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History of the Macedonians (ethnic group)
Encyclopedia
The history of the ethnic Macedonians
has been shaped by population shifts and political developments in the southern Balkans, especially within the region of Macedonia
. Following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
, the decisive point in the ethnogenesis
of the Slavic group
is the creation of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia
after World War II
, a state in the framework of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
.
has been inhabited since Paleolithic times. Republic of Macedonia occupies most of the part of the ancient kingdom of Paionia
and part of the territory of what was in antiquity Upper Macedonia
(which coincides with some parts of todays southern Republic of Macedonia), the region which became part of the kingdom of Macedon
in the early 4th century BC. It was settled by the Paionia
ns and Dardani
, peoples of mixed Thraco-Illyrian
origin. The Paionians founded several princedoms which coalesced into a kingdom centred in the central and upper reaches of the Vardar
and Struma
rivers until they were finally conquered by Philip II
, father of Alexander the Great, in 358 BC.
The Roman province of Macedonia was officially established in 146 BC. By the 4th century AD the Paionians had become fully Hellenized
or Romanized
and had lost their ethnic identity.
river basin and in the region of Macedonia
, encountering the Thraco-Illyrian
tribes who lived in the north of the region and the Greeks
who lived in the south. According to Procopius
, the first attack on Byzantium
took place in 523. Initially, the Slavic tribes retained independent rule with their own political structure. These units were referred to as Sclavenes. Byzantine emperors tried to directly incorporate the Slavs of the region of Macedonia into the socio-economic system of the Byzantine state, with varied success. The Thracian theme was returned to imperial rule in 680-681. However, the Slavs of Macedonia proved more stubborn and resisted Hellenization. Emperors Constans (656) and Justinian II (686) had to resort to military expeditions and forced re-settlement of large numbers of Slavs to Anatolia, forcing them to pay tribute and supply military aid to the empire. With the formation of the First Bulgarian Empire, the remaining Sclavenes were incorporated into the Bulgarian Empire, as was the entire region of Macedonia, thus cementing the Slavic character of the area.
Despite the raiding and looting, many local populations willingly assimilated with the Slavs (Slavicization). Additionally, the Slavs actively incorporated prisoners into their ranks. With the arrival of the Slavs, the remaining Paionians and Thracians were Slavicized.
settled in the region of Keramisian plain, centred on the city of Bitola
. Kuber was a chief, who was vassaled to the Avar
Khagan. However, whilst he was certainly a Bulgar, he was made chief of a settlement consisting of the descendants of various peoples who had been subjegated by the Avars and actively re-settled in Sirmium
, nearer to the Khanate's centre (in modern Hungary). They may have consisted of Bulgars, Illyrians, Roman soldiers and mercenaries, Slavs and even Germanic peoples such as Gepids and Franks. They referred to themselves as Sermesianoi, and at 680 AD they rebelled against the Avars and departed from Sirmium. Some sources suggest Kuber was the brother of Khan Asparuh, who founded the Danubian Bulgarian state in 681, known as First Bulgarian Empire
. They had close contacts and may have merged with the Slavic tribe called Dragoviti, who were already established in the area. In the following decades, these people launched campaigns against the Byzantine city of Thessaloniki
and established contacts with Danubian Bulgaria. By the early 9th century the lands that Kuber settled had been incorporated into the First Bulgarian Empire. The archaeologist from Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
, Professor Ivan Mikulchik, revealed the presence not only of the Kuber group, but the whole later Bulgar archaeological culture throughout Macedonia. He describes the traces of Bulgars in this region, which consist of typical fortresses, burials, various products of metallurgy and pottery (including treasure with supposed Bulgar origin or ownership), lead seals, minted from Kuber, amulets, etc. However, it is likely that these artefacts actually represent evidence of Avar presence in the region, which fits with known historiography. Truly, there were vast similarities between early Avar and Bulgar material culture found in Old Bulgaria
.
, the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once, also includes the practice of converting pagan practices, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar to Christian uses. After Roman Empire
was declared a Christian Empire by Theodosius I
in 389, laws were passed against pagan practices over the course of the following years. The Slavic tribes in Macedonia accepted the Christianity as their own religion around the 9th century mainly during the reign of prince Boris I of Bulgaria
.The Christianization of Bulgaria
was the process of converting 9th century medieval Bulgaria to Christianity as state religion
.
The creators of the Glagolitic alphabet
were the Byzantine Greek monks Saint Cyril
and Saint Methodius. Under the guidance of the Patriarchate
at Constantinople
they were promoters of Christianity and initiated Slavic literacy among the Slavic people. They developed their alphabet from their extensive knowledge of the local Slavic dialect spoken in the hinterland of Thessaloniki, which became the basis for Old Church Slavonic
, the first literary Slavic language. Their work was accepted in early medieval Bulgaria
and continued by the St. Clement of Ohrid
, creator of Cyrillic alphabet
and St.Naum of Ohrid as founders of the Ohrid Literary School
. Cyril and Methodius evangelized from Constantinople into the Balkans In the legacy of Cyril and Methodius, carried on by Clement and Naum, the development of Slavic literacy was crucial in preventing assimilation of the Slavs either by cultures to the North or by the Greek culture to the south.
The introduction of Slavic liturgy paralleled Boris I' continued development of churches and monasteries throughout his realm.
. In the 6th century AD, the part which today forms the Greek region of Macedonia
was known as Macedonia Prima (first Macedonia), and contained the Empire's second largest city, Thessaloniki
. The rest of the modern region (today's Republic of Macedonia and Western Bulgaria) was known as Macedonia Salutaris. In the early 9th century, most of the region of Macedonia (excluding the area of Thessaloniki), as well as large parts of the Balkan peninsula, were incorporated into the First Bulgarian Empire
. With the defeat of the Bulgarian empire by Byzantium in the late 10th century, the eastern part of the Bulgarian empire and its capital Preslav
were annexed into the Byzantine Empire. The eastern part continued to be independent, and was ruled by Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria, who saw himself as the successor of the Bulgarian Empire. Samuil ruled his kingdom from the island of St. Achilles in Prespa
. He was crowned in Rome in 997 as Tsar of Bulgaria by Pope Gregory V
. The remains of his castle are still present in the city of Ohrid. Under Samuil, the fortunes of the empire and the great military rivalry against Byzantium
were once more revived, albeit temporarily. However, Samuil’s army was soundly defeated in 1014 by Basil II The Bulgar-Slayer, emperor of Byzantium, and four years later Bulgarian Empire fell once again under Byzantine control. The character of Samuil has taken mythical status in folklore of Macedonian people, seeing him as a local King who struggled against Greek hegemony.
In the 13th century, the region was briefly passed to Latin
, Bulgarian
and back to Byzantine rule. For example Konstantin Asen, former nobleman from Skopie ruled over the region as Tsar of Bulgaria from 1257 to 1277.
From the 13th century, Macedonia was incorporated into the Serbian Kingdom
. The Serbs saw themselves as liberators of their Slavic kin. Macedonia was very urbanised and lay along the important trade routes, thus it became the centre of Tsar Stefan Dušan's empire, making Skopje
his capital. However, with his death the region fell under leadership of local nobles, who divided his territories between them. Macedonia was initially in the domain of the Mrnjavčević family. Disunited, the Balkan provinces fell to the emerging Ottoman Empire
one by one.
means the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam, or a neologism meaning an increase in observance by an already Muslim society. Turkification
is a term used to describe a cultural change in which someone who is not a Turk becomes one, voluntarily or by force. Both terms can be used in contexts of connection with various Slavic people in Macedonia (Pomaks
, Torbesh and Gorani
), which converted to Islam
during the Ottoman rule. Overall, the large majority of ethnic Macedonians remained Christian.
During the rule of the Ottomans, the locals organized a number of uprisings: Mariovo
uprising (1564), Karposh's Rebellion
(1689), Kresna-Razlog Uprising
(1878) etc. According to the Preliminary Treaty of San Stefano
between Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed at the end of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), Macedonia was granted to the new autonomous self-governing Principality of Bulgaria
. However, the Great Powers, particularly England and Austria grew alarmed with what they saw as extension of Russia
n power, since Bulgaria was a fellow Slavic Orthodox country that could be easily swayed by Russia. Additionally, they feared that a too rapid collapse of Ottoman rule could create a dangerous power vacuum. Also, Serbia
and Greece
held some resentment at the establishment of what they saw as a Greater Bulgaria
, and felt deprived from the spoils of Ottoman decline.
This prompted the Great Powers to obtain a revision of this treaty. The subsequent Congress of Berlin
a few months later was a meeting of the European Great Powers' which revised the Treaty of San Stefano. Although Greece and Serbia succeeded in becoming independent Kingdoms, autonomous from Turkey. Bulgaria's lost much of the territory it had gained, losing Thrace
and Macedonia back to the Turks. Despite calls for liberation and even the founding of a united Macedonian principality (i.e., Pan-Macedonian), run by a Christian governor, the pleas of the people fell on deaf ears. These events all conspired to create tensions which would spill over into war. The issue of irredentism
and nationalism gained great prominence after the creation of Greater Bulgaria
and Turkish collapse following the 1878 Treaty of San Stefano. In the first half of 20th century, control over Macedonia was a key point of contention between Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia.
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) was founded in 1893 in Ottoman Thessaloniki by a "small band of anti-Ottoman Macedonian Slav revolutionaries", which later came to be dominated by Bulgarians. "They considered Macedonia an indivisible territory and all of its inhabitants "Macedonians", no matter their religion or ethnicity". The organisation was secret revolutionary society with aim to make Macedonia an autonomous state but that later became an agent serving Bulgarian interests in Balkan politics. However, the results of the Balkan Wars were not favourable for the members of the IMRO, splitting Macedonia into three parts. The Greek part was heavily Hellenized by re-settlement of Greeks from other provinces, as well as through a governmental policy of linguistic and cultural Hellenization of Slav speakers. The Macedonians who lived in the small portion allocated to Bulgaria continued to be considered as Bulgarians. Moreover, Bulgarians
in Bulgaria believed that most of the population of Macedonia was Bulgarian. The remaining portion allocated to Serbia, renamed the Vardar Banovina
following King Alexander Karadjordjevic's
reorganization of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
, was subject to a policy of Serbianisation, whereby the Macedonian language was deliberately distanced from Bulgarian, and Bulgarian Exarchate authorities were removed.
Simultaneously after the Balkan Wars, a new entity began to arise among the Slavic-speaking population — an ethnic Macedonian one.
Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia all wished to claim Macedonia, as a key strategic part of their newly formed kingdoms. Throughout the 19th century, each kingdom tried to claim Macedonia as its own. This was done through the media of church and education, particularly between Greece and Bulgaria. Through the advancement of Greek or Bulgarian language, and provision of local priests either from the Bulgarian Exarchate
or Orthodox Church of Constantinople, an entire village would be claimed to be 'Greek', while its neighbour would be 'Bulgarian'. This ad hoc arrangement did not follow any geographic or ethnic correlates, and occurred at the expense of the development of a local, Macedonian identity, and often involved harassment of peoples in order to profess loyalty to Greece or Bulgaria, and abdicate profession of any independent identity.
by a "small band of anti-Ottoman Macedono-Bulgarian revolutionaries. "They considered Macedonia an indivisible territory and claimed all of its inhabitants "Macedonians", no matter their religion or ethnicity" (although in practice their followers were primarily of Bulgarian origins). On August 2, 1903, IMRO led the locals in the Ilinden Uprising, named after the festival of the Prophet Elijah on which it began. That was one of the greatest events in the history of the population in the regions of Macedonia and Thrace. The high point of the Ilinden revolution was the establishment of the Kruševo Republic
in the town of Kruševo
. By November 1903, the Ilinden Uprising was suppressed. The uprising was led by activists of the IMRO including Jane Sandanski, Nikola Karev
, Dame Gruev
and Pitu Guli
The failure of the 1903 insurrection resulted in the eventual split of the IMRO into a left wing (federalist) and a right wing. The left-wing faction opposed Bulgarian nationalism and advocated the creation of a Balkan Socialist Federation with equality for all subjects and nationalities, including Bulgarians. The right-wing fraction of IMRO drifted more and more towards Bulgarian tipe of nationalism as its regions became increasingly exposed to the incursions of Serb, Bulgarian and Greek armed bands, which started infiltrating Macedonia after 1903. The years 1905-1907 saw a great deal of violent fighting between IMRO and Turkish forces as well as between IMRO and Greek and Serb detachments.
