Noemvriana The Noemvriana ( , " November Events " ) of November – December 1916 was a political dispute , which led to an armed confrontation in Athens between the royalist government of Greece and the forces of the Allies over the issue of Greece ' s neutrality during World War I . Friction existed between the two sides from the beginning of World War I . The unconditional surrender of the border fortress of Rupel , in May 1916 , to the Central Powers ' forces , mainly composed of Bulgarian troops , was the first event that led to Noemvriana . The Allies feared the possibility of a secret pact between the Greek royalist government and the Central Powers . Such an alliance would endanger the Allied army in Macedonia bivouacking around Thessalonica since the end of 1915 . Intensive diplomatic negotiations between King Constantine and Allied diplomats took place throughout the summer . The king wanted Greece to maintain her neutrality , a position that would favor the Central Powers plans in the Balkans . While the Allies wanted demobilization of the Greek army and the surrender of war materiel equivalent to what was lost at Fort Rupel as a guarantee of Greece ' s neutrality . By the end of the summer of 1916 , the failure of negotiations , along with Bulgarian army ' s advance in eastern Macedonia and the Greek government ' s orders for the Greek army not to offer resistance , led to a military coup by Venizelist military officers in Thessaloniki with the support of the Allies . The former Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos , who from the very beginning supported the Allies , established a provisional government in northern Greece . He began forming an army to liberate areas lost to Bulgaria , but this effectively split Greece into two entities . The inclusion of the Greek army along with Allied forces , as well as the division of Greece , sparked several anti - Allied demonstrations in Athens . In late October , a secret agreement was reached between the king and the Allied diplomats . The pressure from the military advisers forced the king to abandon this agreement . In an attempt to enforce their demands , the Allies landed a small contingent in Athens on . However , it met organized resistance and an armed confrontation took place until a compromise was reached at the end of the day . The day after the Allied contingent evacuated from Athens , a royalist mob began rioting throughout the city , targeting supporters of Venizelos . The rioting continued for three days , and the incident became known as the Noemvriana in Greece , which in the Old Style calendar occurred during the month of November . The incident drove a deep wedge between the Venizelists and the royalists , bringing closer what would become known as the National Schism . Following Noemvriana , the Allies , determined to remove King Constantine , established a naval blockade to isolate areas which supported the king . After the resignation of the king on 15 June 1917 , Greece unified under a new king Alexander Constantine ' s son and the leadership of Eleftherios Venizelos , joined World War I on the side of the Allies . By 1918 , the mobilized Greek army provided the numerical superiority the Allies needed on the Macedonian front . The Allied army shortly thereafter defeated the Central Powers forces in the Balkans followed by the liberation of Serbia and the conclusion of the First World War . Background : Greece 1914 - 1916 . Greece emerged victorious after the 1912 - 1913 Balkan Wars , with her territory almost doubled . The unstable international political climate of the early 20th century placed Greece in a difficult position . The ownership of the Greek occupied eastern Aegean islands was contested by the Ottoman Empire which claimed them as their own . In the north , Bulgaria , defeated in the Second Balkan War , was engineering revanchist strategies against Greece and Serbia . The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Serbia precipitated Austria - Hungary ' s declaration of war against Serbia . This caused Germany and Austria - Hungary , and countries allied with Serbia ( the Triple Entente Powers ) to declare war on each other , starting World War I . Greece , like Bulgaria , initially maintained neutrality during the conflict . The Greek leadership was divided between the Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos , who supported Great Britain on the side of the Allies and King Constantine who was educated in Germany and married to the Kaiser ' s sister . The king admired Prussia n militarism and was anticipating a quick German victory . The king wanted Greece to remain neutral in the conflict , a strategy favorable to Germany and the Central Powers . In early 1915 , Britain offered Greece " territorial concessions in Asia Minor " if it would participate in the upcoming Gallipoli Campaign . Venizelos supported this idea , while the king and his military advisers opposed it . Dismayed at the king ' s opposition , the prime minister resigned on 21 February 1915 . A few months later , Venizelos ' Liberal Party won the May elections , and formed a new government . When Bulgaria mobilized against Serbia in September 1915 , Venizelos ordered a Greek counter - mobilization and asked the Anglo - French army to defend Thessaloniki and aid Serbia . The Allies , led by General Maurice Sarrail , began landing on 22 September 1915 and entrenched around the city . The Greek parliament gave Venizelos a vote of confidence to help Serbia , yet the king unconstitutionally dismissed the prime minister along with the parliament . This unlawful order escalated the animosity between the king and Venizelos as well as their loyal followers . The Liberals boycotted the December elections . Causes . Surrender of Fort Rupel . On 9 May 1916 , the Chief of the General Staff of the Central Powers , Erich von Falkenhayn informed Athens of the imminent advance of German - Bulgarian forces . In