Editing Alexander of Greece (section)

==Reign==

===Accession===
The dismissal of Constantine was not unanimously supported by the Entente powers; while France and Britain did nothing to stop Jonnart's actions, the [[Russian provisional government]] officially protested to Paris.<ref>Driault and Lhéritier, pp. 305–307.</ref> [[Petrograd]] demanded that Alexander should not receive the title of king but only that of [[regent]], so as to preserve the rights of the deposed sovereign and the Crown Prince. Russia's protests were brushed aside, and Alexander ascended the Greek throne.<ref>Driault and Lhéritier, p. 306.</ref>
[[File:Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος.jpg|thumb|[[Eleftherios Venizelos]], Greek revolutionary and prime minister, {{circa|1919}}]]
Alexander swore the oath of loyalty to the [[Greek Constitution of 1911|Greek constitution]] on the afternoon of 11 June 1917 in the ballroom of the Royal Palace. Apart from the [[List of archbishops of Athens|Archbishop of Athens]], Theocletus I, who administered the oath, only King Constantine I, Crown Prince George and the king's prime minister, [[Alexandros Zaimis]], attended.<ref name="vdk108">Van der Kiste, pp. 107–108.</ref> There were no festivities.<ref name="vdk107"/> The 23-year-old Alexander had a broken voice and tears in his eyes as he made the solemn declaration.<ref name="vdk108"/> He knew that the Entente and the Venizelists would hold real power and that neither his father nor his brother had renounced their claims to the throne. Constantine had informed his son that he should consider himself a regent, rather than a true monarch.<ref name="vdk107"/>

In the evening, after the ceremony, the royal family decided to leave their palace in Athens for [[Tatoi]], but city residents opposed the exile of their sovereign and crowds formed outside the palace to prevent Constantine and his family from leaving. On 12 June, the former king and his family escaped undetected from their residence by feigning departure from one gate while exiting through another.<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 108–109.</ref> At Tatoi, Constantine again impressed upon Alexander that he held the crown in trust only.<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 109.</ref> It was the last time that Alexander would be in direct contact with his family.<ref name="vdk113"/> The next day, Constantine, Sophia and all of their children except Alexander arrived at the small port of [[Oropos]] and set off into exile.<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 110–111.</ref>

===Puppet king===
With his parents and siblings in exile, Alexander found himself isolated. The royals remained unpopular with the Venizelists, and Entente representatives advised the king's aunts and uncles, particularly [[Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark|Prince Nicholas]], to leave. Eventually, they all followed Constantine into exile.<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 115.</ref> Royal household staff were gradually replaced by enemies of the former king, and Alexander's allies were either imprisoned or distanced from him. Portraits of the royal family were removed from public buildings, and Alexander's new ministers openly called him the "son of a traitor".<ref name="vdk112">Van der Kiste, p. 112.</ref>

[[File:232 14 Alexandre raccompagne Alexandre jusqu'au train.jpg|thumb|Alexander (centre) shaking hands with prince-regent [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|Alexander of Serbia]] on the Macedonian Front, May 1918]]

On 26 June 1917, the king was forced to name Eleftherios Venizelos as head of the government. Despite promises given by the Entente on Constantine's departure, the previous prime minister, Zaimis, was effectively forced to resign as Venizelos returned to Athens.<ref name="vdk113"/> Alexander immediately opposed his new prime minister's views and, annoyed by the king's rebuffs, Venizelos threatened to remove him and set up a regency council in the name of Alexander's brother Prince Paul, then still a minor. The Entente powers intervened and asked Venizelos to back down, allowing Alexander to retain the crown.<ref>Driault and Lhéritier, p. 312.</ref> Spied on day and night by the prime minister's supporters, the monarch quickly became a prisoner in his own palace, and his orders went ignored.<ref name="vdk112"/>

Alexander had no experience in affairs of state. However, he was determined to make the best of a difficult situation and to represent his father as best he could.<ref name="vdk112"/> Adopting an air of cool indifference to the government, he rarely made the effort to read official documents before he [[rubber-stamp]]ed them.<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 114.</ref> His functions were limited, and amounted to visiting the [[Macedonian front]] to support the morale of the Greek and Allied troops. Since Venizelos's return to power, Athens was at war with the [[Central Powers]], and Greek soldiers battled those of Bulgaria in the north.<ref name="vdk119">Van der Kiste, p. 119.</ref>

===Greek expansion===
[[File:Greek history from 1832.GIF|thumb|Territorial expansion of Greece between 1832 and 1947]]

By the end of World War I, Greece had grown beyond its 1914 borders, and the [[Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine|treaties of Neuilly]] (1919) and [[Treaty of Sèvres|Sèvres]] (1920) confirmed the Greek territorial conquests. The majority of [[Thrace]] (previously split between Bulgaria and Turkey) and several [[Aegean Islands]] (such as [[Imbros]] and [[Tenedos]]) became part of Greece, and the region of [[Smyrna]], in [[Ionia]], was placed under Greek [[League of Nations mandate|mandate]].<ref>Driault and Lhéritier, pp. 382–384.</ref> Alexander's kingdom increased in size by around a third. In Paris, Venizelos took part in the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|peace negotiations]] with the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. Upon his return to Greece in August 1920, Venizelos received a [[laurel crown]] from the king for his work in support of [[panhellenism]].<ref>Driault and Lhéritier, p. 387.</ref>

Despite their territorial gains following the Paris Peace Conference, the Greeks still hoped to achieve the ''[[Megali Idea]]'' and annex [[Constantinople]] and larger areas of Ottoman [[Asia Minor]]; they invaded [[Anatolia]] beyond Smyrna and sought to take [[Ankara]], with the aim of destroying the Turkish resistance led by [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk|Mustafa Kemal]] (later known as Atatürk).<ref>Driault and Lhéritier, p. 386.</ref> Thus began the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)]]. Although Alexander's reign saw success after success for the Greek armies, it was eventually Atatürk's revolutionary forces that obtained victory in 1922, negating the gains made under Alexander.{{efn|name=Lausanne|The [[Treaty of Lausanne]] in 1923 redrew the boundary between Turkey and Greece back in favor of Turkey.<ref>Driault and Lhéritier, pp. 433–434.</ref>}}