Greco-Turkish War of 1920–1922 (Interwar period) |
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Part of the Turkish War of Independence | |||||||||
Trench warfare during the Greco-Turkish War |
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Soviet Russia |
Kingdom of Greece Supported by: British Empire |
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Mustafa Kemal Pasha Fevzi Pasha İsmet Pasha Fahrettin Pasha Kemalettin Sami Pasha Yörük Ali Efe Yusuf Izzet Pasha Mehmet Arif Pasha Mehmet Nazım Pasha Mehmet Atıf Pasha Ali Fuat Pasha Çerkez Ethem Muhittin Pasha Nazif Pasha Cevat Pasha Cemil Pasha Naci Pasha Mümtaz Pasha Kazım Pasha Osman Nuri Pasha Münip Pasha Süleyman Pasha Rüştü Pasha Şefik Pasha Kâzım Pasha Nihat Pasha |
Constantine I of Greece Konstantinos Nider Konstantinos Miliotis-Komninos Leonidas Paraskevopoulos Dimitrios Gounaris Anastasios Papoulas Georgios Hatzianestis Nikolaos Trikoupis Georgios Polymenakos |
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Strength | |||||||||
May 1919: 35,000
Organization 1922
Equipment 1922
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May 1919: 15,000
Organization 1922
Equipment 1922
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Casualties and losses | |||||||||
Regular army: 9,167 killed 2,474 died of wounds or non-combat causes 31,097 wounded 11,150 missing 6,522 prisoners** |
19,362 killed 4,878 died outside of combat 48,880 wounded 18,095 missing ~13,740 prisoners* |
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Decisive Turkish victory
May 1919: 35,000
November 1920: 86,000
August 1921: 92,000
August 1922: 208,000 men
May 1919: 15,000
April 1920: 90,000
January 1921: 100,000
June 1921: 200,000
1922: 215,000
The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, known as the Western Front (Turkish: Batı Cephesi, Ottoman Turkish: Garb Cebhesi گرب جابهاسی) of the Turkish War of Independence in Turkey and the Asia Minor Campaign (Greek: Μικρασιατική Εκστρατεία) or the Asia Minor Catastrophe (Greek: Μικρασιατική Καταστροφή) in Greece, was fought between Greece and the Turkish National Movement during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after World War I between May 1919 and October 1922.
The Greek campaign was launched primarily because the western Allies, particularly British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, had promised Greece territorial gains at the expense of the Ottoman Empire, recently defeated in World War I. The armed conflict started when the Greek forces landed in Smyrna (now Izmir), on 15 May 1919. They advanced inland and took control of the western and northwestern part of Anatolia, including the cities of Manisa, Balıkesir, Aydın, Kütahya, Bursa and Eskişehir. Their advance was checked at the Battle of Sakarya in 1921 by forces of the Turkish national movement. The Greek front collapsed with the Turkish counter-attack in August 1922, and the war effectively ended with the capture of Smyrna by the Turkish forces and the Great Fire of Smyrna.