Chanak crisis
The Chanak crisis, or Chanak affair, was a political crisis in September 1922 that gave rise to the overthrow of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George .
course
The crisis was triggered when, at the beginning of September 1922, British and French troops stationed to protect the neutral zone of the Dardanelles near Çanakkale ( English also "Chanak") were threatened by Turkish troops. In a meeting on September 15, the British cabinet decided that the troops should hold their position. The following day a group publish cabinet ministers to the Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill without the knowledge of Foreign Minister George Nathaniel Curzon an official statement in which Turkey for violating the requirements of the Treaty of Sevres , which as an analogue to the Treaty of Versailles to the German Reich , the Regulated post-war relations between the victorious Allied powers of the First World War and Turkey, with the declaration of war by Great Britain and its Dominions was threatened.
When Curzon found out about this step on his return on September 18, he pointed out that this demarche could upset the Turkish President of the French Republic , Poincaré , and left for Paris at short notice to counteract possible inter-allied disaffections. Curzon arrived in Paris on September 20th. At this time, however, Poincaré had already ordered the relocation of the French expeditionary force at Chanak to France. After several tense consultations with Poincaré, Curzon finally agreed to initiate armistice negotiations with Turkey. The threat of escalation was averted in the Mudanya armistice (October 1922).
In the British press and public, the Chanak affair fueled fear of another war, heightened distrust of the bellicose Colonial Minister Churchill, who had only recently been replaced as Minister of War in 1921, partly because of his energetic commitment to an Allied intervention in Soviet Russia had been, and shook the position of Prime Minister David Lloyd George. In addition, the affair resulted in tensions within the Commonwealth of Nations: for example, Canada's Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King announced that, unlike in 1914, Canada would not automatically consider itself to be at war with other countries in the course of a British declaration of war on them would, but would vote for or against a allegiance to the motherland in the Canadian parliament. This was an important step towards Canada's diplomatic independence from London.
consequences
The Chanak crisis and Lloyd Georges perceived as inadequate crisis management was one of the reasons for the convening of the meeting at the Carlton Club on October 19, 1922 , during which the MPs of the Conservative Party induced their leaders to withdraw from the coalition government , of which they provided a majority of ministers. This led to the collapse of the government, in which the party of Prime Minister Lloyd George provided only a minority of ministers.