After the Young Turk Revolution
of 1908, both fractions laid down their arms and joined the legal struggle. The federalist wing welcomed in the revolution of 1908 and later joined mainstream political life as the Peoples' Federative Party (Bulgarian Section). The right wing formed the Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs
and like the PFP participated in Ottoman elections.
During the Balkan Wars
, former IMRO leaders of both the left and the right wings joined the Macedono-Odrinian Volunteers and fought with the Bulgarian Army. Others like Yane Sandanski
with their bands assisted the Bulgarian army with its advance and still others penetrated as far as the region of Kastoria
in the Villayet of Monastir. In the Second Balkan War, IMRO bands fought the Greeks and Serbs behind the front lines, but were subsequently routed and driven out. Notably, Petar Chaulev was one of the leaders of the Ohrid Uprising in 1913 organized jointly by IMRO and the Albanians of Western Macedonia.
The Balkan Wars resulted in important demographic changes to the European territories of the Ottoman empire, especially after they were defeated and forced out of the region. What we may call 'Ottoman Macedonia' was divided between the Balkan nations, with its northern parts going to Serbian, the southern to Greece
, and the northeastern to Bulgaria.
The wars were an important precursor to World War I, to the extent that Austria-Hungary
took alarm at the great increase in Serbia's territory and regional status. This concern was shared by Germany, which saw Serbia as a satellite of Russia. Serbia's rise in power thus contributed to the two Central Powers
' willingness to risk war following the assassination in Sarajevo of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914.
, maintained its existence in Bulgaria, where it played a role in politics by playing upon Bulgarian irredentism and urging a renewed war to 'liberate' Macedonia. This was one factor in Bulgaria allying itself with Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I. IMRO organised the Valandovo
action of 1915, which was an attack on a large Serbian force. In September 1915, the 11th Macedonian division in Bulgarian army was established with over 40 000 men — Macedonian refugees from Serbian army, volunteers etc. The Bulgarian army, supported by the organization's forces, was successful in the first stages of this conflict, managed to drive out the Serbian forces from Vardar Macedonia and came into positions on the line of the pre-war Greek-Serbian border, which was stabilized as a firm front until end of 1918.
In September 1918, the Serbs, British, French and Greeks broke through on the Macedonian front and Tsar Ferdinand was forced to sue for peace. Under the Treaty of Neuilly
(November 1919), Bulgaria lost its Aegean coastline to Greece and nearly all of its Macedonian territory to the new state of Yugoslavia, and had to give Dobruja
back to the Romanians (see also Western Outlands, Western Thrace
).
), and was sometimes termed "southern Serbia", and, together with a large portion of today's southern Serbia, it belonged officially to the newly formed Vardar Banovina (district). An intense program of Serbianization was implemented during the 1920s and 1930s when Belgrade enforced a Serbian cultural assimilation process on the region. Between the world wars in Serbia, the dialects of Macedonia were treated as a Serbian dialects (UCLA Language Material Sources, http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/). Only the literary Serbian language
was taught, it was the language of government, education, media, and public life; even so local literature was tolerated as a local dialectal folkloristic form. The Serbian National Theatre in Skopje even performed some plays (now the classical drama pieces) in the local language (UCLA Language Material Sources, http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/).
Greece, like all other Balkan states, adopted restrictive policies towards its minorities, namely towards its Slavic population in its northern regions, due to its experiences with Bulgaria's wars, including the Second Balkan War
, and the Bulgarian inclination of sections of its Slavic minority. Many of those inhabiting northeastern Greece fled to Bulgaria and very small group to Serbia (68 families) after the Balkan wars
or were exchanged with native Greeks from Bulgaria under a population exchange treaty in the 1920s. Greeks were resettled in the region in two occasions, firstly following the Bulgarian loss of the Second Balkan War
when Bulgaria and Greece mutually exchanged their populations in 1919 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9300(192010)14%3A4%3C356%3ACBGABR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3, and secondly in 1923 as a result of the population exchange with the new Turkish republic that followed the Greek military defeat in Asia minor. Thus, Greek Macedonia now came to be Greek dominant for the first time since the 7th century.
The Slavic speakers that stayed in northwestern Greece were regarded as a potentially disloyal minority and came under severe pressure, with restrictions on their movements, cultural activities and political rights. http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/am/chase.html Many emigrated, for the most part to Canada
, Australia
, USA and Eastern European countries like Bulgaria. The Greek names for some traditionally Slavic or Turkish speaking areas became official and the Slavic speakers were forced to change their Slavic surnames to Greek sounding surnames, e.g., Nachev becoming Natsulis. A similar procedure was applied to Greek names in Bulgaria and Serbia (e.g., Nevrokop becoming Goce Delchev http://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/g/greece/greece945.pdf). In Greece, there was a government sponsored process of Hellenization
http://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/g/greece/greece945.pdf. Many of the border villages were closed to outsiders, ostensibly for security reasons. The Greek government and people have never recognized the existence of a distinct "Macedonian" ethnic group, as the term "Macedonian" is already reserved for the ethnic Macedonian population that has traditionally inhabited Greece's northern-most region (Macedonia (Greece)
). According to Peter Trudgill
Slavic speakers in northern Greece with a non-Greek national identity have tended or forced to leave Greece. As a result, the overwhelming majority of remaining Slavic speakers were forced and now declare themselves as Greeks
On August 10, 1920, upon signing the Treaty of Sèvres
that "measures were being taken towards the opening of schools with instruction in the Slavic language in the following school year of 1925/26". Thus, the primer intended for the "Slavic-speaking minority" children in Greek Macedonia to learn their native language in school, entitled "ABECEDAR
" was offered as an argument in support of this statement. This primer, prepared by a special government commissioner was published by the Greek government in Athens in 1925, but was printed in a specially adapted Latin alphabet instead of the traditional Cyrillic, since Cyrillic was the official alphabet of the neighboring Bulgaria. Serbian language
, on the other hand, uses both Cyrilic and Latin
scripts. Nevertheless, the Abecedar schoolbooks were confiscated and destroyed before they got into the reach of the children.
In 1924 IMRO entered negotiations with the Comintern
about collaboration between the communists and the Macedonian movement and the creation of a united Macedonian movement. The idea for a new unified organization was supported by the Soviet Union
, which saw a chance for using this well developed revolutionary movement to spread revolution in the Balkans and destabilize the Balkan monarchies. Todor Alexandrov defended IMRO's independence and refused to concede on practically all points requested by the Communists. No agreement was reached besides a paper "Manifesto" (the so-called May Manifesto of 6 May 1924), in which the objectives of the unified Macedonian liberation movement were presented: independence and unification of partitioned Macedonia, fighting all the neighbouring Balkan monarchies, forming a Balkan Communist Federation
and cooperation with the Soviet Union.
Failing to secure Alexandrov's cooperation, the Comintern decided to discredit him and published the contents of the Manifesto on 28 July 1924 in the "Balkan Federation" newspaper. IMRO's leaders Todor Aleksandrov and Aleksandar Protogerov promptly denied through the Bulgarian press that they've ever signed any agreements, claiming that the May Manifesto was a communist forgery.
The policy of assassinations was effective in making Serbian rule in Vardar Macedonia feel insecure but in turn provoked brutal reprisals on the local peasant population. Having lost a great deal of popular support in Vardar Macedonia due to his policies Ivan Mihailov
, a new IMRO leader, favoured the internationalization of the Macedonian question.
He established close links with the Croatian Ustashe and with Italy. Numerous assassinations were carried out by IMRO agents in many countries, the majority in Yugoslavia. The most spectacular of these was the assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia
and the French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou in Marseille in 1934. in collaboration with the Croatian Ustaše. The killing was carried out by the IMRO terrorist Vlado Chernozemski
and happened after the suppression of IMRO following the 19 May 1934 military coup in Bulgaria.
During the 1930s, the Comintern prepared a Resolution about the recognition of the Macedonian nation. It was accepted by the Political Secretariat in Moscow
on January 11, 1934, and approved by the Executive Committee of the Comintern. The Resolution was published for first time in the April issue of Makedonsko Delo under the title ‘The Situation in Macedonia and the Tasks of IMRO (United)’.
declared a position of neutrality, being determined to observe it until the end of the war, but hoping for bloodless territorial gains. But it was clear that the central geopolitical position of Bulgaria in the Balkans would inevitably lead to strong external pressure by both sides of World War II
.
Bulgaria was forced to join the Axis powers in 1941, when German troops prepared to invade Greece from Romania reached the Bulgarian borders and demanded permission to pass through Bulgarian territory. Threatened by direct military confrontation, Tsar Boris III had no choice but to join the fascist block, which officially happened on 1 March 1941. There was little popular opposition, since the Soviet Union was in a non-aggression pact with Germany.
On April 6, 1941, despite having officially joined the Axis Powers, the Bulgarian government maintained a course of military passivity during the initial stages of the invasion of Yugoslavia
and the Battle of Greece
. As German, Italian, and Hungarian troops crushed Yugoslavia and Greece, the Bulgarians remained on the side-lines. The Yugoslav government surrendered on April 17. The Greek government was to hold out until April 30. On April 20, the period of Bulgarian passivity ended. The Bulgarian Army entered Nazi-occupied Greece. The goal was to gain an Aegean Sea
outlet in Thrace and Eastern Macedonia and much of eastern Serbia. The so-called Vardar Banovina was divided between Bulgaria and Italians which occupied West Macedonia.
At the beginning of the war in the Balkans, Macedonia shows how complicated the situation was. The political sympathies were intertwined with the national feelings. As a rule, the pro-Serbian elements were for the English-French Allies and the pro-Bulgarian, for the Axis powers. Besides, some of the former revolutionary activists were not far from the thought of solving the Macedonian question through accession of Macedonia, or parts of it, to Italy. The followers of Ivan Mihailov
fought for pro-Axis and pro-Bulgarian Macedonia. In this situation, the population was divided in different groups. And time was crucial.
Thus, on April 8, 1941, in Skopje
a meeting was held, where the question: “What had to be done?" was put up. What actions should be undertaken in those crucial days in order not to omit, as it had already happened, the precise moment for liberating Macedonia. On that meeting were present mainly followers of the idea for the liberation through independence of Macedonia, namely: Dimitаr Gjuzelev, Dimitur Chkatrov, Toma Klenkov, Ivan Piperkov and other popular activists of IMRO as well as members of Yugoslav Communist Party (YCP) - Kotse Stojanov, Angel Petkovski and Ilja Neshovski, invited by Trajko Popov. The latter despite a communist, member of YCP, was an active follower of the idea of IMRO for the creation of a pro-Bulgarian, Macedonian state under German and Italian protection. But the situation changed dynamically.http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/bugarash/bccc_1941/Chapter1_2.html
Ten days later, when the Bulgarian army entered Yugoslav Vardar Macedonia on April 19. 1941, it was greeted by most of the population as liberators.http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/bugarash/mac1941/mac41.html Former IMRO members were active in organising Bulgarian Action Committees
http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/bugarash/bccc_1941/index.html charged with taking over the local authorities. Some former IMRO (United) members such as Metodi Shatorov
http://www.mak-truth.com/shatarov.htm, who were leading member of the Yugoslav Communist Party, also refused to define the Bulgarian forces as occupiers (contrary to instructions from Belgrade) and called for the incorporation of the local Macedonian Communist organizations within the Bulgarian Communist Party. This policy changed towards 1943 with the arrival of the Montenegrin Svetozar Vukmanović-Tempo
, who began in earnest to organize armed resistance to the Bulgarian occupation. Many former IMRO members assisted the authorities in fighting Tempo's partisans.
