very soon a glorious victory over all your infamous enemies." Once more, however, the tension died down; King Constantine probably realized that the prospects of a German offensive on a large scale in Macedonia were very remote; his confidence must have been shaken by America's entry into the war (April) ; and, although the Russian revolution in March had deprived him of some diplomatic support, there were still influences abroad which enabled him to reopen relations of " friendly neutrality " when the French and British ministers returned to their lega- tions in March. At the end of the month one or two of the Venizelist hewspapers, whose presses had all been broken up in Dec. by the Royalist mob, ventured to reappear. On the other hand the replacement of the French Government of M. Briand by that of M. Ribot probably disposed France for a more drastic policy. The King's less truculent attitude, reflected in the reappearance of M. Zaimes as prime minister (May 3), was now confronted by more firmness in the councils of the Allies.
Deposition of Constantine. At the end of May the Allies were at last agreed that the professed neutrality of King Constantine was not genuine enough to be respected. On June 6 M. Jonnart, a French senator, arrived in Greece as commissioner of the Three Powers, and, after conferences at Salonika, returned to Salamis and on June n presented the Greek Government with a note which demanded the abdication of King Constantine, " who would himself choose, in accord with the Protecting Powers, a successor among his heirs." The Greek Government, required to give an answer within 24 hours, was also informed that the Crown Prince would be excluded from the succession (on account of his German sentiments) and that the King, after his departure and subject to his good behaviour, would be guaranteed a pension of 20,000. On the following morning (June 12) M. Zaimes informed the High Commissioner that the King, " anxious as always for the welfare of Greece, had decided to leave the country together with the Prince Royal, and had chosen as his successor Prince Alexander " (his second son, born Aug. I 1893); and the same night King Constantine left Athens and made his way to Switzerland, with his family and suite, which included his chief political adviser, M. Streit. General Dousmanes and other officers of the general staff, with M. Gounares and other politicians notorious for their German sentiments, were deported to Corsica; and with them M. Ion Dragoumes, a brilliant and rising writer, diplomatist and politician, who while not hostile to the Allies was regarded as dangerous owing to the extravagance of his hatred of Venizelos.
On June 26 Venizelos himself returned to Athens and with the members of his Government, after the resignation of M. Zaimes, took the oath of allegiance to King Alexander. French troops had been landed in Athens on M. Jonnart's arrival, and had also advanced into Thessaly to secure the harvest. Venizelos had repeatedly asked the Allies to suspend the neutral zone and allow the Salonika Government to advance into Thessaly and also to march against the Athenian Government, which could have offered very little resistance; for at the time the Salonika Government had raised an army of 60,000 men, " well organized in three divisions, with a fourth division, that of the Cyclades and Ionian islands, ready for immediate equipment." The Allies had refused the request, not wishing to permit any outbreak of civil war, however brief. They quite naturally preferred to effect the purgation of the Athenian state without bloodshed; but .the presence of French troops in Athens during the month of June exposed Venizelos to the charge of having been restored to power by " foreign bayonets."
Greece in the War. On June 29 the reunited Greek Govern- ment declared war against the Central Powers. The Chamber of June 13 1915, which King Constantine had dissolved on Nov. 6 1915, was recalled, and in a great speech (Aug. 26 1917) Venizelos explained to the legally elected representatives of the Greek people the causes of his policy from the beginning of the war and of two conflicts with King Constantine. Of 198 deputies present 188 voted for the resolution of plenary con- fidence in the Government. Yet the passions aroused by these conflicts and by the respective propagandas were not easily
stilled. A large number of officers who refused to disavow their allegiance to King Constantine were cashiered, and many civil servants who refused to acknowledge the authority of the new Government were also removed. Of the civil servants all but about 400 (out of a civil service amounting to some 30,000 persons) had been reinstated at their own request by May 1920, in spite of the difficulties created by the duplication of staff effected by the Salonika administration; and of these 400 many remained unemployed, not for political reasons but on account of their official incompetence. But the reinstatement of officers was less easy owing to questions of seniority involved, and the Loyalist officers remained as an element of irreconcilable discontent to be exploited by a sedulous propaganda conducted by the ex-King Constantine from his exile in Switzerland. Several mutinies occurred during the mobilization of the army, which were quickly suppressed; but the shooting of the ring- leaders, inevitable in a state of war, left a painful impression. In Nov. 1917 Venizelos \isite I Paris and London, where he was entertained at the Mansion House, and secured supplies of food, all stocks having been exhausted c uring the Allied blockade, as well as munitions and equipment for the Greek army. By April 1918 the mobilization was complete. The Greek forces, which were successfully tested in a preliminary action at Skra di Legen (May 30), amounted in July to 10 divisions, about 250,000 men, and gave the Allies for the first time a definite superiority on the Macedonian front. The Allies were thus enabled to plan in Aug. the great offensive which was opened in the following month and culminated, after the Greek troops had distinguished themselves with the British at the storming of the Doiran heights (Sept. 22), in the capitulation of Bulgaria (Sept. 30).
After the War. Venizelos arrived in Paris at the end of the year and soon became one of the leading figures at the Peace Conference, which opened in Jan. 1919. The Greek delegation signed before the Supreme Council of the Allies the Greek claims for the annexation of northern Epirus, Thrace, Smyrna with a large portion of the western littoral of Asia Minor, and the Dodecanese; and for the internationalization of Constantinople. Meanwhile Greek troops had taken part in the unfortunate French expedition to south Russia, and the Greek army and fleet had been represented in the Allied occupation of Constantinople. But the number of statistical factors involved, the tendency of the Council of Ten, not less than that of the subsequent Supreme Council of Four, to postpone difficult problems, and the con- flicting ambitions and policies of the Great Powers in the Near East, combined to keep the future of Greece in suspense for two years after the conclusion of hostilities. As affecting Bulgaria the Greek claims were settled by the Treaty of Neuilly, to which was annexed a Greco-Bulgarian convention for the protection of racial minorities, etc. (Nov. 27 1919), by which Bulgaria was cut off from the Aegean. But the Turkish problem in which all the Powers were interested remained to be dealt with in the following year. The armistice concluded with Turkey (Oct. 30 1918) had unfortunately made very incomplete provision for the disarmament of the Turkish forces, and it was partly in order to restore order in Asia Minor and protect the Christian populations that Venizelos, after a first presentation of his Turkish argument, obtained an authorization for Greek troops to occupy Smyrna (May 14 1919). Unfortunately, owing to the defective arrangements of the Greek authorities, the landing was followed by a disturbance in which the Greek troops and local population got out of hand and about 20 Turks were shot down in the streets. The Greek Government immediately set up a court- martial which passed severe sentences on 48 Greeks (three of whom were executed), 13 Turks, 12 Armenians and one Jew involved in the riots. Subsequently an Inter-Allied Commission of British, French, American and Italian officers was sent out to investigate, but its report was never published as by an over- sight the decision of the Supreme Council, that a Greek officer should be present at the investigations, had been ignored. In Sept. leading British residents of Smyrna testified to the admira- ble impartiality of the new Greek commissioner M. Sterghiades. But the suppression of this report, as well as similar incidents said
