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Greece sided with the Allies in World War I (1914-18), although the Allies had to engineer King Constantin I's replacenent as he opposed the War. One of the primary reason Greece entered the War was to obtain Ottoman territory populated by the ethnic Greeks. Greek forces with the authorization of the Supreme Allied War Council occupied Adrianople (Edirne), Bursa, and Smyrna (Izmir). The Greeks landed with the support of an Allied flotilla (summer and fall of 1919). The Turks did not resist and the Greek forces advanced to Usak, 175 kilometers inland from Izmir. There was a substantial Greek population in western Anatolia. The Turks did resist the Greek advance into Anatolia. The initial fighting was inconclusive (1920). The military situation changed changed in 1921. Turkish forces commanded by Ismet Pasha stopped Greek offensives twice at Inönü (January and April 1921). This prevented any further Greek advances. A third Greek offensive drive the Turks back to Sakarya Nehri, only 80 km from Ankara (July 1921). Here Atatürk took personal command and decisively defeated the Greek Army in a bruising 20-day battle. Greek political developments alienated the British. The French and Italians withdrew from Anatolia (October 1921). The Turks launched an offensive against the Greeks (August 1922). The Turks call it the Battle of the Commander in Chief. The Turks soon reached Izmir, trapping retreating Greek soldiers. Many were evacuated by Allied ships. The Turks then turned to eastern Thrace. Here to get to the Greeks, the Turks faced Allied troops defending the Ottoman Government in Constantinople/Istambul and the Bosphorus/Dardanelles The French Government decided to withdraw its forces. The British prepared to defend their positions. The British did not, however, want a war with Turkey and suggested a compromise. Atatürk accepted the British-proposed truce. The Armistice of Mudanya (near Bursa) ended the fighting between Greece and Turkey (October 1922). The Greek troops withdrew beyond the Maritsa River. The Turks occupied eatern Thracee. The Turks as part of the Armistice accepted a continued Allied presence on the straits and in Istanbul until a comprehensive peace settlement could be negotiated.
Greece sided with the Allies in World War I (1914-18), although the Allies had to engineer King Constantin I's replacenent as he opposed the War. One of the primary reason Greece entered the War was to obtain Ottoman territory populated by the ethnic Greeks. The Ottoman Empire had sided with the Allies primarily to regain territory seized by the Russians. The suffered a series of disastrous defeat. First in the Caucases at the hands of the Russians. And then in Palestine at the hands of the British. They were driven out of Arabia, Palestine, Syria, and Iraq with great losses.
Greek forces with the authorization of the Supreme Allied War Council occupied Adrianople (Edirne), Bursa, and Smyrna (Izmir). The Greeks landed with the support of an Allied flotilla (summer and fall of 1919). The Turks did not resist and the Greek forces advanced to Usak, 175 kilometers inland from Izmir. There was a substantial Greek population in western Anatolia.
The first attempt to formally end World War I for the Ottoman Empire was the Treaty of Sèvres (August 10, 1920). This was the peace treaty between the Entente (Allies) and Associated Powers and the Ottoman Empire. As at Versaiiles, the Allies dictated the terms, dismembering the Empire. The Allies used the same approach as with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, dividing up the Empire into ethnically based nation states. The Ottoman Empire had already lost a great deal of territory as the result of largely British offensives, one through Paledstine and Syria and the other through Iraq. The Hejaz (Saudi rabia) was lost through the Arab Revolt supported by the British. An outline for the treaty had been reached at Sanremo Conference (April 1920). Several new states were to be created under the terms of the Sèvres Treaty. The Hejaz (Saudi Arabia) and Armenia were to become independent countries. Kurdistan was also to become independent and would include Mosul. The British and French during the War had reached the Sykes-Picot Agreement. This was incorporated into the Treaty. The territories involved were made League of Nation Mandates. Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Palestine were assigned to the British. Lebanon and Syria were assigned to the French. The Dodecanese Islands and Rhodes which had been occupied by Italy in an earlier war with the Ottomans (1911) and small areas of southern Anatolia were to become Italian territory. Thrace and Western Anatoliaincluding İzmir/Smyrna would become Greek territory. The critical Bosphorus, Dardanelles and Sea of Marmara connecting the Black Sea and Mediterranean were to be demilitarized and internationalized. The Ottoman Army was restricted to a maximum 50,000 men. The Ottoman Navy was restricted to 7 sloops and 6 torpedo boats. The Ottomans were prohibited from creating an air force. Sèvres was near Paris and where the Treaty was signed. At the time the Allies occupied the Ottoman capital (İstanbul) and other areas of Turkey. The Ottoman Parliament had been forced to close earlier (April 1920) and thus could not ratify the Treaty. Sultan Mehmed VI Vahdeddin did not ratify it, but he was a figurehead. The Turkish republican movement refused to ratify the Treaty. The republican movement was led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha who was the president of the Turkish Grand National Assembly based in Ankara which was not occupied by the Allies. The republican victory in the Turkish War of Independence made the Ankara republicans Tyurkey's real government. The Allies offered to adjust the Treaty, but the Ankara Government rejected it entirely.
