The Greco-Ita l i an War

The Greco-Ita l i an War, somet imes ca l l ed the Ita l o-Greek War, was

a con f l i c t between Ita ly and Greece,

wh ich l as ted f rom 28 October 1940 to 23

Apr i l 1941 .

By the m idd le o f 1940, Ita l i an d ic tator Ben i to Musso l in i had grown jea l ous o f Ado l f H i t le r ' s

conquest s and wanted to prove to h i s Ax i s par tner that he cou ld lead Ita ly to s im i l a r m i l i t a ry

successes .

Ita ly had occup ied Alban ia in the spr ing o f 1939 and severa l Br i t i sh

s t rongho lds in Afr i ca , such as the Ita l i an conquest o f Br i t i sh

Soma l i l and in the summer o f 1940, but cou ld not boast o f v i c to r ie s on the

same sca le as Naz i Germany.

At the same t ime, Musso l in i wanted to

reassert Ita ly ' s in terest s in the Ba lkans, fee l ing

threatened by Germany and secure bases f rom wh ich Br i t i sh outpost s

in the eastern Med ite r ranean cou ld be

at tacked .

On 28 October 1940, a f ter Greek d ic ta tor Ioann i s Metaxas re jected an Ita l i an u l t imatum demand ing the occupat ion o f Greek terr i t o ry , Ita l i an fo rces in vaded Greece. The Greek a rmy counterat tacked

and fo rced the Ita l i an s to ret reat .

By mid-December , the Greeks occup ied

near ly a quarter o f Alban i a , ty ing down 530,000 Ita l i an troops . In March

1941, a majo r Ita l i an counterattack fa i l ed , humi l i a t ing Ita l i an

mi l i t a ry pretens i ons .

On 6 Apr i l 1941, com ing to the a id o f Ita ly , Naz i Germany in vaded Greece th rough

Bulga r i a and Yugos la v i a . On 12 Apr i l , the Greek army began ret reat ing f rom Alban i a to

avo id be ing cut o f f by the rap id German advance. On 20 Apr i l , the Greek army o f Ep i rus su r rendered to the Germans and on

23 Apr i l 1941, the arm i s t i ce was repeated, inc lud ing the Ita l i an s , e f fec t i ve ly end ing

the Greco-Ita l i an war .

The Greek v i c to ry over the in i t i a l Ita l i an o f fens i ve o f October 1940 was the f i r s t Al l ied l and v i c to ry o f the Second Wor ld War and he lped ra i se mora le

in occup ied Europe .

Some h i s t o r i ans , such as John Keegan, a rgue that i t may have in f l uenced the course o f the ent i re war by fo rc ing Germany to postpone the invas ion

o f the Sov iet Un ion in order to as s i s t Ita ly aga in st Greece.

The de l ay meant that the German forces in vad ing the Sov iet Un ion had not atta ined the i r object i ves fo r that year

befo re the harsh Russ ian w inter , l ead ing to the i r de feat at the Batt le o f Moscow .