NANCY HORTON'S  HISTORICAL SPEACH V2 - video Dailymotion

Nick Kouzos

Extracts from a historic speech Nancy Horton gave in United States regarding her experience, as daughter of George Horton the Consulate of United States, officially representing the USA government in Smyrna, during the last tragic days and the destruction during 1922. A video produced by AI based on part of Nancy's Horton historic speach

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00:00Extracts from a historic speech Nancy Horton gave in the United States regarding her experience

00:08as the daughter of George Horton, the Consulate of the United States, officially representing

00:14the USA government in Smyrna during the last tragic days and the destruction in 1922.

00:20Especially, she gave emphasis to the part that her father said,

00:24if the warships of the great powers that were anchored in the port of Smyrna at that time

00:28would have decided to fire even just one cannon shot or one gunshot.

00:33The city and the lives of hundreds of thousands of Christian inhabitants

00:36would have been spared from the destruction of death and the menace of the Turks.

00:42But why would a Yankee of the 10th generation from a small suburb of New York

00:46be so deeply involved in a city on the coast of Asia Minor?

00:50Nancy Horton questioned in her speech.

00:52The young George Horton used to listen to his father reading the Bible and one part that

01:01apparently impressed George for life was the chapter from Apocalypse where it is mentioned

01:06that the last of the seven cities of Apocalypse was Smyrna.

01:11So he was destined to live and experience the destruction and death of the city.

01:19Nancy Horton, in this historic speech, gave her account of the events that led to the

01:23destruction and expulsion of the Christian population from Asia Minor, starting from the

01:28First World War.

01:30Nancy described that her father said that it was the first time in 100 years that the

01:34USA flag had been hauled down on a consulate.

01:37The Greek victory against the Bulgarians and the fight for Thessalonica that followed impressed

01:42the British enormously.

01:43Evidently, the British started thinking that some of the land that Greeks were now holding under

01:48their control would be very important for Great Britain.

01:54This is why the British invited Elephtherios Venizelos, the Greek Prime Minister, to London.

02:00They wanted a base in the Adriatic Sea, maybe in Cephalonia Island.

02:04The British were thinking to trade Cyprus for this.

02:07Instead of this, the British Minister of Exterior, Sir Edward Grey, gave instructions to the British

02:12ambassador in Athens to offer Greece significant compensation in land on the Asia Minor coast.

02:18In return, Greece would enter the war on the side of the Allies, breaking its neutrality.

02:23This happened during January 1915.

02:26Venizelos accepted and allowed the Allied forces to enter Thessalonica.

02:33King Constantine of Greece opposed this decision, and Greece was divided into two states.

02:41In May 1919, Lloyd George and Venizelos decided that the Greek army should move into Smyrna.

02:47On May 14, 1919, the Allied forces took their position in the port of Smyrna.

02:53The next day, the Greek armed forces disembarked in Smyrna.

02:59In August 1920, the government of the Sultan signed the Treaty of Sevres.

03:04According to this treaty, the Greek population of Asia Minor would be freed from the Ottoman

03:09Turks and the area would be under the control of international supervision.

03:14But the treaty was never signed by all the parties.

03:17In parallel with objections by the new Turks party overthrowing the Sultan, Italy objected

03:22because they were looking at Greece as their financial rival, and they were worried about

03:27the commercial strength Greece would acquire.

03:30And the French were anxious that Great Britain would increase their influence in the area.

03:34Under the circumstances, Venizelos believed that the only way to achieve the signing of

03:38the treaty was by applying military pressure.

03:42On his own, he telegraphed to Lloyd George announcing his decision and asked for the support

03:47of Great Britain.

03:48It was amazing how much Great Britain was interfering in the war issues of Asia Minor, and how much

03:54the Greeks were maintaining a continuous consultation with the British before every move they would

03:59make.

04:03The British maintained a cautious position, and they did not commit anything precise.

04:10At the time, the Greeks disembarked in Smyrna, George Horton wrote to the United States State

04:15Department, George Horton.

04:18This is the second expedition to Syracuse referring to the war against Syracuse during 413 BC that

04:25led to the total loss of the financial strength of the ancient Athenian state, and totally eliminated

04:31Athens as the leading force of the known world at the time.

04:38During November elections of 1920 in Greece, Venizelos lost and resigned.

04:42King Constantine of Greece returned to power.

04:45At the time, George Horton wrote to the State Department, George Horton, the overthrow of

04:49Venizelos, the Greek statesman of great devotion to Europe and United States, will mark the beginning

04:54of the end.

04:55He was right.

04:56The British took back their word and withdrew all agreements that they had made with Venizelos.

05:01The excuse that Winston Churchill gave in his speeches was that Great Britain would not

05:05help the Greeks in Smyrna and they would not give Cyprus to Greece because King Constantine

05:10returned to power.

05:12the German

05:12and the German

05:24was that Great Britain.

05:29Though the Nicolas held this, the British took the trip to Greece and the German

05:34introduced the first place in West Berlin.

05:37The first time the French took the custom and the French took the populist to take it.

05:40You

NANCY HORTON'S HISTORICAL SPEACH V2

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