Macedonian Struggle
The Macedonian Struggle (Bulgarian: Македонска борба; Greek: Μακεδονικός Αγώνας; Macedonian: Борба за Македонија; Serbian: Борба за Македонију; Turkish: Makedonya Mücadelesi) was a series of social, political, cultural and military conflicts that were mainly fought between Greek and Bulgarian subjects who lived in Ottoman Macedonia between 1893 and 1912. The conflict was part of a wider guerilla war in which revolutionary organizations of Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbs all fought over Macedonia. Gradually the Greek and Bulgarian bands gained the upper hand. Though the conflict largely ceased by the Young Turk Revolution, it continued as a low intensity insurgency until the Balkan Wars.
Not to be confused with World War II in Yugoslav Macedonia, known as the National Liberation Struggle of Macedonia.Crimes[edit]
War crimes were committed by both sides during the Macedonian struggle. According to a 1900 British report compiled by Alfred Biliotti, who is considered to have heavily relied on Greek intelligence agents,[48] starting from 1897, the members of the Exarchist committees had embarked upon a systematic and extensive campaign of executions of the leading members of the Greek side.[49] Moreover, Bulgarian Komitadjis, pursued a campaign of extermination of Greek and Serbian teachers and clergy.[50] On the other hand, there were attacks by Greek Andartes on many Macedonian Bulgarian villages, with the aim of forcing their inhabitants to switch their allegiance from the Exarchate back to the Patriarchate and accept Greek priest and teachers,[51] but they also carried out massacres against the civilian population,[52] especially in the central parts of Macedonia in 1905[53] and in 1906.[54] One of the notable cases was the massacre[55] at the village Zagorichani (today Vasiliada, Greece), which was a Bulgarian Exarchist stronghold[24] near Kastoria on 25 March 1905, where between 60 and 78 villagers were killed by Greek bands.[54][56]
According to British reports on political crimes (including the above-mentioned Biliotti report), during the period from 1897 to 1912 over 4000 political murders were committed (66 before 1901, 200 between 1901 and 1903, 3300 between 1903 and 1908 and 600 between 1908 and 1912), excluding those killed during the Ilinden Uprising and the members of the Bulgarian and Greek bands. Of those who were killed, 53% were Bulgarians, 33.5% were Greeks, Serbs and Aromanians together 3.5% and 10% were of unknown ethnicity.[57]
These conflicts decreased their intensity after the revolution of Young Turks in July 1908, as they promised to respect all ethnicities and religions, and to provide a constitution.
Consequences[edit]
The success of Greek efforts in Macedonia was an experience that gave confidence to the country. It helped develop an intention to annex Greek-speaking areas, and bolster Greek presence in the still Ottoman ruled Macedonia.
The events in Macedonia, specifically the consequences of the conflicts between Greek and Bulgarian national activists, including Greek massacres against the Bulgarian population in 1905 and 1906, gave rise to pogroms against the ca. 70,000-80,000 strong Greek communities that lived in Bulgaria, who were considered to share responsibility for the actions of the Greek guerrilla groups.[56][58]
Nevertheless, the Young Turk movement resulted in a few instances of collaboration between Greek and Bulgarian bands, while this time the official policy in both countries continue to support the penetration of armed fighters into Ottoman Macedonia, but without having fully ensured that there would be no attacks on each other.[59]
Legacy[edit]
Greek writer Penelope Delta wrote the novel Τά μυστικά τοῦ Βάλτου (Ta Mystiká tou Váltou – The Secrets of the Swamp) about the fighting around the Giannitsa Lake.
Germanos Karavangelis published his memoirs as Ὁ Μακεδονικός Ἀγών (The Macedonian Struggle).
The 1973 Greek film Pavlos Melas depicts the life and death of Pavlos Melas.
Albert Sonnichsen, an American volunteer in the IMRO depicted Bulgarian activities in the book Confessions of a Macedonian Bandit: A Californian in the Balkan Wars.
Many museums have been dedicated to the conflict, including those in Thessaloniki[60] (housed in the former Greek consulate), Kastoria, Chromio, and Skopje.