2434) The Asia Minor Disaster", Hellenic Republic of Greece: "100 Years Milestone (1922-2022): A €200 (Two Hundred Euro) Coin issued on the failed mission: Date/Year of Coin issue: 05.07.2022:
“100 YEARS FROM THE ASIA MINOR DISASTER”:
The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922 was fought between Greece and the Turkish National Movement during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, between May 1919 and October 1922.
The Greek campaign was launched primarily because the Western Allies, particularly British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, had promised Greece territorial gains at the expense of the Ottoman Empire, recently defeated in World War I.
Greek claims stemmed from the fact that Anatolia had been part of Ancient Greece and the Byzantine Empire before the Ottomans conquered the area in the 13th-14th centuries.
The armed conflict started when the Greek forces landed in "Smyrna" (present day "İzmir"), on 15.05.1919.
They advanced inland and took control of the Western and Northwestern part of Anatolia, including the cities of Manisa, Balıkesir, Aydın, Kütahya, Bursa and Eskişehir.
Their advance was checked by Turkish forces at the Battle of Sakarya in 1921.
The Greek front collapsed with the Turkish counter-attack in August 1922, and the war effectively ended with the recapture of Smyrna by Turkish forces and the great fire of Smyrna, with the Allies’ authorisation in 1920, who then advanced inland into Anatolia.
In September 1922, the Turks burned down Smyrna, forcing thousands of Greeks to abandon their ancestral homes and flee across the Aegean.
As a result, the Greek government accepted the demands of the Turkish National Movement and returned to its pre-war borders, thus leaving East Thrace and Western Anatolia to Turkey.
The Allies abandoned the Treaty of Sèvres to negotiate a new Treaty at Lausanne in 1923, with the Turkish National Movement.
The Treaty of Lausanne recognized the independence of the Republic of Turkey and its sovereignty over Anatolia, Istanbul, and Eastern Thrace. The Greek and Turkish governments agreed to engage in a population exchange.
The Asia Minor Disaster was the dramatic conclusion of the three-year Asia Minor Campaign, fuelled by the irredentist "Great Idea" ("Megali Idea").
The toll was tragic - thousands of deaths and casualties, pillaging, and the eradication of the Greek element from Asia Minor.
Greece received a huge wave of refugees, especially after the Lausanne Treaty and the convention on the exchange of populations.
The refugee question dominated political, social and economic developments in interwar Greece.
The refugees gradually assimilated into Greek society, which they enriched with their spirit of enterprise and their culture and traditions, while always keeping alive the memory of their lost homeland.
The Combat losses:
Turkey: 9,167 killed, 2,474 wounded died later, 31,097 wounded, 11,150 missing and 20,826 military and civilians taken prisoner.
Of those taken prisoner were 520 officers and 6,002 soldiers. During the prisoner exchange in 1923, 329 officers, 6,002 soldiers and 9,410 civilian prisoners arrived in Turkey. The remaining 6,330, mostly civilian prisoners, including missing, presumably died in Greek captivity.
Greece: 19,362 killed, 4,878 died outside combat, 48,000 wounded, 18,095 missing, 22,071 military and civilians taken prisoner.
Of those taken prisoner, about 740 officers and 13,000 soldiers arrived in Greece during the prisoner exchange in 1923. The rest presumably died in captivity and are listed among the "missing".
The Coin:
The Reverse of the €200 (Two Hundred Euro) Gold & Silver Coin shows the distressed face of a woman civilian who has been irrevocably devastated from the war. The Centenary Year is inscribed - "1922-2022" in the centre with the mint mark of the Greek Mint at centre right.
The Obverse of the €200 (Two Hundred Euro) Gold & Silver Coin shows a chain on the outer periphery symbolising the chain of events which lead to the events during the conflict.
In the centre are interlocked clasping hands which are symbolising support for the influx of refugees and the peopewho suffered during the war.
Around the Emblem is the inscription - "ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΔΕΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ" which is pronounced as "(H)ellenik(eh) Democratia" (meaning the "Greek Democracy").
The specification of the €200 (Two Hundred Euro) Coin are:
Country of issue: Hellenic Republic of Greece; Date/Year: 2022; Coin Theme: "The Asia Minor Disaster"; Denomination/Face Value: €200 (Two Hundred Euro); Metal Composition: Gold (Au) 917%, Silver (Ag) 53%; Weight: 7.98 grams; Diameter/Size: 22.10 mm; Coin Quality: Proof; Mint: Mint of Greece, on behalf of the Bank of Greece; Edge: Milled; Mintage: 750 pieces; Designer: G. Stamatopoulos;
2) Some ancient coins depicting Greek mythology & history
13) Ancient Greek Theatres, Greece: Hellenic Post has brought out a set of five stamps featuring the Ancient Theatres of Dodona, Nocopolis, Kassope, Amvrakia and Gitana (all in Epirus): Stamp issue date: 08.04.2020
14) "MYRTIS", Greece: A 5 Euro Silver Coin dedicated to an 11 year old girl who was a victim of the PLague of Athens (430-426 BC) issued by the Bank of Greece: Coin issue date: 25.02.2020
Rajan Trikha has commented:
ReplyDelete"Very interesting information 👍"
Thank you, Trikha sahab.
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