GREEKS AND THE “ALLIES” IN THE ANATOLIAN EXPEDITION

The Anatolian expedition of the Greek Army in 1919-1922 begins with the dispatch of small Greek forces to maintain law and order in Smyrna on behalf of the WWI Allies. This was a great success for Greek PM Venizelos and an essential step to protect the Anatolian sizable Greek population. From the military and diplomatic viewpoints, this was a challenging task. Greece’s internal divisions and the conflicting objectives of the allies in the Middle East and the hostility of the Soviet Union against Greece set the stage for what will become known as the Asia Minor Catastrophe. Dr. Manos Papadakis will highlight the numerous less known aspects of the “allied” diplomatic behind-the-scenes action and the inability of the royalists in Greece to comprehend how the “allies” understood the role of Greece in the region. These factors and the poor military planning of the Anatolian venture set the stage for a large-scale military defeat and the second big genocide in European history. This is an English-language event.

Live at the George Costas Hall, St. Basil the Great and

Online via Zoom here