IMRO was also active in organizing the resistance of the Bulgarian population in Aegean Macedonia
against Greek nationalist and communist regiments. With the help of Mihailov and Macedonian emigrants in Sofia, several pro-German armed detachments - Uhrana were organized in the Kostur, Lerin and Voden districts of Greek Macedonia in 1943-44. These were led by Bulgarian officers originally from Aegean Macedonia - Andon Kalchev
and Georgi Dimchev.http://www.makedonskatribuna.com/IMRO.doc
Local recruits and volunteers formed the Bulgarian 5th Army, based in Skopje, which was responsible for the round-up and deportation of over 7,000 Jews in Skopje and Bitola. Harsh rule by the occupying forces encouraged some Macedonians to support the Communist Partisan resistance movement of Josip Broz Tito
.http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/42/a3966942.shtml
In Greece, it has been estimated that the military wing of the Communist Party of Greece
(KKE), the Democratic Army of Greece
(DSE) had 14 000 soldiers of Slavic Macedonian origin out of total 20 000 fighters. Some Macedonians which had been supporters of Communist partisan movement few in the Italian occupied area to Tito's Partisan resistance movement, fighting the occupying Bulgarians, Germans and Italians as well as opposing the Serbian royalist Chetniks. The Macedonian resistance at the end of the war had a strongly nationalist character, not at least as a reaction to Serbia's pre-war repression.
On 2 August 1944 in the St. Prohor Pčinjski
monastery at the Antifascist Assembly of the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) with Panko Brashnarov
(the former IMRO revolutionary from the Ilinden period and the IMRO United) as a first speaker, the modern Macedonian state was officially proclaimed, as a federal state within Tito's Yugoslavia, receiving recognition from the Allies.
On 5 September 1944, the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria and invaded the country. Within three days the Soviets occupied the northeastern part of Bulgaria along with the key port cities of Varna
and Burgas
. The Bulgarian Army was ordered to offer no resistance to the Soviets. On 8 September 1944, the Bulgarians changed sides and joined the Soviet Union in its war against Nazi Germany.
After the declaration of war by Bulgaria on Germany, Ivan Mihailov
- the IMRO leader arrived in German occupied Skopje, where the Germans hoped that he could form an Macedonian state with their support. Seeing that the war is lost to Germany and to avoid further bloodshed, he refused. The Bulgarian troops, surrounded by German forces and betrayed by high-ranking military commanders, fought their way back to the old borders of Bulgaria. Three Bulgarian armies (some 500,000 strong in total) entered Yugoslavia in September 1944 and moved from Sofia to Niš
and Skopje with the strategic task of blocking the German forces withdrawing from Greece. Southern and eastern Serbia and Macedonia were liberated within a month.
Vormer members of the IMRO (United) which participated in the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, ASNOM and the forming of Republic of Macedonia as a federal state of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
as Panko Brashnarov
, Pavel Shatev
, Dimitar Vlahov
and Venko Markovski
were quickly ousted from the new government. Such Macedonian activists came from Bulgarian Communist Party
, have declared Bulgarian ethnicity before World War II never managed to get rid of their pro-Bulgarian bias and because of that, the first and second one were annihilated. As last survivor among the communists associated with the idea of Macedonian autonomy, Dimitar Vlahov was used "solely for window dressing". They ware chanched (sic) from cadres loyal to the Yugoslav Communist Party in Belgrade, who had pro-Serbian leanings and education before the war. It was not important that thеse party members have declared Bulgarian origin during the war, as for example Kiro Gligorov
, Mihajlo Apostoloski and Lazar Koliševski
.
Following the war, Tito separated Yugoslav Macedonia from Serbia, making it a republic of the new federal Yugoslavia (as the Socialist Republic of Macedonia) in 1946. He also promoted the concept of a separate Macedonian nation, as a means of severing the ties of the Slavic population of Yugoslav Macedonia with Bulgaria, although the Macedonian language
is close to and largely mutually intelligible with Bulgarian, and to a lesser extent Serbian. The differences were emphasized and the region's historical figures were promoted as being uniquely Macedonian (rather than Bulgarian or Serbian). A separate Macedonian Orthodox Church
was established, splitting off from the Serbian Orthodox Church
in 1967 (only partly successfully, because the church has not been recognized by any other Orthodox Church). The ideologists of a separate and independent Macedonian country, same as the pro-Bulgarian sentiment, was forcibly suppressed.
Tito had a number of reasons for doing this. First, he wanted to reduce Serbia's dominance in Yugoslavia; establishing a territory formerly considered Serbian as an equal to Serbia within Yugoslavia achieved this effect. Secondly, he wanted to sever the ties of the Macedonian population with Bulgaria as recognition of that population as Bulgarian could have undermined the unity of the Yugoslav federation. Thirdly, Tito sought to justify future Yugoslav claims towards the rest of geographical Macedonia; in August 1944, he claimed that his goal was to reunify "all parts of Macedonia, divided in 1915 and 1918 by Balkan imperialists." To this end, he opened negotiations with Bulgaria for a new federal communist state (see Bled agreement
), which would also probably have included Albania, and supported the Greek Communists in the Greek Civil War. The idea of reunification of all of Macedonia under Communist rule was abandoned in 1948 when the Greek Communists lost the civil war and Tito fell out with the Soviet Union and pro-Soviet Bulgaria.
Tito's actions had a number of important consequences for the Macedonians. The most important was, obviously, the promotion of a distinctive Macedonian identity as a part of the multi-ethnic society of Yugoslavia. The process of ethnogenesis
, started earlier, gained momentum, and a distinct national Macedonian identity was formed. IMRO's leader in exile, Ivan Mihailov
, and the renewed Bulgarian IMRO after 1990 have, on the other hand, repeatedly argued that between 120,000 and 130,000 people went through the concentration camps of Idrizovo and Goli Otok
for pro-Bulgarian sympathies or ideas for independent Macedonia in the late 1940s. This has also been confirmed by former prime minister Ljubco Georgievski http://www.b-info.com/places/Macedonia/republic/news/95-11/nov15.mak.
The critics of these claims question the number as it would imply roughly a third of the male Christian population at that time. And the reasons of imprisonment, they argue, were multiple as there were Macedonian nationalists, Stalinists, Middle class members, Albanian nationalists and everybody else who was either against the post war regime or denounced as one for whatever reasons. Unlike the time before World War II, when Macedonia was hotbed for unrest and terror and about 60% of the entire royal Yugoslav police force was stationed there http://www.unet.com.mk/mian/shs.htm http://knigite.abv.bg/en/ib/i_banac.html, after the war there were no signs of disturbances comparable with pre-war times or post war times in other parts of former Yugoslavia, such as Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. http://archive.serbianunity.net/kosta/new.ustase/list.html http://www.pavelicpapers.com/documents/odpor/index.html http://www.pavelicpapers.com/documents/ratline/index.html. Whatever the truth, it was certainly the case that most Macedonians embraced their official recognition as a separate nationality. Even so, some pro-Bulgarian or pro-Serbian sentiment persisted despite government suppression; even as late as 1991, convictions were still being handed down for pro-Bulgarian statements.http://groups.yahoo.com/group/balkanhr/message/1895
After World War II, ethnic Macedonians living in Greece organized themselves in Narodno Osloboditelen Front (NOF) in 1945, and started fighting against the right-wing government in Athens. In 1946, NOF agreed to unite with the Democratic Army of Greece
and start a join fight (see: Greek Civil War
). Many of the Slavic speaking Macedonians who lived in Greece either chose to emigrate to Communist countries (especially Yugoslavia) to avoid prosecution for fighting on the side of the Greek communists. Although there was some liberalization between 1959 and 1967, the Greek military dictatorship re-imposed harsh restrictions. The situation gradually eased after Greece's return to democracy, but Greece still receives criticism for its treatment of some Slavic-speaking Macedonian political organizations. Greece, however, recognizes the Rainbow political party of the Slavic-speaking Macedonians who canvas during elections.
The Macedonians in Albania
faced restrictions under the Stalinist
dictatorship of Enver Hoxha
, though ordinary Albanians were little better off. Their existence as a separate minority group was recognized as early as 1945 and a degree of cultural expression was permitted.
As ethnographers and linguists tended to identify the population of the Bulgarian part of Macedonia as Bulgarian in the interwar period, the issue of a Macedonian minority in the country came up as late as the 1940s. In 1946, the population of Blagoevgrad Province
was declared Macedonian and teachers were brought in from Yugoslavia to teach the Macedonian language
. The census of 1946 was accompanied by mass repressions, the result of which was the complete destruction of the local organizations of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization and mass internments of people at the Belene
concentration camp. The policy was reverted at the end of the 1950s and later Bulgarian governments argued that the two censuses of 1946 and 1956 which recorded up to 187,789 Macedonians (of whom over 95% were said to live in Blagoevgrad Province, also called Pirin Macedonia) were the result of pressure from Moscow
. http://www.trinstitute.org/ojpcr/6_1kojou.htm Western governments, however, continued to list the population of Blagoevgrad Province as Macedonian until the beginning of the 1990s despite the 1965 census which put Macedonians in the country at 9,630.http://demos.hit.bg/makm.html The two latest censuses after the fall of Communism (in 1992 and 2001) have, however, confirmed the results from previous censuses with some 3,000 people declaring themselves as "Macedonians" in Blagoevgrad Province in 2001 (<1.0% of the population of the region) out of 5,000 in the whole of Bulgaria.
in 1999, when an estimated 360,000 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo took refuge in the country. Although they departed shortly after the war, soon after, Albanian
radicals on both sides of the border took up arms in pursuit of autonomy or independence for the Albanian-populated areas of the Republic.
A short conflict was fought between government and ethnic Albanian rebels, mostly in the north and west of the country, between March and June 2001. This war ended with the intervention of a NATO ceasefire monitoring force. In the Ohrid Agreement
, the government agreed to devolve greater political power and cultural recognition to the Albanian minority.
In this period, it has been claimed by Macedonian scholars that there exist large and oppressed ethnic Macedonian minorities in the region of Macedonia, located in neighboring Albania (up to 35,000 people), Bulgaria (up to 200,000, mainly in Blagoevgrad Province), Greece (up to 250 000 in Greek Macedonia) and Serbia (about 20,000 in Pčinja District). Because of those claims, irredentist proposals are being made calling for the expansion of the borders of the Republic of Macedonia to encompass the territories allegedly populated with ethnic Macedonians, either directly or through initial independence of Blagoevgrad province
and Greek Macedonia, followed by their incorporation into a single state. (See United Macedonia
). The population of the neighboring regions is presented as "subdued" to the propaganda of the governments of those neighbouring countries, and in need of "liberation".
Because separate ethnic status of the Macedonians is not recognized in Bulgaria(the Macedonians are considered a subgroup of the Bulgarian nation), there can be only speculation about the actual numbers, including the possibility that there is no Macedonian minority at all in those countries.
The supporters of Macedonism generally ignore censuses conducted in Albania, Bulgaria and Greece, which show minimal presence of ethnic Macedonians. They consider those censuses flawed, without presenting evidence in support, and accuse the governments of neighboring countries of continued propaganda. During this period, ethnic Macedonians living in the region continue to complain of official harassment. This was confirmed in 2005 by the European Court of Human Rights
with a judgment whereby Bulgaria was sentenced to pay damages amounting to 6800 euro
s for a violation of Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights for its refusal to give court registration to "UMO Ilinden-Pirin
", the Macedonian political party in Bulgaria.
A similar judgment was passed against Greece for also violating Article 11 in regards of the members of the Greek far-left Rainbow
party, which claims to be the "Party of the Macedonian minority in Greece" despite the fact that it enjoys minimal public support in the area where the minority purportedly lives.
