Independent Macedonia was a conceptual project of the
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр� ...
(IMRO) to create an independent Macedonia, during the
interwar period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...
.
History
Prelude
The predecessor of the concept of ''Independent Macedonia'' appeared initially in the late 19th century as variant called ''
autonomous Macedonia'' in the documents of the
. The organization was founded in 1893 in Ottoman
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
by a small band of anti-Ottoman
Macedono-Bulgarian revolutionaries. The idea then was strictly political and did not imply a secession from Bulgarian ethnicity, but unity of all nationalities in the area, then under Ottoman control. During the
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and def ...
and the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighti ...
the organization supported the Bulgarian army and joined to Bulgarian war-time authorities when they temporarily took control over mosts of Thrace and Macedonia. In this period autonomism as a political tactic was abandoned and annexationist positions were supported, aiming eventual incorporation of occupied areas into Bulgaria. However Bulgaria lost the Wars.
IMRO
In the aftermath of
World War I, the IMRO developed an agenda for an autonomous or even independent Macedonia, on the territories of Greece, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, under the protectorate of the
Great Powers
A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power inf ...
, that meant in fact a second Bulgarian state on the Balkans. It accepted this concept with the aim to annex the territories occupied by Serbia and Greece. IMRO then had de facto full control of
Pirin Macedonia
Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia ( bg, Пиринска Македония; Българска Македония) (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is the third-biggest part of the geographical region Macedonia located on t ...
(Bulgarian part), which it used as a base for hit and run attacks against Yugoslavia and Greece. It acted as a "state within a state", with the unofficial support of the right-wing Bulgarian governments.
Ivan Mihailov
Ivan Mihailov Gavrilov ( bg, Иван Михайлов Гаврилов; mk, Ванчо Михајлов Гаврилов;He is credited in English-language sources as ''Mihailov'', while the Bulgarian and Macedonian transliteration schemes ...
and
Aleksandar Protogerov
Alexandar Protogerov ( Bulgarian: Александър Протогеров) (28 February 1867, Ohrid – 7 July 1928, Sofia) was a Bulgarian general, politician and revolutionary, as well as a member of the revolutionary movement in Macedonia, ...
, who assumed IMRO's leadership after
Todor Alexandrov's death in 1924, changed the main task for an autonomous Macedonian state, but officially under Bulgarian control, as it was a way for a subsequent unification with Bulgaria.
By 1928, after the assassination of Protogerov, Mihailov proposed a new plan calling for unification of a pre-1913 Macedonia region into a single state, that would be independent from Bulgaria. It should be with prevailing ethnic Bulgarian element. However the new state would to be
supranational and
cantonized, something as "Switzerland on the Balkans". Nevertheless, the IMRO continued to support Bulgarian irredentism. It had close ties to diaspora organizations abroad, the most important of which was the
Macedonian Patriotic Organization
Macedonian Patriotic Organization (MPO) is the oldest organization of Americans and Canadians of Macedonian descent in North America. It was founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA, in 1922, by Macedonian Bulgarian immigrants originating mainly fro ...
in the United States and Canada. The organization was suppressed by the Bulgarian army after the 1934 Military coup.
IMRO (United)
The
Comintern
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...
policy on the Macedonian question rose the slogan of a united and independent Macedonia at the 5th Conference of the Balkan Communist Federation in 1923. After the failure of the
May Manifesto signed in 1924 by the leadership of the IMRO, which maintained the independence and unification of the region of Macedonia, and cooperation with the Soviet Union, some left-wing revolutionaries of the IMRO founded the so-called
IMRO (United) in 1925 in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. Its main objective was to free the region of Macedonia, and to create a new political entity which would become an equal member of the future
Balkan Communist Federation
The Balkan Federation project was a left-wing political movement to create a country in the Balkans by combining Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.
The concept of a Balkan federation emerged in the late 19th century f ...
. IMRO (United) was sponsored directly by the
Comintern
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...
