Kresna–Razlog uprising

The Kresna–Razlog Uprising (Bulgarian: Кресненско-Разложко въстание, romanized: Kresnensko-Razlozhko vastanie; Macedonian: Кресненско востание, romanized: Kresnensko vostanie, Kresna Uprising)[1] named by the insurgents as the Macedonian Uprising,[2] was an anti-Ottoman Bulgarian uprising that took place in Ottoman Macedonia,[3][4] predominantly in the areas of today Blagoevgrad Province in Bulgaria in late 1878 and early 1879.[5][6][7]

Kresna–Razlog uprising
Part of the Macedonian Question

Annex to the Treaty of San Stefano, showing the borders of Bulgaria
Date8 November 1878 – 25 May 1879
(6 months, 2 weeks and 3 days)
Location
Ottoman Empire
Result

Suppression of the uprising.

Belligerents
Unity Committee  Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Dimitar Popgeorgiev,
Ilyo Voyvoda,
Nathanael of Ohrid

The uprising broke out following the protests and spontaneous opposition to the decisions of the Congress of Berlin, which, instead of ceding the Bulgarian-populated parts of Macedonia to the newly reestablished Bulgarian suzerain state per the Treaty of San Stefano, returned them to Ottoman control.[8] It was prepared by the Unity Committee.[9] The rebellion was supported by detachments which had infiltrated the area from the Principality of Bulgaria.[10] As a result of disagreement within its leadership, the uprising lost its initial successful curse and was crushed by the Ottoman army.

Prelude to the Uprising
The first "Unity" Committee in Tarnovo

The revolutionary circles in Bulgaria concurred at once with the idea of inciting an uprising in Macedonia. On 29 August 1878, a meeting of representatives from the Bulgarian revolutionaries was convened in the town of Veliko Tarnovo in order to implement the plan. This meeting resulted in the creation of a committee called Edinstvo (Unity). The initiative for this belonged to Lyuben Karavelov, Stefan Stambolov and Hristo Ivanov. The task of this new committee was to establish similar committees throughout Bulgaria, to maintain strict contact with them, and work toward the same end: "unity of all the Bulgarians" and the improvement of their present political situation.[11]

Separated Bulgaria after the Treaty of Berlin - a lithograph by Nikolai Pavlovich. Principality of Bulgaria (in the middle), Eastern Rumelia (leftward) and Macedonia (right at the back)

Soon after Edinstvo was formed in Tarnovo, steps were taken to spread it to all towns in Bulgaria, Eastern Rumelia and to Russia and Romania as well. People were also sent to Macedonia to personally acquaint themselves with the situation there. Some were also sent to meet with Nathanael, the Ohrid bishop. He was to be told the aim and the task of Edinstvo. Meanwhile, Nathanael was already in the middle of preparations for armed activities in Macedonia. He made his way to Kyustendil to meet with the well-known haiduk leader, Ilyo Voyvoda and his rebels. At this meeting it was decided that Natanail should take over leadership of the hajduk bands. At the same time, Nathanael was able to establish an Edinstvo headquarters in the Kyustendil, one in Dupnitsa and another in Gorna Dzhumaya. The concrete aims of the leaders and organizers of the Kresna–Razlog Uprising were to revoke the decisions of the Berlin Congress, to liberate the regions inhabited by the Bulgarian population, and to unite with the free Principality of Bulgaria. For these reasons Metropolitan Nathanael of Ohrid wrote to Petko Voyvoda:

As it is very necessary that you meet Dimitar Pop Georgiev - Berovski, who is in Gorna Dzhumaya and is the leader of the defenders of the people in these border areas, in order to discuss a very important matter to the benefit of all Bulgarians, whom the Berlin Congress has again left under Turkish tyrannical rule.

