00:00Extracts from a historic speech Nancy Horton gave in the United States regarding her experience
00:08as the daughter of George Horton, the Consulate of the United States, officially representing
00:14the USA government in Smyrna during the last tragic days and the destruction in 1922.
00:20Especially, she gave emphasis to the part that her father said,
00:24if the warships of the great powers that were anchored in the port of Smyrna at that time
00:28would have decided to fire even just one cannon shot or one gunshot.
00:33The city and the lives of hundreds of thousands of Christian inhabitants
00:36would have been spared from the destruction of death and the menace of the Turks.
00:42But why would a Yankee of the 10th generation from a small suburb of New York
00:46be so deeply involved in a city on the coast of Asia Minor?
00:50Nancy Horton questioned in her speech.
00:52The young George Horton used to listen to his father reading the Bible and one part that
01:01apparently impressed George for life was the chapter from Apocalypse where it is mentioned
01:06that the last of the seven cities of Apocalypse was Smyrna.
01:11So he was destined to live and experience the destruction and death of the city.
01:19Nancy Horton, in this historic speech, gave her account of the events that led to the
01:23destruction and expulsion of the Christian population from Asia Minor, starting from the
01:28First World War.
01:30Nancy described that her father said that it was the first time in 100 years that the
01:34USA flag had been hauled down on a consulate.
01:37The Greek victory against the Bulgarians and the fight for Thessalonica that followed impressed
01:42the British enormously.
01:43Evidently, the British started thinking that some of the land that Greeks were now holding under
01:48their control would be very important for Great Britain.
01:54This is why the British invited Elephtherios Venizelos, the Greek Prime Minister, to London.
02:00They wanted a base in the Adriatic Sea, maybe in Cephalonia Island.
02:04The British were thinking to trade Cyprus for this.
02:07Instead of this, the British Minister of Exterior, Sir Edward Grey, gave instructions to the British
02:12ambassador in Athens to offer Greece significant compensation in land on the Asia Minor coast.
02:18In return, Greece would enter the war on the side of the Allies, breaking its neutrality.
02:23This happened during January 1915.
02:26Venizelos accepted and allowed the Allied forces to enter Thessalonica.
02:33King Constantine of Greece opposed this decision, and Greece was divided into two states.
02:41In May 1919, Lloyd George and Venizelos decided that the Greek army should move into Smyrna.
02:47On May 14, 1919, the Allied forces took their position in the port of Smyrna.
02:53The next day, the Greek armed forces disembarked in Smyrna.
02:59In August 1920, the government of the Sultan signed the Treaty of Sevres.
03:04According to this treaty, the Greek population of Asia Minor would be freed from the Ottoman
03:09Turks and the area would be under the control of international supervision.
03:14But the treaty was never signed by all the parties.
03:17In parallel with objections by the new Turks party overthrowing the Sultan, Italy objected
03:22because they were looking at Greece as their financial rival, and they were worried about
03:27the commercial strength Greece would acquire.
03:30And the French were anxious that Great Britain would increase their influence in the area.
03:34Under the circumstances, Venizelos believed that the only way to achieve the signing of
03:38the treaty was by applying military pressure.
03:42On his own, he telegraphed to Lloyd George announcing his decision and asked for the support
03:47of Great Britain.
03:48It was amazing how much Great Britain was interfering in the war issues of Asia Minor, and how much
03:54the Greeks were maintaining a continuous consultation with the British before every move they would
03:59make.
04:03The British maintained a cautious position, and they did not commit anything precise.
04:10At the time, the Greeks disembarked in Smyrna, George Horton wrote to the United States State
04:15Department, George Horton.
04:18This is the second expedition to Syracuse referring to the war against Syracuse during 413 BC that
04:25led to the total loss of the financial strength of the ancient Athenian state, and totally eliminated
04:31Athens as the leading force of the known world at the time.
04:38During November elections of 1920 in Greece, Venizelos lost and resigned.
04:42King Constantine of Greece returned to power.
04:45At the time, George Horton wrote to the State Department, George Horton, the overthrow of
04:49Venizelos, the Greek statesman of great devotion to Europe and United States, will mark the beginning
04:54of the end.
04:55He was right.
04:56The British took back their word and withdrew all agreements that they had made with Venizelos.
05:01The excuse that Winston Churchill gave in his speeches was that Great Britain would not
05:05help the Greeks in Smyrna and they would not give Cyprus to Greece because King Constantine
05:10returned to power.
05:12the German
05:12and the German
05:24was that Great Britain.
05:29Though the Nicolas held this, the British took the trip to Greece and the German
05:34introduced the first place in West Berlin.
05:37The first time the French took the custom and the French took the populist to take it.
05:40You
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