Why go
This period explains why the port mattered to competing armies and why the city's modern history cannot be separated from the 1917 fire. It also links central Thessaloniki with First World War remembrance at the Zeitenlik cemetery to the northwest.
The full story
Greek forces accepted the Ottoman surrender of Thessaloniki in 1912 during the First Balkan War. The city's future remained contested until the following year's settlement confirmed it within Greece. In 1915 Allied troops arrived at the port to support operations on the Macedonian front. Their presence became entangled with a Greek political split: Eleftherios Venizelos established a rival government in Thessaloniki in 1916 while the country argued over its place in the war. The city served as a base for Allied forces and supplies. In 1917 a fire swept through much of the central district, displacing residents and destroying homes, workplaces and historic fabric. Reconstruction planning followed, though the war and fire were different events with different causes. The visible central street plan belongs to this aftermath, while the port and the Zeitenlik memorial cemetery point to the city's wartime role. Keep those places in mind when moving between the centre and the northwest.