Italian Ultimatum and Greek Reaction
| "I said that we would crush the Negus' kidneys. Now, with the same, absolute certainty, I repeat, absolute, I tell you that we will crush Greece's kidneys." |
| Mussolini's speech in Palazzo Venezia, 18 November 1940 |
On the eve of 28 October 1940, Italy's ambassador in Athens, Emanuele Grazzi, handed an ultimatum from Mussolini to Metaxas. In it the Duce demanded free passage for his troops to occupy unspecified "strategic points" inside Greek territory. Greece had been friendly towards Nazi Germany, especially profiting from mutual trade relations, but now Germany's ally Italy was to invade Greece. Metaxas rejected the ultimatum with the words "Alors, c'est la guerre" (French for "Well, it's war."). In this he echoed the will of the Greek people to resist, a will that was popularly expressed in one word: "Ochi" (Όχι) (Greek for "No"). Within hours Italy began attacking Greece from Albania. The outbreak of hostilities was first announced by Athens Radio early in the morning of the 28th, with the famous two-sentence dispatch of the General Staff: "Since 05:30 this morning, the enemy is attacking our vanguard on the Greek-Albanian border. Our forces are defending the fatherland."
Shortly thereafter, Metaxas addressed the Greek people with these words: "The time has come for Greece to fight for her independence. Greeks, now we must prove ourselves worthy of our forefathers and the freedom they bestowed upon us. Greeks, now fight for your Fatherland, for your wives, for your children and the sacred traditions. The struggle now is for everything!" The last sentence was a verbatim quote from The Persians, by the dramatist Aeschylus. In response to this address, the people of Greece reportedly spontaneously went out to the streets singing Greek patriotic songs and shouting anti-Italian slogans, and hundreds of thousands of volunteers, men and women, in all parts of Greece headed to army recruitment offices to enlist. The whole nation was united in the face of aggression. Even the imprisoned leader of Greece's banned Communist Party, Nikolaos Zachariadis, issued an open letter advocating resistance, despite the still existing Nazi-Soviet Pact, thereby contravening the current Comintern line (although in two further letters he accused Metaxas of waging an "imperialistic" war and called upon Greek soldiers to desert their ranks and overthrow the regime).
Read more about this topic: Greco-Italian War
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