Microsoft Word 1 Arif thesis cover final doc

CHAPTER 2 – HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 
63 
prescription of retreat to and defence of the more easily defensible frontiers of the 
Smyrna zone and Thrace
120
. Venizelos, now in self-imposed exile and perceiving the 
dissolution of allied support, had independently, if belatedly, come to this conclusion 
in January; and the strength of the argument was reinforced in April 1921 by the 
allied declaration of neutrality between the belligerents and the blocking of supplies 
in addition to the financial blockade of December 1920
121
. 
It was said in reply that the economic resources were not available for an indefinite 
defence even of the restricted zone; that a retreat would diminish the utility of 
Greece to Britain and so by depriving Greece of the latter’s support deprive it also of 
the remaining occupied territories; that a retreat would fan the flames of 
Venizelism
122
. And so, what remained as a course of action was a sufficiently hard 
blow against the nationalists to induce them to come to terms
123
. More men were 
called up and more material collected. 
In early June, meanwhile, the British attempted another scheme of mediation which 
was more or less agreed with the French in the middle of the month. The carrot for 
the Turkish nationalists would be an adjustment in their favour of the terms tabled in 
March; the stick would be more outright support for the Greeks in the event of a 
Turkish rejection. But the scheme did not advance sufficiently even to present the 
Turks with the intended dilemma. The proposal was conveyed to the Greek 
120
Llewellyn Smith, 202-207 
121
Llewellyn Smith, 215 
122
Llewellyn Smith, 205-206, quoting Metaxas quoting Gounaris and Protopapadakis; Stratigos, 204-207 
123
Stratigos, 184-185 

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