View source for Social:European interwar dictatorships

[[File:20th Century European Dictatorships by Duration.png|thumb|20th century European dictatorships by duration]]
This is a list of dictatorial regimes operational in [[Earth:Europe|Europe]]an states in the [[History:Interwar period|interwar period]], the period between [[Social:World War I|World War I]] and [[Social:World War II|World War II]].

==Table summary==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! scope="col" style="width: 120px;" | Country
! scope="col" style="width: 140px;" | Leader<ref>if clear. Otherwise brief information provided against specific cases</ref>
! scope="col" style="width: 80px;" | Start
! scope="col" style="width: 80px;" | End
! scope="col" style="width: 20px;" | Duration (days)
! scope="col" style="width: 50px;" | Head of state<ref>flag whether the dictator was formally a head of state, either as a monarch (king, tsar), regent, president, leader, state elder, chairman of a collegial body or any other formally recognised title. "N/a" stands for collective dictatorships, where there was no person identified as a dictator</ref>
! scope="col" style="width: 50px;" | Head of government<ref>flag whether the dictator was heading the country executive, typically a government, with the role of a  prime minister</ref>
! scope="col" style="width: 50px;" | Head of state party<ref>includes monopolistic parties such as NSDAP, and organisations posing as non-party citizen  associations, e.g. Unión Patriótica in Spain or Vaterländische Front in Austria. In few cases such organisation existed, but  the dictator was neither its leader nor even member, see e.g. the case of BBWR in Poland or Frontul Renașterii Naționale in Romania. "N/a" stands for collective dictatorships with no clear personal leader</ref>
! scope="col" style="width: 80px;" | Parliament<ref>"corced" stands for a parliament formally elected and operating according to pre-dictatorial rules, but  controlled by means of electoral process and subservient majority; "redesigned" stands for a parliament composed and functioning according to new rules, defined by the dictatorship; "none" stands for no parliament at all</ref>
! scope="col" style="width: 60px;" | Party system<ref>refers to political parties other than the state party (if such existed); "abolished" stands for political parties having been either explicitly banned/dissolved or suspended or their operations made formally impossible due to other regulations, e.g. martial law; "tolerated" stands for the case when at least some political parties were legally permitted to operate, but because of various degree of control exercised on part of dictatorial regime, they were deprived of political importance</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|Albania|1925}} || Ahmed Zogu || 1925-02-01 || 1939-04-07 || 5,178 || yes<ref>until 1928 as president, afterwards as king</ref> || until 1928 || no ||  redesigned || tolerated
|-
| {{Flagcountry|First Austrian Republic}} || Engelbert Dolfuss || 1933-03-07 || 1934-07-25 || 505 || no || yes || yes || redesigned || abolished
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Federal State of Austria}} || Kurt Schuschnigg || 1934-07-29 || 1938-03-12 || 1,322 || no || yes || since 1936<ref>following the assassination of Dolfuss, leadership of Vaterländische Front was assumed by Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg. Schuschnigg replaced him in 1936</ref> || redesigned || abolished
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia}} || ''collective'' || 1939-03-15 || 1945-05-08 || 2,246 || n/a || n/a || n/a || none || abolished
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Kingdom of Bulgaria}} || Alexander Tsankov || 1923-06-09 || 1926-01-04 || 940 || no || yes || yes<ref>the regime created Демократически сговор, a heterogeneous political entity intended as a platform of popular mobilisation; leadership in the party was heavily contested between Tsankov and Andrey Lyapchev</ref> || coerced || tolerated
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Kingdom of Bulgaria}} || Boris III || 1935-01-22 || 1943-08-28 || 3,140 || yes || no || no || redesigned || abolished
|-
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Free City of Danzig}} || ''collective''<ref>at different stages key personalities were Hermann Rauschning, Arthur Greiser and Albert Forster, though all were party subordinates of Adolf Hitler </ref> || 1933-06-24 || 1939-09-01 || 2,260 || n/a || n/a || n/a || corced || tolerated
|-
| {{Flag|Estonia}} || Konstantin Päts || 1934-03-12 || 1938-01-01<ref>Päts' government, having declared a nationwide state of emergency in March 1934, suspended the current parliament on 3 October 1934, a new parliament 
was elected and came into session only in 1938; meanwhile, a National Assembly was 
elected by popular vote in 1936 to draw up a new constitution, and the new constitution came into force on 1 January 1938</ref> || 1,187 || no<ref>Päts was Prime Minister in duties of the State Elder, and after the new constitution came to force, served as temporary caretaker head of state until the presidential elections of 1938</ref> || yes || no<ref>Päts had previously led a party, ''Asunikkude ning väikemaapidajate Koondis'', which was dissolved in 1935. Päts' government was effectively supported by a newly-formed Patriotic League (''Isamaaliit''), the only legal political movement while the activities of all political parties remained suspended in the country</ref> || redesigned<ref>The unicameral parliament (''Riigikogu'') was adjourned in October 1934 and never resumed session. A new bicameral parliament was elected in 1938.</ref> || tolerated<ref>since March 20, 1935 the activities of all political parties were suspended, however individual pro-government and opposition candidates were able to run freely in the 1936 Estonian National Assembly elections and 1938 parliamentary elections.</ref>
