The most complete information guide about Athens, Greece
HISTORY OF ATHENS
The
Mid-War Period
The dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas
1936-1940
The undisguised
consent of the throne but also of the British, allowed the Regime
of the Fourth of August to establish itself in power without meeting
with serious resistance. Patterning his regime on other authoritarian
European governments (most notably Mussolini's fascist regime),
Metaxas banned political parties, arrested communists, criminalized
strikes and introduced widespread censorship of the media.
His
policy was characterized by authoritarianism but also the advancement
of personality cult towards himself. The Metaxas dictatorship
promoted various popular measures, such as the 8-hour working
day and mandatory improvements to the working conditions of workers,
established the Greek social security fund (IKA) still the biggest
social security institution in Greece and improved the country's
defences. For rural areas agricultural prices were raised and
farm debts were taken on by the government. Despite these efforts
the Greek people generally moved towards the political left, but
without actively opposing Metaxas.
The
policy of Metaxas to keep Greece out of WWII was decisively broken
by the blunt demands of Mussolini in October 1940. This ultimatum,
which was presented to Metaxas by the Italian ambassador in Greece,
Grachi, on 28 October 1940, at dawn (04:00 AM), after a party
in the German embassy in Athens, demanded of Greece to allow Axis
forces to enter Greek territory and occupy certain unspecified
"strategic locations" or otherwise face war. It was
allegedly answered with a single word: No! (Oxi!). On the morning
of the 28 October, the Greek population took to the streets, irrespective
of political affiliation, shouting "Oxi!'.
Most
scholars dismiss the political side of 'Oxi' as an urban legend,
pointing out that the actual reply was the French phrase "Alors,
c'est la guerre" ("Then we’ll have war").
In response to Metaxas's refusal, Italian troops stationed in
Albania, then an Italian protectorate, attacked the Greek border
at 05:30 AM. Metaxas's reply marked the beginning of Greece's
participation in World War.