reply , Athens minimized the importance of General Sarrail ' s movements and requested Falkenhayn to change his strategy . On 23 May , Falkenhayn guaranteed that the territorial integrity of Greece and the rights of its citizens would be respected . On 26 May , despite an official protest by the Greek government , 25 , 000 Bulgarian soldiers led by German cavalry invaded Greece . The Greek forces at Fort Rupel surrendered . The German Supreme Command was concerned about Allied General Sarrail ' s movements and Falkenhayn was ordered to occupy strategic positions inside Greek territory , specifically Fort Rupel . Despite the assurances of Falkenhayn , Bulgarian soldiers immediately began to forcibly centralize the Greek population into large cities , namely Serres , Drama and Kavala . German attempts to restrain Bulgarian territorial ambitions were partially successful , yet on 4 September , Kavala was occupied by the Bulgarian army . Reactions of Venizelos and the Allies . The surrender of Fort Rupel caused the Allies to believe that the German - Bulgarian advance was a result of a secret agreement between Athens and the Central Powers , as they were assured that no Bulgarian force would invade Greek territory . The Allies saw this as a violation of Greek neutrality and a disturbance in the balance of power in the Balkans . The Allied press , especially in France , demanded swift military action against Greece to protect the Allied forces in Macedonia . For Venizelos and his supporters , the surrender of Fort Rupel signaled the loss of Greek Macedonia . On 29 May , Venizelos proposed to Sir Francis Elliot ( senior British diplomat in Athens ) and Jean Guillemin ( senior French diplomat in Athens ) that he and General Panagiotis Danglis should establish a provisional government in Thessaloniki to mobilize the Greek army to repel the Bulgarians . Venizelos pledged that the army would not move against the king and the royal family . According to Elliot ' s report , Venizelos hoped that the " " success of his action and pressure of the public opinion might at the last moment convert His Majesty " " . The proposal had French support . However it met with strong opposition from Britain , forcing Venizelos to abandon the plan . On 9 June the Allies held a conference in London to examine the reasons behind the quick surrender of Fort Rupel and favored a complete demobilization of the Greek army and navy . King Constantine anticipated the results of the conference and ordered a partial demobilization on 8 June . The tension between the royal government and the Allies continued since ' anti - Allied activities ' in Athens were ignored by the Greek Government . On 12 – 13 June , a mob destroyed Venizelist newspapers : " Nea Ellas " , " Patris " , " Ethnos " , and " Estia " . The mob proceeded to the British Embassy as police idly stood by without interfering . This incident gave France the political ammunition to persuade Britain that more extreme measures were needed . On 17 June , the London conference decided " " that it was absolutely necessary to do something to bring the king of Greece and his Government to their senses " " . Military coup of Thessaloniki . On 27 August 1916 , during a demonstration in Athens , Venizelos explained his disagreements with the king ' s policies . Venizelos said that the king became a victim of his advisers , whose aims were to destroy the goals of the Goudi revolution . Additionally , Venizelos appealed to the king to pursue a policy of benevolence and true neutrality . Venizelos ended his speech by stating that " " if this proposal does not lead to success then there are other means to protect the country from complete catastrophe " " . The king refused to accept any compromise including meeting with a committee sent by Venizelos . Two days later , army officers loyal to Venizelos organized a military coup in Thessaloniki and proclaimed the " Provisional Government of National Defence " . Despite the support of the army , the provisional government was not officially recognized by Venizelos nor the Allied powers . Venizelos criticized this course of action , noting that without the support of the Allied army , the movement would fail immediately . This further polarized the population between the royalists ( also known as " anti - Venizelists " ) , and Venizelist s . The newly founded separate " provisional state " included Northern Greece , Crete and the Aegean Islands . The " New Lands " , won during the Balkan Wars , broadly supported Venizelos , while the " Old Greece " was mostly pro - royalist . Venizelos , Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis and General Panagiotis Danglis formed a triumvirate provisional government and on 9 October moved to Thessaloniki to assumed command of the National Defense . They directed Greek participation in the Allied war effort in direct conflict with the royal wishes in Athens . According to a British diplomat : From the very beginnings , Venizelos continued his appeals to the king to join forces to jointly liberate Macedonia . Venizelos wrote : Venizelos ' moderation did not convince many citizens , even among his own followers . It was only after the end of 1916 and the " Noemvriana " that he pushed for a radical solution to end the stalemate . Constantine – Bénazet agreement . After the creation of the provisional government in Thessaloniki , negotiations between the Allies and king intensified . The Allies wanted further demobilization of the Greek army and the removal of military forces from Thessaly to insure the safety of their troops in Macedonia . The king wanted assurances that the Allies would not officially recognize or support Venizelos ' provisional government and guarantees that Greece ' s integrity and neutrality would be respected . After several unproductive negotiations , on 23 October the king suddenly agreed to some of the demands required by the Allies including the removal of the