HISTORY

Smyrna

(Vladimír Šulc)

On her second transatlantic voyage, the Arizona left Guantanamo Bay in Cuba on April 9, 1919 via Hampton Roads in Virginia,

from where she sailed on April 12. She reached the French port

of Brest on April 21 and continued on to Smyrna (today Izmir) in

Turkey. She docked there on May 11. She was quite literally at

the right place at the right time. Smyrna was occupied by Greek

forces on May 15, and formed a beachhead from which to enter

Asia Minor. A US Marine unit from the Arizona protected American personnel, including those of the US Consulate, against the

Greek forces that were behaving violently to the local population.

The American population in Smyrna at the time totaled some 400,

many of which found refuge on the ship at the time of heightening

tensions and violence. The Arizona was anchored in Smyrna until

June 9, when she left for Constantinople (now Istanbul), with the

American Consul Leland E. Morris on board. She stayed in Constantinople until June 15th, when she raised anchor and sailed

through Gibraltar back to New York, reaching the city on June

30. She was subsequently put through a general overhaul, during which six 5-inch (127mm) guns were removed and her aiming

system was modernized.

lation and prisoners of war. The war ended in fatal defeat and

the evacuation for the Greek Army, and in victory for the Turkish

army under General Mustafa Kemal, a Turkish hero from Gallipoli.

Under Kemal, Turkey became the only defeated central power to

successfully reject the treaty terms of a victorious government.

The Turkish parliament refused to ratify the humiliating Sevresa Agreement, and thanks to a successful armed resistance and

a victorious war for independence, Turkey was able to sue for

more favorable peace conditions, guaranteeing Turkey‘s sovereignty over Asia Minor and East Thrace. This was confirmed by the

Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923. The Turkish Republic was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923, the first president elected

was Mustafa Kemal, known since 1934 as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk,

Father of the Turks. The great fire of Smyrna, which followed the

occupation of the city by the Turks, brought enormous casualties

to the Greek and Armenian civilians. The US Navy again took part

in the evacuation of refugees from Smyrna. American destroyers

Lawrence, Edsall and Simpson operated in the port, and later

another destroyer joined in. Several American civilian ships also

took part in the evacuation. The Great Fire of Smyrna has been

described in a number of literary works, and the events have

The landing of Greek forces in Smyrna began a long and bloobeen thoroughly covered. Ernest Hemingway, who worked as

dy Greek-Turkish war, which lasted until the autumn of 1922 and

a

reporter for the Canadian Toronto Star newspaper, was one of

was accompanied by mutual violence against the civilian poputhe American reporters in Smyrna in the fall of 1922. Among the

city‘s refugees was one of the world‘s richest

men, billionaire and Jacqueline Kennedy‘s future husband, Aristotle Onassis, whose extended

family was severely affected by the events in

Smyrna. The Louisiana Agreement resulted in

an extensive population exchange agreed upon

by the Greek and Turkish governments. The criteria for resettlement lay in the religion of the

inhabitants. The result was the relocation of

more than 1.5 million Orthodox Christians from

Asia Minor and East Thrace to Greece, while

some 500,000 Greek Muslims were relocated

in the opposite direction. In addition to bringing

further immense suffering and injustice to the

affected population, the Lausanne Agreement

marked a fundamental change in attitudes towards national minorities in Europe. In contrast

to the previous emphasis on guaranteeing the

rights of national minorities within individual

states, the pressure on the national homogeneity of nation states prevailed. This led to Nazi

Germany‘s demands for a revision of Europe‘s

borders in the 1930s, which were the main cause of World War II. On the other hand, the same

Protests against Istanbul occupation held in the Sultan Ahmed square on May 23, 1919.

principles were used after the war to expel German, Hungarian and other ethnic minorities

from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and other Eastern

European countries. Today, Izmir is the third largest city in Turkey with a population of almost

4.5 million.

References:

- Robert Gerwath: Poražení: Světová válka byla jen

jedna, ISBN 978-80-7432-895-4, Nakladatelství

Paseka, 2018. Z anglického originálu The Vanquished:

Why the First World War Failed to End, 1917-1923,

Penguin Random House UK, 2016.

-www.wikipedia.com

- www.history.navy.mil

Greek infantry assault at the river Ermos

during the Greco-Turkish War 1919–1922.

12

INFO Eduard

March 2022