Recent Thermopylae of the Greeks, Part III
the Greeks were actually celebrating their entrance to WW 2 (!!!)
posted by vetdino at Saturday, July 14, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Previous Posts
- Recent Thermopylae of the Greeks, Part II
- Recent Thermopylae of the Greeks, Part I
- Quiz: Where are the Spartans today? THE ANSWER
- 300 - Patrida mou
- Battle of Thermopylae 480 BC (repeat)
- Taygetus - Taleton - translated
- Taygetos Taleton 1
- Taygetos Taleton 2
- Taygetos Taleton 3
- Taygetos Taleton 4
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5 Comments:
Nice video for the new Spartans. Their "Leonidas" is, however, missing... He is banned by the today's politicians. The reference to his name is prohibited.
You are "opening" a very interesting dialogue my friend!! Yes, the political leader of Greece at the time, and the person who refused to surrended to the Italians and replied "NO" on behalf of the Greek people WAS (and I don't care what others say) Ioannis Metaxas!!
He was the one who when presented with the ultimatum of Italy by the Italian ambassador in Greece, Emanuele Grazzi replied: "Alors, c'est la guerre" ("then it is war").
The fact that Metaxas was a dictator and an admirror of mid-war Italy and Germany, does not give the right to ANYONE to deny from hium the most heroic deed of his life. Do not forget that seeing the interests of Greece he was the one to ally with Great Britain and make a 180 degree turn from his possition in WW I.
Personally, coming from a Liberal-Venizelist family, I blame Metaxas for his role in the National Schism (1916-1922) as an advisor to King Constantine. In his personal diary before he died he still thought of those days and wondered whether "God will ever forgive us".
There is also no doubt that as a dictator he persued political adversaries and established a totalitarian regime. This does not mean he did not prepare the nation for war (though he tried to avoid it) or he did not have a significant role in the success of the Greco-Italian war.
More about Ioannis Metaxas from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ioannis_Metaxas
Generalismo Franco saved Spain from Communist takeover and was a dictator for over 40 years. Benevolent dictorships can be a good form of government as well. I mean God is a benevolent dictator as well as any military general or CEO. In my book Generalismo Franco is a hero. He saved Catholic Spain. Not all dictators are bad.
"Freedom" is an overrated nonsensical term; in what context or in what measure? As Socrates and Aristotle both pointed out that an excess of freedom always leads to tyranny. Those that cry crocidile tears over some dictators are themselves suspect. The Byzantine Empire lasted 1000 years as a benevolent dictatorship. No democracy has this track record.
Well, George Papandreou senior, grandfather of the leader of the Greek socialist party today, had written in his memoirs, that "Dictatorships are condemned when they harm the Nation, when they don't, they can not be condemned".
Of course all totalitarian regimes use brute force to imposse their ideasover the people, and a democrate can not except such conditions. On the other hand the Metaxas dictatorship was much "milder" (if this term is acceptable) compared to other regimes of his time, including Franco's regime in Spain.
It is worth pointing out that judging societies, political systems, and political personalities of the past with modern political criteria is completely wrong and anti-scientific
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