The Periphery of Europe: Southern Dictatorships in the Cold War Era

For much of the early Cold War period, Spain, Portugal, and Greece existed as Europe’s awkward outliers – geographically part of the continent yet politically estranged from its democratic norms. As General Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho would later reflect, “Our biggest mistake was allowing elections to continue. That’s when our downfall began.” These three nations shared striking similarities: economies dependent on tourism and remittances from migrant workers abroad, living standards comparable to Eastern Europe, and authoritarian regimes that seemed frozen in an earlier era.

Portugal had been ruled since 1932 by António de Oliveira Salazar, whose Estado Novo regime maintained a rigidly traditionalist society. Spain fell under Francisco Franco’s control after the 1936-39 Civil War, while Greece succumbed to a military junta in 1967. These regimes survived through a combination of repression, Cold War geopolitics that tolerated anti-communist dictatorships, and economic structures that kept most power in the hands of landed elites and military officers.

The Greek Tragedy: From Junta to Democracy

Greece’s path to dictatorship began with its bitter Civil War (1946-49), where communist guerrillas fought against government forces backed first by Britain and then the United States. The conflict left deep scars, with former resistance fighters exiled for decades and their families barred from public sector jobs. As philosopher José Ortega y Gasset observed, “Spain was the problem, and Europe was the solution” – a realization that would eventually come to Greece as well.

The 1967 coup by Colonel George Papadopoulos’s junta brought seven years of absurd cultural repression – banning miniskirts, long hair, and even the study of Sophocles while maintaining a facade of order. The regime’s fatal miscalculation came in 1974 when it attempted to annex Cyprus, triggering a Turkish invasion that humiliated the Greek military. As Jacques Delors later noted, “Europe is not just material results, it is a spirit. Europe is a state of mind” – one that the junta fundamentally misunderstood.

The crisis forced the junta to recall exiled statesman Konstantinos Karamanlis, who masterfully guided Greece’s transition. His New Democracy party won elections in 1974, a new constitution was adopted in 1975, and by 1981 Greece joined the European Community – completing what Karamanlis called the country’s “political, economic, and cultural Europeanization.”

Portugal’s Carnation Revolution: From Empire to Europe

Portugal’s dictatorship proved the most durable and anachronistic. Salazar’s regime, which one general called “the most stupid fascism in Europe,” maintained a medieval social structure while fighting costly colonial wars in Africa. By 1974, Portugal was spending half its budget on military campaigns where 11,000 soldiers had died – casualty rates surpassing America’s in Vietnam.

The bloodless April 25, 1974 Carnation Revolution (named for flowers protesters placed in soldiers’ rifles) brought the Armed Forces Movement to power. What followed was Europe’s last revolutionary moment – banks and industries nationalized, radical land reforms in the south, and heated debates between communists and socialists. As one communist leader warned, “We cannot have your Western European democracy…Portugal will not be a country with democracy, freedom and monopolies.”

Yet by 1976, moderate socialist Mário Soares had prevailed. Portugal shed its African colonies, adopted a new constitution, and began its own “return to Europe” – finally joining the EC in 1986 alongside Spain. The peaceful transition surprised observers who feared either communist takeover or right-wing backlash.

Spain’s Model Transition: From Franco to Democracy

Spain’s path proved remarkably smooth considering Franco’s 36-year dictatorship. Unlike Portugal or Greece, Spain had experienced significant economic modernization in the 1960s – its GDP grew steadily and tourism boomed, exposing Spaniards to European norms. As filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar’s early works captured, a new generation chafed at the regime’s moral restrictions.

Franco’s death in 1975 allowed King Juan Carlos I to oversee a carefully managed transition. Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez legalized political parties (including the communists), held elections in 1977, and ushered in a new constitution in 1978 that created a parliamentary monarchy with regional autonomies. The king’s decisive action against a 1981 coup attempt cemented democracy’s legitimacy.

When Felipe González’s Socialists won power in 1982, they surprised supporters by embracing NATO and economic modernization rather than radical change. As González realized, Spain’s future lay in European integration – achieved when Spain joined the EC in 1986, completing Southern Europe’s democratic convergence.

The European Embrace: From Pariahs to Partners

These transitions shared key patterns: economic crises undermining authoritarian regimes, reformist figures from within the old systems guiding change, and eventual stabilization under socialist parties that moderated their rhetoric. Most crucially, all three nations saw European integration as both the reward for and guarantor of their democratic futures.

The European Community proved accommodating, despite initial reluctance. Greece joined in 1981, while Spain and Portugal’s 1986 accession required complex negotiations – particularly over agricultural policies that threatened French farmers. The EC provided crucial economic support: between 1985-89 alone, Greece received $7.9 billion in structural funds.

As these nations stabilized, their politics normalized along Western European lines – alternating between center-left and center-right parties. The dramatic transformations showed that, in the words of Spanish commentator Victor Pérez-Díaz, the transitions required “former Francoists to pretend they had never been Francoists, and leftist compromisers to pretend they were still leftists.”

Legacy of the Southern Transitions

The Southern European transitions created a template for peaceful democratization that would later inspire Eastern Europe. They demonstrated how economic development could undermine authoritarianism from below, and how European institutions could anchor democratic consolidation.

Yet challenges remained. Greece struggled with corruption and economic stagnation, Portugal with the legacy of underdevelopment, and Spain with Basque separatism. The rapid social changes also produced disorientation – captured in Almodóvar’s films about Spaniards making up for “lost time.”

Ultimately, these nations fulfilled the vision expressed by Delors – becoming not just materially European, but embracing Europe as a “state of mind.” Their journeys from dictatorship to democracy remain among late 20th-century Europe’s most remarkable political transformations.