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3 unusual facts about Provisional Government of National Defence


Provisional Government of National Defence

Individual officers from across northern Greece began to flock to Thessaloniki, and on 2/15 September, the "National Defence" received its first substantial reinforcement, as Colonel Nikolaos Christodoulou arrived in the city with the remnants of IV Corps that had refused to surrender and instead withdrawn via Kavala and Samothrace.

At this point the first rifts appeared among the Greek leadership: The very capable Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos, an ardent admirer of Great Britain, supported entry in the war on the side of the Entente, while the King, who had been educated in Germany, married to the Kaiser's sister, and a deep admirer of Prussian militarism, anticipated a German victory.

The establishment of this second Greek state has its origins in the debate over Greece's entry into the war on behalf of the Entente, as advocated by Venizelos, or a Germaophile neutrality as preferred by King Constantine I.



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