The Italian Invasion Of Greece

"For the sake of historical truth I must verify that only the Greeks, of all the adversaries who confronted us, fought with bold courage and highest disregard of death." - Adolf Hitler

"The magnificent struggle of Greece, was the first big turn of WWII"- George VI, King of Great Britain 1936-1952

"I am sorry because I am getting old and I shall not live long to thank the Greek People, whose resistance decided WWII." - Joseph Stalin

"I am unable to give the proper breadth of gratitude I feel for the heroic resistance of the People and the leaders of Greece." - Charles de Gaul

"On the 28th of October 1940 Greece was given a deadline of three hours to decide on war or peace but even if a three day or three week or three year were given, the response would have been the same. The Greeks taught dignity throughout the centuries. When the entire world had lost all hope, the Greek people dared to question the invincibility of the German monster raising against it the proud spirit of freedom." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

DURATION OF RESISTANCE v GERMANY/AXIS (in days):
The Greeks 219
Norway 61
France 43 (a great power at the time)
Poland 30
Belgium 18
Holland 4
Yugoslavia 3
Denmark 0 (The Danes surrendered to Hitler's motorcyclist who was conveying Hitler's request to the Danish king for the crossing of the German armies. The
Danish king indicating submission surrendered his crown to the motorcyclist)
Czechoslovakia 0
Luxenburg 0

 

Zoomer Historian: Most wars aren't as 'unprovoked' as they are made out. The Germans, despite decades of screeching biased historians saying otherwise, did in fact have a reason to go into Poland. The same is true of the invasion of the Soviet Union two years later. One war that bucks this trend, however, is the Italian Invasion of Greece. Why on earth did Mussolini decide to invade Greece whilst already so entangled in North Africa? I'll answer this question and more in this video, the Complete History of the Italian Invasion of Greece.