Moúdros Bay: Lémnos in WWI

For 20th century military historians, Lémnos is synonymous with Moúdros Bay (often spelled Mudros), one of the biggest natural harbours in the Mediterranean, capable of holding 500 ships, and close to the strategic Dardanelles linking the Black and Mediterranean seas.

When the Great War broke out, the Ottoman Empire sided with the Central Powers against their age-Russian adversaries, and blocked the Dardanelles, limiting Russia’s access to her allies. In 1914-15 as the Russian Army was suffering defeat after defeat in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, Russia asked France and Britain for assistance, hoping to relieve some of the pressure on her army and reopen access to the Mediterranean.

Britain asked Prime Minister Elefthérios Venizélos to cede Lémnos to the allies to create a base for the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet with the goal of taking the Dardanelles, capturing Constantinople/Istanbul for Greece and supplying Russia.