Metaxas, Ioannis

Metaxas, Ioannis

(born April 12, 1871, Ithaca, Greece—died Jan. 29, 1941, Athens) Greek general and premier (1936–41). He rose in the Greek army to become chief of staff (1913–17). An ardent monarchist, he left Greece when King Constantine I was deposed in 1917, but he returned in 1920. After the monarchy's fall in 1923, he led an opposition ultraroyalist party until the monarchy was restored in 1935. He was appointed premier in 1936 and, with royal authority, established a dictatorship. He suppressed political opposition, carried out some beneficial economic and social reforms, and brought a united country into the Western alliance in World War II.