Editing Macedonia (region) (section)

===Birth of nationalism and of Macedonian identities===
{{More citations needed|date=February 2008|section}}

Over the centuries Macedonia had become a multicultural region. The historical references mention Greeks, Bulgarians, Turks, Albanians, Gypsies, Jews, Aromanians and Megleno-Romanians.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/jf/jf_1.html|title=J. Fraser – Pictures from the Balkans – 1|first=Vassil|last=Karloukovski|website=www.kroraina.com}}</ref> It is often{{who|date=April 2012}} claimed that [[Macedonia (food)|macédoine]], the fruit or vegetable salad, was named after the area's very mixed population, as it could be witnessed at the end of the 19th century. From the Middle Ages to the early 20th century the [[Slavic speakers in Ottoman Macedonia|Slavic-speaking population in Macedonia]] was identified mostly as Bulgarian.<ref>[http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12606837/index.pdf Engin Deniz Tanir, The Mid-Nineteenth century Ottoman Bulgaria from the viewpoints of the French Travelers, A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate School of Social Sciences of Middle East Technical University, 2005, pp. 99, 142]</ref><ref>[http://promacedonia.org/en/ban/nr1.html#4 Kaloudova, Yordanka. Documents on the situation of the population in the southwestern Bulgarian lands under Turkish rule, Военно-исторически сборник, 4, 1970, p. 72]</ref><ref>Pulcherius, ''Recueil des historiens des Croisades. Historiens orientaux''. III, p. 331 – a passage in English – [http://promacedonia.org/en/ban/ma1.html#13, http://promacedonia.org/en/ban/nr1.html#4]</ref>

During the period of [[Bulgarian National Revival]] many Bulgarians from these regions supported the struggle for creation of Bulgarian cultural educational and religious institutions, including [[Bulgarian Exarchate]].<ref>Journal Bulgarski knizhitsi, Constantinople, No. 10 May 1858, p. 19, in English – [http://promacedonia.org/en/ban/nr1.html#23], [http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/ban/nr2.html#53 From a letter of Georgi Gogov, Voden, to G.S. Rakovski, Belgrade, regarding the abuses perpetrated by the Greek bishop Nikodim and his persecution of Bulgarian patriots], [http://promacedonia.org/en/ban/nr2.html#87 Newspaper Makedonia, Constantinople, No. 26, May 27th, 1867], Vacalopulos, Konstandinos A. Modern history of Macedonia, Thessaloniki 1988, pp. 52, 57, 64</ref> Eventually, in the 20th century, 'Bulgarians' came to be understood as synonymous with 'Macedonian Slavs' and, eventually, 'ethnic Macedonians'. [[Krste Misirkov]], a philologist and publicist, wrote his work "[[On the Macedonian Matters]]" (1903), for which he is heralded by [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]] as one of the founders of the Macedonian nation.

After the revival of Greek, Serbian, and Bulgarian statehood in the 19th century, the Ottoman lands in Europe that became identified as "Macedonia", were contested by all three governments, leading to the creation in the 1890s and 1900s of rival armed groups who divided their efforts between fighting the Turks and one another. The most important of these was the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]], which organized the so-called [[Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising]] in 1903, fighting for an autonomous or independent Macedonian state, and the Greek efforts from 1904 until 1908 ([[Greek Struggle for Macedonia]]). Diplomatic intervention by the European powers led to plans for an autonomous Macedonia under Ottoman rule.

[[File:Greekhistory.GIF|thumb|left|Evolution of the territory of Greece. The 'Macedonia' shown is the Greek province.]]

The restricted borders of the modern Greek state at its inception in 1830 disappointed the inhabitants of northern Greece (Epirus and Macedonia).{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} Addressing these concerns in 1844, the Greek Prime Minister Kolettis addressed the constitutional assembly in Athens that "the [[Kingdom of Greece (Wittelsbach)|Kingdom of Greece]] is not Greece; it is only a part, the smallest and poorest, of Greece. The Greek is not only he who inhabits the kingdom, but also he who lives in Ioannina, or Thessaloniki, or Serres, or Odrin" . He mentions cities and islands that were under Ottoman possession as composing the [[Great Idea]] (Greek: Μεγάλη Ιδέα, ''Megáli Idéa'') which meant the reconstruction of the [[Ancient Greece|classical Greek world]] or the revival of the [[Byzantine Empire]]. The important idea here is that for Greece, Macedonia was a region with large Greek populations expecting annexation to the new Greek state.

