On the other hand, his decisions during the First World War not only safeguarded and broadened
the territorial gains of the Balkan Wars, but also expressed the general political choices
that followed in the wake of Goudi's military coup.
The alliance with the Entente promoted and achieved by Venizelos meant the overall acceptance of western socio-political and cultural models, as well as the integration
of Greece in an international system of economic relations and geopolicy, in which large colonial
powers, such as Britain and France, were dominant. This international orientation was related to
the basic decision to move towards urban modernization, a decision adopted by the Venizelist bloc. At the same time, this policy had specific results
in the implementation of the nebulous claims of the nineteenth century 'Great Idea'. Many Greeks may have remained outside the new borders, however, the
small Greek kingdom acquired the territory of a medium-sized European state.
Venizelist strategy, domestic and international, did not contradict the fact of his practically inviting
the Western powers to undisguisedly get involved in the internal affairs of Greece. The constitutional
acrobatics of Constantine, even his contempt for the people's will, as expressed in the
elections of summer 1915, cannot justify the fact that the whole crisis was resolved
after the harsh blockade of the Allied fleets. The disruption of the supremacy of the Greek state
initially by the action of the Allied but also the Bulgarian troops in Macedonia
was confirmed when the British and the French dictated the deposition of the king.
In addition, the decisive support that Venizelos enjoyed among the populations of the
New Territories during the revolution of Thessaloniki determined geographically the political
differentiation of the National Schism. This was dangerous for the cohesion of the state.
The above developments reinforced the dislike and aggression between the
'inhabitants of Old Greece' and the inhabitants of the recently liberated areas.
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