GREECE: Pangalos Dictates

A short, cynical, perpetually sneering soldier presides over the Dictature which governs Greece (TIME, Jan. 11). He has dissolved Parliament, suppressed newspapers unfavorable to him, raised a forced loan (TIME, Feb. 1), and generally conducted himself with the arbitrariness of a Napoleon, without exhibiting the Corsican’s personal charm. He is General Theodore Pangalos. He is said habitually to adorn his commands with the oaths of a drill sergeant. Last week he ripped out several terse orders. Promptly 15 Greek officers and politicians were marched aboard a ship and departed into exile. Pangalos barked again and all citizens were ordered to deliver up whatever “military” firearms they possessed, within a month. The official apologia declared that these steps were taken “purely as precautionary measures, yet if an investigation now under way reveals anything of a grave nature, exemplary punishment will be meted out to the guilty.”

Kondylis. Observers smiled awry upon hearing that General Kondylis (once a fellow conspirator with Pangalos) headed the list of the exiled last week. They remembered that among those previously exiled by Dictator Pangalos is his former archrival, Colonel Plastiras, who was himself the quasi-dictator of Greece some few years ago (TIME, Dec. 31, 1923). A few of the numberless conspiracies of these men were recalled.

Pangalos’ Rise. During the political upheavals of 1920, General Pangalos was dismissed as Chief of the General Staff of the Greek Army in Asia Minor, a post which he had obtained by intrigue and managed to hold for only about a year. Ousted, he began to conspire with the likewise disgruntled General Kondylis (exiled last week) and with Admiral Hadjikyriakos (his present silent partner in dictatorship). In 1922, the three were about to launch a coup d’état, when two other discontented officers, Colonels Plastiras and Gonatas, got ahead of them. The adroit colonels sprang a coup of their own; sprang it first; sent King Constantine packing for the last time* acknowledged his eldest son, George II, as their King; and proceeded to “dictate” as they liked.

George the Last. Disappointed but undaunted by this setback, Pangalos, Kondylis and Hadjikyriakos all enlisted under the banner of Plastiras and Gonatas. While the unhappy George II “reigned though he could not rule,” a degenerate struggle for supremacy was waged between Plastiras at Athens and his purely nominal adherent, Pangalos, who had succeeded in demanding and obtaining the military governorship of Macedonia and Thrace. Bribes and the subtle poisons for which the modern Greeks are notorious were resorted to with abandon. By 1923, Pangalos had gathered sufficient power to become chiefly instrumental in forcing King George II into exile (TIME, Dec. 31, 1923) despite the Influence of “Dictator” Plastiras, who wished to retain the King as a convenient figurehead.

The Republic. A series of Premiers, of whom Venizelos was the first (TIME, Jan. 21, 1924), then carried on, with Admiral Koundouriotis as Regent for the vacant throne. Finally the Army, incited by Pangalos, forced the proclamation of the Hellenic Republic, after a corrupt plebiscite had been held. Regent Koundouriotis assumed the title of “Provisional President”; and Pangalos obtained an ascendancy over the several Papanastasion** cabinets (TIME, March 24, 1924, et seq.).

At that time Pangalos’ arrogance came fully to light. He strode into Parliament when he chose and gave the Deputies a dressing down as though they were schoolboys. Soon his highhandedness hastened the fall of the last Papanastasion cabinet, which he virtually controlled. Suddenly he found himself among the “outs” when the Venizelist Premier Michalacopoulos came in (TIME, Nov. 24, 1924).

The Dictature. Thus ousted once more, Pangalos conspired again with Admiral Hadjikyriakos to seize the government by force. As in 1920, they were racing to launch their coup d’état before someone else succeeded in getting ahead of them. This time their ally of 1920, General Kondylis, became their chief rival. They out-maneuvred him—sprang their coup first and with success (TIME, July 6).

Pangalos seized the premiership and the highly strategic War Ministry. Admiral Hadjikyriakos, lean and bearded, ensconced himself in the Ministry of Marine. For a time they made a pretense of democracy, proclaimed that impartial elections would be held in March, 1926. Their power, however, increased faster than they had expected. Finally, with the complete recklessness which is the leading characteristic of Pangalos, they proceeded to proclaim the present absolute Dictature, with Pangalos as Dictator (TIME, Jan.

*He reigned from 1913 until 1917, when he was forced to abdicate by the Allies. His second son, Alexander, then reigned until his death in 1920, when Constantine was recalled. Exiled once more, Constantine died in 1923.

**M. Papanastasion was exiled last week and his newspaper, Democratic, suppressed.