Macedonians (ethnic group)
The Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs: "... the term Slavomacedonian was introduced and was accepted by the community itself, which at the time had a much more widespread non-Greek Macedonian ethnic consciousness...
has been shaped by population shifts and political developments in the southern Balkans, especially within the region of Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
. Following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
The Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire included the watershed events of the Young Turk Revolution and the establishment of the Second Constitutional Era, and ended with the Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire by the victorious sides of World War I.- Establishment of the Second Constitutional Era, 24...
, the decisive point in the ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges...
of the Slavic group
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
is the creation of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia
Socialist Republic of Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, a state in the framework of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
.
Ancient period
The region that today forms the Republic of MacedoniaRepublic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
has been inhabited since Paleolithic times. Republic of Macedonia occupies most of the part of the ancient kingdom of Paionia
Paionia
In ancient geography, Paeonia or Paionia was the land of the Paeonians . The exact original boundaries of Paeonia, like the early history of its inhabitants, are very obscure, but it is believed that they lay in the region of Thrace...
and part of the territory of what was in antiquity Upper Macedonia
Upper Macedonia
Upper Macedonia is a geographical and tribal term to describe the regions that became part of the kingdom of Macedon in the early 4th century BC. From that date, its inhabitants were politically equal to Lower Macedonians...
(which coincides with some parts of todays southern Republic of Macedonia), the region which became part of the kingdom of Macedon
Macedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
in the early 4th century BC. It was settled by the Paionia
Paionia
In ancient geography, Paeonia or Paionia was the land of the Paeonians . The exact original boundaries of Paeonia, like the early history of its inhabitants, are very obscure, but it is believed that they lay in the region of Thrace...
ns and Dardani
Dardani
Dardania was the region of the Dardani .Located at the Thraco-Illyrian contact zone, their identification as either an Illyrian or Thracian tribe is uncertain. Their territory itself was not considered part of Illyria by Strabo. The term used for their territory was , while for other tribes had...
, peoples of mixed Thraco-Illyrian
Thraco-Illyrian
Thraco-Illyrian refers to a hypothesis that the Thraco-Dacian and Illyrian languages comprise a distinct branch of Indo-European. Thraco-Illyrian is also used as a term merely implying a Thracian-Illyrian interference, mixture or sprachbund, or as a shorthand way of saying that it is not...
origin. The Paionians founded several princedoms which coalesced into a kingdom centred in the central and upper reaches of the Vardar
Vardar
The Vardar or Axios is the longest and major river in the Republic of Macedonia and also a major river of Greece. It is long, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of river is ....
and Struma
Struma
The Struma was a ship chartered to carry Jewish refugees from Axis-allied Romania to British-controlled Palestine during World War II. On February 23, 1942, with its engine inoperable and its refugee passengers aboard, Turkish authorities towed the ship from Istanbul harbor through the Bosphorus...
rivers until they were finally conquered by Philip II
Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon "friend" + ἵππος "horse" — transliterated ; 382 – 336 BC), was a king of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III.-Biography:...
, father of Alexander the Great, in 358 BC.
The Roman province of Macedonia was officially established in 146 BC. By the 4th century AD the Paionians had become fully Hellenized
Hellenization
Hellenization is a term used to describe the spread of ancient Greek culture, and, to a lesser extent, language. It is mainly used to describe the spread of Hellenistic civilization during the Hellenistic period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Macedon...
or Romanized
Romanization (cultural)
Romanization or latinization indicate different historical processes, such as acculturation, integration and assimilation of newly incorporated and peripheral populations by the Roman Republic and the later Roman Empire...
and had lost their ethnic identity.
Arrival of Slavs
The Slavic tribes invaded the Balkan Peninsula in the 6th and 7th centuries CE, settling in the DanubeDanube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
river basin and in the region of Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
, encountering the Thraco-Illyrian
Thraco-Illyrian
Thraco-Illyrian refers to a hypothesis that the Thraco-Dacian and Illyrian languages comprise a distinct branch of Indo-European. Thraco-Illyrian is also used as a term merely implying a Thracian-Illyrian interference, mixture or sprachbund, or as a shorthand way of saying that it is not...
tribes who lived in the north of the region and the Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
who lived in the south. According to Procopius
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History...
, the first attack on Byzantium
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
took place in 523. Initially, the Slavic tribes retained independent rule with their own political structure. These units were referred to as Sclavenes. Byzantine emperors tried to directly incorporate the Slavs of the region of Macedonia into the socio-economic system of the Byzantine state, with varied success. The Thracian theme was returned to imperial rule in 680-681. However, the Slavs of Macedonia proved more stubborn and resisted Hellenization. Emperors Constans (656) and Justinian II (686) had to resort to military expeditions and forced re-settlement of large numbers of Slavs to Anatolia, forcing them to pay tribute and supply military aid to the empire. With the formation of the First Bulgarian Empire, the remaining Sclavenes were incorporated into the Bulgarian Empire, as was the entire region of Macedonia, thus cementing the Slavic character of the area.
Despite the raiding and looting, many local populations willingly assimilated with the Slavs (Slavicization). Additionally, the Slavs actively incorporated prisoners into their ranks. With the arrival of the Slavs, the remaining Paionians and Thracians were Slavicized.
Arrival of Bulgars
Historical records document that in c.680 a group of Bulgars led by a Bulgar called KuberKuber
Khan Kuber was a Bulgar leader, brother of Khan Asparukh and member of the Dulo clan, who according to the Miracles of St Demetrius, in the 670s was the leader of a mixed Christian population of Bulgars, ‘Romans’, Slavs and Germanic people that had been transferred to the Syrmia region in Pannonia...
settled in the region of Keramisian plain, centred on the city of Bitola
Bitola
Bitola is a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia. The city is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial, and educational centre. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba and Nidže mountains, 14 km north of the...
. Kuber was a chief, who was vassaled to the Avar
Eurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...
Khagan. However, whilst he was certainly a Bulgar, he was made chief of a settlement consisting of the descendants of various peoples who had been subjegated by the Avars and actively re-settled in Sirmium
Sirmium
Sirmium was a city in ancient Roman Pannonia. Firstly mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by the Illyrians and Celts, it was conquered by the Romans in the 1st century BC and subsequently became the capital of the Roman province of Lower Pannonia. In 294 AD, Sirmium was...
, nearer to the Khanate's centre (in modern Hungary). They may have consisted of Bulgars, Illyrians, Roman soldiers and mercenaries, Slavs and even Germanic peoples such as Gepids and Franks. They referred to themselves as Sermesianoi, and at 680 AD they rebelled against the Avars and departed from Sirmium. Some sources suggest Kuber was the brother of Khan Asparuh, who founded the Danubian Bulgarian state in 681, known as First Bulgarian Empire
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
. They had close contacts and may have merged with the Slavic tribe called Dragoviti, who were already established in the area. In the following decades, these people launched campaigns against the Byzantine city of Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
and established contacts with Danubian Bulgaria. By the early 9th century the lands that Kuber settled had been incorporated into the First Bulgarian Empire. The archaeologist from Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most eminent academic institution in the Republic of Macedonia.-History:The Academy of Sciences and Arts was established by the Macedonian Assembly on 22 February 1967 as the highest scientific, scholarly and artistic institution in the country...
, Professor Ivan Mikulchik, revealed the presence not only of the Kuber group, but the whole later Bulgar archaeological culture throughout Macedonia. He describes the traces of Bulgars in this region, which consist of typical fortresses, burials, various products of metallurgy and pottery (including treasure with supposed Bulgar origin or ownership), lead seals, minted from Kuber, amulets, etc. However, it is likely that these artefacts actually represent evidence of Avar presence in the region, which fits with known historiography. Truly, there were vast similarities between early Avar and Bulgar material culture found in Old Bulgaria
Old Great Bulgaria
Old Great Bulgaria or Great Bulgaria was а term used by Byzantine historians to refer to Onoguria during the reign of the Bulgar ruler Kubrat in the 7th century north of the Caucasus mountains in the steppe between the Dniester and Lower...
.
Christianization and adoption of Cyrillic alphabet
The historical phenomenon of ChristianizationChristianization
The historical phenomenon of Christianization is the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once...
, the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once, also includes the practice of converting pagan practices, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar to Christian uses. After Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
was declared a Christian Empire by Theodosius I
Theodosius I
Theodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...
in 389, laws were passed against pagan practices over the course of the following years. The Slavic tribes in Macedonia accepted the Christianity as their own religion around the 9th century mainly during the reign of prince Boris I of Bulgaria
Boris I of Bulgaria
Boris I, also known as Boris-Mihail and Bogoris was the Knyaz of First Bulgarian Empire in 852–889. At the time of his baptism in 864, Boris was named Michael after his godfather, Emperor Michael III...
.The Christianization of Bulgaria
Christianization of Bulgaria
The Christianization of Bulgaria was the process by which 9th-century medieval Bulgaria converted to Christianity. It was influenced by the khan's shifting political alliances with the kingdom of the East Franks and the Byzantine Empire, as well as his reception by the Pope of the Roman Catholic...
was the process of converting 9th century medieval Bulgaria to Christianity as state religion
State religion
A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...
.
The creators of the Glagolitic alphabet
Glagolitic alphabet
The Glagolitic alphabet , also known as Glagolitsa, is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. The name was not coined until many centuries after its creation, and comes from the Old Slavic glagolъ "utterance" . The verb glagoliti means "to speak"...
were the Byzantine Greek monks Saint Cyril
Saints Cyril and Methodius
Saints Cyril and Methodius were two Byzantine Greek brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century. They became missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic peoples of Bulgaria, Great Moravia and Pannonia. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they...
and Saint Methodius. Under the guidance of the Patriarchate
Patriarchate
A patriarchate is the office or jurisdiction of a patriarch. A patriarch, as the term is used here, is either* one of the highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, earlier, the five that were included in the Pentarchy: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, but now nine,...
at Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
they were promoters of Christianity and initiated Slavic literacy among the Slavic people. They developed their alphabet from their extensive knowledge of the local Slavic dialect spoken in the hinterland of Thessaloniki, which became the basis for Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
, the first literary Slavic language. Their work was accepted in early medieval Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
and continued by the St. Clement of Ohrid
Clement of Ohrid
Saint Clement of Ohrid was a medieval Bulgarian saint, scholar, writer and enlightener of the Slavs. He was the most prominent disciple of Saints Cyril and Methodius and is often associated with the creation of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets, especially their popularisation among...
, creator of Cyrillic alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
and St.Naum of Ohrid as founders of the Ohrid Literary School
Ohrid Literary School
The Ohrid Literary School was one of the two major medieval Bulgarian cultural centres, along with the Preslav Literary School . The school was established in Ohrid in 886 by Saint Clement of Ohrid on orders of Boris I of Bulgaria simultaneously or shortly after the establishment of the Preslav...
. Cyril and Methodius evangelized from Constantinople into the Balkans In the legacy of Cyril and Methodius, carried on by Clement and Naum, the development of Slavic literacy was crucial in preventing assimilation of the Slavs either by cultures to the North or by the Greek culture to the south.
The introduction of Slavic liturgy paralleled Boris I' continued development of churches and monasteries throughout his realm.