[[File:Contested regions.jpg|thumb|left|Map of the region contested by Serbia and Bulgaria and subject to the arbitration of the Russian Tsar]]

The 1878 [[Treaty of Berlin, 1878|Congress of Berlin]] changed the Balkan map again. The treaty restored Macedonia and Thrace to the Ottoman Empire. Serbia, Romania and Montenegro were granted full independence, and some territorial expansion at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. Russia would maintain military advisors in Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia until May 1879. Austria-Hungary was permitted to occupy Bosnia, Herzegovina and the Sanjak of Novi Pazar. The Congress of Berlin also forced Bulgaria, newly given autonomy by the 1878 [[Treaty of San Stefano]], to return over half of its newly gained territory to the Ottoman Empire. This included Macedonia, a large part of which was given to Bulgaria, due to Russian pressure and the presence of significant numbers of Bulgarians and adherents to the [[Bulgarian Exarchate]]. The territorial losses dissatisfied Bulgaria; this fuelled the ambitions of many Bulgarian politicians for the following seventy years, who wanted to review the treaty – by peaceful or military means and to reunite all lands which they claimed had a Bulgarian majority. Besides, Serbia was now interested in the Macedonian lands, until then only Greece was Bulgaria's main contender, which after the addition of Thessaly to Greece in (1881) was bordering Macedonia. Thus, the Berlin Congress renewed the struggle for Turkey in Europe, including the so-called Macedonia region, rather than setting up a permanent regime. In the following years, all of the neighboring states struggled over Turkey in Europe; they were only kept at bay by their own restraints, the Ottoman Army and the territorial ambitions of the Great Powers in the region.

Serbian policy had a distinct anti-Bulgarian flavor, attempting to prevent the Bulgarian influencing the inhabitants of Macedonia. On the other hand, Bulgaria was using the power of its religious institutions (Bulgarian Exarchate established in 1870) to promote its language and make more people identify with Bulgaria. Greece, in addition, was in an advantageous position for protecting its interests through the influence of Patriarchate of Constantinople which traditionally sponsored Greek-language and Greek-culture schools also in villages with few Greeks. This put the Patriarchate in dispute with the Exarchate, which established schools with Bulgarian education. Indeed, belonging to one or another institution could define a person's national identity. Simply, if a person supported the Patriarchate they were regarded as Greek, whereas if they supported the Exarchate they were regarded as Bulgarian. Locally, however, villagers were not always able to express freely their association with one or the other institution as there were numerous armed groups trying to defend and/or expand the territory of each. Some were locally recruited and self-organized while others were sent and armed by the protecting states.

The aim of the adversaries, however, was not primarily to extend their influence over Macedonia but merely to prevent Macedonia succumbing to the influence of the other. This often violent attempt to persuade the people that they belonged to one ethnic group or another pushed some people to reject both. The severe pressure on the peaceful peasants of Macedonia worked against the plans of the Serbians and Bulgarians to make them adopt their ethnic idea and eventually a social divide became apparent. The British Ambassador in Belgrade in 1927 said: "At present the unfortunate Macedonian peasant is between the hammer and the anvil. One day 'comitadjis' come to his house and demand under threat lodging, food and money and the next day the gendarm hales him off to prison for having given them; the Macedonian is really a peaceable, fairly industrious agriculturist and if the (Serbian) government give him adequate protection, education, freedom from malaria and decent communications, there seems no reason why he should not become just as Serbian in sentiment as he was Bulgarian 10 years ago". As a result of this game of tug-of-war, the development of a distinct Macedonian national identity was impeded and delayed. Moreover, when the imperialistic plans of the surrounding states made possible the division of Macedonia, some Macedonian intellectuals such as Misirkov mentioned the necessity of creating a Macedonian national identity which would distinguish the Macedonian Slavs from Bulgarians, Serbians or Greeks.

