page_title: Greece during World War I
section_title: The Skouloudis government and the Allies; creation of the Salonica front
hierarchical_section_title: Greece during World War I / Compromised neutrality: September 1915 – September 1916 / The Skouloudis government and the Allies; creation of the Salonica front
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Französische und griechische Truppen auf dem Marsch bei Saloniki/Thessaloniki (6. November 1915). English: French and Greek troops on the march near Thessaloniki (November 6th, 1915).
context_page_description: At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the Kingdom of Greece remained neutral. Nonetheless, in October 1914 Greek forces once more occupied Northern Epirus, from where they had retreated after the end of the Balkan Wars. The disagreement between King Constantine, who favoured neutrality, and the pro-Allied Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos led to the National Schism, the division of the state between two rival governments. Finally Greece united and joined the Allies in the summer of 1917.
context_section_description: In the meantime, Greece descended further into political crisis: on the night of 3/4 November, the Zaimis government was voted down in Parliament, in a session in which the Minister of Military Affairs and a Venizelist MP came to blows. King Constantine named Stefanos Skouloudis as the new Prime Minister, with the same cabinet; the new prime minister took over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs himself. On 11 November, Parliament was dissolved again and elections set for 19 December.
  The new government was pressured by Germany and Austria not to allow the Allies to withdraw into Greek territory, to which Skouloudis replied that Greece would implement the terms of the Hague Conventions, according to which the Allied forces would have to be disarmed once crossing into Greek soil. This created uproar among the Allied governments, who began clamouring for the evacuation of the Greek army from Macedonia, and the occupation of Milos and Piraeus by the Allied navies. Meanwhile, Greek merchant shipping was detained in Allied harbours and an unofficial embargo placed on Greece. On 19 November the Greek government informed the Allies that their forces would not be disarmed, and that Greek forces in Macedonia were there to defend against Bulgarian attack rather than interfere with the Allies. Nevertheless, on 21 November the Allies occupied Milos, and two days later demanded formal and categorical assurances that their forces would enjoy freedom of movement and action in and around Thessaloniki; Skouloudis accepted, but two days later, the demands were upped, by demanding the removal of the Greek army from Thessaloniki, the placing of all roads and railroads in the direction of Serbia under Allied disposal, the permission to fortify the environs of Thessaloniki and Chalcidice, and unrestricted movement of the Allied fleets in Greek waters.
  Following negotiations on 9–10 December at Thessaloniki between Sarrail and Mahon on the one side and Moschopoulos and Lt. Colonel Konstantinos Pallis on the other, a compromise was achieved: the Greek 11th Division would remain in Thessaloniki, and the Karabournou Fortress would remain in Greek hands; on the other hand, the Greek government promised not to interfere with any Allied measures to fortify their positions, and would remain neutral in the event that Allied activity caused a third power to invade Greek territory. The Allies withdrew from Milos, while the Greek V Army Corps was moved east towards Nigrita, leaving the area between Thessaloniki and the northern Greek border devoid of troops.
  This space was left to be defended by three French and five British divisions, which in December 1915 – January 1916 entrenched themselves in a broad arc around Thessaloniki, from the Gulf of Orfanos in the east to the Vardar river in the west. The eastern portion of this front was held by the British, and the western third by the French. On 16 January 1916, Sarrail was appointed Allied commander-in-chief in Macedonia. The bulk of the Greek forces in the area assembled in eastern Macedonia (IV Army Corps east of the Strymon River, V Corps in the Nigrita area, and some support units of the I and II Corps around Mount Vermion). These forces faced the First and Second Bulgarian Armies.
caption: A French column (left) and a Greek column (right) heading in opposite directions, 6 November 1915
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