Early middle ages
During most of Late Antiquity and the early Middles ages, Macedonia (as a region) had been a province of the Byzantine EmpireByzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. In the 6th century AD, the part which today forms the Greek region of Macedonia
Macedonia (Greece)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
was known as Macedonia Prima (first Macedonia), and contained the Empire's second largest city, Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
. The rest of the modern region (today's Republic of Macedonia and Western Bulgaria) was known as Macedonia Salutaris. In the early 9th century, most of the region of Macedonia (excluding the area of Thessaloniki), as well as large parts of the Balkan peninsula, were incorporated into the First Bulgarian Empire
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
. With the defeat of the Bulgarian empire by Byzantium in the late 10th century, the eastern part of the Bulgarian empire and its capital Preslav
Preslav
Preslav was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 893 to 972 and one of the most important cities of medieval Southeastern Europe. The ruins of the city are situated in modern northeastern Bulgaria, some 20 kilometres southwest of the regional capital of Shumen, and are currently a...
were annexed into the Byzantine Empire. The eastern part continued to be independent, and was ruled by Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria, who saw himself as the successor of the Bulgarian Empire. Samuil ruled his kingdom from the island of St. Achilles in Prespa
Prespa
Prespa is a region in Republic of Macedonia. It shares the same name with the two Prespa lakes which are situated in the middle of the region. The largest town is Resen with 9,000 inhabitants....
. He was crowned in Rome in 997 as Tsar of Bulgaria by Pope Gregory V
Pope Gregory V
Pope Gregory V, né Bruno of Carinthia , Pope from May 3, 996 to February 18, 999, son of the Salian Otto I, Duke of Carinthia, who was a grandson of the Emperor Otto I the Great . Gregory V succeeded Pope John XV , when only twenty-four years of age...
. The remains of his castle are still present in the city of Ohrid. Under Samuil, the fortunes of the empire and the great military rivalry against Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
were once more revived, albeit temporarily. However, Samuil’s army was soundly defeated in 1014 by Basil II The Bulgar-Slayer, emperor of Byzantium, and four years later Bulgarian Empire fell once again under Byzantine control. The character of Samuil has taken mythical status in folklore of Macedonian people, seeing him as a local King who struggled against Greek hegemony.
In the 13th century, the region was briefly passed to Latin
Latin Empire
The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...
, Bulgarian
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
and back to Byzantine rule. For example Konstantin Asen, former nobleman from Skopie ruled over the region as Tsar of Bulgaria from 1257 to 1277.
From the 13th century, Macedonia was incorporated into the Serbian Kingdom
History of Serbia
The history of Serbia, as a country, begins with the Slavic settlements in the Balkans, established in the 6th century in territories governed by the Byzantine Empire. Through centuries, the Serbian realm evolved into a Kingdom , then an Empire , before the Ottomans annexed it in 1540...
. The Serbs saw themselves as liberators of their Slavic kin. Macedonia was very urbanised and lay along the important trade routes, thus it became the centre of Tsar Stefan Dušan's empire, making Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
his capital. However, with his death the region fell under leadership of local nobles, who divided his territories between them. Macedonia was initially in the domain of the Mrnjavčević family. Disunited, the Balkan provinces fell to the emerging Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
one by one.
Ottoman Empire, Turkification and Islamization
This expansion of medieval states on the Balkan Peninsula was discontinued by the occupation of the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century. The region of Macedonia remained part of the Ottoman Empire for the next 500 years, i.e. until 1912. IslamizationIslamization
Islamization or Islamification has been used to describe the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam...
means the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam, or a neologism meaning an increase in observance by an already Muslim society. Turkification
Turkification
Turkification is a term used to describe a process of cultural or political change in which something or someone who is not a Turk becomes one, voluntarily or involuntarily...
is a term used to describe a cultural change in which someone who is not a Turk becomes one, voluntarily or by force. Both terms can be used in contexts of connection with various Slavic people in Macedonia (Pomaks
Pomaks
Pomaks is a term used for a Slavic Muslim population native to some parts of Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo. The Pomaks speak Bulgarian as their native language, also referred to in Greece and Turkey as Pomak language, and some are fluent in Turkish,...
, Torbesh and Gorani
Gorani
Gorani may refer to:In culture:* Gorani people, a Balkan ethnic groupIn geography:* Gorani, a village in Uda Commune, Argeş County, Romania* Gorani, a village in Odăile Commune, Buzău County, Romania...
), which converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
during the Ottoman rule. Overall, the large majority of ethnic Macedonians remained Christian.
Mariovo
Mariovo is a region in the southern part of Macedonia , situated between the mountains Selechka on the west, Nidze and Kozhuf on the south, Kozjak on the east and Dren...
uprising (1564), Karposh's Rebellion
Karposh's Rebellion
Karposh’s Rebellion or Karposh’s Uprising is a name used for a Christian anti-Ottoman uprising in the Central Balkans that took place in 1689.-Prelude:...
(1689), Kresna-Razlog Uprising
Kresna-Razlog Uprising
The Kresna-Razlog Uprising was a Bulgarian uprising against the Ottoman rule, predominantly in the areas of Kresna and Razlog in the region of Pirin Macedonia in late 1878 and early 1879...
(1878) etc. According to the Preliminary Treaty of San Stefano
Treaty of San Stefano
The Preliminary Treaty of San Stefano was a treaty between Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed at the end of the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–78...
between Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed at the end of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), Macedonia was granted to the new autonomous self-governing Principality of Bulgaria
Principality of Bulgaria
The Principality of Bulgaria was a self-governing entity created as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. The preliminary treaty of San Stefano between the Russian Empire and the Porte , on March 3, had originally proposed a significantly larger Bulgarian territory: its...
. However, the Great Powers, particularly England and Austria grew alarmed with what they saw as extension of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n power, since Bulgaria was a fellow Slavic Orthodox country that could be easily swayed by Russia. Additionally, they feared that a too rapid collapse of Ottoman rule could create a dangerous power vacuum. Also, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
held some resentment at the establishment of what they saw as a Greater Bulgaria
Greater Bulgaria
Greater Bulgaria is term to identify the territory associated with a historical national state and a modern Bulgarian irredentist nationalist movement which would include most of Macedonia, Thrace and Moesia...
, and felt deprived from the spoils of Ottoman decline.
This prompted the Great Powers to obtain a revision of this treaty. The subsequent Congress of Berlin
Congress of Berlin
The Congress of Berlin was a meeting of the European Great Powers' and the Ottoman Empire's leading statesmen in Berlin in 1878. In the wake of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, the meeting's aim was to reorganize the countries of the Balkans...
a few months later was a meeting of the European Great Powers' which revised the Treaty of San Stefano. Although Greece and Serbia succeeded in becoming independent Kingdoms, autonomous from Turkey. Bulgaria's lost much of the territory it had gained, losing Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
and Macedonia back to the Turks. Despite calls for liberation and even the founding of a united Macedonian principality (i.e., Pan-Macedonian), run by a Christian governor, the pleas of the people fell on deaf ears. These events all conspired to create tensions which would spill over into war. The issue of irredentism
Irredentism
Irredentism is any position advocating annexation of territories administered by another state on the grounds of common ethnicity or prior historical possession, actual or alleged. Some of these movements are also called pan-nationalist movements. It is a feature of identity politics and cultural...
and nationalism gained great prominence after the creation of Greater Bulgaria
Greater Bulgaria
Greater Bulgaria is term to identify the territory associated with a historical national state and a modern Bulgarian irredentist nationalist movement which would include most of Macedonia, Thrace and Moesia...
and Turkish collapse following the 1878 Treaty of San Stefano. In the first half of 20th century, control over Macedonia was a key point of contention between Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia.
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) was founded in 1893 in Ottoman Thessaloniki by a "small band of anti-Ottoman Macedonian Slav revolutionaries", which later came to be dominated by Bulgarians. "They considered Macedonia an indivisible territory and all of its inhabitants "Macedonians", no matter their religion or ethnicity". The organisation was secret revolutionary society with aim to make Macedonia an autonomous state but that later became an agent serving Bulgarian interests in Balkan politics. However, the results of the Balkan Wars were not favourable for the members of the IMRO, splitting Macedonia into three parts. The Greek part was heavily Hellenized by re-settlement of Greeks from other provinces, as well as through a governmental policy of linguistic and cultural Hellenization of Slav speakers. The Macedonians who lived in the small portion allocated to Bulgaria continued to be considered as Bulgarians. Moreover, Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
in Bulgaria believed that most of the population of Macedonia was Bulgarian. The remaining portion allocated to Serbia, renamed the Vardar Banovina
Vardar Banovina
The Vardar Banovina or Vardar Banate or Vardarska Banovina was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. It was located in the southernmost part of the country, encompassing the whole of today's Republic of Macedonia, southern parts of Central Serbia and southeastern parts of...
following King Alexander Karadjordjevic's
Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I , also known as Alexander the Unifier was the first king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as well as the last king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes .-Childhood:...
reorganization of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, was subject to a policy of Serbianisation, whereby the Macedonian language was deliberately distanced from Bulgarian, and Bulgarian Exarchate authorities were removed.
Simultaneously after the Balkan Wars, a new entity began to arise among the Slavic-speaking population — an ethnic Macedonian one.
Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia all wished to claim Macedonia, as a key strategic part of their newly formed kingdoms. Throughout the 19th century, each kingdom tried to claim Macedonia as its own. This was done through the media of church and education, particularly between Greece and Bulgaria. Through the advancement of Greek or Bulgarian language, and provision of local priests either from the Bulgarian Exarchate
Bulgarian Exarchate
The Bulgarian Exarchate was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953....
or Orthodox Church of Constantinople, an entire village would be claimed to be 'Greek', while its neighbour would be 'Bulgarian'. This ad hoc arrangement did not follow any geographic or ethnic correlates, and occurred at the expense of the development of a local, Macedonian identity, and often involved harassment of peoples in order to profess loyalty to Greece or Bulgaria, and abdicate profession of any independent identity.
Ilinden Uprising and after
In 1893, the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization was established, (later called Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO)). This organization advocated the creation of an autonomous Macedonia and Thrace. The organization was founded in Ottoman ThessalonikiThessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
by a "small band of anti-Ottoman Macedono-Bulgarian revolutionaries. "They considered Macedonia an indivisible territory and claimed all of its inhabitants "Macedonians", no matter their religion or ethnicity" (although in practice their followers were primarily of Bulgarian origins). On August 2, 1903, IMRO led the locals in the Ilinden Uprising, named after the festival of the Prophet Elijah on which it began. That was one of the greatest events in the history of the population in the regions of Macedonia and Thrace. The high point of the Ilinden revolution was the establishment of the Kruševo Republic
Kruševo Republic
During the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903 the rebels from the Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization in Kruševo proclaimed a short lived Kruševo Republic....
in the town of Kruševo
Kruševo
Kruševo also spelled Krushevo, is a town in the Republic of Macedonia. It is the highest town in Macedonia, situated at an altitude of over 4,000 feet above sea level. The town of Kruševo is the seat of Kruševo Municipality.-History:...
. By November 1903, the Ilinden Uprising was suppressed. The uprising was led by activists of the IMRO including Jane Sandanski, Nikola Karev
Nikola Karev
Nikola Janakiev Karev was a revolutionary in Ottoman-ruled Macedonia. He was born 23 November 1877 in Kruševo and died 27 April 1905 in the village of Rajčani, both today in the Republic of Macedonia. Karev was a local leader of what later became known as the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary...
, Dame Gruev
Dame Gruev
Damyan Yovanov Gruev or Damjan Jovanov Gruev, often known by his short name Dame Gruev, was an insurgent leader in Ottoman Macedonia and Thrace...
and Pitu Guli
Pitu Guli
Pitu Guli was an Aromanian revolutionary in Ottoman Macedonia, a local leader of what is commonly referred to as the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization ....
The failure of the 1903 insurrection resulted in the eventual split of the IMRO into a left wing (federalist) and a right wing. The left-wing faction opposed Bulgarian nationalism and advocated the creation of a Balkan Socialist Federation with equality for all subjects and nationalities, including Bulgarians. The right-wing fraction of IMRO drifted more and more towards Bulgarian tipe of nationalism as its regions became increasingly exposed to the incursions of Serb, Bulgarian and Greek armed bands, which started infiltrating Macedonia after 1903. The years 1905-1907 saw a great deal of violent fighting between IMRO and Turkish forces as well as between IMRO and Greek and Serb detachments.
