The significance of “Oxi Day” on October 28 in Greece

October 28, 2007 at 11:47 ·

Oxi Day on October 28 commemorates the anniversary when former military general and Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas said, “No” to an ultimatum made by Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini to allow Italian forces to occupy strategic locations in Greece or otherwise face war back in 1940.

The motivation behind Mussolini’s ultimatum was an attempt to impress his ally Adolf Hitler, by securing what was thought would be an easy victory and expanding his fascist regime. But when Italian Ambassador Emanuele Grazzi presented the demands at dawn after a party at the German embassy, it was clear that Greece was destined to enter WWII with Metaxas’ unwavering refusal.

Though there is no documented proof that Metaxas responded with a simple “no” or “oxi,” the word perfectly encapsulates the longer reply said to be either “You shall not pass” or the French phrase “Alors, c’est la guerre” (“Then it is war”). Residents were reportedly shouting ‘oxi’ as they ran through the streets to arm themselves and prepare for war. Less than two hours later, Italian troops stationed in Albania attacked the border.

Initial success by Italians was fiercely countered by Greeks, causing Mussolini to embarrass himself and call Hitler for help. Greek and British forces continued to fight and decimate German troops, which was considered to be the most powerful army in Europe, until Greece surrendered in Epirus to conclude the Greco-Italian War lasting six months. The extent of casualties caused Hitler to delay an attack on Russia, thus subjecting his troops to harsh winter conditions and contributing to the defeat of Germany.

For many, Oxi Day is more than an anniversary commemorated with parades of schoolchildren in Thessaloniki, military grandstanding and flag waving. It is a day to remember Hellenic values, passion and ‘filotimo,’ and the courageous words and deeds of ancestors who fought for this land with flesh and blood. May we one day honor this country by mirroring the virtues set forth for us in decades past and be worthy to inherit its rich legacy.

Related posts

“Greek national anthem – O Ethnikos Ymnos”
“November 17: Athens Polytechnic Uprising”
“August 15: Dormition of the Theotokos”

* If you are a student doing a report with the intention of copying this article without doing your own research, your teacher/professor will recognize it isn’t your work and you will be punished. And how sad is it that you’re Greek and copying work from an American?

Photos from armyrecognition.com and Giorgos Konstantinidis of Eurokinissi

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9 Comments »

  tsevdos wrote @ October 28th, 2007 at 13:27

Lovely post. I really like the “filotimo” word you’re using. Is there an english translation of this word?

  arammos wrote @ October 28th, 2007 at 18:50

I can’t say something about your post. We must understand to celebrate this day and solve our problems another day… We can’t speculate only these days.

  ein Steppenwolf wrote @ October 28th, 2007 at 22:10

The Greeks won in the first two months because they were prepared for the war and their bases were much closer to the front that Italy is to Albania; they managed to mobilize 130 thousand men in a few days, outnumbering the Italians. But even the modest greek advance of about 100 km made communications with the front difficult, prohibiting any further advance.

The resistance against the Germans was rather unsuccessful, Salonica falling in just three days. The alleged fatal delay of the Russian campaign caused by the greek resistance is rather a myth. The total german casualties were some insignificant href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Greece#_ref-B246_0″>five thousand men.

  Kat wrote @ October 28th, 2007 at 23:10

JT – There is no exact English translation of ‘filotimo,’ but I feel this man has a relatively good explanation. Some people say it means “respect,” but actually it means much more than that.

A – The post is not a criticism or pointing to problems to solve…nor based on speculation. It’s about the heralds and sacrifices of the past that brought glory to Greece, which should be remembered and inspire us to a brighter future. Filia

ein S – I don’t use Wikipedia for collecting research, I use several diverse sources without overt nationalistic bias and whatever else has attribution to solid references, then do my very best to hit the middle of the road. Reporting on GR is particularly difficult because there are so many different versions. If I change something according to what you’ve told me, someone else will write and tell me something to contradict that. In fact, I’ve seen much different stats than what you gave me — which is the reason I quote no stats and never label anything “successful” or not — and I’ve still irritated people with this rather plain vanilla version of Oxi day.

Please, can we at least agree on honoring courageous acts and words of the past and look toward the future?

  photene wrote @ October 29th, 2007 at 01:12

I think this was a great post Kat and true to the spirit of the day! Thank you.

  Kristie wrote @ October 29th, 2007 at 15:13

That was beautifully written and so inspiring. Thanks

  graffic wrote @ October 31st, 2007 at 20:06

I will send this to a friend that love “war stories”. He loves them so much that even if he studied computer science in his final year he prepared a document about Aegean war ships. He was also the one who told me about the “german delay” to go to russia and other stories about the germans in Crete

The wikipedia, although is useful, sometimes contains a lot of incorrect things. Only if you’re an expert on the subject you can fix them. But if you’re an expert, you don’t ask wikipedia

  Dino wrote @ October 31st, 2007 at 23:37

This is for…ein stepenwolf…
Salonica fell because there were no real forces defending the city, since the bulk of the greek army and the not loga ago commonwealth expaditionary force were either in the Albania front or in Thrace to protect the north-east from a hovering Bulgarian offencisive. Even the commonwealth force numbered a puny 50000 men. Greece was attacked at the same time, by Italy, Germany and Bulgaria, allready exausted financialy and militarily by a 6 month campaign. At the point were the germans entered, there was practically no Greek army and the army in Albania was cut off between Italians and Germans. The fact that op.Barbarossa was delayed is by means no fiction, since Hitler stated that later to Finish Field Marshal Mannerheim. In recognition of their indeed firece resistance, greek soldiers were not taken prisoners and officers were allowed to keep their side arms. greece at the time was about 7 million and Germany, bulgaria, and italy a compined 100. Still Greece from October 28th 1940 until may 41 when Crete fell, managed to hold. Remind you, France fell in 8 days…
Just a bit of a history insight…mein …ein stepenwolf..

  exa wrote @ January 5th, 2009 at 12:13

Greeks are so proud of the word ‘filotimo’ as it can’t be directly translated and in my experience, thats all they can be proud of. I have experienced the true act of the word by foreigners and more around the world by the Greek diaspora than ‘dopyi’ in Athens and Greece where I have a big Greek family and ‘friends’.

Greeks in Greece need to stop resting on their olive laurels, in my opinion.

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