First edition: October 2022

Lost land and refuge, my feet here, elsewhere my heart I search pieces of myself to find to take root to stand again and shout with a voice that will make the heavens bleed, all of us were slaughtered and drowned together, English, French, and Americans… Iakovos Kampanelis, Our Great Circus

One hundred years after the Asia Minor Catastrophe, the discussion about the event, its causes, and its consequences is renewed. The contemporary international environment and its similarities to the climate that prevailed on the eve of World War I exacerbate the conflict of ideological currents.

The role of political factions and the stance of the great powers constitute a key area of confrontation. The most important thing is that the Asia Minor Catastrophe was not a historical "moment," but the culmination of the Great Idea, the dominant ideological framework in Greek society from the birth of the Greek state until 1922.

The highlighting of this continuity, which led to the flames of Smyrna, is a main goal of the book. It is served by presenting the most significant historical events of the period 1844-1922. From Kolettis and the Crimean War to the Lavreotica and the war of 1897, and from the Macedonian Struggle to the National Schism, the campaign in Ukraine, and the tragic outcome in Asia Minor.

The relationship between these events and the Great Idea proves not only its groundlessness but also – mainly – its danger to the peoples of the region, primarily, of course, for the Greek people. Today, as the fire flares up again, memory is precious…