After the Young Turk Revolution
Young Turk Revolution
The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 reversed the suspension of the Ottoman parliament by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, marking the onset of the Second Constitutional Era...
of 1908, both fractions laid down their arms and joined the legal struggle. The federalist wing welcomed in the revolution of 1908 and later joined mainstream political life as the Peoples' Federative Party (Bulgarian Section). The right wing formed the Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs
Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs
Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs was an ethnic Bulgarian political party in the Ottoman Empire, created after the Young Turk Revolution, by members of the Internal Macedonian Adrianople Revolutionary Organization. The party functioned for a little over a year - from September 1908 until November 1909...
and like the PFP participated in Ottoman elections.
Balkan Wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
, former IMRO leaders of both the left and the right wings joined the Macedono-Odrinian Volunteers and fought with the Bulgarian Army. Others like Yane Sandanski
Yane Sandanski
Yane Ivanov Sandanski or Jane Ivanov Sandanski, was a revolutionary, one of the leaders of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization in the Serres region and head of the extreme leftist wing of the organization...
with their bands assisted the Bulgarian army with its advance and still others penetrated as far as the region of Kastoria
Kastoria
Kastoria is a city in northern Greece in the periphery of West Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria peripheral unit. It is situated on a promontory on the western shore of Lake Orestiada, in a valley surrounded by limestone mountains...
in the Villayet of Monastir. In the Second Balkan War, IMRO bands fought the Greeks and Serbs behind the front lines, but were subsequently routed and driven out. Notably, Petar Chaulev was one of the leaders of the Ohrid Uprising in 1913 organized jointly by IMRO and the Albanians of Western Macedonia.
The Balkan Wars resulted in important demographic changes to the European territories of the Ottoman empire, especially after they were defeated and forced out of the region. What we may call 'Ottoman Macedonia' was divided between the Balkan nations, with its northern parts going to Serbian, the southern to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, and the northeastern to Bulgaria.
The wars were an important precursor to World War I, to the extent that Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
took alarm at the great increase in Serbia's territory and regional status. This concern was shared by Germany, which saw Serbia as a satellite of Russia. Serbia's rise in power thus contributed to the two Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
' willingness to risk war following the assassination in Sarajevo of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914.
World War I
The attack on the Balkans by the Central powers was begun by Austria, who initially suffered setbacks by fierce Serbian resistance. It was not until Germany sent its troops that broke the resistance and allowed its allies, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria to advance. Bulgaria occupied much of Macedonia, advancing into Greek Macedonia too, ever desirous of the area. The IMRO, led by Todor AleksandrovTodor Aleksandrov
Todor Aleksandrov Poporushov also transliterated as Todor Alexandrov also spelt Alexandroff, was a Bulgarian freedom fighter and member of the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees since 1897 and later of the Central Committee of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary...
, maintained its existence in Bulgaria, where it played a role in politics by playing upon Bulgarian irredentism and urging a renewed war to 'liberate' Macedonia. This was one factor in Bulgaria allying itself with Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I. IMRO organised the Valandovo
Valandovo
Valandovo is a city in southeastern Republic of Macedonia.The city is the seat of Valandovo Municipality.-Ancient History:Evidence of life can be found beginning in the 10th-7th centuries B.C. There is a settlement known as Mal Konstantinopol dating from Roman times, and the life in the Middle...
action of 1915, which was an attack on a large Serbian force. In September 1915, the 11th Macedonian division in Bulgarian army was established with over 40 000 men — Macedonian refugees from Serbian army, volunteers etc. The Bulgarian army, supported by the organization's forces, was successful in the first stages of this conflict, managed to drive out the Serbian forces from Vardar Macedonia and came into positions on the line of the pre-war Greek-Serbian border, which was stabilized as a firm front until end of 1918.
In September 1918, the Serbs, British, French and Greeks broke through on the Macedonian front and Tsar Ferdinand was forced to sue for peace. Under the Treaty of Neuilly
Treaty of Neuilly
The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine, dealing with Bulgaria for its role as one of the Central Powers in World War I, was signed on 27 November 1919 at Neuilly-sur-Seine, France....
(November 1919), Bulgaria lost its Aegean coastline to Greece and nearly all of its Macedonian territory to the new state of Yugoslavia, and had to give Dobruja
Dobruja
Dobruja is a historical region shared by Bulgaria and Romania, located between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, including the Danube Delta, Romanian coast and the northernmost part of the Bulgarian coast...
back to the Romanians (see also Western Outlands, Western Thrace
Western Thrace
Western Thrace or simply Thrace is a geographic and historical region of Greece, located between the Nestos and Evros rivers in the northeast of the country. Together with the regions of Macedonia and Epirus, it is often referred to informally as northern Greece...
).
Macedonia under Serbia
The territory of the present-day Republic of Macedonia came under the direct rule of Serbia (and later the Kingdom of YugoslaviaKingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
), and was sometimes termed "southern Serbia", and, together with a large portion of today's southern Serbia, it belonged officially to the newly formed Vardar Banovina (district). An intense program of Serbianization was implemented during the 1920s and 1930s when Belgrade enforced a Serbian cultural assimilation process on the region. Between the world wars in Serbia, the dialects of Macedonia were treated as a Serbian dialects (UCLA Language Material Sources, http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/). Only the literary Serbian language
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
was taught, it was the language of government, education, media, and public life; even so local literature was tolerated as a local dialectal folkloristic form. The Serbian National Theatre in Skopje even performed some plays (now the classical drama pieces) in the local language (UCLA Language Material Sources, http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/).
Greece, like all other Balkan states, adopted restrictive policies towards its minorities, namely towards its Slavic population in its northern regions, due to its experiences with Bulgaria's wars, including the Second Balkan War
Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia...
, and the Bulgarian inclination of sections of its Slavic minority. Many of those inhabiting northeastern Greece fled to Bulgaria and very small group to Serbia (68 families) after the Balkan wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
or were exchanged with native Greeks from Bulgaria under a population exchange treaty in the 1920s. Greeks were resettled in the region in two occasions, firstly following the Bulgarian loss of the Second Balkan War
Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia...
when Bulgaria and Greece mutually exchanged their populations in 1919 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9300(192010)14%3A4%3C356%3ACBGABR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3, and secondly in 1923 as a result of the population exchange with the new Turkish republic that followed the Greek military defeat in Asia minor. Thus, Greek Macedonia now came to be Greek dominant for the first time since the 7th century.
The Slavic speakers that stayed in northwestern Greece were regarded as a potentially disloyal minority and came under severe pressure, with restrictions on their movements, cultural activities and political rights. http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/am/chase.html Many emigrated, for the most part to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, USA and Eastern European countries like Bulgaria. The Greek names for some traditionally Slavic or Turkish speaking areas became official and the Slavic speakers were forced to change their Slavic surnames to Greek sounding surnames, e.g., Nachev becoming Natsulis. A similar procedure was applied to Greek names in Bulgaria and Serbia (e.g., Nevrokop becoming Goce Delchev http://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/g/greece/greece945.pdf). In Greece, there was a government sponsored process of Hellenization
Hellenization
Hellenization is a term used to describe the spread of ancient Greek culture, and, to a lesser extent, language. It is mainly used to describe the spread of Hellenistic civilization during the Hellenistic period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Macedon...
http://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/g/greece/greece945.pdf. Many of the border villages were closed to outsiders, ostensibly for security reasons. The Greek government and people have never recognized the existence of a distinct "Macedonian" ethnic group, as the term "Macedonian" is already reserved for the ethnic Macedonian population that has traditionally inhabited Greece's northern-most region (Macedonia (Greece)
Macedonia (Greece)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
). According to Peter Trudgill
Peter Trudgill
Professor Peter Trudgill FBA is a sociolinguist, academic and author.He was born in 1943 in Norwich, England, where he attended the City of Norwich School from 1955....
Slavic speakers in northern Greece with a non-Greek national identity have tended or forced to leave Greece. As a result, the overwhelming majority of remaining Slavic speakers were forced and now declare themselves as Greeks
Treaty of Sèvres
The Treaty of Sèvres was the peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Allies at the end of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles was signed with Germany before this treaty to annul the German concessions including the economic rights and enterprises. Also, France, Great Britain and Italy...
that "measures were being taken towards the opening of schools with instruction in the Slavic language in the following school year of 1925/26". Thus, the primer intended for the "Slavic-speaking minority" children in Greek Macedonia to learn their native language in school, entitled "ABECEDAR
Abecedar
The Abecedar was a school book first published in Athens, Greece in 1925. The book became the subject of controversy with Bulgaria and Serbia when cited by Greece as proof it had fulfilled its international obligations towards Slavic-speaking minority, because it had been printed in the Latin...
" was offered as an argument in support of this statement. This primer, prepared by a special government commissioner was published by the Greek government in Athens in 1925, but was printed in a specially adapted Latin alphabet instead of the traditional Cyrillic, since Cyrillic was the official alphabet of the neighboring Bulgaria. Serbian language
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
, on the other hand, uses both Cyrilic and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
scripts. Nevertheless, the Abecedar schoolbooks were confiscated and destroyed before they got into the reach of the children.
In 1924 IMRO entered negotiations with the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
about collaboration between the communists and the Macedonian movement and the creation of a united Macedonian movement. The idea for a new unified organization was supported by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, which saw a chance for using this well developed revolutionary movement to spread revolution in the Balkans and destabilize the Balkan monarchies. Todor Alexandrov defended IMRO's independence and refused to concede on practically all points requested by the Communists. No agreement was reached besides a paper "Manifesto" (the so-called May Manifesto of 6 May 1924), in which the objectives of the unified Macedonian liberation movement were presented: independence and unification of partitioned Macedonia, fighting all the neighbouring Balkan monarchies, forming a Balkan Communist Federation
Balkan Communist Federation
The Balkan Federation was a project about the creation of a Balkan federation or confederation, based mainly on left political ideas.The concept of a Balkan federation emerged at the late 19th century from among left political forces in the region...
and cooperation with the Soviet Union.
Failing to secure Alexandrov's cooperation, the Comintern decided to discredit him and published the contents of the Manifesto on 28 July 1924 in the "Balkan Federation" newspaper. IMRO's leaders Todor Aleksandrov and Aleksandar Protogerov promptly denied through the Bulgarian press that they've ever signed any agreements, claiming that the May Manifesto was a communist forgery.
The policy of assassinations was effective in making Serbian rule in Vardar Macedonia feel insecure but in turn provoked brutal reprisals on the local peasant population. Having lost a great deal of popular support in Vardar Macedonia due to his policies Ivan Mihailov
Ivan Mihailov
Ivan Mihailov Gavrilov , was a Bulgarian revolutionary in Ottoman and interwar Macedonia, and leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization after 1924.-Early years:...
, a new IMRO leader, favoured the internationalization of the Macedonian question.
He established close links with the Croatian Ustashe and with Italy. Numerous assassinations were carried out by IMRO agents in many countries, the majority in Yugoslavia. The most spectacular of these was the assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I , also known as Alexander the Unifier was the first king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as well as the last king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes .-Childhood:...
and the French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou in Marseille in 1934. in collaboration with the Croatian Ustaše. The killing was carried out by the IMRO terrorist Vlado Chernozemski
Vlado Chernozemski
Vlado Chernozemski , born Velichko Dimitrov Kerin , was a Bulgarian revolutionary.Chernozemski also entered the region of Vardar Macedonia with IMRO bands and participated in more than 15 battles with the Serbian police....
and happened after the suppression of IMRO following the 19 May 1934 military coup in Bulgaria.
During the 1930s, the Comintern prepared a Resolution about the recognition of the Macedonian nation. It was accepted by the Political Secretariat in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
on January 11, 1934, and approved by the Executive Committee of the Comintern. The Resolution was published for first time in the April issue of Makedonsko Delo under the title ‘The Situation in Macedonia and the Tasks of IMRO (United)’.
