It is more that they celebrate their defiance to an aggressor than the start of the conflict per se. Ohi Day. They subsequently did very well in opposing Italian aggression.
Texans still celebrate and revere the Alamo for the defiant bravery of those defenders, even though any rational reading of the episode suggests that holding the mission was sorta pointless and did not truly alter the campaign, except possibly to further increase the morale of Houston's force -- and even that is arguable. Alamo story revisited. The Greeks are not the only ones to hold such a sentiment.
So I would venture to say it is more about asserting patriotism and defiance in the face of an aggressor than to celebrate the opening of a bloody conflict. Between the Italians, the Germans, the Resistance to occupation, and the follow on civil war (first proxy war of the Cold War really), the next decade was pretty rough on Greeks.
Last edited by Seamus Fermanagh; 11-05-2019 at 16:13.
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Last edited by Greyblades; 11-04-2019 at 16:24.
WWII is an exception, because of the controversies surrounding the liberation in 1944. The latter was mostly achieved by Communist partisans entering the city, while in December, the British, together with the exiled government, right-wing guerillas and, most importantly, pro-German collaborators launched a brutal conflict that led to open civil war. Given these controversies and the fact that communists were imprisoned/expelled/executed for the next 30 years, the beginning of the war was chosen as a less inflammatory option.
It's the same word in Greek, so probably made a mistake. Seamus' article also uses the two words interchangeably, by the way. Perhaps the confusion comes from the fact that it serves as both a commemoration for the victims and tragedies of the occupation, as well as a celebration for the defeat of the Italians, the eventual end of the conflict and the annexation of the Dodecanese.
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