Another such crisis had come about shortly before the beginning of the year 1917. The Allies had insisted on the dis armament of the Greek army, which they believed on the point of attacking them in the rear. Rioting broke out in Athens and Allied troops were landed and considerable bloodshed followed. At the same time Venizelos and his adher ents formally declared themselves in secession from the Greek monarchy, with headquarters in Saloniki.
Finally the royal government made a sullen submission and agreed to intern the Greek army in the Peloponnesus, but the blockade of the Greek ports which the Allies had instituted was not lifted till March, 1917.
King Constantine, nevertheless, re mained a thorn in the side of the Allies. There could be no doubt that he would do all in his power to assist the Ger mans, the moment the Allies betrayed a weak spot in Macedonia.
On June 12, 1917, it was suddenly announced that King Constantine had abdicated in favor of his second eldest son, Prince Alexander. Naturally, this was only done because of an ultimatum which had been presented to Greece by the Allied governments. Plans for deal ing with the situation in this radical manner had first been formulated at a conference held some time previously in Savoy, Italy, between Lloyd Gorge, Paul Painleve, the French War Minister, and the Italian representatives. M. Jonnart, a French senator, was sent to Athens as Allied plenipotentiary, to solve the prob lem. He had forced the abdication of the king.
King Constantine quietly embarked on a British warship and sailed for Italy, and Greece knew him no more for the rest of the war. He was accompanied by the Queen, Sophie, sister of the German kaiser, and his eldest son, Prince George, the former heir-apparent, who was also objectionable to the Allies.
Soon after the new king, Alexander, an innocuous youth of twenty-four, in vited Venizelos to Athens to form a pro Ally government. The former premier arrived on June 25, 1917, and within forty-eight hours the members of his new Cabinet had taken the oath of office. On June 29 the Venizelos government announced that it had severed diplomatic relations with Germany, Austria-Hun gary, Bulgaria and Turkey. At the end of the month the Allies showed their trust in the new government by with drawing their officers in control of the Greek telegraphs and the censorship and by returning the Greek ships which had been seized.
On Oct. 12, 1917, the German Em peror, accompanied by Prince August William and Foreign Secretary, Dr. Von Kuhlmann, paid an official visit to King Ferdinand of Bulgaria. There had al ready been rumors to the effect that the loyalty of the Bulgarians to the Quad ruple Entente needed stimulation.
Mesopotamia and Palestine.—In Febru ary, 1917, the British forces on the Tigris began in earnest their advance on Kut-el-Amara, and by the middle of the month they had the Turks at that point completely hemmed in. They suc ceeded in escaping, however, and on February 26 Kut-el-Amara was once more in the hands of the British. They then continued their pursuit of the re treating Turks.
During the first week of March the British advanced as far as Ctesiphon, the farthest point of their first Meso potamian campaign. In another week they had advanced so rapidly that they found themselves within twenty miles of Bagdad. Here the Turks were re-en forced, and a pitched battle took place, but again the Turks were defeated, and on March 11 General Maude entered Bagdad at the head of his troops.
From that time on the pressure on the Turks was continuous. The British advanced far beyond and around Bag dad, meeting with comparatively little resistance. On Sept. 29, 1917, the Turkish Mesopotamian Army command ed by Ahmed Bey was routed by the British•and historic Beersheba, in Pales tine, was occupied on October 31. On November 18 General Maude unexpect edly died, but this had no deterrent effect on the further progress of the campaign. Late in November the British reached the suburbs of Jerusalem and began to besiege it. On Dec. 8, 1917, the Holy City, which had been held by the Turks for nearly seven cen turies, surrendered to the British Gen eral Allenby. The utmost consideration was at once shown for the religious sentiments of all the peoples whose holy shrines were to be found in the city, all being scrupulously protected by spe cial guards, that they might not be dese crated. The Mosque of Omar was placed under Moslem control and a cordon of Mohammedan officers and soldiers placed around it. Within this cordon no Chris tian or Jew might enter without a spe cial pass.