World War II
Upon the outbreak of World War II, the government of the Kingdom of BulgariaKingdom of Bulgaria
The Kingdom of Bulgaria was established as an independent state when the Principality of Bulgaria, an Ottoman vassal, officially proclaimed itself independent on October 5, 1908 . This move also formalised the annexation of the Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia, which had been under the control...
declared a position of neutrality, being determined to observe it until the end of the war, but hoping for bloodless territorial gains. But it was clear that the central geopolitical position of Bulgaria in the Balkans would inevitably lead to strong external pressure by both sides of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Bulgaria was forced to join the Axis powers in 1941, when German troops prepared to invade Greece from Romania reached the Bulgarian borders and demanded permission to pass through Bulgarian territory. Threatened by direct military confrontation, Tsar Boris III had no choice but to join the fascist block, which officially happened on 1 March 1941. There was little popular opposition, since the Soviet Union was in a non-aggression pact with Germany.
On April 6, 1941, despite having officially joined the Axis Powers, the Bulgarian government maintained a course of military passivity during the initial stages of the invasion of Yugoslavia
Invasion of Yugoslavia
The Invasion of Yugoslavia , also known as the April War , was the Axis Powers' attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II...
and the Battle of Greece
Battle of Greece
The Battle of Greece is the common name for the invasion and conquest of Greece by Nazi Germany in April 1941. Greece was supported by British Commonwealth forces, while the Germans' Axis allies Italy and Bulgaria played secondary roles...
. As German, Italian, and Hungarian troops crushed Yugoslavia and Greece, the Bulgarians remained on the side-lines. The Yugoslav government surrendered on April 17. The Greek government was to hold out until April 30. On April 20, the period of Bulgarian passivity ended. The Bulgarian Army entered Nazi-occupied Greece. The goal was to gain an Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
outlet in Thrace and Eastern Macedonia and much of eastern Serbia. The so-called Vardar Banovina was divided between Bulgaria and Italians which occupied West Macedonia.
At the beginning of the war in the Balkans, Macedonia shows how complicated the situation was. The political sympathies were intertwined with the national feelings. As a rule, the pro-Serbian elements were for the English-French Allies and the pro-Bulgarian, for the Axis powers. Besides, some of the former revolutionary activists were not far from the thought of solving the Macedonian question through accession of Macedonia, or parts of it, to Italy. The followers of Ivan Mihailov
Ivan Mihailov
Ivan Mihailov Gavrilov , was a Bulgarian revolutionary in Ottoman and interwar Macedonia, and leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization after 1924.-Early years:...
fought for pro-Axis and pro-Bulgarian Macedonia. In this situation, the population was divided in different groups. And time was crucial.
Thus, on April 8, 1941, in Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
a meeting was held, where the question: “What had to be done?" was put up. What actions should be undertaken in those crucial days in order not to omit, as it had already happened, the precise moment for liberating Macedonia. On that meeting were present mainly followers of the idea for the liberation through independence of Macedonia, namely: Dimitаr Gjuzelev, Dimitur Chkatrov, Toma Klenkov, Ivan Piperkov and other popular activists of IMRO as well as members of Yugoslav Communist Party (YCP) - Kotse Stojanov, Angel Petkovski and Ilja Neshovski, invited by Trajko Popov. The latter despite a communist, member of YCP, was an active follower of the idea of IMRO for the creation of a pro-Bulgarian, Macedonian state under German and Italian protection. But the situation changed dynamically.http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/bugarash/bccc_1941/Chapter1_2.html
Ten days later, when the Bulgarian army entered Yugoslav Vardar Macedonia on April 19. 1941, it was greeted by most of the population as liberators.http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/bugarash/mac1941/mac41.html Former IMRO members were active in organising Bulgarian Action Committees
Bulgarian Action Committees
The Bulgarian Action Committees in Macedonia were patriotic nationalist organizations of Bulgarians in Macedonia around 1941, emboldened by the invasion Yugoslavia by Nazi Germany, determined to end the Yugoslavian rule in the region, perceived as oppressive by Macedonian Bulgarians and by the...
http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/bugarash/bccc_1941/index.html charged with taking over the local authorities. Some former IMRO (United) members such as Metodi Shatorov
Metodi Shatorov
Metodi Tasev Shatorov - Sharlo was a prominent Bulgarian political leader during the first half of 20th century and also temporary leader of the Macedonian communists in 1940-1941...
http://www.mak-truth.com/shatarov.htm, who were leading member of the Yugoslav Communist Party, also refused to define the Bulgarian forces as occupiers (contrary to instructions from Belgrade) and called for the incorporation of the local Macedonian Communist organizations within the Bulgarian Communist Party. This policy changed towards 1943 with the arrival of the Montenegrin Svetozar Vukmanović-Tempo
Svetozar Vukmanovic-Tempo
Svetozar Vukmanović "Tempo" was a leading Montenegrin communist and member of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia...
, who began in earnest to organize armed resistance to the Bulgarian occupation. Many former IMRO members assisted the authorities in fighting Tempo's partisans.
IMRO was also active in organizing the resistance of the Bulgarian population in Aegean Macedonia
Aegean Macedonia
Aegean Macedonia is a term that refers to the Greek region of Macedonia. It is currently mainly used in the Republic of Macedonia, including in the irredentist context of a United Macedonia. The term is also used in Bulgaria as the more common synonym for Greek Macedonia, without the connotations...
against Greek nationalist and communist regiments. With the help of Mihailov and Macedonian emigrants in Sofia, several pro-German armed detachments - Uhrana were organized in the Kostur, Lerin and Voden districts of Greek Macedonia in 1943-44. These were led by Bulgarian officers originally from Aegean Macedonia - Andon Kalchev
Andon Kalchev
Andon Kalchev was a Bulgarian Axis-collaborationist paramilitary leader active in northern Greece during the country's occupation by the Axis in the Second World War. He was one of the leaders of the Bulgarian-backed Ohrana, a paramilitary formation of Bulgarians in Greek Macedonia during World...
and Georgi Dimchev.http://www.makedonskatribuna.com/IMRO.doc
Local recruits and volunteers formed the Bulgarian 5th Army, based in Skopje, which was responsible for the round-up and deportation of over 7,000 Jews in Skopje and Bitola. Harsh rule by the occupying forces encouraged some Macedonians to support the Communist Partisan resistance movement of Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
.http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/42/a3966942.shtml
In Greece, it has been estimated that the military wing of the Communist Party of Greece
Communist Party of Greece
Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...
(KKE), the Democratic Army of Greece
Democratic Army of Greece
This article is based on a translation of an article from the Greek Wikipedia.The Democratic Army of Greece , often simply abbreviated to its initials DSE , was the army founded by the Communist Party of Greece during the Greek Civil War, 1946–1949...
(DSE) had 14 000 soldiers of Slavic Macedonian origin out of total 20 000 fighters. Some Macedonians which had been supporters of Communist partisan movement few in the Italian occupied area to Tito's Partisan resistance movement, fighting the occupying Bulgarians, Germans and Italians as well as opposing the Serbian royalist Chetniks. The Macedonian resistance at the end of the war had a strongly nationalist character, not at least as a reaction to Serbia's pre-war repression.
On 2 August 1944 in the St. Prohor Pčinjski
Prohor Pcinjski
Prohor Pčinjski is an 11th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery in the deep south of Serbia, located in village Klenike, Pčinja District near the border with Macedonia...
monastery at the Antifascist Assembly of the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) with Panko Brashnarov
Panko Brashnarov
Panko Brashnarov was a revolutionary and member of the left wing of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization . As with many other IMARO members of the time, historians from the Republic of Macedonia consider him an ethnic Macedonian, whereas historians in Bulgaria consider him...
(the former IMRO revolutionary from the Ilinden period and the IMRO United) as a first speaker, the modern Macedonian state was officially proclaimed, as a federal state within Tito's Yugoslavia, receiving recognition from the Allies.
On 5 September 1944, the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria and invaded the country. Within three days the Soviets occupied the northeastern part of Bulgaria along with the key port cities of Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
and Burgas
Burgas
-History:During the rule of the Ancient Romans, near Burgas, Debeltum was established as a military colony for veterans by Vespasian. In the Middle Ages, a small fortress called Pyrgos was erected where Burgas is today and was most probably used as a watchtower...
. The Bulgarian Army was ordered to offer no resistance to the Soviets. On 8 September 1944, the Bulgarians changed sides and joined the Soviet Union in its war against Nazi Germany.
After the declaration of war by Bulgaria on Germany, Ivan Mihailov
Ivan Mihailov
Ivan Mihailov Gavrilov , was a Bulgarian revolutionary in Ottoman and interwar Macedonia, and leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization after 1924.-Early years:...
- the IMRO leader arrived in German occupied Skopje, where the Germans hoped that he could form an Macedonian state with their support. Seeing that the war is lost to Germany and to avoid further bloodshed, he refused. The Bulgarian troops, surrounded by German forces and betrayed by high-ranking military commanders, fought their way back to the old borders of Bulgaria. Three Bulgarian armies (some 500,000 strong in total) entered Yugoslavia in September 1944 and moved from Sofia to Niš
Niš
Niš is the largest city of southern Serbia and third-largest city in Serbia . According to the data from 2011, the city of Niš has a population of 177,972 inhabitants, while the city municipality has a population of 257,867. The city covers an area of about 597 km2, including the urban area,...
and Skopje with the strategic task of blocking the German forces withdrawing from Greece. Southern and eastern Serbia and Macedonia were liberated within a month.
Macedonians after World War II
The People’s Republic of Macedonia was proclaimed at the first session of the ASNOM (on St. Elia's Day – August 2, 1944). The Macedonian language was proclaimed the official language of the Republic of Macedonia at the same day. The first document written in the literary standard Macedonian language is the first issue of the Nova Makedonia newspaper in autumn 1944. Later, by special Act, it became a constitutive part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. For the next 50 years, the Republic of Macedonia was part of the Yugoslav federation.Vormer members of the IMRO (United) which participated in the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, ASNOM and the forming of Republic of Macedonia as a federal state of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
as Panko Brashnarov
Panko Brashnarov
Panko Brashnarov was a revolutionary and member of the left wing of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization . As with many other IMARO members of the time, historians from the Republic of Macedonia consider him an ethnic Macedonian, whereas historians in Bulgaria consider him...
, Pavel Shatev
Pavel Shatev
Pavel Potsev Shatev , , was a Bulgarian revolutionary and member of the left wing of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization , BMARC before 1902)...
, Dimitar Vlahov
Dimitar Vlahov
Dimitar Yanakiev Vlahov was a revolutionary from the region of Macedonia and member of the left wing of the Macedonian-Adrianople revolutionary movement...
and Venko Markovski
Venko Markovski
Venko Markovski, in Bulgarian and Macedonian Венко Марковски, born as Veniamin Milanov Toshev; was a Bulgarian and Macedonian writer, poet and Communist politician.-Biography:...
were quickly ousted from the new government. Such Macedonian activists came from Bulgarian Communist Party
Bulgarian Communist Party
The Bulgarian Communist Party was the communist and Marxist-Leninist ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 1990 when the country ceased to be a communist state...
, have declared Bulgarian ethnicity before World War II never managed to get rid of their pro-Bulgarian bias and because of that, the first and second one were annihilated. As last survivor among the communists associated with the idea of Macedonian autonomy, Dimitar Vlahov was used "solely for window dressing". They ware chanched (sic) from cadres loyal to the Yugoslav Communist Party in Belgrade, who had pro-Serbian leanings and education before the war. It was not important that thеse party members have declared Bulgarian origin during the war, as for example Kiro Gligorov
Kiro Gligorov
Kiro Gligorov , born May 3, 1917) was the first democratically elected President of the Republic of Macedonia. His son Vladimir Gligorov is the refounder of the Serbian Democratic Party.- Biography :...
, Mihajlo Apostoloski and Lazar Koliševski
Lazar Koliševski
Lazar Koliševski was a Communist political leader in Socialist Republic of Macedonia and briefly the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia closely allied with Tito.- Early years :...
