The Treaty That Promised Greece Asia Minor, Then Vanished in Two Years

On July 28, 1920, exactly 106 years ago today, Eleftherios Venizelos signed the Treaty of Sèvres in a suburb of Paris, reshaping Greece into what supporters called "the Greece of two continents and five seas." It was the moment Greece's decades-long vision of reclaiming historically Greek lands in Asia Minor and Thrace finally had a legal foundation.

The treaty handed Greece Eastern Thrace, the islands of Imbros and Tenedos, most of the Dodecanese, and confirmed Greek sovereignty over the Eastern Aegean islands. The Smyrna region, home to a massive Greek population, was placed under Greek administration with full sovereignty to be decided by referendum after five years. It also called for the creation of an independent Armenian state.

Even on the day it was signed, the treaty was called "fragile," a reference to Sèvres being known for its fine but breakable porcelain.

The signing followed a rapid Greek military advance across Asia Minor in the summer of 1920. In just 35 days starting in late June, Greek forces captured Philadelphia, Pergamon, and Bursa, the first Ottoman capital. The Allies simultaneously authorized Greek troops to occupy all of Thrace up to Çatalca, just outside Constantinople, putting direct pressure on the Ottoman government to accept the treaty terms.

Even on the day it was signed, the treaty was called "fragile," a reference to Sèvres being known for its fine but breakable porcelain. The label proved accurate. The Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922 shattered everything the treaty promised. Over one million Greeks from Asia Minor and Thrace were expelled from their ancestral homes, and the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 replaced Sèvres entirely, erasing the territorial gains.

The Treaty of Sèvres remains one of the most consequential documents in modern Greek history, a high-water mark that collapsed within two years.