Ninety years ago this August, Ioannis Metaxas dissolved the Greek parliament and imposed a dictatorship that would defin...

Ninety years ago this August, Ioannis Metaxas dissolved the Greek parliament and imposed a dictatorship that would define one of the most contested chapters in modern Greek history. The anniversary of the August 4th Regime, established in 1936, is now the subject of a new historical podcast from To Vima, examining how Metaxas went from military officer to authoritarian ruler. Sotiris Rizas, research director at the Academy of Athens' Centre for the Research of Modern Greek History, traces the full arc of Metaxas's career. That path included his opposition to Greece's entry into World War I, his role in the National Schism that tore Greek society apart, a failed coup attempt in 1923, and a crushing electoral defeat in 1928 that left him politically sidelined. What makes the story complicated is what came next. Metaxas returned to power in 1936 as prime minister under King George II, then moved to suspend parliament entirely, citing a communist threat and political paralysis. He targeted political opponents, suppressed labor movements, and built an authoritarian state modeled partly on European fascist regimes of the era. The historical accounting of Metaxas has never been simple. His October 28, 1940 refusal to allow Axis forces to occupy Greece, the defiant "No" that Greeks still celebrate annually as Oxi Day, cast a long shadow over how history judged his dictatorship. Rizas and host Giannis Diamantis explore how that single act shaped postwar memory and complicated any straightforward verdict on the man. The podcast draws on the original archives of To Vima and Ta Nea, both of which covered the regime's rise in real time. #Greece #GreekHistory #Metaxas