Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-09-16
The Nemesis of Constantine

r NELEGANT punsters will be remarking
that it serves King Constantine right
to fry a while in his own Greece. The
disaster which has befallen his adventure
against the Turks would evoke more SYM
pathy had it not come as fitting nemesis
to his role in the World War, What keener
irony, what more telling thrust of poetic
Justice than that the Kaiser's and the Sui
tan's intriguing friend Of yesterday should
now be trounced by Mustapha Kemal?
1t was by fighting the Turks that Con-
stantine, in his better days before the out
break Of 1914, won popularity with his citi-
zen-subjects. Like his father, he was
good soldierE and. his cause was then one
which lovers of liberty, the world around,
wished well. That Hellas, after long age
of suffering at the hands of the barbarian,
should come again into her own, appeals
deeply tothe imagination and also to ones
sense of loyalty to the highest and widest
interests of humankind. AS defender of
that faith Constantine merited the hearty
good will which was his at home and
abroad.
But when he turned trickster for con-
spirators against the civilization to which
Greek thought has contributed so vital
part and in which the Greek future is bound
up, then he forfeited claim upon his coun-
try's friends. His duplicity and plotting
were responsible, in large measure, for the
ill fortune of the Allies in the Near East.
Had Venizelos instead of Constantine con-
trolled at Athens during the first three
years of the World War, far happier would
have been the record for Greece and for
Europe. Venizelos saw at the outset both
the duty and the expediency Of supporting
the Allied cause. He urged, accordingly,
that Greece stand true to her treaty with
Serbia, but King Constantine opposed. He
continued to urge action in behalf of his
country's friends and was Endorsed in that
policy by the electorate; but the King, de-
spite the voice of the people, dissolved the
parliament of their choice and in aiding the
Kaiser bolstered the cause Of Greeces in
veterate enemy, the Turk. But for this con-
trary course Of his, Greek troops might
easily have occupied Constantinople in 1915.
How much earlier the war would have end
ed had that been done and how immense
would have been the saving to the world,
as well as the gain to Greece, it is now
bootless to speculate. But it needs to be
recalled, indeed it ought never to have been
forgotten that COnstantines short-sighted
and ignoble policy gave the Hohenzollern
and his Moslem ally valuable advantage
which elsewise they would never have had
For the interests of the world, as well
as of Greece, it was most fortunate that
ceeded by his second son, Alexander, who
was on good terms with Venizelos and
friendly to the Allies. But how unfortunate
that he ever returned. 1t was Upon popu-
lar suffrage that he did So. some three
years later; and undeniably it is for the
Greeks, not for others, to say by whom and
how they shall be governed. But when
Constantine came back and Venizelos de-
parted the country lost the greatest states
man of it's modern annals and acquired
royal liability.
That the King should seek to redeem his
inglorious World War record by some deed
of prowess was but natural. Inaptly enough,
however, he chose for fighting a time when
Europe longed, above all things, for re-
pose; and ironically enough he chose to
fight the late ally Of his erewhile buster
ing brother-in-law. . When duty and honor
had summoned to arms in the great con-
flict, he played pacifist; when a shaken civ
ilzation was trying to recover it's pose and
heal it's wounds, he turned jingoist. When
the Turk could have been dealt blow that
would have proved decisive once for all,
Constantine virtually defended him; when
that opportunity had closed and other in
terests were uppermost, Constantine fell to
sabre-rattling.
Is it to be wondered that his adventure
proves a fiasco? 1t was foregone that he
would receive no help from the Allies,
whom he had sought to betray in their hour
Of sorest need. Nor was it reasonable to
expect that he could arouse and sustain the
enthusiasm of his people, whose finest ar
doris he had chilled. There is one cheering
aspect to the situation, and that is posi-
bility of Constantine's again Indicating, this
time for good, land Of true craftsmanship
taking the Hellenic helm.