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Macedonian Struggle

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The Macedonian Struggle (Template:Lang-el, was a series of military, political, cultural, and economic activities by Greece in the region of Ottoman Macedonia between 1904 and 1908, aimed at protecting the Greek population and strengthening Greek presence in the region, to prepare it for eventual union with Greece.


Causes

Greek refugees from Strentza near Bitola-Monaster, leaving their village in fear of anti-Greek thugs

The defeat of Greece in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 (the first time the Greek armed forces had seen action since Greek independence in 1828) was a loss that appalled Greeks. The nationalist organization Ethniki Etairia, considered to be responsible for the outbreak of the war, dissolved under the pressure of Prime Minister Georgios Theotokis. But the young officers that had established the organization did not lose contact. They conferred with each other over the situation in Macedonia in order to fulfill the Great Idea; there was also the Bulgarian Exarchate, a Bulgarian Church that had rebelled against (and achieved independence from) the Ecumenical Patriarchate, with generous Turkish assistance. Since 1899, Bulgarian paramilitaries from the IMRO turned against Ottoman authorities with the slogan "autonomy for Macedonia". The guerrillas purported to be protectors of all Christians in the area; However, the Greeks were not interested in autonomy, but in enosis (union) with Greece. Furthermore, the Greeks were the wealthiest among the ethnic groups in Ottoman Macedonia, and did not feel comfortable being "protected" by the IMRO, an organization composed of poor Slavic peasants that also included terrorists. Gradually, increasing tensions emerged among the followers of the Patriarchate of Constantinople (the patriarchalists, mostly, but not only, Greeks) and those of the Bulgarian Exarchate; this brought to the assassination by the IMRO of members of pro-Greek and pro-Serbian parties.

The situation became heated in Macedonia and started to affect European public opinion. In April 1903, a group called Gemidzhii (in Greek: βαρκάρηδες "boat-men") with some assistance from the IMRO blew up the French ship Guadalquivir and the Ottoman Bank in the harbour of Thessaloniki. In August 1903, IMRO organized an uprising (the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising) in Macedonia and the Adrianople Vilayet. After the forming of the short-lived Krushevo Republic, the insurrection was suppressed by the Ottomans with the subsequent destruction of many villages and the devastation of large areas in Western Macedonia and around Kırk Kilise near Adrianople.

Early stage

Greek fighters during the Macedonian Struggle

The Bishop of Kastoria, Germanos Karavangelis sent to Macedonia by the ambassador of Greece Nikolaos Mavrokordatos and the consul of Greece in Monastiri, Ion Dragoumis, realised that it was time to act in a more efficient way and started organising Greek opposition.

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." Dragoumis later called, in his book Martyron kai Iroon Aima (Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Blood), for Greeks to follow the example of Basil II: "Basil II, instead of blinding so many people should have better killed them instead. On one hand this people would not suffer as eyeless survivors, on the other the sheer number of Bulgarians would have diminished by 15 000, which is something very useful."

While Dragoumis concerned himself with the financial organisation of the efforts, the central figure in the military struggle was the very capable Cretan officer Georgios Katehakis (Γεώργιος Κατεχάκης in Greek). Katehakis later became a war hero in the Balkan Wars and World War I, and was Defense Minister in the interwar years. Bishop Germanos Karavangelis animated the Greek population against the IMRO and formed committees to promote the Greek national interests. Taking advantage of the internal political and personal disputes in IMRO, Katehakis and Karavangelis initially succeeded to recruit some IMRO former members and to organize guerilla groups, that were later reinforced with people sent from Greece and thus were mainly composed of ex-officers of the Hellenic Army, volunteers brought from Crete, from the Mani area of the Peloponnese, as well as Macedonian Greeks, such as Vangelis Strebreniotis from the village of Asprogia and Christos Kottas from the village of Rulya, a former adherent of the IMRO.

The fighters for the Greek cause labelled themselves Makedonomachoi (Μακεδονομάχοι - Macedonian Fighters) and were portrayed by Greek writer Penelope Delta in her novel Τά μυστικά τοῦ Βάλτου (Ta Mystiká tou Váltou - The Secrets of the Swamp), as well as in the book of memoirs Ὁ Μακεδονικός Ἀγών (The Macedonian Struggle) by Germanos Karavangelis, while on the other side, the fighters of IMRO and their activities are depicted in the book Confessions of a Macedonian Bandit: A Californian in the Balkan Wars, written by Albert Sonnichsen, an American volunteer in the IMRO during the Greek struggle for Macedonia.

Official Greek involvement

Tellos Agras in the middle, with Nikiforos (Ioannis Demestihas) to his left and Kalas (Constantine Sorros)

The Greek State became concerned, not only because of the Bulgarian penetration in Macedonia, but also due to the Serbian interest, which was concentrated mainly in Skopje and Bitola area. The rioting in Macedonia and especially the death of Pavlos Melas in 1904 (he was the first Greek officer to enter Macedonia with guerrillas and was killed in battle with the Ottoman army) caused intense nationalistic feelings in Greece. This led to the decision to send more guerrilla troops in order to thwart Bulgarian efforts to bring all of the Slavic-speaking majority population of Macedonia on their side.

The Greek Consulate in Thessaloniki became the centre of the struggle, coordinating the guerrilla troops, distributing military materiel and nursing the wounded. Fierce conflicts between the Greeks and Bulgarians started in the area of Kastoria, in the Giannitsa Lake area, and elsewhere; both parties committed cruel crimes at points. The greatest bloodshed was the massacre in the village Zagorichani (was predominantly populated by Bulgarians) near Kastoria on 25 March 1905, when 79 villagers were executed by the Greek andartes of Katehakis at nighttime.

Both guerrilla groups had also to confront the Turkish Army. These conflicts ended after the revolution of "Young Turks" in July, 1908, as they promised to respect all ethnicities and religions, and to provide a constitution.

Consequences

The success of Greek efforts in Macedonia was an experience that greatly helped the realization of Macedonia's union with Greece, and the -at least partial- fulfillment of the Megali Idea.

See also

References

  1. LIFE, March 29, 1939
  2. Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Blood, 1907, Ion Dragoumis, p.1110

External links

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