Greek-American volunteers in the Greek army during the Balkan Wars pose for this photo taken in 1912. Thousands of Greek immigrants from the U.S. returned to Greece to fight during the Balkan Wars, including 2,500 Greeks from St. Louis. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)

Thousands of Greek immigrants from the U.S. returned to Greece to fight during the Balkan Wars. Among those making the journey back to their homeland were 2,500 Greeks from St. Louis.

This and other important new information came to light during the conference “Greece and the Balkan Wars” that took place Oct. 27 at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

The conference was attended by hundreds of people, and was broadcast via a live webcast.

Attendees heard from distinguished historians throughout the U.S., Canada and Greece. They learned about the contribution of the Greek navy to the war and how it prevented the transportation of Turkish armies to the Greek mainland, resulting in the Turks deploying only 386 battalions from an intended 658 battalions.

Conference participants were told that proximity to the homefront led to the success of the Greek army because it allowed continuous flow of supplies to the soldiers.

The conference was organized by Michael Cosmopoulos, the Hellenic Government-Karakas Family Foundations Endowed Professor of Greek Studies and professor of archaeology at UMSL.

Greek version of press release (PDF)