The most complete information guide about Athens, Greece
HISTORY OF ATHENS
The
Mid-War Period
Dictatorship of General Theodoros Pangalos
1925-1926
The
promises of dictator Theodoros Pangalos for the honorable function
of the state mechanism and especially the general weariness after
a period of parliamentary instability contributed to his bloodless
take-over but also to his being accepted in the Parliament by
the Nation's representatives.
The
initial period of tolerance in the semi-parliamentary governing
of Theodoros Pangalos was followed by discontent due to his authoritative
methods, but mainly due to his incapacity to manage the finance
of the country. In reality, the accumulated problems of Greek
economy and the incapacity to settle them in the narrow framework
of the political conjuncture of 1925-26 wore the, often unpredictable
in his acts, dictator.
The
Greek-Bulgarian crisis of 1925 was a characteristic example of
inter-frontier conflict in the inter-war period. The murder of
a Greek captain and two soldiers induced the dictator Theodoros
Pangalos to command invasion to Bulgarian territory. Undoubtedly,
the relations between Greece and Bulgaria were particularly strained
already from the beginning of the 20th century.
The
impulsive Pangalos considered the incident as part of a wider
plan of invasion, despite the limited military alertness of
the neighbouring country. The intervention of the League of
Nations suspended the escalation of the clash and the conflict
ended smoothly.
Press
censorship and the deportation of political leaders and simple
citizen to islands were characteristic for this period. Obviously
this policy caused the reaction of the political world but of
the army as well. Georgios Kondylis, assisted by the praetorians
of his old ally, overthrew him and seized power temporarily.
A
first attempt to form an Ecumenical government failed and elections
were proclaimed (7 November 1926), for the first time, under a
system of proportional representation. The elections were characterized
by wide collaborations and the formation of new party coalitions,
which expressed a wide range of political and social forces. Negotiations
for a viable government formed by a coalition of bourgeois parties
was the distinctive trait of the new Parliament. The participation
however in it of the People's Party, which had not recognized
the new constitution- in combination with various other issues
triggered successive crises, that finally resulted to its overthrow
on 27 June 1928.
The
increasing populations in Athens resulted in the introduction
of “horizontal ownership” and through that, in the
construction of apartment blocks with more than one level (polykaoikies).
This development marked the urban image of Greece, and Athens
in particular, especially in the years after the war.
The
labor movement had already began to develop in the early 20th
century but the influence of the left increased significantly
in the capital during the 1930s as a result of the city’s
industrial development and the growing working class as well as
the international economic crisis of 1929.
In
the same period the feminist movement also grew stronger, particularly
in the capital. The so-called 30s generation, a group of writers
and artists who found expression mostly through urban novels,
had a strong presence in Greek literature, suggesting new ways
of aesthetic expression and new ideological positions.