisan, after Metaxas' death in January 1941, the regime hinged entirely on the King. Although Greece was occupied following the German invasion of Greece in April 1941 and the Greek government was forced to go into exile in the British-controlled Kingdom of Egypt, several prominent figures of the regime, notably the notorious security chief Konstantinos Maniadakis, survived in cabinet for several months until the King was forced to dismiss them in accordance with a compromise with the representatives of the old democratic political establishment.^{[citation needed]}

Metaxas imposed his regime primarily to fight the turbulent social situation prevalent in Greece in the 1930s, in which political factionalization had disrupted Greek parliamentary democracy. The sinking credibility of the Parliament was accompanied by several coup attempts; a Venizelist putsch failed in March 1935, and in the following October, elections reinforced the Royalist majority, which allowed the exiled King George II to return to Greece.

The king re-established the monarchy in the country, but the parliament, split into incompatible factions, was unable to shape a clear political majority and form a government. Meanwhile, the increasing activity of the Communists, whose 15 deputies from the 1936 elections held the balance between 143 Monarchists and 142 Liberals, Agrarians, and Republicans, created a deadlock.

In May 1936, widespread agrarian unrest among tobacco farmers and industrial unrest in the north of the country erupted, which eventually brought General Metaxas to suspend the parliament on the eve of a major strike, on 4 August 1936. Endorsed by the King, Metaxas declared a state of emergency, decreed martial law, annulled various articles of the constitution, and established a crisis cabinet to put an end to the unrest and to restore the social order. In one of his first speeches, Metaxas announced: "I have decided to hold all the power I need for saving Greece from the catastrophes which threaten her."^{[This quote needs a citation]}

Thus the Metaxas dictatorship was born, and the period of time which would follow was named after the day Metaxas rose to absolute power: 4 August. The new regime was backed by small extremist political parties, and by conservatives expecting a crackdown on the communists.^{[citation needed]}

The roots of Metaxas' "New State" were sought in Greece's classical history. Metaxas thought Greek nationalism would galvanize "the heathen values of ancient Greece, specifically those of Sparta, along with the Eastern Orthodox Christian values of the Medieval empire of Byzantium". Ancient Macedonia was also glorified as the first political unifier of the Hellenes. As its main symbol, the youth organization of the regime chose the labrys/pelekys, the symbol of ancient Minoan Crete.