[[File:Balkans-ethnique.JPG|left|thumb|upright=1.2|Ethnic composition of the Balkans according to ''Atlas Général Vidal-Lablanche'', Paris 1890–1894. Henry Robert Wilkinson stated that this ethnic map, as most ethnic maps of that time, contained a pro-Bulgarian ethnographic view of Macedonia.<ref name="Wilkinson">Henry Robert Wilkinson: ''Maps and Politics: A Review of the Ethnographic Cartography of Macedonia''. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool 1951, pp. 73–74.</ref>]]

Baptizing Macedonian Slavs as Serbian or Bulgarian aimed therefore to justify these countries' territorial claims over Macedonia. The Greek side, with the assistance of the Patriarchate that was responsible for the schools, could more easily maintain control, because they were spreading Greek identity. For the very same reason the Bulgarians, when preparing the Exarchate's government (1871) included Macedonians in the assembly as "brothers" to prevent any ethnic diversification. On the other hand, the Serbs, unable to establish Serbian-speaking schools, used propaganda. Their main concern was to prevent the [[Slavic speakers in Ottoman Macedonia|Slavic-speaking Macedonians]] from acquiring Bulgarian identity through concentrating on the myth of the ancient origins of the Macedonians and simultaneously by the classification of Bulgarians as Tatars and not as Slavs, emphasizing their 'Macedonian' characteristics as an intermediate stage between Serbs and Bulgarians. To sum up the Serbian propaganda attempted to inspire the Macedonians with a separate ethnic identity to diminish the Bulgarian influence. This choice was the 'Macedonian ethnicity'. The Bulgarians never accepted an ethnic diversity from the Slav Macedonians, giving geographic meaning to the term. In 1893 they established the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] (VMRO) aiming to confront the Serbian and Greek action in Macedonia. VMRO hoped to answer the [[Macedonian question]] through a revolutionary movement, and so they instigated the [[Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising|Ilinden Uprising]] (1903) to release some Ottoman territory. Bulgaria used this to internationalize the Macedonian question. Ilinden changed Greece's stance which decided to take Para-military action. In order to protect the Greek Macedonians and Greek interests, Greece sent officers to train guerrillas and organize militias ([[Macedonian Struggle]]), known as ''makedonomahi'' (Macedonian fighters), essentially to fight the Bulgarians. After that it was obvious that the Macedonian question could be answered only with a war.

[[File:Balkan Wars Boundaries.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Boundaries on the Balkans after the First and the Second Balkan War (1912–1913)]]

The rise of the Albanian and the Turkish nationalism after 1908, however, prompted Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria to bury their differences with regard to Macedonia and to form a joint coalition against the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1912. Disregarding public opinion in Bulgaria, which was in support of the establishment of an autonomous Macedonian province under a Christian governor, the Bulgarian government entered a pre-war treaty with Serbia which divided the region into two parts.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} The part of Macedonia west and north of the line of partition was contested by both Serbia and Bulgaria and was subject to the arbitration of the Russian Tsar after the war. Serbia formally renounced any claims to the part of Macedonia south and east of the line, which was declared to be within the Bulgarian sphere of interest. The pre-treaty between Greece and Bulgaria, however, did not include any agreement on the division of the conquered territories – evidently both countries hoped to occupy as much territory as possible having their sights primarily set on Thessaloniki.

In the [[First Balkan War]], Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro occupied almost all Ottoman-held territories in Europe. Bulgaria bore the brunt of the war fighting on the Thracian front against the main Ottoman forces. Both her war expenditures and casualties in the First Balkan War were higher than those of Serbia, Greece and Montenegro combined. Macedonia itself was occupied by Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian forces. The Ottoman Empire in the [[Treaty of London (1913)|Treaty of London]] in May 1913 assigned the whole of Macedonia to the [[Balkan League]], without, specifying the division of the region, to promote problems between the allies. Dissatisfied with the creation of an autonomous Albanian state, which denied her access to the [[Adriatic]], Serbia asked for the suspension of the pre-war division treaty and demanded from Bulgaria greater territorial concessions in Macedonia. Later in May the same year, Greece and Serbia signed a secret treaty in Thessaloniki stipulating the division of Macedonia according to the existing lines of control. Both Serbia and Greece, as well as Bulgaria, started to prepare for a final war of partition.

