Evening star., 1920-11-11
DEPICTS GREECE
| IN THE WORLD WAR
National Geographic Society
Bulletin Discusses Progress
Toward Nationality.

| The question OF succession to the
throne of King Alexander of Greece
turns world interest once more to
southeastern. Europe. The changes
Greece has undergone territorially and
the part it has played in the wars and
crises of it's corner of the world are
| discussed in a bulletin issued by the
National Geographic Society, as fol-
lows:
What is Greece?
| "In the light of the past the answer
might well be tentative. for a definition
| Of Greece's area at any time during the
thousands Of years of its history would
have held good hardly for a quarter
century; and in latter years, so swift
have been the changes in the new
Greece, each decade has seen the fixing
| of new boundaries
| Greece a "Sea Surrounded by Land"
Not until modern times-except dur
| ing the momentary empire of Alexander
has Greece meant a nation. In the
! Grecian golden age, as well as before
:; and since. Greece was a house divided
against itself. It's detailed history would
mean the history of more than $50 sepa-
rate states. And yet there was at all
ality. even though the rivalries among
| the various groups stood in the way Of
| fusion into single nation.
! while Great Britain may be de-
scribed as land surrounded by seas,
IGreece may be'-said to be "A sea sur
rounded by land The Hellenes have
always been a seafaring folk, and
the Mediterranean sea and more par
ticularly the Aegean have been their
own: particular herring ponds The
islands Of the eastern Mediterranean
became Greek territory In their en-
tirety, and this. was true also of the
island-like Peloponnesus and some
! other portions of the Greek peninsula.
But an equally important part of
Greece-or, better. of the land Of the
by it's mariners on the shores of the
mainland that hem in the Mediterra-
mean. These settlements constituted
an unbroken fringe of Hellas along
the shores Of Asia Minor and scat
tered communities on the shores of
rica and what is now southern France
This was the loose Greece or Hellas
at it's greatest-a domain of one peo-
pie, but of mhny states.
Greece gave the world its first
league of nations. the Delian League
organized in AT B. c.. by way of mu :
tual protection against the external
faggression' of Persia, which had a
sort of Berlin -Bagdad ambition of
its own in those days. Athens was
the only principal power in this
league and was the recognized leader
Of the organization.
Later came the hegemony of
Athens by force, the paradoxical en-
pire of democracy, bereft even of
the trappings of monarchy. At this
period and under what may be term
ed the impress Of Sparta and Thebes
a close approach to a Greek nation
may be said to have existed. but in
none OF these eras were most Of the
territories peopled by Greeks in
!cluded, and even large parts of the
4
by other Hellenic states. For brief
period under Alexander the Great
Greece reached the status of na-
| tion, but it was fusion forced by a
virtual outsider and contained much
! territory inhabited by others than
Greeks; and on the death of the great
military genius the Hellenes separated
again into numerous governmental j
units.
| Greece. expanding from the city
| state had comprised for moment al
most the whole civilized world. but
the great dilation was followed by an
i equally great contraction. Greece
fell under the rising power of Rome.
and became mere province in the
western empire.
1.-The military ability and power of
! the Greeks died under the Roman yoke,
but when the eastern empire was form
ed, with Constantinople as its seat,
Greek culture conquered where Greek
! arms COufu uol, anu 6yZaNtlOm became
| in reality a great Greek state. Once
more the territory that, by construction
at least, can be regarded as Greece
spread outward until 1t held within its
boundaries much of southeastern Eu-
rope. 1t is on reviving the glory Of this
period in Grecian history that Creek
ambition. when it could live at all. has
;dwelt. =
Snuned Out Territorially.
! THE night Of Greece's martyrdom
! was not under the Roman yoke. but
4 in the long period from the fall of
Byzantium to modern times. During
that time Greece was all but snuffed
out territorially. while the blood of
it's people suffered dilution from the
| hordes Of conquerors and Immigrants
of almost every nation of Europe that
| poured in upon it-Albanians, Slays,
Teutons, Spanish, French. Venetians,
Turks In 1869 Turkey finally gained
complete dominance of what had been
, Greece.
; Greece. as nation, was horn
! again in 1929 as a result of a most
| turbulent war of independence
against Turkey. which was at the
| same time series of civil wars
| among contending leaders and fac
tions. The new Greece which