GREECE'S PARTICIPATION IN WORLD WAR ONE
Thousands of pages have been written
about both the the National Schism and the epic war in Asia Minor
which ultimately was completed with the destruction and uprooting of the Greeks in Ionia.
Since those 2 events have monopolised discussions,
the general public doesn't know much about Greece's participation in WWI.
For reasons that we don't need to mention now,
Greece might have been late in entering
the conflict between the Central Powers and the Entente,
however during the short period that it participated
it achieved an important victory
and played an active role in the conclusion of the war
on the Macedonian Front.
Some might say that Greece was participating in this conflict indirectly before 1917
since on the one hand Eleftherios Venizelos with the National Defence Coup D'État
and on the other hand the Anglo-French
were trying to force Greece to join the war in various ways.
The Bulgarians had invaded Macedonia in 1916
and remained there until 1918.
During the Bulgarian occupation,
they proceeded with thousands of murders and destruction
along with looting important archaeological and religious treasures.
Despite the Bulgarian occupation in Macedonia starting in August 1916
Greece eventually entered the war in June 1917
when the French invaded Piraeus and bombed Athens
forcing the government to resign
and King Konstantinos abdicated the throne and left the country.
Venizelos then returned to Athens as the prime minister
and declared war on the Central Powers on 28 June.
During its brief participation in the war,
Greece had a minimal participation.
The first battle was against the Bulgarians on the massif of Skra di Legen
on 30 May 1918.
Four months later, in September, Greek forces also participate
in the final assault and dissolution of the enemy on the Macedonian front in the Battle of Doirani.
Doirani is a lake which today is split between the borders of Greece and Skopje.
The Greek Army had a small contribution to the Entente's victory.
However, it was enough for Greece to sit at the table on the winning side
and assert territorial gains.
Now let's go back to the battles though.
In May 1916,
the Bulgarians took Fort Roupel without a fight,
and went all the way to Skra
where they occasionally skirmished with the Anglo-French troops.
The Entente wanted to stop the Bulgarians from sending troops westward
to reinforce the Germans on other fronts.
Therefore it kept them confined there,
blocking off the pass from the Skra massif.
On the other hand, Greece which had now entered the war