European interwar dictatorships

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.

20th century European dictatorships by duration

Table summary

Country	Leader[1]	Start	End	Head of state[2]	Head of government[3]	Head of state party[4]	Parliament[5]	Parties[6]	Elections
Albania	Ahmed Zogu	1925-02-01	1939-04-07	yes[7]	until 1928	no	redesigned
Austria	Engelbert Dolfuss, Kurt Schuschnigg	1933-03-07	1934-07-25	no	yes[8]	yes	redesigned	OP	no
Bohemia and Moravia	Emil Hácha	1939-03-16	1945-05-05	no	yes	yes	none	OP	no
Bulgaria	Alexander Tsankov	1923-06-09	1926-01-04	no	yes	yes[9]	coerced	MP	yes
Bulgaria	Boris III	1935-01-22	1943-08-28	yes	no	no	redesigned	NPO[10]	yes
Czechoslovakia	collective[11]	1938-09-30	1939-03-15	n/a	n/a	n/a[12]	coerced[13]	tolerated[14]	no
Danzig	collective[15]	1933-06-24	1939-09-01	n/a	n/a	n/a	coerced	MP	yes
Estonia	Konstantin Päts	1934-03-12	1940-06-17	no[16]	yes	no[17]	redesigned[18]	NPO[19]	yes
Germany	Adolf Hitler	1933-01-30	1945-04-30	after 1934[20]	yes	yes	coerced[21]	OP	yes
Greece	Theodoros Pangalos	1925-06-24	1926-08-26	since 1926[22]	until 1926	no	coerced	MP	yes
Greece	Ioannis Metaxas	1936-08-04	1941-04-25	no	yes	no[23]	none	NP	no
Hungary (S)	Béla Kun	1919-03-21	1919-08-01	no[24]	no	yes	none	MP	no
Hungary (W)	collective[25]	1919	1920	n/a	n/a	n/a	none	MP	no
Hungary (W)	Miklós Horthy	1920-03-01	1944-10-15	yes	no	no[26]	coerced	MP	yes
Italy	Benito Mussolini	1922-10-31	1943-07-23[27]	no[28]	yes	yes	redesigned[29]	MP (until 1926) OP (after 1926)[30]	yes
Latvia	Kārlis Ulmanis	1934-05-15	1940-06-15	since 1936[31]	yes	no[32]	none[33]	NP[34]	no
Lithuania	Antanas Smetona	1926-12-19	1940-06-15	yes	no	until 1926[35]	redesigned[36]	MP (until 1936) OP (after 1936)[37]	yes
Poland	Józef Piłsudski	1926-05-14	1935-05-12	no	1926–1930[38]	no[39]	coerced	MP	yes
Poland	collective[40]	1935-05-12	1939-09-17	n/a	n/a	n/a	coerced	MP	yes
Portugal	Sidónio Pais[41]	1917-12-17	1918-12-14	since 1917[42]	yes[43]	no	coerced	MP	yes
Portugal	collective[44]	1926-05-28	1933-03-19	n/a	n/a	n/a	coerced	NP	yes
Portugal	António Salazar	1933-03-19	1974-04-25	no	yes	yes[45]	redesigned	OP	yes
Romania	Carol II	1938-02-11	1940-09-05	yes	no	no[46]	none[47]	OP	yes
San Marino	Giuliano Gozi[48]	1923-04-01	1943-07-28[49]	intermittently	n/a	yes	coerced	MP (until 1925) OP	yes
Slovakia	Jozef Tiso	1939-03-14	1945-04-01	yes[50]	until 1939	yes	redesigned	MP[51]	no
Russia (S) /  Soviet Union	collective[52]	spring 1918[53]	between 1927 and 1929[54]	n/a	n/a	n/a	coerced	MP (until 1922) NPO[55]	yes
Russia (W)	collective[56]	1918-23-09	1918-11-18	n/a	n/a	n/a	none	MP	no
Russia (W)	Alexander Kolchak[57]	1918-11-18	after 1920-02-07[58]	yes	no	yes[59]	none	MP	no
Soviet Union	Joseph Stalin	between 1927 and 1929[54]	1953-03-05	no	since 1941	yes	redesigned[60]	OP	yes
Spain	Miguel Primo de Rivera	1923-09-23	1930-01-28	no	yes	yes	redesigned[61]	OP	no
Spain	collective[62]	1930-01-28	1931-04-14	n/a	n/a	n/a	redesigned	MP	yes
Spain (N)[63]	collective[64]	1936-07-18	1936-10-01	n/a	n/a	n/a	none	MP[65]	no
Spain (N)	Francisco Franco	1936-10-01	1975-11-20	yes	until 1973	yes	redesigned	OP[66]	no
Spain (R)	collective[67]	1936-07-18	1939-03-31	n/a	n/a	n/a	coerced[68]	MP	no
Yugoslavia	Alexander I	1929-01-06	1934-04-09	yes	no	no	redesigned[69]	OP[70]	yes
Yugoslavia	collective[71]	1934-04-09	1941-03-27	n/a	n/a	n/a	redesigned	MP[72]	yes

See also

• Interwar period
• Dictatorship