Happy #OxiDay! Some quick history for anyone who doesn’t know about this celebration of steadfastness and bravery by the Greek people

On October 28th, 1940, the Italian ambassador to Greece issued an ultimatum to the Greek PM, demanding that he allow Axis forces to enter and occupy Greek territory.

According to the story, his response was simple: “Όχι!”, meaning “No!”

(His actual response was something along the lines of “so this is war!”, which is badass but not as badass as the storied response)

When the response was received, Italian troops invaded Greece.

The Greeks, who were massively outnumbered, managed to push the Italians out of their country within 5 months.

Eventually, Mussolini begged Germany to help them, and a German-led offensive defeated the Greek army in 1941, but the Greek people continued to resist the Nazi occupation for the rest of the war

The amount of time the Germans had to spend defeating the Greeks gave the USSR enough time to prepare (thought not fully) for a German invasion, which would eventually lead to the defeat of the Nazis.

We can never forget the bravery of the Greek people in standing up to fascism, and must always remember the sacrifices they made to protect their homeland.