King Constantine I of Greece was forced by the Allies to abdicate his
throne on June 12, 1917, in favor of his second son, Prince Alexander.
The kingdom remained, but not a pro-German one as before. In order to
block the designs of the King and court, who were doing their best to
deliver Greece to the Germans, the Entente powers were obliged to make
a succession of demands upon the Greek government, including the
demobilization of most of the army, the surrender of the fleet, and the
withdrawal of Greek troops from Thessaly. In an effort to enforce their
demands the Entente allies landed marines in Athens--who were fired
upon--and finally declared an embargo on imports into Greece. Turmoil
and intrigue continued, and pressure was brought to bear upon
Constantine which compelled him to abdicate the throne. Venizelos
returned as premier and Greece was announced as a belligerent on the
side of the Entente.
THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN
In the Trentino the Italians took the offensive in June and after
terrible fighting captured the Austrian positions on Monte Ortigara and
Agnello Pass. These they were forced to relinquish, however, in the face
of Austrian counter-attacks.
The Italian campaign on the Isonzo and in the Trentino, continued
throughout the summer, was perhaps the most scientific of all the
campaigns, involving tremendous technical difficulties, which were
solved with amazing ingenuity and skill. The campaign was largely an
engineers' and an artilleryman's war, waged in the mountains, much of
it in regions of perpetual snow--highly picturesque and spectacular.
Finally, it was as little destructive as war well can be, because the
Italians were fighting in territories which they hoped to hold after the
conflict, and they spared the towns and villages to the greatest extent
possible.
BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN THE EAST
The capture of Bagdad by the British in March, 1917, after a brilliant
campaign in Mesopotamia, had a deep moral effect in the Orient,
particularly in Arabia, where the natives revolted against Turkish rule
and established an independent government in Mecca.
In the Holy Land the British in 1917 opened a new era in the history of
the East. Their advance by August 1 had carried them nearly to Gaza.
Their objective was Jerusalem, which the Turks partly evacuated at their
approach, after doing untold damage in the holy city and inflicting many
atrocities upon the inhabitants.
WAR MISSIONS OF THE ALLIES
In cementing America's association with the nations which had become
her allies, numerous exchanges of missions were arranged. France, Great
Britain, Italy, Belgium, Russia, Japan and other entente belligerents
sent delegations to the United States as a step toward unification,
military, financial and otherwise. The United States sent missions to
Russia and other countries.
AERIAL ATTACKS ON LONDON
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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