Theodoros Pangalos

Theodoros Pangalos (born Jan. 11, 1878, Salamís, Greece—died Feb. 26, 1952, Athens) was a soldier and statesman who for eight months in 1926 was the dictator of Greece.

After service in World War I and the unsuccessful Greek campaign in western Turkey (1921–22), Pangalos was appointed minister of war shortly after the abdication of King Constantine (1922). He directed the military court that condemned those responsible for the rout of Greek forces at Afyon, Turkey, in August 1922 and the later massacre of Greeks in Smyrna (now İzmir, Turkey). In 1923 he was also commander in chief in Thrace. In June 1925 he staged a coup and had himself installed as prime minister, and on Jan. 3, 1926, he proclaimed himself dictator. In April he procured his own election as president but was deposed on Aug. 22, 1926, in a coup by his own Republican Guard. His arbitrary rule brought an eight-month suspension of Parliament, a deterioration in relations with Bulgaria (October 1925), and unsuccessful attempts to regulate public morality. After retiring from public life he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in a building scandal (1930). He was accused of having collaborated with the Germans and Italians in World War II, but the charges remained unsubstantiated.