The overextension of the Greek lines proves disastrous.

Kemal had lured the Greek army ever deeper into the rugged heartland of Anatolia.

When he judged that the Greek position was untenable, Turkish forces had shattered the Greek line with a major counteroffensive.

Kemal had then isolated and destroyed the segments of the Greek army, chasing the remnants back to Smyrna.

The Megali Idea goes up in smoke on the shores of Asia Minor as the Turkish forces, watched by soldiers, sailors, and journalists from around the world in ships anchored in the bay, burn and sack the great city of Smyrna, killing about thirty thousand Greeks and many Armenians, thus ending a twenty-five hundred-year Greek presence in Asia Minor.

Tens of thousands of destitute Greek refugees flee to the kingdom.