What if Greece was able to annex ethnically Greek territories on the Anatolian peninsula after World War I
WI:larger Greece
- Thread starter Iudeus Rex britannicus
- Start date
Germaniac
Donor
Well that's a can of worms...
Very unlikely, possibly even sealion unlikely. Greece just can support the forces needed to hold it... Now maybe some more islands southern Albania a bit more of Thrace and a really difficult annexation of Cyprus could be possible.
Britain and France supported Greece in spirit, but there hearts weren't into fighting a war for Greek imperalism. If one of the two were, it would have been a done deal.
This would be a great way to get Turkey into Axis. However, for the Britain and France to support this the Bolshevik revolution should be avoided. If Russia was still imperial at the time, I can see them supporting the Greeks.
There were no territories that were Greek enough to be ruled without unworkable unrest, so the ones where a sizeable population existed would require a mass population expulsion to make it work.
Which is something that happened quite a few times in WW1/WW2, but also something that requires the active and continuous material backing of a Great Power. And the latter needs a very different ending to WW1 so as to make the venture desirable to war-weary and exhausted powers.
A shorter war might do it, given that OTL the entente already had the interest (if not the staying power) to divide up the Ottomans. For that you might need POD's such as the US being less isolationist and entering early, no Gallipoli campaign and a reformed (and more competent) Russia.
Or alternatively, have a strong Imperial Russia survive with a war-weary britain too tired to intervene in its adventures in Anatolia/the Balkans, or have a more intense civil war in Turkey (bonus for a communist uprising).
Which is something that happened quite a few times in WW1/WW2, but also something that requires the active and continuous material backing of a Great Power. And the latter needs a very different ending to WW1 so as to make the venture desirable to war-weary and exhausted powers.
A shorter war might do it, given that OTL the entente already had the interest (if not the staying power) to divide up the Ottomans. For that you might need POD's such as the US being less isolationist and entering early, no Gallipoli campaign and a reformed (and more competent) Russia.
Or alternatively, have a strong Imperial Russia survive with a war-weary britain too tired to intervene in its adventures in Anatolia/the Balkans, or have a more intense civil war in Turkey (bonus for a communist uprising).