The strange events of the Balkan military power Greece in World War I
This time, we introduce the most bizarre and bizarre and blossoming Balkan military power Greece in the historical story. Speaking of greece today, the residents may have the impression of her as a country that could fight italy as an invading Italy during World War II. In fact, Greece is indeed worthy of the title of military power in modern performance, after all, in the Balkans, although compared with ancient Greece thousands of years ago, these descendants are much weaker, so today we will talk about the most bizarre national drama staged by Greece before and after the First World War.
In 1913, the year before World War I, King George I of Greece never brought bodyguards to the new territory of Thessaloniki in the First Balkan War, so the assassination burped, fully demonstrating the importance of having bodyguards around him. The new King Constantine, who became Emperor of Greece and is known as Constantine I, was clearly as a national royalty in the Balkans as a neighbor, educated in Germany from an early age, trained in the Prussian army, and his wife was Princess Sophie, the sister of Wilhelm II. Although his maternal grandfather was the Russian Tsar, the European royal family was basically related anyway. Obviously, Wilhelm II was his brother-in-law, coupled with the reason that he had spent a long time in Germany before, so he was partial to support Germany during World War I, and Venizelos was a Greek prime minister who preferred to participate in the Entente, so there was an Allied faction represented by the Prime Minister, represented by the Royal Family. As a result, Greece remained neutral in the early stages of World War I, and in November 11 The Ottoman Turks were drawn into The War I by the German Goeben and Breslau light patrols.
As a result, in order to directly solve the Turkish problem, the Dardanelle Gallipoli Campaign was launched, which wanted to directly capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople. But the neutral Greek Prime Minister Vinicius Rus believed that the Ottomans were vulnerable and would soon be defeated by the Allies, and it was time to join the Allies and send troops to participate in the Battle of Gallipoli to share a piece of the pie. But soon he was met with strong opposition from the army chief of staff, Metaxas and King Constantine, and the two factions almost openly broke up. The Allied prime minister was forced to resign, and the king chose Gunaris, the pro-German representative, as prime minister. The following year, Vinicius won the general election, and as the king's first-class object, he was re-elected prime minister, against his own king. Soon after, after Bulgaria joined the Allies on 1 October, Selvia was under great pressure, and the Anglo-French coalition organized an expeditionary force of 150,000 troops to forcibly and illegally land in Thessaloniki, Greece, without the consent of Greece, and Greece was also angry. The city was the second largest city in Greece besides Athens, where the Anglo-French army landed to aid the armies of Selvia and Montenegro, but due to the stubborn resistance of the Bulgarian army in the process of marching, it was unable to reinforce and had to retreat to the city of Thessaloniki. The addition of Bulgaria also gave a direct solution to the battlefield of Selvia, which had caused headaches for the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the beginning of World War I, and the Serbian army was forced to retreat to the Greek island of Kef. Since Greece is a neutral country, the Allies do not want to add one more position, and they cannot eat such a huge army in one bite, so the Thessaloniki front is basically formed, the Allies have barely laid their heels here, and because the Allied troops have forcibly landed and are stationed in the Greek world, the Greek king is very angry, which is the biggest violation of the sovereignty of the Neutral Greek Nation, so the Allies sent Prime Minister Venizelos to be deposed again.
Later, in protest against the Entente, the king ordered the annexation of the Greek-speaking Northern Epirus, which is what we today generally refer to as Albania. The Allies, on the other hand, finally shamelessly issued an ultimatum to Greece, forcibly interfered in The Greek internal affairs, demanded the disbandment of their armies and the demolition of the fortifications, which eventually led to the withdrawal of the prime minister. Soon after, Vinicius, who had been deposed several times before, led his men, with the secret support of Britain and France, to form a new Allied government with admiral Otis in the southern island of Crete. Although this government is not recognized by various countries, it is obvious that it was supported by Britain and France, this government controlled the northern part of Greece and a large number of islands in the Mediterranean, and I can't name it anyway, but the important thing is that this Cretan government has the support of admirals, as a member of the Balkan side, do not mistakenly think that Greece is just like several other small Balkan countries, mobilizing a large number of troops and a little stronger combat effectiveness. Greece had a fairly powerful navy at that time, with two dense Ciri-class battleships purchased from the United States as the main force of the navy plus a bunch of old-fashioned small and medium-sized ships, the navy was also enough to see in the world at that time, after all, there were heavy warships as two door gods, which was also one of the important reasons for the later Ottoman Turkey to cause naval pressure to force Turkey to buy warships. Having said all this, let me turn to the other aspects of this government, first of all, although secretly supported by the Allies, but this new government was strongly opposed by Tsarist Russia and Italy. The reason for the russian opposition was simple: King Constantine and his wife Novna were princesses who had married to Greece and were related to the Russian royal family.