, maintaining close links with its Bulgarian leader
Georgi Dimitrov
Georgi Dimitrov Mihaylov (; bg, Гео̀рги Димитро̀в Миха̀йлов), also known as Georgiy Mihaylovich Dimitrov (russian: Гео́ргий Миха́йлович Дими́тров; 18 June 1882 – 2 July 1949), was a Bulgarian ...
. In 1934 it supported the
Resolution of the Comintern on the Macedonian Question, in which for the first time, an international organization has recognized the existence of a separate Macedonian nation and language. However the IMRO (United), was not particularly influential on the revolutionary movement in the region. Prior to the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, thеsе views on the
Macedonian question
The region of Macedonia is known to have been inhabited since Paleolithic times.
Еarliest historical inhabitants
The earliest historical inhabitants of the region were the Pelasgians, the Bryges and the Thracians. The Pelasgians occupied E ...
have been of little practical importance.
WWII development
As the Bulgarian army as part from Axis-powers entered Yugoslav and Greek Macedonia during WWII in April 1941, former IMRO members were active in organising
Bulgarian Action Committees, charged with taking over the local authorities. During the War the
Macedonist ideas were partially supported by the
Yugoslav Partisans
The Yugoslav Partisans, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобо� ...
, who strengthened their positions. After Bulgaria switched sides in September 1944, some former IMRO activists tried to create an
independent Macedonian state. The state had to have a Bulgarian character. It would be placed under the protectorate of the Third Reich, but they failed. In the late 1944, this ''state'' was dissolved and the communists founded
SR Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалистичка Република Македонија, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia or Yugoslav Macedonia, was ...
as part of
Communist Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...
. The local high-ranking politician
Metodija Andonov-Čento, who tried to create a fully independent Macedonia, was charged of being supporter of
pro-Bulgarian
Bulgarophiles ( bg, българофили; Serbian and Macedonian бугарофили or бугараши ; ; ro, Bulgarofilii) is a term used for Slavic people from the regions of Macedonia and Pomoravlje who are ethnic Bulgarians. In Bulga ...
ideas, and was sentenced to eleven years in prison under forced labor.
Modern
During the
breakup of Yugoslavia
The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
several activists had agreed to make a party for a future independent Macedonia. By these circumstances the
IMRO–DPMNE party was founded in 1990 in
Skopje
Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre.
The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...
. In the same year the founders of DPMNE came into contact with the Bulgarian authorities and they were assured that if Serbia invaded Macedonia, Bulgaria would use all necessary means to oppose it. In this way an
independence referendum
An independence referendum is a type of referendum in which the residents of a territory decide whether the territory should become an independent sovereign state. An independence referendum that results in a vote for independence does not alwa ...
was held in the
Socialist Republic of Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалистичка Република Македонија, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia or Yugoslav Macedonia, was ...
on 8 September 1991, that was approved by 96.4% of votes. According to some observers, 8 September was chosen as the date for the referendum to link it with the 8 September 1944 proclamation of the
Independent State of Macedonia.
[Утрински весник, Брoj 2781 сабота, 06 септември 2008. Киро Кипроски, Од каталогот на поштенски марки на југословенските држави издаден во 1978 година.] On January 15, 1992, Bulgaria was the first country to recognize the independence of the new state.
See also
*
United Macedonia
United Macedonia ( mk, Обединета Македонија, ''Obedineta Makedonija''), or Greater Macedonia (, ''Golema Makedonija''), is an irredentist concept among ethnic Macedonian nationalists that aims to unify the transnational regio ...
*
Autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions
*
Independent Macedonia (1944)
In September 1944, Nazi Germany briefly sought to establish an independent Macedonia, a puppet state in the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that had been occupied by the Kingdom of Bulgaria following the invasion of Yugoslavia in April 194 ...
References
{{reflist
Bulgarian nationalism
Macedonia
Macedonian nationalism
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization