by Andreas Markessinis One of the main symbols of the Fourth of August regime was the labrys. The labrys is the double-headed axe, known to the Classical Greeks and to modern Greek speakers as pelekys (πέλεκυς). Metaxas chose the labrys as one of the principal symbols for his regime because he believed it to be [...]

by Constantine Sarandis At the theoretical level, Ion Dragoumis had developed National Socialist ideas just before his death and Ioannis Sykoutris openly advocated the need for drastic change towards a militant totalitarian system, while Fotos Politis regarded the Fascist and Nazi regimes as agents of a “positive new way of thinking”. In everyday politics, acclaim [...]

(Various sources) The National Tourist Organization also started a publicity campaign about the beauty of nature in Greece 8 whilst in 1933 a new law (5181) regulated the operation of hotels and introduced the idea of listing them by rank of comfort 9. In 1935, development of the hotel business was developed enough so that [...]

By P.J. Vatikiotis “The first two years of the Metaxas Regime was a productive one, full of frantic activity regarding domestic social and economic policy, regime security, and external and foreign relations: Greek-British relations, for instance, were crucial. After Metaxas and his regime were taken up more or less completely with the EON (National Youth [...]

By P.J. Vatikiotis There were reams of personal letters directly addressed to the Chief of the 4th August Regime, pleading admiration, undying devotion and enthusiasm of his new state:One of these dated 11 December 1939, called Metaxas ‘the maker of new Greece’. Another dated 31 December 1939, waxed the lyrical when it told the Chief, [...]

By P.J. Vatikiotis In characterizing the Greek political experience since Independence, I ventured some twenty years ago the following remarks about the Metaxas episode: The mutual interdependence of army officers and politicians introduced a new factor into Greek politics in this century, reminiscent of civil military relations in the Middle East. It contributed to the [...]

By P.J. Vatikiotis Metaxas died at the family home, the modest villa on Danglis Street, Kifissia, at 5:30 a.m. (the official bulletin of the attending physicians put the time of death at 6:00 a.m.) on the morning of Tuesday, 29 January 1941. Cause of death, as reported in the official death certificate and the official [...]

By P.J. Vatikiotis Metaxas saw the need for the adoption of extraordinary powers: the country needed discipline, political parties and partisan politics had to be banned. There would be no more elections for the foreseeable future, marking the end of parliamentary government in Greece. Metaxas however went beyond this; he wanted to create a new [...]

By Giorgos Anagnostou The political establishment is attempting to toss the name of the architect of the epos of 1940-41, I. Metaxas, into oblivion. Following the news on 7 April about the fighters of fortress “Roupel”, I noticed that neither the announcer nor the President of the Democracy mentioned it with any other name. So, [...]

By Viktor Papakosma, Kent State University Robin Higham and Thanos Veremis, editors, The Metaxas Dictatorship: Aspects of Greece, 1936-1940. Athens: Hellenic Foundation for Defense and Foreign Policy and Speros Basil Vryonis Center for the Study of Hellenism. 1993. Pp. 241. The dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas has produced little substantive scholarship in Greek or other languages [...]