Ionian Vision: Greece in Asia Minor, 1919-1922

This book, together with other historic references to this calamity, clearly shows that the involvement of the Great Powers in Asia Minor was turned out to be of paramount significance in influencing the events of that period. Furthermore, this `involvement', as often it is the case with history, it has continued for many years, indeed up to the modern times, to cast its inexorable shadow to the future of an area that, for millennia, has been an integral part of the cradle of the Western civilisation.

The main criticism is that it is rather surprising that such a detailed, well-presented and balanced piece of work, dedicated in describing the Minor Asia disaster itself, does not include further information pertinent to what it is largely considered to be as the highlight of this affair: the Destruction of Smyrna. Indeed, it feels rather appropriate that a whole chapter should have been dedicated to this particular event not just in order to commemorate the magnitude of human loss and drama that took place but, equally as important, to throw more light as to the reason(s) why such an important and vibrant Mediterranean port should be totally left to the menace of an avenging army.

In the period from mid 1921 to the day when Smyrna was destroyed what was the position of the Americans? Furthermore, was there ever a point during the aforementioned period where the British government, unequivocally, made it `crystal clear' to the Greeks that no aid of any sort will be forthcoming?

Finally, are there any plans for the book to be translated in other languages such as Greek, Turkish, French etc?


A mesmerising work of true scholarship   August 13, 2001
 8 out of 9 found this review helpful

This book tells a rarely told story about one of the greatest human catastrophes of the 20th century - the destruction in 1922 of the Greek Community in Asia Minor by the Ottoman Turks. The story of the destruction of a community which had lived in the West Coast of today's Turkey since before the time of Homer. I say, "rarely told" because it is story that is indeed "rarely told" to anyone who is not Greek or Turkish. The author, Michael Llewellyn Smith, does an extraordinary and, I might add, well- balanced job in telling this fascinating story to the English-speaking world.

In a gripping narrative, coupled with unequalled scholarship and detail, this book tells the tragic story of Greece's ill-fated dream for a "Greater Greece" - the Greek Irredentist Passion of the early twentieth century - and the fascinating characters, English, Greek and Turkish (among others) who played profound roles in shaping of this story. The dream of a joint Anglo-Greek Entente in the eastern Mediterranean - a dream shared by Prime Minister Lloyd George of England and Eleftherios Venizelos of Greece, which ended on the bloody and burnt quays of Smyrna in 1922 and haunts the psyche of every Greek to this very day.

To all readers who are interested in the history of 20th-century Greece, this book ,along with Mark Mazower's "Inside Hitler's Greece", is required reading.

As an aside, in the paperback edition, on page 31, there is a description of some "ethnic cleansing" committed by the Turks on "Old Phocea" - "a seaside town of about 9000 inhabitants, in June 1914". As I read the description, my heart began to beat rapidly. My father - aged seven months at the time - was one of those who survived. I suppose I am here to write these few words, all these many years later, because he did, in fact, survive.

Lovers of well written and accurate history will love this book!


Fascinating 20th Century Greek Tragedy   May 31, 2001
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

I started reading this book on a lark and quickly became enthralled with it. It explores a subject I have previously only vaguely heard about, the Greek "Asia-Minor catastrophe", which led to the expulsion from Turkey of 1.2 million Greek Christians, many of whose ancestors had lived in Asia Minor for the millenia since the Hellenistic era.

The Greeks, egged on by the British, who had promised them "valuable territorial consideration" for their allegiance to the victorious allies in World War I, occupied - pursuant to the Treaty of Sevres - the region of Asia Minor surrounding the ancient Greek city of Smyrna on the Aegean Sea. The ostensible reason for this occupation was to protect the largely Greek population of Smyrna from the rise of Turkish nationalism associated with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. However, underlying the expansion to Smyrna was the dream of uniting all of the millions of Greeks living under foreign powers (from Cyprus to Rhodes to Smyrna to Constantinople and the Black Sea region of Pontus) into the Greek nation. This idea of a resurrected "Greater Greece" was appealing as well to many European Hellenophiles, particularly the British.

