This book is the effort of a thoughtful Greek to understand what happened to a people who, from 1910 to 1915, energetically and enthusiastically fought fiercely and worked united under the combined leadership of the “two Betas” ― King Constantine in the military and Eleftherios Venizelos in politics ― only to be swept into a dark whirlpool of mutual destruction.

Since then, that tearing apart of the Greeks, deep and bloody, has been given a simplistic interpretation, which has covered it but not healed it, and therefore it continues today to poison and paralyze us.

Simply and clearly, the personalities that clashed, the circumstances that brought them face to face, and the means that were used are delineated here, especially when and how that myth was created, which contributed very effectively to tipping the scales, but had as a tragic side effect the annihilation of the Greek population in Asia Minor.

The image that emerges clashes with the beaten path. However, it is solidly constructed as the events of those fateful years ― from 1913 to 1915 ― are presented one by one, the sources are listed, and thus each reader can cross-check, verify the truth, and judge the viewpoint.