In 1916 the conflicting view of Venizelists and royalists concerning the First World War led to the National Schism and the creation of the state of Thessaloniki by the triumvirate of the National Defence. In Athens the royalists organized, among other things, the ritual anathema of Eleftherios Venizelos. A heap of stones placed above the effigy of the Cretan statesman in Pedio Areos, December 1916. Athens, History Foundation of Ε. Venizelos. © History Foundation of Ε. Venizelos, Athens.