The Washington herald., 1921-04-07
BY FRANK II. sIMONDs.


On the military side the disaster
which has just overtaken Greek
armies in Asia Minor must forcibly
suggest the similar misfortunes Of
the Poles last year. As in the case
of PiIsudski's Inflated drive to
kiey. the thrust of Constantine's
troops toward Angora. present capi-
tai of the Kemalist Nationalist gov
ernment. has proven beyond the
resources of the army engaged and
the Turks have retreated only to
strike back effectively.
In their adsapce the Greeks seem
to hAev pushed East from the lsmid
front. opposite Constantinople and
from the Brussa front south of the
Sea of Marmora. Their advance
took them across the section Of
the Bagdad Railway leading to
IConstantinople and enabled them to
occupy and briefly hold the all
important railway junction of Eski-
Shehr, where the Angora branch
leaves the main Bagdad line. But
at this point they seem TO have
encountered the Turks in force and
suffered a defeat which must re-
call the disaster. suffered by the
French at Morhshge. after a sue
cessfuI push into Lorraine in the
first days of the war.
Loss TO Greeks.
I Looking now to the political
consequences of the defeat. it is
manifest that only a change in
military fortunes of a surprising
character can save the Greeks from
the loss of practically all Of their
gains in Asia Minor. as a conse-
quence. of the treaty of SeNres. Al
London, the other day, British.
Italian and French influence was
exerted to force the Greeks to sur
render all of this Asiatic estate
save a more or less nominal claim
upon Smyrna. The present cam
paign was undertaken by the
Greeks to demonstrate that they
possessed adequate power to dis
pose of the Turks single-handed.
Now, having been defeated. they
are likely to find themselves in the
same unlucky position as after their
defeat in 1897. Then. Will be re-
called that, against the viii OF the
then existing Concert OF Europe,
Greece attacked Turkey, suffered
swift and complete defeat, and was
only saved from complete ruin by
the Intervention of the great pow
ers. Following the disaster Con-
stantine, then crown prince, was
compelled to leave the country. We
nizelos arrived, and the great task
of remaking Greece was undertaken
by the famous Cretan.
Now Greece is again out of ia
yor. The return of Constantine has
abolished French sympathy, while
Italy at all times regards Greece
as a rival and has steadily opposed
Greek expansion in Asia Minor. AS
for the British, while VeniZelos re-
mained in power Britain was ready
to make Greece an agent in the
Near East, using Greek armies to
serve British purposes and reward
ing the Hellenic state with terri
torial gains at the expense of both
Bulgaria and Turkey.
Change in Policy
But with the return of Constsn-
tine, Franco-Italian opposition has
increased, Greek capacity for Brit
ish usefulness has declined. and
Turkish resistance has so stiffened
that a change of policy has been
imposed In addition, a decisive
factor has been the unrest in all
Moslem countries, British as well as
French, stirred by the apparent de-
termination of the great powers to
destroy Turkey. Already France,
eager to avoid trouble in her Mos
lem colonies of North Africa, and
to terminate a costly campaign in
Cilicia, has made peace with the
Turk, surrendering Cilicia to save
Syria, and the London conference
disclosed British yielding.N
The decision of London was that
Greece should retire from Asia. By
contrast Greek possession of most
Of Thrace, from the Enos-Midia line
to the Bulgarian frontier. was con-
firmed, with a sort of polite fiction
of a later ethnic investigation,
which was never to b held. Greece
refused to accept this decision,
rushed of to- its Angors campaign.
and now. after unimportant prelim-