What happened to wreck the dream of a "Greater Greece" - a Greek state incorporating the predominantly Greek regions of the former Ottoman Empire (perhaps even including Constantinople) - is immensely complicated, but an oversimplified explanation is as follows: After the Greek political party which had championed the Smyrna/Greater Greece cause lost the election, and the British (who favored the losing party and were in any event seeking an accomodation with the Turks) withdrew all economic and military support for the operation, the Greek army was gradually forced to abandon Asia Minor, leading to the uprooting of the Greek populations of all parts of Turkey, who were "exchanged" for much of the Turkish populace of Greece, in perhaps the largest internationally-sanctioned "ethnic cleansing" in modern history. The ensuing economic and sociological catastrophe devastated Greece, reducing the country to virtually a Third World status from which it did not emerge for generations, and cast a pall over its politics through the late 20th century. It has also left the Greeks with a profound sense of betrayal by Britain.

Llewellyn Smith, formerly British ambassador to the Hellenic Republic, has written a reasoned and balanced account of the forces underlying the catastrophe. His writing style is entertaining, and he includes fascinating insights into the Byzantine deal-making which occurred behind the scenes, and which involved not only the fascinating post-WWI leaders of Greece and the other allied countries, but also the glamorous Greek international jet-set of the time, whose wealth, influence and entree in British society was ultimately of no avail, but whose occasional appearances lend the story some romantic appeal.

Ionian Vision is a worthwhile book for anyone with an interest in history. The story is particularly relevant in light of the present situation in the Baltic countries, where the Christian versus Muslim ethnic rivalries left over from the Ottoman Empire are still turning neighbor against neighbor and destroying nations.


Fascinating 20th Century Greek Tragedy   May 31, 2001
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I started reading this book on a lark and quickly became enthralled with it. It explores a subject I have previously only vaguely heard about, the Greek "Asia-Minor catastrophe", which led to the expulsion from Turkey of 1.2 million Greek Christians, many of whose ancestors had lived in Asia Minor for the millenia since the Hellenistic era.

The Greeks, egged on by the British, who had promised them "valuable territorial consideration" for their allegiance to the victorious allies in World War I, occupied - pursuant to the Treaty of Sevres - the region of Asia Minor surrounding the ancient Greek city of Smyrna on the Aegean Sea. The ostensible reason for this occupation was to protect the largely Greek population of Smyrna from the rise of Turkish nationalism associated with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. However, underlying the expansion to Smyrna was the dream of uniting all of the millions of Greeks living under foreign powers (from Cyprus to Rhodes to Smyrna to Constantinople and the Black Sea region of Pontus) into the Greek nation. This idea of a resurrected "Greater Greece" was appealing as well to many European Philhellenes, particularly in Britain.

What happened to wreck the dream of a "Greater Greece" - a Greek state incorporating the predominantly Greek regions of the former Ottoman Empire (perhaps even including Constantinople) - is immensely complicated, but an oversimplified explanation is as follows: After the Greek political party which had championed the Smyrna/Greater Greece cause lost the election, and the British (who favored the losing party and were in any event seeking an accomodation with the Turks) withdrew all economic and military support for the operation, the Greek army was gradually forced to abandon Asia Minor, leading to the uprooting of the Greek populations of all parts of Turkey, who were "exchanged" for much of the Turkish populace of Greece, in perhaps the largest internationally-sanctioned "ethnic cleansing" in modern history. The ensuing economic and sociological catastrophe devastated Greece, reducing the country to virtually a Third World status from which it did not emerge for generations, and cast a pall over its politics through the late 20th century. It has also left the Greeks with a profound sense of betrayal by Britain.

Llewellyn Smith, formerly British ambassador to the Hellenic Republic, has written a reasoned and balanced account of the forces underlying the catastrophe. His writing style is entertaining, and he includes fascinating insights into the Byzantine deal-making which occurred behind the scenes, and which involved not only the fascinating post-WWI leaders of Greece and the other allied countries, but also the glamorous Greek international jet-set of the time, whose wealth, influence and entree in British society was ultimately of no avail, but whose occasional appearances lend the story some romantic appeal.

Ionian Vision is a worthwhile book for anyone with an interest in history. The story is particularly relevant in light of the present situation in the Baltic countries, where the Christian versus Muslim ethnic rivalries left over from the Ottoman Empire are still turning neighbor against neighbor and destroying nations.


Other side of the story   March 29, 2000
 21 out of 27 found this review helpful

As a Turk if you are interested in the other side of the story this is the perfect book which has most of the missing pieces of the puzzle. You have to consider the fact that the author used to be the British ambassador to Greece and he shares the same prejudices about the Ottoman minorities with the other Western intellectuals. Under these circumstances his work is a really neat and unbiased account of the facts of the era.