Greece Joins Central Powers After Allied Landing in Salonika

During WWI, Prime Minister Eleutherios Venizelos wanted Greece to join the Allies (and, in his mind, replace Serbia as the Entente's Balkan ally). King Constantine of Greece disagreed. After Gallipoli, Venizelos invited the Entente to land in Greece (Salonika) and was dismissed as PM. He promptly set up a rival gov't that, with Allied aid, forced King Constantine to abdicate.

However, rather than trying to deal with the problem on his own, what if King Constantine, a relative of Kaiser Wilhelm, allied Greece to the Central Powers? A German-Austrian army could come down via Albania into Greece to fight the British and French there. How might this happen, and what consequences might it have on the wider war.

I'm not sure Greece would have had the strength or inclination to resist the Entente after they had landed in Salonika, but assuming they DID enter on the side of the CP, the Entente's position at Salonika would have become untenable and withdrawal would have been necessary.

Serbia would also have gone from "totally screwed" to "unbelievably catastrophically screwed". other than that, not much difference. Greece would have devoted its efforts to grabbing Albanian territory, and the Bulgarians showed no interest in exerting effort anywhere after they gained Macedonia, which was their only war aim.

The only concrete difference I can see is that there would be a few Ottoman divisions available for use elswhere. Perhaps Italy would be marginally less likely to enter the war, but I doubt their position would change.

Well, might as well get the facts straight - the King continued with his own Prime Minister and his own pro-CP neutral policy. The Entente forcing of him out of power was not so much in favour of a LEGITIMATE PM as a useful tool to take control of the strategically important country

Constantine did not WANT to be in the war - that is the POD you are playing with here

Grey Wolf

"Constantine did not WANT to be in the war - that is the POD you are playing with here"

The POD I'm thinking of is that Constantine, when Venizelos brings the Allied soldiers in, realizes that being neutral isn't an option and decides to call on his relative Kaiser Wilhelm to expel the Allies (Germany's enemies) from the country.

Of course, the Spartacist site (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWvenizelos.htm) states that Venizelos had a lot of popular support for his actions and Constantine--is that why you emphasize him being LEGITIMATE?

Another site (http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/constantine.htm) also suggests that Constantine tried to bring the Central Powers to fight against Venizelos and the Allies, but failed. A better POD would be, "WI the CP intervented?"