Chanak
'Lloyd George's greatest error in foreign policy'
Where is Chanak?
- Chanak is a small part of Turkey and is officially known as the Dardanelles
The Cons reaction - The Carlton Club
Dardanelles
- Lloyd George's rashness humiliated and appalled the Conservative Party
- The party called upon all Conservative MP's forming the Carlton Club
- Decided to fight the next election as a independent party
- The conservatives could of made up the majority government if it weren't for the coalition
- Lloyd George lost the support of the public and clearly the Conservatives and consequently resigned as PM.
What was the Chanak incident?
- Following WW1 Turkey became under the control of Britain and therefore ensured that they stayed demilitarized (as per Versailles)
- This meant that although it was a independent country it was put under the guidance of Britain
Backing A Loser
- Ottoman Empire had been distributed between the victorious powers of WW1 - Britain, France, Italy and Greece.
- An army officer (Kemal) set up a provisional government began a war of liberation - in particular he wanted to take back Smyrna from the Greeks. Britain, France and Italy decided to back Greece - unfortunately they backed a loser.
- In August 1922 the Turks massacred about 100'000 Greeks in Smyrna.
Labour's Reaction
What happened next?
- Kemal's provisional goverment pushed on towards the Dardanelles and mainland Europe - Chanak was guarded by troops
- The British cabinet met and decided that British troops should maintain their position - despite the danger. However the French and Italian withdrew their detachments.
- Ramsay Macdonald who became leader of the party in 1922 wanted to appeal to all classes
- His anti-war stance made him more popular to the uproar of the Chanak incident and following WW1.
- Therefore the Chanak incident benefited the Labour Party.
The Possibility of war
What did the public
think?
- The public were outraged
- They didn't want to go to war again
- They still were appalled and disturbed by WW1
- Now only Britain stood in the Turks way
- There was a possibility of war
- The cabinet told General Harrington to give the Turks a ultimatum to widthdraw their forces.
- Instead he negotiated and eventually turned in the Treaty of Lausanne