On May 15 1919, Greece landed its forces in Smyrna, an important ancient port and one of the largest cities in the Ottoman Empire, located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Initially, no one anticipated much resistance from the Ottoman Turks, a member of the Central Powers which lost the war. The prevalent belief was that the Armistice of Mudros signed and sealed the fate of the Ottoman Empire in October 1918. And when there was resistance from the nationalist Turks, a breakaway movement under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal based in Ankara, the Greek armies in Smyrna forayed out into Anatolia to quash them once and for all. Lloyd George (1863–1945), the prime minister of Great Britain, resolutely stood behind Athens both politically and financially.

However, the dream of the “Greater Greece” turned sour at the Battle of Sangorios River in August 1922, and then to Katastrofi in Smyrna in September 1922. The Greco-Turkish war of 1919-1922 is still a hotly debated issue in Greece under the woeful heading Mikrasiatiki Katastrofi.

Künye

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

THE GREEK–TURKISH WAR OF 1919-1922 IN GREEK HISTORIOGRAPHY

CHAPTER I HISTORY–HISTORIOGRAPHY

• Historian–History–Historiography–Historicity
• "Good" Historian
• A Viable History
• The First Historiographer
• "Science" of Historiography

CHAPTER II THE MAKING OF THE GREEK NATIONAL HISTORIOGRAPHY

• Problematics in Greek Nationalist Historiography: Paparrigopoulos, Korais, Zambelios
• "Hellen" and "Hellenism"
• Byzantium: Hellenism and Orthodoxia
• The Break of 1054; the Ottoman Umbrella
• From Rousseau to Voltaire to Condorcet to Korais: Philhellenism
• From the Ancient Greece to the Greek Nation
• Tourkokratia Deconstructed
• Megali Idea: the Way to the Greater Greece
• Independence and Freedom
• Great Historical Continuities
• A Problematic in Greek Historiography
• Nationalism Travels to the Ottoman Balkans
• From Byzantine to the Ottoman Empire
• "Constructedness" of Greek National Identity
• The Difference of the Ottoman Rum
• The Concern of a Patriarch
• The Phanariots Came Close to Rule an Empire
• Imperialism of the Great Powers
• The Nation versus the "Millet"
• The Impact of the Enlightenment on the Balkans
• Ethnicity – The Ottoman Way
• Secularization of the Rum

CHAPTER III THE TURK AS THE "OTHER" IN GREEK NATIONAL HISTORIOGRAPHY

• "Amputation" Spells "Expansion"
• "Chosen" Concepts for Animosity
• The Megali Idea as the Turning Point
• "Digging Out" an Identity
• Neo-Hellenism: an Affront to the West
• Ottoman Millets Thrown into Existential Crisis
• Is a Turk an "Archetypal Hate Figure"?

CHAPTER IV THE "MEGALI IDEA" (THE GREAT/GRAND IDEA) IN GREEK NATIONAL HISTORIOGRAPHY

• The End of Multiethnic Empires
• The Beginning of Modern Nationalism
• The Beginning of Greek Nationalism
• Multiple Yokes
• The Enlightenment and Greek Nationalism
• Why Did the Greeks Turn to Ancient Greece for National Identity?
• The Greek War of Independence
• The Megali Idea Formulated
• An Ideology to Replace all Others
• How Did the Enlightenment Solve Identity Problems?
• The Position of the Orthodox Church
• An Ottoman Empire with a Hellenic Touch
• Irredentism Overwhelms "Ottoman Hellenism"
• Psychological State of the Newly Established Greek State
• "Neo-Hellenism" versus "Western Hellenism" via the Megali Idea
• A Contrapuntal Existence: Greek Culture versus Realpolitik
• The Closing of the Ottoman Umbrella
• The New Greek State – Something Missing
• The Megali Idea and the "Eastern Question"
• The Raison d'être of the New State of Greece

CHAPTER V THE GREEK NATIONAL NARRATIVE OF "MIKRASIATIKI KATASTROFI" 1919 - 1922

• Greece and the Entente Cooperate to Finish Off an Empire
• The First World War Breaks Out in 1912 – not in 1914
• When Did Venizelos Decide to Get Involved?
• Why Did Venizelos Choose the Entente?
• Armistice of Mudros and the "Fourteen Points"
• The Seizure of Smyrna / İzmir
• The Promise of the Entente
• The Treaty of Sèvres
• The Turkish Nationalists in Ankara Say "No": The First Battle of İnönü
• The London Conference
• The Greek Forces Foray Out of Smyrna
• A "Timid" Campaign and Venizelos's Election Defeat
• The Royalists in Power Continue with the War: the Second Battle of İnönü
• The Entente Changes its Mind
• Financial Problems Strike with Vengeance
• The Beginning of the End: The Sangarios
• Some Incalculable Problems
• Dumlupınar
• The End
• The Chanak Crisis
• The Armistice of Mudania
• Athens in Chaos – The Trial of the Six
• Venizelos Mends Relations with the new Turkish Republic

CONCLUSION

POSTSCRIPT

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX