Greek landing at Smyrna

Battle context

The Greek landing at Smyrna on May 15, 1919 opened the Greco-Turkish War by establishing a Greek military foothold on the Anatolian coast. Deploying approximately 15,000 troops against an Ottoman garrison of around 3,000, Greek forces moved into Smyrna and its surrounding areas under a mandate connected to postwar Allied arrangements following World War I. The operation marked the beginning of Greek territorial ambitions in western Anatolia and set the conditions for the wider conflict that would continue until 1922. It was the opening act of a war that would ultimately end with the forced reversal of Greek gains and the population exchanges that transformed the demographic character of the region.