Editing Constantine I of Greece (section)

===Overview===
{{See also|National Schism}}

The widely held view of Constantine I as a "German sympathizer" owes something to his marriage with [[Sophia of Prussia]], sister of [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]], to his studies in Germany and his supposed "militaristic" beliefs and attitude.

Constantine did rebuff Kaiser Wilhelm who in 1914 pressed him to bring Greece into the war on the side of Austria-Hungary and Germany. In their correspondence he told him that his sympathy was with Germany, but he would not join the war. Constantine then offended also the British and French by blocking popular efforts by Prime Minister Venizelos to bring Greece into the war on the side of the Allies.

Constantine's insistence on neutrality, according to him and his supporters, was based more on his judgement that it was the best policy for Greece, rather than venal self-interest or his German dynastic connections, as he was accused of by the Venizelists.

Admiral [[Mark Kerr (Royal Navy officer, born 1864)|Mark Kerr]], who was Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Hellenic Navy in the early part of World War I and later Commander-in-Chief of the British Adriatic Squadron, supported the Allied cause, but was sympathetic to the King, personally. He wrote in 1920:

"The persecution of King Constantine by the press of the Allied countries, with some few good exceptions, has been one of the most tragic affairs since the [[Dreyfus affair|Dreyfus case]]." [Abbott, G.F. (1922) 'Greece and the Allies 1914–1922']

Although Venizelos, with Allied support, forced Constantine to leave the throne in 1917, he remained popular with parts of the Greek people (as shown by the vote for his return in the [[1920 Greek referendum|December 1920 plebiscite]]), who saw the Allied actions as a violation of sovereignty of Greece.