Greco-Turkish War 1919–22

Following Ottoman defeat in World War I, Greek forces had been allowed to occupy Smyrna from May 1919 after citing fears that its Christian population was under threat. The Greek occupation was initially supported by Britain and in summer 1920 the Greeks expanded their military occupation of western Anatolia. In the same year the Treaty of Sèvres was signed by the Ottoman Empire, which officially allocated territory to Greece. This was soon annulled by the Turkish revolutionaries, so the Greeks moved further west into Turkey. King Alexander of Greece died on 25 October 1920 after contracting sepsis from a monkey bite, which resulted in drastic changes to the military hierarchy under the new Greek king, Constantine. At the First Battle of Inonu on 9 January 1921, the Turkish achieved their first success, and from this point momentum began to shift against the Greeks. The Turks gained the upper hand whilst European support for Greece dwindled.