On one bank of a river, dismayed French, Russian, Italian, and British soldiers watch Bulgaria drift from its broken Russian leash to the opposite bank where German, Austrian and Turkish soldiers express satisfaction and delight. The river leads, in the distance, to Istanbul. Still held by British tethers (and moneybag) are Greece and Romania.
ЧЕТВОРНИЯ СЪЮЗЪQuadruple AllianceE. A. Schwerdtfeger & Co. A.G. Berlin N. 85
"With Russia slipping into civil and military disarray, the Balkan front in stalemate, and the Americans still months away from appearing in force, the entente was desperate to strengthen its position in southeastern Europe. On 10 June 1917 France demanded that King Constantine abdicate within twenty-four hours and prepared to occupy Athens. Confronted with overwhelming force, the king complied with the ultimatum. His second son Alexander succeeded him and immediately agreed to form a united government in Athens under Venizelos. Greece duly declared war on the Central Powers on 30 June 1917, the last European state to enter the First World War."
Since being invited into neutral Greece by then-Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos at the end of 1915, the Allies had had a contentious relationship with pro-German King Constantine, who had promptly sacked Venizelos for his violation of Greek neutrality. The former Prime Minister formed a provisional government in Salonica in October, 1916, and raised battalions that fought on the Balkan Front. Russian Tsar Nicholas II had opposed the removal of a crowned head of state, but the March Russian Revolution had made his views irrelevant. Athens, the Greek capital, had already seen violent confrontations between the Allies and forces loyal to Constantine.
Decisions for War, 1914-1917 by Richard F. Hamilton and Holger H. Herwig, page 181, copyright © Richard F. Hamilton & Holger H. Herwig 2004, publisher: Cambridge University Press, publication date: 2004
1917-06-30, 1917, June, Greece, King Constantine, Constantine, Venizelos, Athens, Eleftherios Venizelos, declaration of war, neutral Greece