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Nazi Germany}} || Adolf Hitler || 1933-01-30 || 1945-04-30 || 4,473 || since 1934<ref>in 1933-1934 the head of state was president Hindenburg; following his death Hitler abolished the role altogether and merged presidential rights into a new role, "der Führer und Reichskanzler"</ref> || yes || yes || coerced<ref>formally the regime did not introduce major institutional changes to electoral and parliamentarian regime. However, in practice elections staged in 1933, 1936 and 1938 were fully manipulated by the Nazis. Between 1933 and 1942 Reichstag convened 20 times, mostly as an audience to Hitler's harrangues; it exercised no political power</ref> || abolished
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Second Hellenic Republic}} || Theodoros Pangalos || 1925-06-24 || 1926-08-26 || 428 || since 1926<ref>until 1926 the head of state was president Pavlos Kountouriotis; Pangalos deposed him following rigged presidential elections</ref> || until 1926 || no || coerced || tolerated
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Kingdom of Greece}} || Ioannis Metaxas || 1936-08-04 || 1941-04-25 || 1,725 || no || yes || no<ref>Metaxas headed own party, Κόμμα των Ελευθεροφρόνων, which he dissolved upon seizing power</ref> || none || abolished
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Hungarian Soviet Republic}} || Béla Kun || 1919-03-21 || 1919-08-01 || 133 || no<ref>as [[Place:First Hungarian Republic|First Hungarian Republic]] has never achieved legal stability, the role of head of state has not been clearly specified. The closest position was this of head of the Hungarian Central Executive Council, the role held by Sándor Garbai </ref> || no || yes || none || tolerated
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)}} || Miklós Horthy || 1920-03-01 || 1944-10-15 || 8,994 || yes || no || no<ref>due to rigged political system, the party victorious in all elections organized was Egységes Párt / Nemzeti Egység Pártja / Magyar Élet Pártja; though customarily referred to as "the government party" it has formed an autonomous part of the Horthy regime, independent of the regent himself</ref> || coerced || tolerated
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Fascist Italy (1922–1943)}} || Benito Mussolini || 1922-10-31 || 1943-07-23<ref>Italian Social Republic between 23 September 1943 and 25 April 1945.</ref> || 7,570 || no<ref>until 1943 the head of state was king Victor Emmanuel III. The  Italian Social Republic has never adopted a constitution or other legal act which formally defined head of state, even though Mussolini de facto acted as such</ref> || yes || yes || redesigned<ref>the Italian parliament underwent a few major changes throughout the fascist era; the Acerbo Law of 1923 re-defined electoral regime, in 1938 the chamber was replaced with entirely new corporative Camera dei Fasci e delle Corporazioni, and in 1943 an Assemblea Costituente was declared for the RSI </ref> || abolished<ref>until 1926 political parties were formally allowed to operate</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|Latvia}} || Kārlis Ulmanis || 1934-05-15 || 1940-06-15 || 2,223 || since 1936<ref>until 1936 the president was Alberts Kviesis. Upon expiration of his term, Ulmanis by decree assumed presidential duties</ref> || yes || no<ref>Ulmanis led his own party, Latvijas Zemnieku savienība, which he dissolved upon seizing power. There were other organizations he supported or created as vehicles of popular mobilization, like the paramilitary Aizsargi or self-development Mazpulki, but none amounted either to a state party or general patriotic front</ref> || none<ref>numerous professional chambers have been created, with sort of their joint representation, but they never assumed political duties</ref> || abolished<ref>Tyler Kuck 2014, p. 241</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|Lithuania}} || Antanas Smetona || 1926-12-19 || 1940-06-15 || 4,927 || yes || no || until 1926<ref>in 1926 Smetona handed the leadership of  Lietuvių Tautininkų Sąjunga to Liudas Noreika; other party leaders followed later</ref> || redesigned<ref>the original Seimas was not convened until 1936; afterwards elections were organized according to new rules set up by the regime</ref> || tolerated<ref>towards the end of the regime it was increasingly assuming a one-party-state formula, Payne 1983, p. 125</ref>
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Second Polish Republic}} || Józef Piłsudski || 1926-05-14 || 1935-05-12 || 3,285 || no || 1926–1930<ref>Piłsudski was prime minister during two strings of 634 days (1926–1928) and 101 days (1930). Usually he preferred to rule from the back seat with his appointees in the front row.</ref> || no<ref>The regime formed its own organisation which claimed not to have been a party, BBWR; its head was Walery Sławek and Piłsudski did not bother to join.</ref> || coerced || tolerated
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Second Polish Republic}} || ''collective''<ref>following the death of Piłsudski there was no obvious leader among his successors, with individuals like his personal friend Walery Sławek, president Ignacy Mościcki or army head Edward Rydz-Śmigły competing for power</ref> || 1935-05-12 || 1939-09-17 || 1,589 || n/a || n/a || n/a || coerced || tolerated
|-
| {{Flagcountry|First Portuguese Republic}} || Sidónio Pais<ref>leader of the 1917 coup, Sidónio Pais held the post of Portugal's president; the system is noted as "plebiscitary effort at a presidential regime", though some think it fell short of a personal dictatorship, Payne 1983, p. 140</ref> || 1917-12-17 || 1918-12-14 || 362 || since 1917<ref>the president Bernardino Machado went on exile on Dec 15, 1917. Pais became acting president following his decree of Dec 27, 1917; following rigged presidential elections of April 1918 he was formally confirmed as president in May 1918</ref> || yes<ref>Officially as prime minister until May 1918; afterwards premiership role was formally merged with this of the president.</ref> || no || coerced || tolerated
