Asia Minor Catastrophe

Greco-Turkish War of 1920–1922 (Interwar period)
Part of the Turkish War of Independence
Trench warfare during the Greco-Turkish War
Date 15 May 1919 – 11 October 1922 (3 years, 4 months, 3 weeks and 5 days) Location Asia Minor Result Decisive Turkish victory Population exchange between the two nations Treaty of Lausanne Territorial changes Lands initially ceded to Greece from the Ottoman Empire are incorporated into the Republic of Turkey
Belligerents
Grand National Assembly Kuva-yi Milliye (1919–1920) Matériel support: Soviet Russia	Kingdom of Greece Supported by: British Empire
Commanders and leaders
Mustafa Kemal Pasha Fevzi Pasha İsmet Pasha Fahrettin Pasha Kemalettin Sami Pasha Yusuf Izzet Pasha Ali Fuat Pasha Muhittin Pasha Kâzım Pasha Naci Pasha Ömer Halis Pasha Münip Pasha Rüştü Pasha Şefik Pasha Kâzım Pasha Nihat Pasha Refet Pasha	Constantine I of Greece Konstantinos Nider Konstantinos Miliotis-Komninos Leonidas Paraskevopoulos Dimitrios Gounaris Anastasios Papoulas Georgios Hatzianestis Nikolaos Trikoupis Georgios Polymenakos
Strength
May 1919: 35,000 November 1920: 86,000 August 1921: 92,000 August 1922: 208,000 men Organization 1922 18 infantry divisions 5 cavalry divisions 3 independent regiments Equipment 1922 93,000 rifles 2,025 light machine guns 839 heavy machine guns 323 cannons 5,282 swords 198 trucks 33 cars and ambulances 10 aircraft	May 1919: 15,000 April 1920: 90,000 January 1921: 100,000 June 1921: 200,000 1922: 215,000 Organization 1922 12 infantry divisions 1 cavalry division 9 independent regiments Equipment 1922 130,000 rifles 3,139 light machine guns 1,280 heavy machine guns 418 cannons 1,300 swords 4,036 trucks 1,776 cars and ambulances 50 aircraft
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*
according to Turkish sources 20,826 Greek prisoners were taken. Of those about 740 officers and 13,000 soldiers arrived in Greece during the prisoner exchange in 1923. The rest presumably died in captivity and are listed among the "missing". **Greece took 22,071 military and civilian prisoners. Of those were 520 officers and 6,002 soldiers. During the prisoner exchange in 1923, 329 officers, 6,002 soldiers and 9,410 civilian prisoners arrived in Turkey. The remaining 6,330, mostly civilian prisoners, presumably died in Greek captivity. The Turkish Grand National Assembly was opened in 1920. Kuva-yi Milliye operated independently between 1919–20 until it was put under the control of the Grand National Assembly.

Decisive Turkish victory

Grand National Assembly

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 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. It is 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.

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.

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