Page 294 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

294 XXXIV Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

Organization and activities of Hellenism under the
leadership of religious and distinguished personalities
during the Struggle for Macedonia, 1904-1908

EFPRAXIA S. PASCHALIDOu

Macedonia is the heart of the Balkan Peninsula, a fact that gives it an a priori prominent
1
geostrategic and political significance. it was the site where national counterbalancing
movements collided, while during the period of the Macedonian Struggle it was a large
2
venue of the defensive struggles of the Hellenic Nation in this area. The beginning of the
Macedonian Struggle marked 1870 with the creation of the Bulgarian Exarchates and by
1897 it was characterized mainly by intense propagandistic action. The main objective was
the bulgarization of Macedonian Greeks and the immediate incorporation of Macedonia into
3
Bulgarian accordance with the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano. the struggle took on the
mantle of the guerrilla bands of Greeks against the Bulgarians, as well as with the Ottoman
Empire, during the period 1904 – 1908. 4
The Great Church had strong ties to Macedonian Hellenism and, for the duration of the

1 General bibliography on Macedonia: Amantos Konstantinos, Makedonika [Macedonian topics], Petrakos,
Athens 1920, Hammond N.G., History of Macedonia, Malliares-Paideia, Athens 1995, Keramopoulos An-
tonios, Makedonia kai Makedones, Etaireia Makedonikon Spoudon, Thessaloniki 1972, Martis Nikolaos, E
Plastographese tes Istorias tes Makedonias, Euroekdotiki, Athens 1983, Mylonas Alexandros P., E Helleniko-
teta tes Makedonias, Nea Synora, Athens 1991, Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou Maria, To Makedoniko Zetema,
Hellenike Epitrope Spoudon, Athens 1988, Sakellariou Michael (editor), Makedonia: 4,000 Chronia Helleni-
kes Istorias kai Politismou [Macedonia: 4,000 years of Hellenic History and Civilization], Ekdotike Athenon,
Athens 1982, Vakalopoulos Apostolos, To Makedoniko Zetema, Parateretes, Thessaloniki 1989.
2 Kofos Evangelos, E epanastasis tes Makedonias kata to 1878 (=The Macedonian Revolution in 1878), Ins-
titute of Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki 1969 pp.15-17. Markezines Spyridon, Politiki Istoria tes Neoteras
Ellados (=A Political History of Modern Greece), Vol. II, Athens 1966, pp.94-120.
3 The preliminary peace terms were signed at San Stefano, a suburb of Constantinople, on 21 February 1878,
between Russia and Turkey which recognized the independence of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania. The
Treaty made important territorial concessions to Russia and established an autonomous, tributary to the Otto-
man Empire state of Bulgaria with especially extensive borders. Almost all Macedonia, with its thousands of
Greek inhabitants, as well as clearly Serb areas were incorporated into a Bulgarian principality. The creation
of such a great Bulgaria surprised even the most fanatical Bulgarian nationalists. The new Bulgarian state
showed clearly that, through its effort to resurrect the Great Bulgaria of the San Stefano Treaty, it would
become a source of instability and concern in the Balkans and, especially, Macedonia.
4 Among a wide variety of bibliography references on the Struggle for Macedonia: Dakin Douglas, The Greek
Struggle in Macedonia 1897-1913, Institute of Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki 1966 [reprinted Ekdotiki Athi-
non, Athens 1993], Hellenic Army General Staff/Army History Directorate (HAGS/AHD), The Struggle
for Macedonia and the events in Thrace 1904-1908, Athens 2002, Mazarakes-Ainian Konstantinos, O Ma-
kedonikos Agon, Institute of Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki 1963, Makedonike Philekpaideutike Etaireia,
Makedonikos Agonas, Thessaloniki 1985, Modes Georgios, O Makedonikos Agonas kai e Neotere Make-
donike Istoria, Etaireia Makedonikon Spoudon, Thessaloniki 1967, Vakalopoulos Apostolos, Makedonikos
Agonas,[1904-1908] Enople Phase, Barbounakes, Thessaloniki 1987.