It is October of 1940. World War II has been raging for 13 months between the Axis powers – chiefly Germany and Italy – and the Allies, recently being reduced to just the United Kingdom and her commonwealth nations.
The German army appears entirely unstoppable, having achieved stunning victories over the Allies who have lost their entire presence on the European continent. Benito Mussolini, envious of his ally’s conquests, issues an ultimatum to Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas on October 28th, 1940. The ultimatum demanded the major cession of Greek territory as well as the Italian occupation of Greece.
Metaxas knew that to refuse these demands meant pitting his army of 50,000 men against an Italian force at least twice as large, while also risking the ire of the dominating German war machine. Regardless, in the spirit of Leonidas, the Greek Revolution, and all other Greek acts of resistance against impossible odds, Metaxas famously refused the Italians. The resulting exclamation became legendary with his curt response “Όχι!” (No!)
The Italians, confident that they could easily take Greece by force, were stopped quickly by the Greek army, who, in the spirit of the Greek tradition of Ελευθερία ή θάνατος (Freedom or Death), would yet again wage a war against impossible odds for the freedom and honor of Hellas.
After promptly halting the Italian advance, the Greek army even went on the offensive, occupying a large portion of Italian-controlled Albania, where the Italian army remained stuck against the wall of Greeks willing to die before giving an inch of ground. Try as they might, the Italians never broke through Greek lines and were forced to wait for an invasion by Germany and Bulgaria six months later to rescue them from the tenacious Greeks.
Greece’s denial and heroism served as one of the first pieces of good news for the Allied Powers and diverted Axis forces for long enough to allow Russia a meaningful preparation against later German advances, forever altering the course of history. This act of defiance and patriotism prompted British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to say, “Hence, we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks.”
KTE believes that Oxi Day remains extremely relevant to the existential state of Greece today in 2024. Greece and her people, as we have been throughout history, are once again the subjects of invasion from those who envy our beautiful country. The invasion today is cultural, however, not military – but it is an ever-present danger while our national identity and orthodox values, which survived centuries of brutal occupation and oppression, are being targeted for erasure and replacement in the name of globalism.
What the enemies of Greece and her people could not do through strength of arms and conquest, they are accomplishing today through a brutal culture and economic war, as we see our youth break from Greek tradition in favor of criminality, and our birth rates plummet.
KTE believes that the spirit of Oxi Day and Freedom or Death are more relevant now than they have ever been. Once again, we are under attack by an overwhelming force. Once again, we must rise to meet those who would destroy our people no matter the cost, and once again can we succeed in defending Greece against impossible odds. It is up to every Greek to stand up, shoulder to shoulder, and firmly announce “Oxi!”