What would Metaxas have done?

Cook

Banned
Very simply, if Ioannis Metaxas had not died in January 1941 what would have been his policy; would he have asked Hitler to mediate a ceasefire between Italy and Greece or found some other way of saving Greece sovereignty?

Would he have signed the Tripartite Pact?
 
Hmmm. This is an interesting one.
Metaxas decided to resist Italy in 1940 for a simple reason - he realized how out-of-place Greece was among the big Axis Powers, who were racist, imperialist and Darwinist. If he let Italy have their way once, they would continue to bully Greece into submission.

I don't think he would've been able to change anything - he'd try to drive a wedge between Germany and Italy, but probably fail.
The Greeks surrendered to the Wehrmacht very quickly. The Nazis knew how much the Greeks loathed the idea of an Italian occupation (who they had defeated fair and square), and Hitler also knew he could hold Greece with a minimal force if he only kept out the Italians. But when Mussolini got pissy over this, it was decided that the Germany-Italy alliance was more important than the Greek people's tender feelings. So they got to occupy Greece as well.
 
Poor Metaxas!

I think he committed suicide to prevent the Germans using him as the Greek equivalent of Marshal Petain. Like the guard on the Acropolis who was told by the Germans to lower the Greek flag, and who, I understand, then jumped over the cliff wrapped in his country's flag.

Resistance to invasion has taken many forms.
 
That is a good question. The Greek successor government made a number of mistakes between the time of his death and the German invasion, most importantly leaving the bulk of the Greek army facing the Italians as the Germans prepared to invade. That's understandable from the point of view of national pride. The Greeks didn't want the Italians advancing against weakened Greek defenses and claiming victory. At the same time, as a realistic defensive strategy it was awful. It let the Germans coast to victory.

The Greeks were not going to stand up against the Germans in the long run in any case, and they may well have known that, in which case what they did was somewhat rational. On the other hand, the Greeks could potentially have gained significantly from prolonging the defense and putting troops in a position to be evacuated. Given the tight time frame the Germans had for Barbarossa, a better Greek defense against the Germans might have meant more Greeks got away to fight in Crete, which could easily have turned the tide there.
 
This really is a good question, but a lot depends on the man. What were his plans for dealing with the end-game to the Italian invasion? He had to know that if the Italians didn't eventually grind the Greeks down the Germans would invade, and that the Greeks couldn't win in that situation. In reality, the best thing that could have happened to the Greeks would have been a scenario something like what happened to the Finns. Prove you're a bunch of bad@sses, then have the Italians grind out what looks enough like a victory that they can end up with a peace treaty that is essentially the status quo.
Greek national pride and frankly Italian military incompetence made that unlikely, but it's the best the Greeks could hope for.
 

Cook

Banned
Thanks Dale.

Given that Metaxas was a Germanophile but had been with war with Italy; would Greece signing the tripartite Pact be likely, conceivable or ASB?
 
That is a good question. The Greek successor government made a number of mistakes between the time of his death and the German invasion, most importantly leaving the bulk of the Greek army facing the Italians as the Germans prepared to invade. That's understandable from the point of view of national pride. The Greeks didn't want the Italians advancing against weakened Greek defenses and claiming victory. At the same time, as a realistic defensive strategy it was awful. It let the Germans coast to victory.

There is also the possibility that the successor government thought it stood a chance to actually throw the Italians into the sea. We nowadays know, that the Greek Army did not have the capability to do this (mostly for logistical reasons), but perhaps the Greeks actually thought they had a chance of throwing the Italians into the sea, thereby forcing them to accept some kind of truce that would eliminate the German threat.
Faced with annihilation in Albania and at the same time getting their ass kicked in N. Africa, the Italians may have decided to throw in the towel in Albania with Greece becoming neutral. The Greek government would have to ask for the British to leave Greek territory however. Only then would the Germans agree not to intervene.
 
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