The Turks did resist the Greek advance into Anatolia. The initial fighting was inconclusive (1920).
King Constinine had opposed Greece's entry into World War I. He was esentially deposed by the British to get Greece into the war. The Allies objected to Greece's reinstatement of King Constantine. Prince Andrew, the father of Britain's Prince Philip, was almost shot by the Greek Government in the recriminations that followed the War.
The military situation changed changed in 1921. Turkish forces commanded by Ismet Pasha stopped Greek offensives twice at Inönü (January and April 1921). This prevented any further Greek advances. A third Greek offensive drive the Turks back to Sakarya Nehri, only 80 km from Ankara (July 1921). Here Atatürk took personal command and decisively defeated the Greek Army in a bruising 20-day battle. Greek political developments alienated the British. The French and Italians withdrew from Anatolia (October 1921).
The Turks launched an offensive against the Greeks (August 1922). The Turks call it the Battle of the Commander in Chief. The Turks soon reached Izmir, trapping retreating Greek soldiers. Many were evacuated by Allied ships. The Turks then turned to eastern Thrace. Here to get to the Greeks, the Turks faced Allied troops defending the Ottoman Government in Constantinople/Istambul and the Bosphorus/Dardanelles The French Government decided to withdraw its forces. The British prepared to defend their positions. The British did not, however, want a war with Turkey and suggested a compromise. Atatürk accepted the British-proposed truce.
The Armistice of Mudanya (near Bursa) ended the fighting between Greece and Turkey (October 1922). The Greek troops withdrew beyond the Maritsa River. The Turks occupied eatern Thracee. The Turks as part of the Armistice accepted a continued Allied presence on the straits and in Istanbul until a comprehensive peace settlement could be negotiated.
Much of the Greek population of Anatolia left with the retreating Greek Army or in the repressions and forced resettlements conducted by the Turks after the war.
Turkey's new republican goverment refused to accept the Sèvres Treaty the Allies attempted to impose (1920). The ability of the Turks to reconstitute a military force and the unwillingness of the Allies to support the Greeks or renew the War meant that another peace treaty had to be negotiated. The result was the Lausanne Treaty which with minor exceptions established Turkey's modern borders. Greece was one of the signatories. One of the provisions of the Treaty was a mandatory exchange of populations.
This was complicated by 500 years of living together and the high level of mixing of people and culture as well as the abscence of destinct ethnic differences between Greeks and Turks. The two countries decided to only consider religion in determining the people that were to be exchanged. Other matters such as language and ethnicity were decided to be irrelevant. Even religion was complicated. Not only Christians were excanged with all Muslims. Only the Greek-Orthodox Christians were exchanged with the Sunnite Muslims. Catholic and Protestant Greeks were not deported, but Turkish speaking Scilician Orthodox Christains were exchanged. There wre other exceptions, Turkish speaking Karamanlides were sent to Greece while Greek speaking Cretan Muslims were deported to Turkey. Substantial numbers of people were involved. Records released through 1928 indicate that Turkey deported nearly 1.2 million Greeks, most from Asia Minor. Greece deported about 0.4 million Turks. The Greeks deported 0.4 million Turks. After the excahnages, about 0.2 million Greeks remained in Turkey, mostly in Istambul. The Greeks of Istanbul and the Turks of Western Thrace had been exempted from the forced repatriations. Even as late as the 1940s, there were 0.14 million Greeks living in Istanbul.
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