By the way, Philip, the husband of Today's Lafayette Elizabeth II of England, is Novna's grandson, and the European royal family is absolutely cut and messed up, and I am too lazy to describe, anyway, I myself am about to be confused by this intricate royal relationship. And what is the reason for Italy's opposition? The Russians were ambitious, saying they wanted to reclaim Asia Minor and establish the glory of their former empire. The Italian side also put the strategic direction on the side of Asia Minor, and the elite was ecstatic, so there was a conflict of future interests, and Italy did not want to set up a future enemy to grab its own meat. It turned out that Greece had indeed robbed Italy of its flesh, and the British and French sides, fearing that the two governments would fight and hinder the face of both countries, did not recognize this government. At the same time as the infighting between the two governments, the number of Allied armies in the Thessaloniki region from all directions had probably reached about 250,000. They were responsible for the tug-of-war with the Bulgarian and German allies, who were known for their toughness, and so they fought back and forth, as in most battlefields.
Although Britain and France were brazen, Greece also began to die constantly. When Britain and France confronted the Bulgarian army in the front, Greece began to mobilize and demobilize, and then mobilized and demobilized toss back and forth, creating a lot of shock and pressure on the Allied side, making them feel a chill behind their backs. The pro-German faction in Greece also carried out propaganda on a large scale against the Entente, and due to the constant tossing and turning a blind eye to the death of the little prince of Greece, the British and French sides, who had turned a blind eye and did not want to completely tear their faces, completely lost patience and directly let the French admiral Sarah send troops to the vicinity of Athens and the two sides immediately broke out into a conflict and battle, which led to the anti-Phoenix movement between the Athenian government and the people, which led to the direct recognition of the Crete government by the Allies. Because the Allies possessed absolutely overwhelming military power, and because Greece had always been in a state of practical compromise on the one hand, daring only to protest with its mouths and did not put up any resistance, Constantine was forced to abdicate and go into exile in Switzerland under great pressure from the Allies. Crown Prince George, who had also served in the German army, ran with his father, so Minizeros simply put his second son Alexander on the throne. Alexander, the new king, was ambitious and wanted to retake Constantinople and establish a great Greek Empire, but he simply fought with Vinizarus directly. Joining the Allies in June 17, this put the Bulgarian side under more pressure on the front. It was too late for Greece to toss and turn back and forth to go to war.
By September 1918, the four Allied powers had collapsed, and the victorious Greece began to divide up Turkey's territory at the negotiating table and realize its dream of a greater Greek Empire. There was no doubt that the interests of Greece and Italy were in conflict, but Greece still gained a lot of land at the negotiating table, and the surrounding territory except for Constantinople, which was jointly administered by all countries, was basically subjugated. On May 15, 1919, the Greek army, which had expanded and deformed through World War I, launched the Second Greco-Turkish War, and Turkey was basically defeated, and in August 1920, Turkey was forced to sign a humiliating contract, and the territory was divided up to little. Greece has since become more powerful than ever, reaching the most extensive territory since the establishment of modern independence, this ambitious Alexander I, while walking his dog in the royal garden in the heyday of the country, was bitten to death by two baba green monkeys, these two monkey brothers bit the king to death, leading to the outbreak of civil unrest in Greece, the army lost its commander, not only the king who led the country was bitten to death but also the Prime Minister Vinitsizros and his Liberal Party lost a month later. The two brothers who led Greece to the wall at the first time were all burped or finished calves. When the king died, it was sure that the new king would quickly succeed to the throne, and at that time, Venizeros suggested that Constantine's third son Paul be king, but the people did not want to, and finally after the air vote, Constantine returned. Having regained the throne, he did not oppose the previous policies of his old rival Venizeros and his son, but continued to wage war, refusing peaceful mediation, intending to strike directly into Turkey's new capital, Ankara.
Later, as you all know, the Turkish national hero Mustafa Kemal led the army to turn the tide and win the Battle of Sakarya, and the Greek army was completely destroyed. In March 1922, Greece learned to accept peace and mediation at this time, but at this time the Turks did not intervene, and Mustafa Kemal led an army to burn and loot the Greeks in the city after occupying Smyrna in September, which shocked the Greek nation. After the reinstatement of the emperor's chair, Constantine was ousted from power and announced his abdication, continuing to go into exile. This time I went to the mafia's hometown of Sicily, where I spent the last few months of my life. His eldest son, George, was forced to succeed to the throne during World War I because he had served in the German army, so the crown prince, who was unable to inherit the throne under the pressure of the Allies during World War I, was known as George II. Turkey won the war against Greece, and France and Italy, because of their discord with Greece and the British power behind it, announced their non-recognition of the Treaty of Sèvres at the first time, and after that, the Allies also abolished this.
In July 1923, the two sides signed a treaty in Lausanne, Switzerland, in which Greece basically spit out most of the territory of Turkey after the First World War, and finally returned to the dream of a greek power before liberation overnight, and the hatred between Greece and Turkey has not yet dissipated.
This is basically the whole story of Greece, which was the most bizarre and complicated experience of the country's participation in the war during the First World War. Please also like and pay attention to all my friends, this will be the biggest motivation for me!