Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising

The rebellion in the region of Macedonia affected most of the central and southwestern parts of the Monastir Vilayet, supported by Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionaries,^{[8][9][10][11][12]} and to some extent of the Aromanian population of the region;^[13] Provisional government was established in the town of Kruševo, where the insurgents proclaimed the Kruševo Republic, which was overrun after just ten days, on August 12.^[14] On August 19, a closely related uprising organized by Thracian Bulgarian revolutionaries in the Adrianople Vilayet^[15] led to the liberation of a large area in the Strandzha Mountains, and the creation of a provisional government in Vassiliko, the Strandzha Republic. This lasted about twenty days before being put down by the Turks.^[14] The insurrection also affected the vilayets of Kosovo and Salonika.^[16]


By the time the rebellion had started, many of its most promising potential leaders, including Ivan Garvanov and Gotse Delchev, had already been arrested or killed by the Ottomans. The rebellion was supported by armed detachments which had infiltrated its area from the territory of the Principality of Bulgaria. When the rising began there were attempts to force the Bulgarian government to send the army against the Ottomans. The rebels appealed to Sofia for help too, but the government was pressured by the Great Powers to refrain from military intervention.^[17] The revolutionaries managed to maintain a guerrilla campaign against the Turks for the next few months, but the rising was crushed. This was followed by a mass wave of refugees from the areas of Macedonia and Southern Thrace, mostly to Bulgaria, but also to the US and Canada. Its greater effect was that it persuaded the European powers to attempt to convince the Ottoman sultan that he must take a more conciliatory attitude toward his Christian subjects in Europe.^[18] Through bilateral agreement, signed in 1904, Bulgaria committed not to support the revolutionary movement, while the Ottomans undertook to implement the Mürzsteg Reforms, however neither happened.


The uprising is celebrated today in both Bulgaria and North Macedonia as the peak of their nations’ struggle against the Ottoman rule and thus it is still a divisive issue. While in Bulgaria it is considered as a general rebellion prepared by the joint revolutionary organization of the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire, with a common goal autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions, in North Macedonia it is assumed that there were in fact two separate uprisings. Despite being organized by a single body, they were carried out by two different peoples with diverse goals, and practically the Macedonians were striving for their independence. Although the ideas of separate Macedonian nation were supported then only by a handful of intellectuals abroad,^[19] and to the eve of the 20th century the membership of the IMARO was allowed only for Bulgarians,^[20][21] the post-WWII Macedonian rendition of history has reappraised the Ilinden uprising as an allegedly anti-Bulgarian revolt, led by ethnic Macedonians.^[22][23] The leader of the IMARO and architect of the uprising Ivan Garvanov,^[24] is regarded there a Greater Bulgarian agent.^[25] Bulgarian military personnels' significant participation is represented there as an alien element,^[26] while the fact the Uprising's leaders were Bulgarian schoolmasters,^[27] is neglected. Recent calls for common celebrations, especially from Bulgarian side, did little to change this state of affairs.^[28]