In this the Centenary year of the outbreak of World War 1, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the University of
Macedonia and the Institute for Balkan Studies, in association with
the Consulate-General of France in Thessaloniki, are organizing an
International Conference under the auspices of the Municipality of Thessaloniki.
The Conference - “The Salonica Front in World War I” aims to highlight the importance of the Salonica Front in
the wider military context of the war.
The Coference will be held on Thursday 22 October - Saturday 24 October.
The
Conference will commence at 6.00 pm on Thursday 22 October and will be
held at the Ceremony Hall, University of Macedonia and will be chaired
by Ioannis Mourelos. The key note address will be given by Sir Hew
Strachan - "1915, the search for solutions". The next speaker will be
Georges-Henri Soutou and he will be followed by a Musical Concert.
The Conference will then move to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki for the remainder of the Conference.
There will be two themes covered during the second day:
1. Strategic planning and political perspectives
2. Military operations
The first session on Friday morning, chaired by Sir Hew Strachan will be by Spyridon Sfetas and will be titled: “From Gallipoli to Thessaloniki: The
legacy of the Greco-Serbian Alliance, the Bulgarian factor and the
formation of the Salonica Front, 1915-1916”Other prominent speakers during the day will include Konstantinos Ailianos, Richard Hall, Vlasis Vlasidis, Claude Carlier, Holger Afflerbach to name a few.
The sessions on Friday are:
1. Aspects of war and the treatment of memory
2. After the war
They include: Iakovos Michailidis - “War correspondents at the Macedonian Front”,
Roumen Genov - “The Salonica Front and the Bulgarian Public Opinion” and Alexandros Garyfallos, Dimitrios
Christodoulou, Paraskeuas Savaidis - "Medical services in the Macedonian
Front: evacuation, hospitalization and repatriation of the sick and
wounded" to name a few.
Below is a summary of Spyridon Sfetas' paper on "From Gallipoli to Salonica : The legacy of the Greco-Serbian
Alliance, the Bulgarian factor and the formation of the Salonica Front
1915- 1916"
"At the beginning of 1915 the Entente Powers drifted to the adventure
of the Dardanelles operations and the Kallipolis campaign. . They
suffered a tremendous disaster. .The Entente Powers believed that the
Great War would be decided not in the Balkans, but in Western Front.
They tried again to win over Bulgaria by promising territorial gains in
Macedonia after the war if Greece and Serbia secured adequate
compensations in Asia Minor and Bosnia respectively. When in September
1915 Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Venizelos opted for Greece’s
siding with the Entente. Since Bulgaria and Turkey had already sided
with the Central Powers, Greece had no alternative but to join the
Entente to fulfill its territorial claims in Asia Minor. Serbia’s
collapse would open the way from Berlin to Constantinople since Bulgaria
would immediately invade Serbia He argued that Bulgaria’s
aggrandizement at the expense of Serbia and Serbia’s destruction would
destroy the Balkan equilibrium and endanger Greece’s position. It was
therefore to Greece’s interest to take advantage of the situation to
attack Bulgaria independently of Greece’s alliance obligations to
Serbia. He now requested the Allies to send 150, 000 men to Salonica
i.e., the forces which Serbia would have to deploy against Bulgaria
according to the military convention. Greece’s neutrality was not
tenable any more. Germany proved to be unable to protect the Greeks
in Asia Minor from the atrocities of the Turks and to oppose Bulgarian
territorial claims on Greek part of Macedonia as a counterweight for
Greece’s neutrality. The Bulgarian- Macedonian lobby and the Internal
Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (I.M.R.O), calling for a
conclusive solution of the Macedonian Question, were active in Bulgaria
and kept in touch with German agents. Germany’s war propaganda was
rampant in Greece. Baron Schenk bribed the main Greek newspapers. At
any rate Greece’s national interests and not merely the myrhologized
Greco- Serbian Treaty of Alliance dictated Greece’s siding with the
Entente..Greece experienced a national split, and Serbia was destroyed."
For a full report on the Conference, please click here.
Christina Despoteris
Vice President
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee
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