European interwar dictatorships

20th century European dictatorships by duration

This is a list of dictatorial regimes operational in European states in the interwar period, the period between World War I and World War II.

Table summary

Country Leader Start End Duration (days) Head of state Head of government Head of state party Parliament Party system
Albania Ahmed Zogu 1925-02-01 1939-04-07 5,178 yes until 1928 no redesigned tolerated
Austria Engelbert Dolfuss 1933-03-07 1934-07-25 505 no yes yes redesigned abolished
Austria Kurt Schuschnigg 1934-07-29 1938-03-12 1,322 no yes since 1936 redesigned abolished
Bohemia and Moravia collective 1939-03-15 1945-05-08 2,246 n/a n/a n/a none abolished
Bulgaria Alexander Tsankov 1923-06-09 1926-01-04 940 no yes yes coerced tolerated
Bulgaria Boris III 1935-01-22 1943-08-28 3,140 yes no no redesigned abolished
Czechoslovakia collective 1938-09-30 1939-03-15 166 n/a n/a n/a coerced tolerated
Danzig collective 1933-06-24 1939-09-01 2,260 n/a n/a n/a corced tolerated
Estonia Konstantin Päts 1934-03-12 1938-01-01 1,187 no yes no redesigned tolerated
Germany Adolf Hitler 1933-01-30 1945-04-30 4,473 since 1934 yes yes coerced abolished
Greece Theodoros Pangalos 1925-06-24 1926-08-26 428 since 1926 until 1926 no coerced tolerated
Greece Ioannis Metaxas 1936-08-04 1941-04-25 1,725 no yes no none abolished
Hungary Béla Kun 1919-03-21 1919-08-01 133 no no yes none tolerated
Hungary Miklós Horthy 1920-03-01 1944-10-15 8,994 yes no no coerced tolerated
Italy Benito Mussolini 1922-10-31 1943-07-23 7,570 no yes yes redesigned abolished
Latvia Kārlis Ulmanis 1934-05-15 1940-06-15 2,223 since 1936 yes no none abolished
Lithuania Antanas Smetona 1926-12-19 1940-06-15 4,927 yes no until 1926 redesigned tolerated
Poland Józef Piłsudski 1926-05-14 1935-05-12 3,285 no 1926–1930 no coerced tolerated
Poland collective 1935-05-12 1939-09-17 1,589 n/a n/a n/a coerced tolerated
Portugal Sidónio Pais 1917-12-17 1918-12-14 362 since 1917 yes no coerced tolerated
Portugal collective 1926-05-28 1933-03-19 2,487 n/a n/a n/a coerced tolerated
Portugal António Salazar 1933-03-19 1968-09-25 12,984 no yes yes redesigned abolished
Romania Carol II 1938-02-11 1940-09-05 937 yes no no none abolished
San Marino Giuliano Gozi 1923-04-01 1943-07-28 7,423 intermittently n/a yes coerced abolished
Slovakia Jozef Tiso 1939-03-14 1945-04-01 2,210 yes until 1939 yes redesigned tolerated
Soviet Russia collective 1917-11-07 1924-01-21 3,657 n/a n/a n/a coerced abolished
Soviet Union Joseph Stalin 1924-01-21 1953-03-05 9,246 no since 1941 yes rubber stamp abolished
Spain Miguel Primo de Rivera 1923-09-23 1930-01-28 2,319 no yes yes redesigned abolished
Spain collective 1930-01-28 1931-04-14 441 n/a n/a n/a redesigned tolerated
Spain (R) collective 1936-07-18 1939-03-31 986 n/a n/a n/a coerced tolerated
Spain (N) Francisco Franco 1936-10-01 1975-11-20 14,294 yes until 1973 yes redesigned abolished
Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk 1920-05-03 1938-11-10 6,765 since 1923 until 1921 yes redesigned tolerated
Turkey collective 1938-11-10 1950-05-22 4,211 n/a n/a n/a redesigned tolerated
Yugoslavia Alexander I 1929-01-06 1934-04-09 1,919 yes no no redesigned tolerated
Yugoslavia collective 1934-04-09 1941-03-27 2,544 n/a n/a n/a redesigned tolerated

See also