Comments by "CaptainVanisher" (@captainvanisher988) on "The Greek-Turkish War 1919-1923 (Greco-Turkish War Documentary)" video.

Is that why the Brits refused to send aid to Greek troops. The Brits had no "anti-Turk" emotion otherwise they would have ceded Constantinople to the Greeks and not to themselves and on top of that they would've send the arms and the troops they promised to the Greek army. Instead they sent a little aid at the start of the war and then backstabbed the Greeks in fear of a great Greek empire that would own Constantinople. They wanted the city to themselves. The French didn't offer any aid to the Greek army or state, they just had a war coinciding with the Greek advancement. Eventually they refused to continue the war and capitulated. The Italians just retrieved their troops and didn't involve themselves at all. The Bolsheviks on the other hand sent large amounts of weapons and ammunition to the Turkish army and government in support of their war effort. Without Russian arms, Turkey would've certainly fallen, or at least most if not all of Western Turkey would be Greek. And the funniest part is that the Greek army barely lost any battle. They just retreated and then left. The "army from scratch" you are talking about was absolutely destroyed to the point of their new capital being almost under siege. 50km away. Now had the Brits not betray Greece once again, Greece would've reached Ankara and captured most of the last remains of the Ottoman empire. Had the French continue to fight, the Turkish army would be unable to keep up and fall in the Western front to the Greek army. Had the Russians not been such a big help to Attaturk, the Turkish army would've never managed to push back or even defend from the Greek army. Had king Alexander not died, Greece would still be unified and be able to organize better and send more reinforcements. In general, had the Entente not betrayed Greece, Turkey would not exist today. Not as we know it at least.
7
@Batumtl We had several empires one of which lasted for 1000 years. The Ottoman empire lasted what? 500? 600 years?
2
@Batumtl You mean like we rule 100,000 Turks in Thrace as of now? How about the "Muh turkish cypriots" in Cyprus lol.
2
@haswan123 2 years late. But that's insane. "Assimilation" aka turkification of Balkan people but mainly Greeks and Anatolians was widespread during the Ottoman times. There is a reason why Turkic DNA is so low on average compared to Greek or Anatolian DNA in the modern Turks. It's just that the Ottoman leaders weren't idiots. They knew they couldn't hold the empire together if they tried to assimilate everyone with force since most would actually die and there would be large scale rebellions. Instead they did systematic turkifications. From controlled massacres, to horrible circumstances for non-turks/non-muslims, large scale enslavement of the slavs and the greeks and the notorious blood tax that would take the first born son of Greek and other Balkan families to be fully turkified and serve as a turkish soldier.
2
@ggoddkkiller1342 The mountainous topography of Turkey wouldn't be sufficient to save it had the Brits and the French continued to support Greece and not backstab them once they changed objectives. The fact that the Greek army almost reached Ankara with a politically unstable leadership and little to no support from their "allies" shows that fact. The mountains were a help when it came to slow supply and bad logistics of the Greek army during the Turkish counterattack. But that's about it. Had the allies kept their promise, Turkey would be no more than a small nation in Southeast anatolia.
1
@ggoddkkiller1342 That's so untrue it's ridiculous. I even asked the AI, the French provided early on some minimal support and then pulled out entirely and even supported Turkey after they signed their own treaty. Great Britain at the last 1-2 years changed geopolitical objectives and broke their promises of more ammunition, more arms and troops to the Greek state. That's by definition backstabbing. On top of that the Entente and moreso the Brits sabotaged Greece by prohibiting the capture of Constantinople. Half of the Greek army was idly stationed on Eastern Thrace and couldn't advance to Constantinople or beyond. Italy never helped anyone in the war. They pulled out and stayed truly neutral. As for the USSR, they were a major benefactor of the Turkish army and even took out Armenia which was a major ally of the Greek fighters in Pontus. As for "muh will to send troops", they had plenty of will, they just changed objectives. Britain in fact had promised plenty of troops to Greece and they never delivered because they changed objectives. They knew that if Greece won the war, it was inevitable that they'd lose Constantinople so they pulled out. The Entente by every definition backstabbed and betrayed Greece. It's a historically undeniable fact.
1
Ridiculous assertion. Turkey to this day has displaced 30-40 thousand living Greeks in Cyprus and killed thousands of our soldiers. You clearly know nothing about history or your own ancestors. Turkey as a state is an enemy of Greece by default. The Turks themselves might not be, but the state certainly is. Despite that if you look into it most modern Turks especially in Western Turkey are actually turkified Greeks.
1
@ No I don't. The Ottoman Empire was "multiethnic" but "turkishness" aka the manufactured identity of the Ottoman elite is what I'm talking about. The reformation of the Ottoman empire was based on that "turkishness". Obviously in a multiethnic empire the ones that rule want to be the majority, and they did so through turkification methods that I mentioned in one of my comments above.
1
Yes and no. Had the Greek leadership know of the betrayal of the allies that was too come, then I'd agree. But it was hard to predict such a thing. Had the allies kept their promises of supplying arms, ammunition and troops the Greeks would've decisively won the war. Had the allies not give the Greek army false hopes and bait them into attacking deep into Anatolia, then the region of Smyrna and East Thrace would still be Greek. Meaning that if the Greek army had held the line of their given part, they would've defended it successfully from the Turkish army.
1