Megalidea

[mailinutile2]

Could the idea of a "greater greece" of Eleuterios Benizelis work?

[I Blame Communism]

Very, very unlikely. The modern Greek state could be bigger (northern Epirus, Crete, eastern Thrace), but a "pan-Greek state" would require Greece annexing zones with far too few Greeks and far too many hostile Muslims in them. Hence, the will of the population of Anatolia to resist would have to be utterly broken. This would require resources unavailable to Greece, necesitating Great Power action. If "Tsargrad" is going on, the Russians would fancy it for themselves, and other options are scarce.

[mailinutile2]

Originally Posted by I Blame Communism

Very, very unlikely. The modern Greek state could be bigger (northern Epirus, Crete, eastern Thrace), but a "pan-Greek state" would require Greece annexing zones with far too few Greeks and far too many hostile Muslims in them. Hence, the will of the population of Anatolia to resist would have to be utterly broken. This would require resources unavailable to Greece, necesitating Great Power action. If "Tsargrad" is going on, the Russians would fancy it for themselves, and other options are scarce.

Maybe Ataturk could die in the influenza epidemic of 1919 and Tukey is thrown in chaos.
Or maybe a more strict partition-the-loser policy is imposed at versailles
I think CCCP is not a significant card here, since the traditional link to greece (ortodox church) is not exactly in friendly terms with the bolshevicks.

[mailinutile2]

Also, do not forget that before the population exchanges agreed on lausanne in 1921, there were about 1,000,000 greeks on the anatolian coast.

[machine3589]

http://www.alternatehistory.com/disc...54#post3125854

The Forum Index is your friend.

[corditeman]

Eleftherios Venezelios?

Translating the Greek into English is a pest!!

What you must do is to stop the massacre at Smyrna/Izmir, where Ionia was destroyed - and the supportive reputation of the western Powers in Greece. A few full broadsides fropm the Allied warships in the harbour might be enough to kill Ataturk. Also consider the Treaty of Lausanne (I think) where Greece lost all her Great War gains.

[Dan1988]

Originally Posted by corditeman

Eleftherios Venezelios?

Translating the Greek into English is a pest!!

"Greeklish" is your friend. You're close - it's Elefthérios Venizélos (no "i" between the lámða and the ómikron), for which the accents are added for precision in stress assignment (they could just as easily be left out). Transcribing the name as "Eleutherios Benizelos" is a no-no for Modern Greek - that would be read as "Eleüthérios Mpenizélos", where mp = "b", and IIRC the diphthong "eü" is uncommon.

[Keenir]

Originally Posted by mailinutile2

Also, do not forget that before the population exchanges agreed on lausanne in 1921, there were about 1,000,000 greeks on the anatolian coast.

and there were even more in Pontus and Cappadocia - Greeks who were no fans of the island-dwellers who were invading their country.

Originally Posted by mailinutile2

Maybe Ataturk could die in the influenza epidemic of 1919 and Tukey is thrown in chaos.

Inonu and the others would still be around, and they'd be no less against the idea of Greece grabbing Anatolia.

Originally Posted by mailinutile2

Or maybe a more strict partition-the-loser policy is imposed at versailles
I think CCCP is not a significant card here, since the traditional link to greece (ortodox church) is not exactly in friendly terms with the bolshevicks.

the Soviets (under Stalin) were friendly to Ataturk, so expect Black Sea shipping to be providing lots of weapons to the Turks to fight off the Greeks.

[I Blame Communism]

Originally Posted by mailinutile2

Also, do not forget that before the population exchanges agreed on lausanne in 1921, there were about 1,000,000 greeks on the anatolian coast.

Lots, sure, but minorities everywhere except at the most utterly local level, too local for the creation of viable enclaves.

[I Blame Communism]

Originally Posted by mailinutile2

Maybe Ataturk could die in the influenza epidemic of 1919 and Tukey is thrown in chaos.

As pointed out, there were other leaders, and there will always will be when it's basically national survival at stake.

Originally Posted by mailinutile2

Or maybe a more strict partition-the-loser policy is imposed at versailles

What can motivate Italy, France, and finally Britain to care more than they did for supporting Greece's unattainable dreams and thus dirtying their hands even by the standards of the time?

Originally Posted by mailinutile2

I think CCCP is not a significant card here, since the traditional link to greece (ortodox church) is not exactly in friendly terms with the bolshevicks.

I was talking about imperial Russia. The SOviets were a vluable ally for Atatuerk.

[New Patomic]

Is it Likely? No. Is it possible? Yes.

Personally I think that through a combination of butterflies and luck during World War I and any resulting Greco-Turkish war, you could have Greece gaining quite a lot of territory. However even then Greece is going to be very unstable and possible even more of a mess than OTL. As well there would be large ethnic cleansing in any territory that Greece gained. Lets not also forget the fact that Greece's relationship with Turkey will be extremely ugly in the coming years if not decades.

So I guess the question becomes Is Greece better off achieving such territorial gain, which long term would be debatable.