|-
| {{Flagdeco|Portugal}} [[Place:Ditadura Nacional|Portugal]] || ''collective''<ref>initially the key though not dominating person behind the regime was its president, Oscar Carmona. He shared power with other military and prime ministers, like José Vicente de Freitas, Artur Ivens Ferraz and Domingos Oliveira; over time the finance minister António Salazar exercised more and more power, Payne 1983, p. 157</ref> || 1926-05-28 || 1933-03-19 || 2,487 || n/a || n/a || n/a || coerced || tolerated
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Estado Novo (Portugal)}} || António Salazar || 1933-03-19 || 1968-09-25 || 12,984 || no || yes || yes<ref>in an array of support mobilisation platforms, like Mocidade Portuguesa or Fundação Nacional para a Alegria no Trabalho, União Nacional was secondary to formation of Salazar regime, with phases of lethargy and re-animation interchanging, António Costa Pinto, ''''Salazar’s ‘New State’: The Paradoxes of Hybridization in the Fascist Era'', [in:] António Costa Pinto, Aristotle Kallis (eds.), ''Rethinking Fascism'', London 2014, ISBN 9781349480883, p. 165 </ref> || redesigned || abolished
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} || Carol II || 1938-02-11 || 1940-09-05 || 937 || yes || no || no<ref>the royal regime set up Frontul Renașterii Naționale as the only legal political organization; it was headed by individuals other than the king, Armand Călinescu,  
Gheorghe Argeșanu and Constantin Argetoianu</ref> || none<ref>initially Carol II intended to build a royal coalition, but eventually gave up,  
suspended the constitution and ruled as a royal dictator, Patrick G. Zander, ''Fascism through History: Culture, Ideology, and Daily Life'', London 2020,  
ISBN 9781440861949, p. 424</ref> || abolished
|-
| {{Flag|San Marino|1862}} || Giuliano Gozi<ref>The term limits of the Captains Regents were maintained during the dictatorship. He hold four terms between 1923 and 1941.</ref> || 1923-04-01 || 1943-07-28<ref>The fascist government was reinstalled between 23 September 1943 and 20 September 1944.</ref> || 7,423 || intermittently || n/a || yes || coerced || abolished<ref>until 1925 political parties were formally allowed to operate</ref>
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Slovak Republic (1939-1945)}} || Jozef Tiso || 1939-03-14 || 1945-04-01 || 2,210 || yes<ref>until late 1939 the role of head of state was formally with the government; it  
was headed by Tiso. Later he assumed the newly created presidential role</ref> || until 1939 || yes || redesigned || tolerated<ref>parties of German and  
Hungarian minorities were allowed to operate</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|Soviet Russia|1917}} || ''collective''<ref>heads of state changed in line with changing formal position (Lev Kamenev, Yakov Sverdlov, Mikhail Kalinin); prime ministers were Lenin and Alexei Rykov; there were also successive leaders of the communist party, РСДРП, РКП(б)  and ВКП(б) like Nikolay Krestinsky, Vyacheslav Molotov and Stalin, Communist International head Grigory Zinoviev, plus persons like [[Biography:Leon Trotsky|Leon Trotsky]], who did not go above the rank of a minister</ref> || 1917-11-07 || 1924-01-21 || 3,657 || n/a || n/a || n/a || coerced || abolished
|-
| {{Flag|Soviet Union|1936}} || {{wipe|Joseph Stalin}} || 1924-01-21 || 1953-03-05 || 9,246 || no || since 1941 || yes || [[Social:Rubber stamp (politics)|rubber stamp]] || abolished
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Restoration (Spain)}} || Miguel Primo de Rivera || 1923-09-23 || 1930-01-28 || 2,319 || no || yes || yes || redesigned<ref>Asamblea Nacional Consultiva was created in 1927, met rarely, and held no political power</ref> || abolished
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Restoration (Spain)}} || ''collective''<ref>following resignation of Primo de Rivera there was no clear political leader; power was shared between Alfonso XIII and prime ministers, Dámaso Berenguer and then Juan Aznar </ref> || 1930-01-28 || 1931-04-14 || 441 || n/a || n/a || n/a || redesigned || tolerated
|-
|-
| {{Flag|Francoist Spain|1938|name=Spain (N)}} || Francisco Franco || 1936-10-01 || 1975-11-20 || 14,294 || yes || until 1973 || yes || redesigned || abolished<ref>in line with the Unification Decree, the only political organisation permitted to operate was FET</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|Turkey}} || [[Biography:Mustafa Kemal Atatürk|Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]] || 1920-05-03 || 1938-11-10 || 6,765 || since 1923<ref>until 1923 there was no formally defined head of state</ref> || until 1921 || yes || redesigned || tolerated
|-
| {{Flag|Turkey}} || ''collective''<ref>following death of Kemal Atatürk the head of state was the president, İsmet İnönü; however, the regime was far from his personal dictatorship, with personal influence of prime ministers (Celâl Bayar, Refik Saydam) and some military</ref> || 1938-11-10 || 1950-05-22 || 4,211 || n/a || n/a || n/a || redesigned || tolerated
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Kingdom of Yugoslavia}} || Alexander I || 1929-01-06 || 1934-04-09 || 1,919 || yes || no || no || redesigned<ref>Lee 2016, p.343</ref> || tolerated<ref>having staged a self-coup, Alexander initially abolished all political parties. The constitution he imposed in 1931 permitted operations of political parties, Lee 2016, p. 343</ref>
|-
| {{Flagcountry|Kingdom of Yugoslavia}} || ''collective''<ref>following assassination of king Alexander I the role of head of state was assumed by a collegial regency, led by Prince Paul and composed of lesser personalities like Radenko Stanković and Ivo Perović; much power was exercised by the PM, Milan Stojadinović, with other key politicians like Vladko Maček contributing to shaky balance of powers</ref> || 1934-04-09 || 1941-03-27 || 2,544 || n/a || n/a || n/a || redesigned || tolerated
|}

