Everything about The Chanak Crisis totally explained
The
Chanak Crisis (also called the
Chanak Affair) occurred in September 1922, when
British and
French troops stationed near
Çanakkale (also called "Chanak") to guard the neutral zone of the
Dardanelles were threatened with attack by
Turkish troops after the recapture of
İzmir (Smyrna) following the Greek defeat. It contributed to the downfall of
British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and, given the reticence of the Canadian government to be involved, the rise of
Canada's diplomatic independence.
The
British Cabinet met on
15 September 1922 and decided that British forces should maintain their positions. On the following day, in the absence of
Foreign Secretary Lord Curzon, certain Cabinet ministers issued a
communiqué threatening Turkey with a declaration of war by Britain and the
Dominions, on the grounds that Turkey had violated the
Treaty of Sèvres. On
18 September, on his return to
London, Curzon pointed out that this would enrage the pro-Turkish
Prime Minister of France,
Raymond Poincaré, and left for
Paris to attempt to smooth things over. Poincaré, however, had already ordered the withdrawal of the French detachment at Chanak. Curzon reached Paris on
20 September, and after several angry meetings with Poincaré, reached agreement to negotiate an armistice with the Turks.
The British public was alarmed by the Chanak episode and the possibility of going to war again. It didn't help that Lloyd George hadn't fully consulted the
Commonwealth prime ministers. Unlike the case eight years earlier, when
World War I broke out,
Canada in particular didn't automatically consider itself active in the conflict. Instead,
Prime Minister Mackenzie King insisted that the
Canadian Parliament should decide on the course of action the country would follow. By the time the issue had been debated in the
Canadian House of Commons, the threat at Chanak had passed. Nonetheless, King made his point: Parliament would decide the role that Canada would play in external affairs.
Lloyd George's rashness was a major factor in the calling of the
Carlton Club meeting on
19 October 1922, where
Conservative MPs decided that they'd leave the coalition and fight the next general election as a single, united party. This decision had dire ramifications for Lloyd George, as the Conservative Party made up the vast majority of the 1918-1922 post-war coalition. Indeed, they could have made up the majority government if it were not for the coalition.
Lloyd George also lost the support of the influential Curzon, who considered that the Prime Minister had been manoeuvring behind his back.
Following the Carlton Club decision, the MPs voted 185 to 85 for ending the Coalition. Lloyd George resigned as Prime Minister, never to return as a major figure in party politics.
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