1939: Greece

Internal Affairs.

There was little to report on the internal life of Greece in 1939. The dictatorship of General John Metaxas, which had been established on Aug. 4, 1936, continued unchanged. The General, in addition to being Prime Minister, was also Minister of Foreign Affairs, War, Navy, Air, and Education. His dictatorship tried to redirect national education in what was called the 'Spartan' way as opposed to Athenian democracy, to organize the youth of the country into a strictly disciplinarian and militarist movement after Fascist models, to improve the conditions of the working class, and above all to enlarge the army, modernize its equipment and prepare it for any eventualities.

Foreign Relations.

The international situation demanded the full attention of the Greek Government. Like all the other Balkan countries, Greece found herself between the Rome-Berlin axis on the one hand and the Franco-British entente on the other. Whereas the sympathies of the dictatorship were definitely on the Fascist and National Socialist side, the people in their sympathies were overwhelmingly on the side of the western democracies. The Government was also afraid of the expansionist aspirations of Italy and Germany, against which it was obliged to seek protection with Great Britain and France. Largely a maritime power, Greece was especially interested in the maintenance of peace in the Mediterranean and was ready to rely upon the cooperation of the British fleet. Italy and Greece found themselves at swords points on account of the Dodecanese Islands, a group of twelve islands of which the largest is Rhodes, all of them inhabited largely by Greeks, but occupied by Italy and subjected to a stern régime of Italianization. The Dodecanese serve as an important naval and air base for Italy in the eastern Aegean Sea from which position they represent a permanent threat to Greece and Turkey.

The Italian occupation of Albania in April 1939 alarmed Greece even more. Italian aspirations to Greek Epirus and to the Ionian Islands were well known. Italy placed large contingents of troops at the Greco-Albanian frontier and pushed actively the building of strategic roads across Albania. Under these conditions Great Britain and France guaranteed the independence and territorial integrity of Greece as they had done with Turkey. The relations between Turkey and Greece which had been cordial for a number of years were further strengthened by the common danger in which the two countries found themselves. Greece was also an active member of the Balkan Entente, to which Turkey, Rumania and Yugoslavia belonged. (See ITALY: Conquest of Albania.)

The Balkan Entente had been formed primarily to oppose the revisionist claims of Bulgaria, which were partly directed against Greece. The Peace Treaty of Neuilly in 1919 had forced Bulgaria to renounce western Thrace between Enos and Xanthi, which were taken over by Greece. Thus Bulgaria lost her exit to the Aegean Sea which she regards as of the greatest economic importance. The territorial claims of Bulgaria, which were never given up, made the inclusion of Bulgaria in the Balkan Entente impossible and deprived the latter of the possibility of developing into an alliance strong enough to resist all aggression in the Balkans. The outbreak of the European War in September 1939 found Italy yet unprepared for active participation and thus removed the immediate danger of war from the Mediterranean and from Greece. On the other hand, German and Soviet demands upon Rumania and Turkey seemed to threaten the involvement of these two countries in the war; and thus to put before Greece the question of her own participation in defense of the other two Balkan countries. See also ARCHAEOLOGY.

Société Commerciale de Belgique.

See PERMANENT COURT OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE.