At the cost of splitting Greece, Venizelos …
Years: 1919 - 1919
May
At the cost of splitting Greece, Venizelos had brought the kingdom into the war on the victorious side.
To justify the cost of this result and heal the wounds caused by the National Schism, he returns to the Megali Idea.
Venizelos goes to the Paris peace talks armed with the assurances he had received from the Allies during the war and focuses exclusively on territorial aggrandizement for Greece.
Venizelos shows all of his considerable diplomatic skills at the peace talks.
He woos the United States president, Woodrow Wilson, and Britain's Prime Minister David Lloyd George.
Venizelos quickly offers the services of the Greek military as policing agents and as peacekeepers in occupied territory.
Foreign leaders are indebted to the wily Venizelos for this assistance, but the offer fosters domestic discontent.
The Greek armed forces have been mobilized almost continuously since 1912, and the nation is becoming war weary.
In addition, Venizelos neglects urgent domestic issues as he puts all of his energies into winning the peace talks.
He will eventually pay for this neglect.
Locations
People
Groups
- Ottoman Empire
- United States of America (US, USA) (Washington DC)
- Greece, Kingdom of
- Italy, Kingdom of
- France (French republic); the Third Republic
- Britain (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
