Greek Struggle for Macedonia
The Greek Struggle for Macedonia 1904-1908 (in Greek language: "Μακεδονικός Αγώνας", "Macedonian Struggle") is how the Greeks describe their military conflicts against Bulgaria and Turkey in the area of Macedonia during the first decade of the 20th century.
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Causes
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The defeat of Greece in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 was a painful blow that appalled Greeks and made them to seek the reasons for that catastrophic loss. The nationalist organisation "Ethniki Etairia" considered to be responsible for the outbreak of the war, dissolved under the pressure of Prime Minister Theotokis. But the young officers that had established that organisation didn’t lose their contact. They were conferring with each other for the situation in Macedonia where the Bulgarians had stated intense and systematic efforts, with the support of the Bulgarian Exarchate, especially for the foundation of schools.
Already since 1899, Bulgarian guerrillas which acted in Macedonia, organized and administrated by officers of the Bulgarian army, turn against Turkish authorities with the slogan "autonomy for Macedonia". They were showing themselves as protectors of all Christians in the area and that was the reason why initially they didn’t bother Greeks. But gradually, their real intentions became clear after the assassinations of members of pro-Greek and pro-Serbian parties.
The situation became crucial in Macedonia and started to move Greece, Serbia and European public opinion. In Athens, nationalist organisations organised demonstrations against Bulgaria, but the official Greek State, numbed from the defeat of 1897 hesitated about what to do.
Meanwhile, in April 1903, a group of anarchists with some assistance from the VMRO blew up the French ship "Guadalquivir" and the Ottoman Bank in the harbour of Thessaloniki. In August 1903, VMRO managed to organise an uprising (the Ilinden Uprising) in Macedonia and the Adrianople Vilayet. The insurrection proved, however, to be unsuccessful and was eventually suppressed by the Ottomans with the subsequent destruction of many villages and the devastation of large areas in Western Macedonia and around Kirk-Klisse near Adrianople.
Early Stage
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Since 1900, the danger of Bulgarian enforcement had upset the Greeks of Northwest Macedonia. The Bishop of Kastoria, Germanos Karavangelis and the ambassador of Greece in Monastiri (now Bitola), Ion Dragoumis realised that it was time to act in a more efficient way and started organising Greek reaction.
As Ion Dragoumis wrote in his calendar ‘‘I am thinking how these communities of Greece outside of the Greek Kingdom can affiliate in our state. Why wait their liberation only from Greece? Let them work as Greece didn’t exist and then she will help them.’’ While Ion Dragoumis concerned on the financial organisation of the efforts, Bishop Germanos animated the Greek population and formed committees promoting the Greek idea taking advantage of the internal disputes in VMRO and also the first guerrilla troops composed by locals. These labelled themselves "the Macedonomachoi" (the Fighters for Macedonia) and were immortalized by the popular greek writer Penelope Delta in her bestselling novel "Ta Mystika tou Valtou" (The Secrets of the Swamp).
Official Greek Involvement
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The official Greek State became anxious not only cause of the Bulgarian penetration in Macedonia, but also from the Serbian interest, which concentrated mainly in Skopje and Bitola area. The rioting in Macedonia, the atrocities of Bulgarian guerrilla troops against locals who considered themselves as Greeks and especially the death of Pavlos Melas in 1904 (he was the first Greek officer to enter Macedonia with guerrillas) caused intense nationalistic feelings in Greek public opinion that lead to the decision of sending more guerrilla troops in order to intercept Bulgarian efforts to entice all the Slavic speaking population of Macedonia in their propaganda, not only the exarchists but also the patriarchists, who in their vast majority were feeling Greeks. The Greek Embassy in Thessaloniki became the centre of the whole struggle, which took care for the coordinance of the guerrilla troops, distribution of military material and nursing of wounded. So, tough and fierce conflicts between the Greeks and Bulgarians started in the area of Kastoria, in the Gianitsa Lake and elsewhere (the tension was so big that in some occasions both parties committed cruel crimes) The guerilla groups were also hunted by the Turkish Army. All these conflicts ended after the revolution of "Young Turks" in July, 1908, because they promised to respect all ethnicities and religions and generally to provide constitution.
Consequences
The success of Greek efforts in Macedonia was a great experience that gave confidence to Greeks, developed more their intention to annex areas with Greek population and in general established Greek presence in Macedonia, since after the Balkan Wars the part of Macedonia ceded to Greece was more or less, the area that they controlled during the conflicts with the Bulgarians from 1904-1908
See also
External links
- Official Site For Hellenic History`
- Macedonian Struggle Museum
- An on-line review on Macedonian affairs,history and culture