But the Brits did more than not have money. Did they not encourage the Greeks to go to war against the new Turkish state and went they did, stand by and watch Greeks lose homes they had occupied for thousands of years. Perfidious Albion indeed.
ah yes there was a comment someone raised on this line of thought that the Allied countries encouraged Greece after 1919 but then stood back, as you say. That was actually an argument that British, French and other humanitarian activists did make back in the day. by the way, Hemingway has a great short story from his period of covering the Smyrna fire as a journalist. I forget the title but it involved breaking the legs of livetsock to fit into the boats.
As always, fascinating. I’ll look for the Ambler book (which I didn’t find at the Gutenberg press). I also hope you get the encouragement needed to return to the Emperor of California. My wish list includes more on what you heard about British relations with Greece. Perfidious Albion?
Heh heh, thanks. I'm sure the Ambler estate will be robustly supporting his continued publications as he died relatively modern-ly so no public domain yet.. as for the questions, I will let the presenters in the 4hr video speak for themselves. But very generally, I don't think it was British betrayal - more likely they (and all other European countries) had no money after WWI for new aid and the US was one of the few that could help. However, as some panelists showed, the Red Cross aid was overseen by a US general who did not seem to like the job or the peoples he was aiding, and proposed withdrawal. The big-picture policy shifts betweeen Wilson and Harding and their respective crowds was really fascinating and so some of the presentations are well worth a listen.
But the Brits did more than not have money. Did they not encourage the Greeks to go to war against the new Turkish state and went they did, stand by and watch Greeks lose homes they had occupied for thousands of years. Perfidious Albion indeed.
ah yes there was a comment someone raised on this line of thought that the Allied countries encouraged Greece after 1919 but then stood back, as you say. That was actually an argument that British, French and other humanitarian activists did make back in the day. by the way, Hemingway has a great short story from his period of covering the Smyrna fire as a journalist. I forget the title but it involved breaking the legs of livetsock to fit into the boats.
As always, fascinating. I’ll look for the Ambler book (which I didn’t find at the Gutenberg press). I also hope you get the encouragement needed to return to the Emperor of California. My wish list includes more on what you heard about British relations with Greece. Perfidious Albion?
Heh heh, thanks. I'm sure the Ambler estate will be robustly supporting his continued publications as he died relatively modern-ly so no public domain yet.. as for the questions, I will let the presenters in the 4hr video speak for themselves. But very generally, I don't think it was British betrayal - more likely they (and all other European countries) had no money after WWI for new aid and the US was one of the few that could help. However, as some panelists showed, the Red Cross aid was overseen by a US general who did not seem to like the job or the peoples he was aiding, and proposed withdrawal. The big-picture policy shifts betweeen Wilson and Harding and their respective crowds was really fascinating and so some of the presentations are well worth a listen.