2. The Greco-Italian War,
sometimes called the
Italo-Greek War, was
a conflict between
Italy and Greece,
which lasted from 28
October 1940 to 23
April 1941.
3. By the middle of 1940, Italian dictator Benito
Mussolini had grown jealous of Adolf Hitler's
conquests and wanted to prove to his Axis partner
that he could lead Italy to similar military
successes.
4. Italy had occupied Albania
in the spring of 1939
and several British
strongholds in Africa,
such as the Italian
conquest of British
Somaliland in the summer
of 1940, but could not
boast of victories on the
same scale as Nazi
Germany.
5. At the same time,
Mussolini wanted to
reassert Italy's
interests in the
Balkans, feeling
threatened by Germany
and secure bases from
which British outposts
in the eastern
Mediterranean could be
attacked.
6. On 28 October 1940, after Greek dictator Ioanni s
Metaxas rejected an Italian ultimatum demanding
the occupation of Greek territory, Italian forces
invaded Greece. The Greek army counterattacked
and forced the Italians to retreat .
7. By mid-December, the
Greeks occupied
nearly a quarter of
Albania, tying down
530,000 Italian
troops. In March
1941, a major Italian
counterattack failed,
humiliating Italian
military pretensions .
8. On 6 April 1941, coming to the aid of Italy,
Nazi Germany invaded Greece through
Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. On 12 April, the
Greek army began retreating from Albania to
avoid being cut off by the rapid German
advance. On 20 April, the Greek army of
Epirus surrendered to the Germans and on
23 April 1941, the armistice was repeated,
including the Italians, effectively ending
the Greco-Italian war.
9.
10. The Greek victory over the initial Italian offensive
of October 1940 was the first Allied land victory
of the Second World War and helped raise morale
in occupied Europe.
11. Some historians, such as John Keegan, argue that
it may have influenced the course of the entire
war by forcing Germany to postpone the invasion
of the Soviet Union in order to assist Italy
against Greece.
12. The delay meant that the German forces invading the Soviet
Union had not attained their objectives for that year
before the harsh Russian winter, leading to their defeat
at the Battle of Moscow .