==See also==
* [[History:Interwar period|Interwar period]]
* [[Social:Dictatorship|Dictatorship]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|3}}

==Further reading==
* Gerhard Besier, Katarzyna Stokłosa, ''European Dictatorships: A Comparative History of the Twentieth Century'', Cambridge, 2014, {{ISBN|9781443855211}}
* Carles Boix, Michael K. Miller, Sebastian Rosato (December 2013), [https://www.princeton.edu/~cboix/Boix_Miller_Rosato%20--%20Final_CPS.pdf "A Complete Dataset of Political Regimes, 1800–2007"], ''Comparative Political Studies'' 46/12, pp. [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0010414012463905 1523–1554] {{Subscription}}
* Stephen J. Lee, ''European Dictatorships, 1918–1945'', London, 2002, {{ISBN|9780415230452}}
* Monty G. Marshall, Ted Gurr, Keith Jaggers, [http://www.systemicpeace.org/inscr/p4manualv2016.pdf ''The Polity IV Project: Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800–2012 – Dataset Users' Manual''], s.l. 2017
* Jørgen Møller, Svend-Erik Skaaning, [https://ecpr.eu/Events/Event/PaperDetails/15975 "Mapping Political Regime Developments in Interwar Europe: A Multidimensional Approach"], Salamanca, 2014 (paper delivered at ECPR session)

==External links==
* [https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Europe/The-trappings-of-dictatorship European dictatorships] at the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''

[[Category:Dictatorship|*]]
[[Category:Authoritarianism]]

{{Sourceattribution|European interwar dictatorships}}