Griechenland im Ersten Weltkrieg: Politische Neutralität und europäische Öffentlichkeiten/ Greece in World War I: Political Neutrality and European Publics

Abstract

In spite of a severe domestic conflict on the country’s entry in World War One, the small kingdom of Greece declared its political neutrality. Keeping this political status – at least officially – until summer 1917, when it entered the war on the side of the Allies, this status of political neutrality however, not only permitted the establishment of international services in Athens, but also served as an alternative battlefield of political control and influence within the Greek public sphere and in public discourse. Thus this article claims that Greece provided a sufficient basis for the development of a transnational zone of communication and European encounter of all belligerent countries, manifested also visually within the urban space, in times of heavy military and political conflict.