August 1922. The Great Disaster

August is a month heavy with significance for Greek historical memory. In 1922, the country experienced what was, up to that point, its greatest catastrophe: the Greek defeat in Asia Minor and the recapture of Smyrna by the Turkish army under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk—an event referred to in Turkish historiography as the “Great Offensive.” The Greek population of Asia Minor, which had been established there for centuries—dating back to antiquity—was first subjected to widespread massacres by the Turks; subsequently, the survivors were expelled to Greece, following a mandatory population exchange and the treaty signed between Greece and Turkey in Lausanne in 1923.