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 Leaderif clear. Otherwise brief information provided against specific cases Start End Head of stateflag 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 Head of governmentflag whether the dictator was heading the country executive, typically a government, with the role of a prime minister Head of state partyincludes 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 Parliament"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 allParties"MP" (multi-party) refers to regimes where multiple political parties were formally legal; "NPO" (non-partisan opposition) refers to one-party and non-partisan states which dissolved the party system but allowed the opposition candidates to run on an independent platform; "OP" (one-party) and "NP" (non-partisan) refer to one-party and non-partisan states where opposition and non-governmental organizations were not allowed Elections Ahmed Zogu 1925-02-01 1939-04-07 yesuntil 1928 as president, afterwards as king until 1928 no redesigned NP yes Engelbert Dolfuss, Kurt Schuschnigg 1933-03-07 1938-03-13 no yesfollowing the assassination of Dolfuss, leadership of Vaterländische Front was assumed by Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg. Schuschnigg replaced him in 1936 yes redesigned OP no Emil Hácha 1939-03-16 1945-05-05 no yes yes none OP no Alexander Tsankov 1923-06-09 1926-01-04 no yes yesthe 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 coerced MP yes Boris III 1935-01-22 1943-08-28 yes no no redesigned NPOAlthough all political parties were banned following the 1934 coup, candidates representing parties participated in elections as independent candidates (see 1939 Bulgarian parliamentary election) yes collectivePresident was Emil Hácha and Prime Ministers were Jan Syrový (until Dec. 1938) and his successor Rudolf Beran 1938-09-30 1939-03-15 n/a n/a n/athe prime minister Rudolf Beran became chairman of the state party, Strana národní jednoty, but his position was a far cry from personal dictatorship coercedapart from merging numerous parties into one state party, the parliament was disenfranchised as the government and the president were given legislative rights for the period of 2 years, Jan Kuklík, Czech Law in Historical Contexts, Prague 2015, p. 114 MPin Bohemian part only 2 parties were allowed to operate, Kuklík 2015, p. 114. In the Slovak part there were other parties operational. Some authors mention "destruction of democratic Czechoslovakia", see Anton Pelinka, Gunter Bischof, Michael Gehler, Austrian Foreign Policy in Historical Context, p. 114; others contrast “democratic First Republic (1918-1938)” with “authoritarian Second Republic (1938-1939)” and note “dismantling not just of Masaryk’s republic but of its democratic structure in 1938-1939", Andrea Orzoff, Battle for the Castle: The Myth of Czechoslovakia in Europe, 1914-1948, London 2011. pp. 12, 131 no collectiveat different stages key personalities were Hermann Rauschning, Arthur Greiser and Albert Forster, though all were party subordinates of Adolf Hitler 1933-06-24 1939-09-01 n/a n/a n/a coerced MP yes Konstantin Päts 1934-03-12 1940-06-17 noPäts 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 yes noPäts 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 redesignedThe unicameral parliament (Riigikogu) was adjourned in October 1934 and never resumed session. A new bicameral parliament was elected in 1938. NPOsince 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. yes Adolf Hitler 1933-01-30 1945-04-30 1934-1945in 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". The office of the president was restored in Hitler's last will, and during the last few days of the Nazi Germany this role was held by Dönitz yesfollowing the death of Hitler the prime minister was Goebbels yesfollowing the death of Hitler the NSDAP head was Bormann coercedformally 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 and held on non-alternative basis (with the Nazi Party as the only candidate). Between 1933 and 1942 Reichstag convened 20 times, mostly as an audience to Hitler's harrangues; it exercised no political power OP yes Theodoros Pangalos 1925-06-24 1926-08-26 since 1926until 1926 the head of state was president Pavlos Kountouriotis; Pangalos deposed him following rigged presidential elections until 1926 no coerced MP yes Ioannis Metaxas 1936-08-04 1941-04-25 no yes noMetaxas headed own party, Κόμμα των Ελευθεροφρόνων, which he dissolved upon seizing power none NP no Béla Kun 1919-03-21 1919-08-01 noas 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 no yes none MP no Hungary (W) collectiveThe governments established in Szeged in 1919 during the period of revolution and counter-revolution; Gyula Károlyi, the first head of the Szeged government, Gyula Gömbös, István Bethlen, Horthy, and István Friedrich are mentioned as leaders of the counter-revolutionaries (East Central Europe Between the Two World Wars, Joseph Rothschild, 2016 1919 1920 n/a n/a n/a none MP no Miklós Horthy 1920-03-01 1944-10-15 yes no nodue 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 coerced MP yes Benito Mussolini 1922-10-31 1943-07-25Italian Social Republic between 23 September 1943 and 25 April 1945. nountil 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 yes yes redesignedthe 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 until 1926 political parties were formally allowed to operate yes Kārlis Ulmanis 1934-05-15 1940-06-15 since 1936until 1936 the president was Alberts Kviesis. Upon expiration of his term, Ulmanis by decree assumed presidential duties yes noUlmanis 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 nonenumerous professional chambers have been created, with sort of their joint representation, but they never assumed political duties NPTyler Kuck 2014, p. 241 no Antanas Smetona 1926-12-19 1940-06-15 yes no until 1926in 1926 Smetona handed the leadership of Lietuvių Tautininkų Sąjunga to Liudas Noreika; other party leaders followed later redesignedthe original Seimas was not convened until 1936; afterwards elections were organized according to new rules set up by the regime yes Józef Piłsudski 1926-05-14 1935-05-12 no 1926–1930Piłsudski 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. noThe 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. coerced MP yes collectivefollowing 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 1935-05-12 1939-09-17 n/a n/a n/a coerced MP yes Sidónio Paisleader 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 1917-12-17 1918-12-14 since 1917the 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 yesOfficially as prime minister until May 1918; afterwards premiership role was formally merged with this of the president. no coerced MP yes Portugal collectiveinitially 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 1926-05-28 1933-03-19 n/a n/a n/a coerced NP yes António Salazar 1933-03-19 1974-04-25 no yes yesin 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 redesigned OP yes Carol II 1938-02-11 1940-09-05 yes no nothe 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 noneinitially 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,