.
Following the war, Tito separated Yugoslav Macedonia from Serbia, making it a republic of the new federal Yugoslavia (as the Socialist Republic of Macedonia) in 1946. He also promoted the concept of a separate Macedonian nation, as a means of severing the ties of the Slavic population of Yugoslav Macedonia with Bulgaria, although the Macedonian language
Macedonian language
Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...
is close to and largely mutually intelligible with Bulgarian, and to a lesser extent Serbian. The differences were emphasized and the region's historical figures were promoted as being uniquely Macedonian (rather than Bulgarian or Serbian). A separate Macedonian Orthodox Church
Macedonian Orthodox Church
The Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric or just Macedonian Orthodox Church is the body of Christians who are united under the Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia, exercising jurisdiction over Macedonian Orthodox Christians in the Republic of Macedonia and in exarchates in the Macedonian...
was established, splitting off from the Serbian Orthodox Church
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
in 1967 (only partly successfully, because the church has not been recognized by any other Orthodox Church). The ideologists of a separate and independent Macedonian country, same as the pro-Bulgarian sentiment, was forcibly suppressed.
Tito had a number of reasons for doing this. First, he wanted to reduce Serbia's dominance in Yugoslavia; establishing a territory formerly considered Serbian as an equal to Serbia within Yugoslavia achieved this effect. Secondly, he wanted to sever the ties of the Macedonian population with Bulgaria as recognition of that population as Bulgarian could have undermined the unity of the Yugoslav federation. Thirdly, Tito sought to justify future Yugoslav claims towards the rest of geographical Macedonia; in August 1944, he claimed that his goal was to reunify "all parts of Macedonia, divided in 1915 and 1918 by Balkan imperialists." To this end, he opened negotiations with Bulgaria for a new federal communist state (see Bled agreement
Bled agreement
The Bled agreement was an agreement signed on the 1st August, 1947 in Bled, Slovenia. The agreement was signed between Bulgaria under Georgi Dimitrov and Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito which paved the way for future unification between the states in a new Balkan Federative Republic...
), which would also probably have included Albania, and supported the Greek Communists in the Greek Civil War. The idea of reunification of all of Macedonia under Communist rule was abandoned in 1948 when the Greek Communists lost the civil war and Tito fell out with the Soviet Union and pro-Soviet Bulgaria.
Tito's actions had a number of important consequences for the Macedonians. The most important was, obviously, the promotion of a distinctive Macedonian identity as a part of the multi-ethnic society of Yugoslavia. The process of ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges...
, started earlier, gained momentum, and a distinct national Macedonian identity was formed. IMRO's leader in exile, Ivan Mihailov
Ivan Mihailov
Ivan Mihailov Gavrilov , was a Bulgarian revolutionary in Ottoman and interwar Macedonia, and leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization after 1924.-Early years:...
, and the renewed Bulgarian IMRO after 1990 have, on the other hand, repeatedly argued that between 120,000 and 130,000 people went through the concentration camps of Idrizovo and Goli Otok
Goli otok
Goli otok is an island off the northern Adriatic coast, located between Rab's northeastern shore and the mainland, in what is today Croatia's Primorje-Gorski Kotar county. The island is barren and uninhabited...
for pro-Bulgarian sympathies or ideas for independent Macedonia in the late 1940s. This has also been confirmed by former prime minister Ljubco Georgievski http://www.b-info.com/places/Macedonia/republic/news/95-11/nov15.mak.
The critics of these claims question the number as it would imply roughly a third of the male Christian population at that time. And the reasons of imprisonment, they argue, were multiple as there were Macedonian nationalists, Stalinists, Middle class members, Albanian nationalists and everybody else who was either against the post war regime or denounced as one for whatever reasons. Unlike the time before World War II, when Macedonia was hotbed for unrest and terror and about 60% of the entire royal Yugoslav police force was stationed there http://www.unet.com.mk/mian/shs.htm http://knigite.abv.bg/en/ib/i_banac.html, after the war there were no signs of disturbances comparable with pre-war times or post war times in other parts of former Yugoslavia, such as Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. http://archive.serbianunity.net/kosta/new.ustase/list.html http://www.pavelicpapers.com/documents/odpor/index.html http://www.pavelicpapers.com/documents/ratline/index.html. Whatever the truth, it was certainly the case that most Macedonians embraced their official recognition as a separate nationality. Even so, some pro-Bulgarian or pro-Serbian sentiment persisted despite government suppression; even as late as 1991, convictions were still being handed down for pro-Bulgarian statements.http://groups.yahoo.com/group/balkanhr/message/1895
After World War II, ethnic Macedonians living in Greece organized themselves in Narodno Osloboditelen Front (NOF) in 1945, and started fighting against the right-wing government in Athens. In 1946, NOF agreed to unite with the Democratic Army of Greece
Democratic Army of Greece
This article is based on a translation of an article from the Greek Wikipedia.The Democratic Army of Greece , often simply abbreviated to its initials DSE , was the army founded by the Communist Party of Greece during the Greek Civil War, 1946–1949...
and start a join fight (see: Greek Civil War
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...
). Many of the Slavic speaking Macedonians who lived in Greece either chose to emigrate to Communist countries (especially Yugoslavia) to avoid prosecution for fighting on the side of the Greek communists. Although there was some liberalization between 1959 and 1967, the Greek military dictatorship re-imposed harsh restrictions. The situation gradually eased after Greece's return to democracy, but Greece still receives criticism for its treatment of some Slavic-speaking Macedonian political organizations. Greece, however, recognizes the Rainbow political party of the Slavic-speaking Macedonians who canvas during elections.
The Macedonians in Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
faced restrictions under the Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
dictatorship of Enver Hoxha
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...
, though ordinary Albanians were little better off. Their existence as a separate minority group was recognized as early as 1945 and a degree of cultural expression was permitted.
As ethnographers and linguists tended to identify the population of the Bulgarian part of Macedonia as Bulgarian in the interwar period, the issue of a Macedonian minority in the country came up as late as the 1940s. In 1946, the population of Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province , also known as Pirin Macedonia , is a province of southwestern Bulgaria. It borders four other Bulgarian provinces to the north and east, Greece to the south, and the Republic of Macedonia to the west. The province has 14 municipalities with 12 towns...
was declared Macedonian and teachers were brought in from Yugoslavia to teach the Macedonian language
Macedonian language
Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...
. The census of 1946 was accompanied by mass repressions, the result of which was the complete destruction of the local organizations of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization and mass internments of people at the Belene
Belene
Belene is a town in Pleven Province, Northern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Belene Municipality. The town is situated on the right bank of the Danube river, close to the town of Svishtov...
concentration camp. The policy was reverted at the end of the 1950s and later Bulgarian governments argued that the two censuses of 1946 and 1956 which recorded up to 187,789 Macedonians (of whom over 95% were said to live in Blagoevgrad Province, also called Pirin Macedonia) were the result of pressure from Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. http://www.trinstitute.org/ojpcr/6_1kojou.htm Western governments, however, continued to list the population of Blagoevgrad Province as Macedonian until the beginning of the 1990s despite the 1965 census which put Macedonians in the country at 9,630.http://demos.hit.bg/makm.html The two latest censuses after the fall of Communism (in 1992 and 2001) have, however, confirmed the results from previous censuses with some 3,000 people declaring themselves as "Macedonians" in Blagoevgrad Province in 2001 (<1.0% of the population of the region) out of 5,000 in the whole of Bulgaria.
Macedonians after the establishment of independent Macedonian state
The country officially celebrates 8 September 1991 as Independence day, with regard to the referendum endorsing independence from Yugoslavia, albeit legalizing participation in "future union of the former states of Yugoslavia". The Republic of Macedonia remained at peace through the Yugoslav wars of the early 1990s. A few very minor changes to its border with Yugoslavia were agreed upon to resolve problems with the demarcation line between the two countries. However, it was seriously destabilized by the Kosovo WarKosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
in 1999, when an estimated 360,000 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo took refuge in the country. Although they departed shortly after the war, soon after, Albanian
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
radicals on both sides of the border took up arms in pursuit of autonomy or independence for the Albanian-populated areas of the Republic.
A short conflict was fought between government and ethnic Albanian rebels, mostly in the north and west of the country, between March and June 2001. This war ended with the intervention of a NATO ceasefire monitoring force. In the Ohrid Agreement
Ohrid Agreement
The Ohrid Framework Agreement was the peace deal signed by the government of the Republic of Macedonia and ethnic Albanian representatives on August 13, 2001...
, the government agreed to devolve greater political power and cultural recognition to the Albanian minority.
In this period, it has been claimed by Macedonian scholars that there exist large and oppressed ethnic Macedonian minorities in the region of Macedonia, located in neighboring Albania (up to 35,000 people), Bulgaria (up to 200,000, mainly in Blagoevgrad Province), Greece (up to 250 000 in Greek Macedonia) and Serbia (about 20,000 in Pčinja District). Because of those claims, irredentist proposals are being made calling for the expansion of the borders of the Republic of Macedonia to encompass the territories allegedly populated with ethnic Macedonians, either directly or through initial independence of Blagoevgrad province
Blagoevgrad Province
Blagoevgrad Province , also known as Pirin Macedonia , is a province of southwestern Bulgaria. It borders four other Bulgarian provinces to the north and east, Greece to the south, and the Republic of Macedonia to the west. The province has 14 municipalities with 12 towns...
and Greek Macedonia, followed by their incorporation into a single state. (See United Macedonia
United Macedonia
United Macedonia is an irredentist concept among ethnic Macedonian nationalists that aims to unify the transnational region of Macedonia in southeastern Europe, which they claim as their homeland, and which they assert was wrongfully divided under the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913, into a single...
). The population of the neighboring regions is presented as "subdued" to the propaganda of the governments of those neighbouring countries, and in need of "liberation".
Because separate ethnic status of the Macedonians is not recognized in Bulgaria(the Macedonians are considered a subgroup of the Bulgarian nation), there can be only speculation about the actual numbers, including the possibility that there is no Macedonian minority at all in those countries.
The supporters of Macedonism generally ignore censuses conducted in Albania, Bulgaria and Greece, which show minimal presence of ethnic Macedonians. They consider those censuses flawed, without presenting evidence in support, and accuse the governments of neighboring countries of continued propaganda. During this period, ethnic Macedonians living in the region continue to complain of official harassment. This was confirmed in 2005 by the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
with a judgment whereby Bulgaria was sentenced to pay damages amounting to 6800 euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
s for a violation of Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights for its refusal to give court registration to "UMO Ilinden-Pirin
UMO Ilinden-Pirin
United Macedonian Organisation: Ilinden–Pirin is an ethnic Macedonian organisation in Bulgaria, whose self-declared aims are protection of the human rights, language and nationality of the Macedonian minority in the country...
", the Macedonian political party in Bulgaria.
A similar judgment was passed against Greece for also violating Article 11 in regards of the members of the Greek far-left Rainbow
Rainbow (political party)
The Rainbow is a political party in Greece, and a member of the European Free Alliance. It is known for its activism amongst what it regards as the Ethnic Macedonian minority in Greece and their descendants abroad...
party, which claims to be the "Party of the Macedonian minority in Greece" despite the fact that it enjoys minimal public support in the area where the minority purportedly lives.
See also
- Demographic history of MacedoniaDemographic history of Macedonia- Early history :The region of Macedonia is known to have been inhabited since Paleolithic times. Early historical inhabitants of the region were the Ancient Macedonians, Phrygians, Thracians and Illyrians. Thracians in early times occupied mainly the eastern parts of Macedonia but were also...
- A list of prominent ethnic Macedonians
- Macedonian nationalismMacedonian nationalismMacedonian nationalism is a term referring to the ethnic Macedonian version of nationalism.-Late 19th century beginning:The development of the Macedonian ethnicity can be said to have begun in the late 19th and early 20th century. This is the time of the first expressions of ethnic nationalism by...