Greek army from Thessaly . The king also volunteered war materiel and the Greek navy to assist them . In exchange , the king requested French Deputy Paul Bénazet to keep this agreement secret from the Central Powers . On 3 November , du Fournet used the sinking of two Greek merchant ships by a German submarine , as well as the secret agreement , to demand the surrender of the docked Greek war ships and took command of the Salamis naval arsenal . The Greek government yielded , and on 7 November , the partial disarmament of Greek warships began . The Allies towed away 30 lighter craft . Three weeks later the French took over the Salamis naval base completely , and began using Greek ships operated by French crews . The Constantine – Bénazet agreement was short - lived due to Venizelos ' military plans as well as pressure exerted by the military in Athens , led by the king , regarding the forced Greek disarmament . Venizelos ' action at Katerini met with some disapproval among the Allied circles and among his own associates in Athens . Answering these criticisms Venizelos wrote to A . Diamandidis : The Venizelist advance was not an attempt to undermine the king ' s pact with Bénazet , since it had been planned long before that . The failure of the secret agreement was caused by subversive activities within segments of the royalist government in Athens to paralyze and disrupt the Thessaloniki provisional government . Last diplomatic efforts before the events . The seizure of Greek ships by the Allies , the Katerini incident and the Franco - British violations of Greece ' s territorial integrity offended the national honor of a segment of " Old Greece " and increased the king ' s popularity . The king refused to honor his secret agreement with Bénazet and soldiers who requested to fight against the Bulgarian occupation were charged with " " desertion to the rebels " " . A growing movement amongst the low rank officers within the army , led by Ioannis Metaxas and Sofoklis Dousmanis , were determined to oppose disarmament and any assistance to the Allies . Diplomacy failed despite continuing pressure applied by the Allies against Athens . On 24 November , du Fournet presented a 7 day ultimatum demanding the immediate surrender of at least ten Greek mountain artillery batteries . Du Fournet was instructed not to use force to take possession of the batteries . The admiral made a last effort to persuade the king to accept France ' s demands . He advised the king that he would land an Allied contingent , and occupy certain positions in Athens until all the demands were accepted by Greece . The king said that the citizens of Greece , as well as the army , were against disarmament , and only promised that the Greek forces would not attack the Allies . Despite the gravity of the situation , both the royalist government and the Allies made no serious effort to reach a diplomatic solution . On 29 November , the royalist government rejected the proposal of the Allies and armed resistance was organized . By 30 November military units and royalist militia ( the " epistratoi " , " reservists " ) from surrounding areas had been recalled and gathered in and around Athens ( in total over 20 , 000 men ) and occupied strategic positions , with orders not to fire unless fired upon . The Allied commanders failed in their assessment of the situation , disregarding Greek national pride and determination , causing them to conclude that the Greeks were bluffing . The Allies thought that in the face of a superior force , Greeks would " " bring the cannons on a plater " " ( surrender ) ; a viewpoint that Du Fournet also shared . The battle of Athens : 1916 . On early morning of the Allies landed a 3 , 000 - strong marine force in Piraeus , and headed towards Athens . When the Allied troops reached their designated positions , they found them already occupied by Greek troops . For more than two hours both sides stood facing each other . Some time in the morning , an unknown origin rifle shot was fired and the battle of Athens began . Each side blamed the other for firing first . Once the battle spread throughout the city , the king requested a ceasefire proposing a solution and reach a compromise . Du Fournet , with a small contingent of troops was unprepared to encounter organized Greek resistance , and was already short of supplies , so readily accepted the king ' s compromise . However , before an agreement was finalized , the battle resumed . The Greek battery from Arditos Hill fired a number of rounds at the entrance of Zappeion where the French admiral had established his headquarters . The Allied squadron from Phaliron responded by bombarding sections of the city , mostly around the Stadium and near the Palace . Discussions soon were resumed and a final compromise was reached . The king compromised to surrender just six artillery batteries camouflaged in the mountains instead of the ten that the Allied Admiral demanded . By late afternoon the battle was finished . The Allies had suffered 194 casualties , dead and wounded , and the Greeks lost 82 , not counting civilians . By early morning of 2 December , all Allied forces had been evacuated . The role of the Venizelists during the battle has been intensely contested by witnesses and historians . Admiral Louis du Fournet wrote that Venizelists supported the Allies and attacked passing Greek royalist army units . Venizelists participation was allegedly so extensive , that lead Admiral du Fourne wrote in his report that he had been involved in a civil war . The Venizelists continued fighting after the evacuation of the Allied marines until the next day , when they capitulated . The royalists claimed that large caches of weapons and ammunition were found in their strongholds packed in French military containers . Venizelists were led to prison surrounded by a furious mob and supposedly only the royal army escorts saved them from being murdered by the angry citizens . Other historians deny that the Venizelists collaborated with the Allied forces : Pavlos Karolidis , a contemporary royalist historian , argues that no Venizelist attacked their fellow citizens and the only weapons found during the raids on prominent Venizelists ' houses were knives . The following days . The authorities , with the pretext of the events , claimed that the Venelizelists had staged an insurrection with the support of Allied troops and proceeded with the help of the Reservists to extensive arrests and reprisals against the city ' s Venizelists . The entire operation was led by two generals of the army ; troops of the military district of Athens took orders from General K . Kallaris and the soldiers of the active defense were commanded by General A . Papoulias ( later commander - in - chief of the Asia Minor expedition ) . The terror and destruction that followed soon went out of hand , making even the respectable conservative newspaper Politiki Epitheorisis ( , Political Review ) that at the beginning urged Greek " " justice " " to " " smite mercifully the atrocious conspiracy " " and to purge all followers of the " " archconspirator of Salonika [ Venizelos ] " " , in the end to urge " " prudence " " . During the following three days houses and shops of Venizelists were ransacked and 35 people were murdered . Chester says that most of those who were murdered were refugees from Asia Minor . Many hundreds were imprisoned and kept in solitary confinement . Karolidis characterizes the imprisonment of certain prominent Venizelists , such as Emmanuel Benakis ( mayor of Athens ) , as a disgrace . Some authors argue that Benakis was not only arrested and imprisoned but also disrespected and ill - treated . Seligman describes that they were only released 45 days later after a strong demand contained within the Entente ultimatum , which was accepted on 16 January . Opposing reports also exist , e . g . Abbot asserts that during the evacuation of the Allied forces , many " criminals " and " collaborators " on the payrolls of different Allied spy agencies slipped out of Athens at night after allegedly " terrorizing the city for nearly a year " . Due to his failure Admiral du Fournet was relieved of his command . Aftermath . In Greece , this incident became known as Noemvriana ( November events ) , using the Old Style calendar , and marked the culmination of the National Schism . Political situation in Greece and Europe . On , Britain and France officially recognized Venizelos government as the only lawful government of Greece , effectively splitting the country . On , Venizelos ' government officially declared war on the Central Powers . A royal warrant for the arrest of Venizelos was immediately issued and the Archbishop of Athens , pressured by the royal house , anathema tised the prime minister . In France , the presidency of Aristide Briand , a leading proponent of engaging with Constantine to bring about a reconciliation of the two Greek administrations , was threatened by the events in Athens , leading to the reorganization of the French government . In Britain , Prime Minister H . H . Asquith and foreign minister Sir Edward Grey resigned and were replaced by Lloyd George and Arthur Balfour . The change in the British leadership proved to be particularly important for Greece , since Lloyd George was a known Hellenophile , an admirer of Venizelos and dedicated to resolving the Eastern Question . The fall of the Romanov s in Russia ( who refused the French proposals for Constantine ' s removal from the throne ) , caused France and Great Britain to take more drastic measures against King Constantine . In June they decided to invoke their obligation as " " protecting powers " " to guarantee a constitutional democracy in Greece and demanded the king ' s resignation . Constantine accepted and on 15 June 1917 went into exile . His son Alexander , who was considered to have Allies sympathies , become the new King of Greece instead of Constantine ' s elder son and crown prince , George . The king ' s exile was followed by the deportation of many prominent royalists , especially army officers such as Ioannis Metaxas , to France and Italy . The course of events paved the way for Venizelos to return to Athens on 29 May 1917 . Greece , now unified , officially joined the war on the side of the Allies . The entire Greek army was mobilized ( though tensions remained inside the army between supporters of the Constantine and supporters of Venizelos ) and began to participate in military operations against the Central Powers on the Macedonian front . The Macedonian front . By the fall of 1918 , the Greeks , with over 300 , 000 soldiers , were the single largest component of the Allied army on the Macedonian front . The Greek army gave the much needed advantage to the Allies that altered the balance between the two sides on the Macedonian front . On 14 September 1918 , under the command of French General Franchet d ' Esperey , a combined Greek , Serbian , French and British force launched a major offensive against the Bulgarian and German army . After the first serious battle ( see battle of Skra ) the Bulgarian army gave up their defensive positions and began retreating towards their country . On 29 September , the armistice with Bulgaria was signed by the Allied command . The Allied army pushed north and defeated the remaining German and Austrian forces . By October 1918 the Allied armies had recaptured all of Serbia and were preparing to invade Hungary . The offensive was halted because the Hungarian leadership offered to surrender in November 1918 , marking the dissolution of the Austro - Hungarian empire . This ended the First World War since Germany lacked forces to stop the Allies from invading Germany from the south . The participation of the Greek army at the Macedonian front was one of the decisive event of the war , earning Greece a seat at the Paris Peace Conference under Venizelos .