ABSTRACT
The Great Fire of Smyrna in September 1922 marked a turning point for Greece. The Greek community in the city was decimated; those able to escape came to Greece and were later joined by other Greeks from Bulgaria and Russia, along with those who were part of the exchange of populations stipulated in the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. The “Asia Minor Catastrophe” brought a fiery end to the territorial expansionism of the Megali Idea (Great Idea) and nineteenth-century irredentist politics. Greek politicians now turned to domestic concerns of refugee settlement, economic reforms, and attempts to secure political stability.