[[File:Macedonia 1913 map.png|left|thumb|Macedonia's division in 1913]]
In June 1913, Bulgarian Tsar [[Ferdinand I of Bulgaria|Ferdinand]], without consulting the government, and without any declaration of war, ordered Bulgarian troops to attack the Greek and Serbian troops in Macedonia, initiating the [[Second Balkan War]]. The Bulgarian army was in full retreat in all fronts. The Serbian army chose to stop its operations when achieved all its territorial goals and only then the Bulgarian army took a breath. During the last two days the Bulgarians managed to achieve a defensive victory against the advancing Greek army in the [[Kresna Gorge]]. However at the same time the Romanian army crossed the undefended northern border and easily advanced towards [[Sofia]]. Romania interfered in the war, in order to satisfy its territorial claims against Bulgaria. The [[Ottoman Empire]] also interfered, easily reassuming control of Eastern Thrace with [[Edirne]]. The Second Balkan War, also known as Inter-Ally War, left Bulgaria only with the Struma valley and a small part of Thrace with minor ports at the Aegean sea. Vardar Macedonia was incorporated into Serbia and thereafter referred to as South Serbia. Southern (Aegean) Macedonia was incorporated into Greece and thereafter was referred to as northern Greece. The region suffered heavily during the Second Balkan War. During its advance at the end of June, the Greek army set fire to the Bulgarian quarter of the town of [[Kilkis]] and over 160 villages around Kilkis and Serres driving some 50,000 refugees into Bulgaria proper. The Bulgarian army retaliated by burning the Greek quarter of [[Serres, Greece|Serres]] and by arming Muslims from the region of [[Drama]] which led to a [[massacre]] of Greek civilians.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}

In September 1915, the Greek government authorized the landing of the troops in Thessaloniki. In 1916 the pro-German King of Greece agreed with the Germans to allow military forces of the Central Powers to enter Greek Macedonia to attack Bulgarian forces in Thessaloniki. As a result, Bulgarian troops occupied the eastern part of Greek Macedonia, including the port of [[Kavala]]. The region was, however, restored to Greece following the victory of the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] in 1918. After the destruction of the Greek Army in Asia Minor in 1922 Greece and Turkey exchanged most of Macedonia's Turkish minority and the Greek inhabitants of Thrace and [[Anatolia]], as a result of which Aegean Macedonia experienced a large addition to its population and became overwhelmingly Greek in ethnic composition. Serbian-ruled Macedonia was incorporated into the [[Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes]] (later the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]]) in 1918. Yugoslav Macedonia was subsequently subjected to an intense process of "[[Serbianization]]" during the 1920s and 1930s.

During [[World War II]] the boundaries of the region shifted yet again. When the German forces occupied the area, most of Yugoslav Macedonia and part of Aegean Macedonia were transferred for administration to Bulgaria. During the Bulgarian administration of Eastern Greek Macedonia, some 100,000 Bulgarian refugees from the region were resettled there and perhaps as many Greeks were deported or fled to other parts of Greece. Western Aegean Macedonia was occupied by [[Italy]], with the western parts of Yugoslav Macedonia being annexed to Italian-occupied Albania. The remainder of Greek Macedonia (including all of the coast) was occupied by [[Nazi Germany]]. One of the worst episodes of [[the Holocaust]] happened here when 60,000 Jews from Thessaloniki were deported to [[extermination camps]] in occupied [[Poland]]. Only a few thousand survived.

Macedonia was liberated in 1944, when the Red Army's advance in the Balkan Peninsula forced the German forces to retreat. The pre-war borders were restored under U.S. and British pressure because the Bulgarian government was insisting to keep its military units on Greek soil. The Bulgarian Macedonia returned fairly rapidly to normality, but the Bulgarian patriots in Yugoslav Macedonia underwent a process of ethnic cleansing by the Belgrade authorities, and Greek Macedonia was ravaged by the [[Greek Civil War]], which broke out in December 1944 and did not end until October 1949.

After this civil war, a large number of former ELAS fighters who took refuge in communist Bulgaria and Yugoslavia and described themselves as "ethnic Macedonians" were prohibited from reestablishing to their former estates by the Greek authorities. Most of them were accused in Greece for crimes committed during the period of the German occupation.