Letter from Dimitar Pop Georgiev - Berovski to Georgi Pulevski, with a personal stamp that states "Macedonian Uprising, Chief of Staff, D. P. Georgiev" in Bulgarian[12]

In September 1878, the Rila Monastery hosted a critical meeting attended by Metropolitan Nathanael of Ohrid, Dimitar Pop Georgiev - Berovski, Ilyo Voyvoda, Mihail Sarafov, the voivode Stoyan Karastoilov and other high-ranking figures. The conference led to the formation of an organized insurrectional staff headed by Berovski. The Edinstvo ("Unity") Committee from Sofia aided the insurrectionists with two detachments, one led by the Russian Adam Kalmykov and the other by the Pole Luis Wojtkiewicz. The aim of "Edinstvo Committees" was "...discussing how to help our brothers in Thrace and Macedonia, who will henceforth be separated from Danubian Bulgaria by virtue of the decisions of the Berlin Congress..." Stefan Stambolov and Nikola Obretenov suggested the appointment of "apostles" who would organize the uprising among the masses, but it was decided that only the areas closest to the Principality of Bulgaria would revolt, with a view to detaching them from the Ottoman Empire and joining them to Bulgaria.

Uprising
An act on the organizational arrangement of the Macedonian (Kresna) Uprising from 1878, which regulates the duties of the Headquarters, the chiefs and the rebels

Early at dawn on October 5, 1878, 400 insurgents attacked the Turkish army unit stationed at the Kresna Inns and after a battle lasting 18 hours they succeeded in crushing its resistance. This attack and this first success marked the beginning of the Kresna–Razlog Uprising. In the battles that followed, the insurgents succeeded in liberating 43 towns and villages and in reaching Belitsa and Gradeshnitsa to the south. To the south-west they established their sway over almost the entire Karshijak region, while to the south-east the positions of the insurgents were along the Predela, over the town of Razlog. In addition to the direct military operations of the insurgents, there were separate detachments operating in the south and to the west in Macedonia. There were also disturbances, and delegations were sent to the headquarters of the Uprising with requests for arms and for aid. The headquarters of the Uprising, which was organized in the course of the military operations, was headed by Dimiter Popgeorgiev. Elders’ Councils were also set up, as well as local police organs of the revolutionary government who were assigned certain administrative functions in the liberated territories.

Metropolitan Nathanael of Ohrid - organizer of the uprising

The Edinstvo Committee in the town of Gorna Dzhoumaya played an important part in organizing, supplying and assisting the Uprising. The committee was headed by Kostantin Bosilkov, who was born in the town of Koprivshtitsa and who had worked for many years as teacher in the Macedonia region. The main goal of the armed struggle though, was expressed most clearly in the letter of the Melnik rebels of December 11, 1878, which they sent to the chief of the Petrich police: "...We took up the arms and will not leave them until we get united with the Bulgarian Principality..."[13] This aim was also expressed in the appeal launched by the insurgents on November 10, 1878, which read: "...And so, brothers, the time has come to demonstrate what we are, that we are a people worthy of liberty, and that the blood of Kroum and Simeon is still flowing in our veins; the time has come to demonstrate to Europe that it is no easy task when a people want to cast away darkness."[14] During the military operations in the Kresna region, an uprising broke out on November 8, 1878, in the Bansko-Razlog valley. The detachment of volunteers from Moesia, led by Banyo Marinov, a revolutionary and volunteer from the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), played an important part in that uprising. It was promptly joined by scores of local insurgents and, after a fierce skirmish, it succeeded in liberating the town of Bansko. The setbacks in the autumn of 1878 led to a new organization of the leading body of the Uprising and to the adoption of new tactics. Efforts were now directed toward the setting up of a Central Committee which was to take over the leadership of the Uprising, as well as to organize an uprising in the interior of Macedonia in the spring of 1879. The detachment which crossed into Macedonia in May 1879 could not fulfill its task due to the lack of preliminary organization. These events marked the end of the Kresna–Razlog Uprising.

Significance and consequences
Southeastern Europe after the Congress of Berlin

In this manner the Kresna–Razlog Uprising was left without its expected and most reliable reserve – Russia's military, diplomatic and political support, in addition to its being against the interests of Austria-Hungary and Britain. Russia was exhausted both financially and militarily, adopting a firm course of adhering to the decisions of the Berlin Congress in relation to Macedonia. Her strategic aim lay in the preservation of the Bulgarian character of Eastern Roumelia. It encountered yet another strong adversary - the military and political machine of the Ottoman state.

Memorial plaque of Kresna-Razlog Uprising in village Dolno Draglishte, Bulgaria

The representatives of the Provisional Russian Administration in Principality of Bulgaria, who sympathised with the struggle, were reprimanded by the Russian Emperor in person. These were the decisive reasons for its failure, parallel with reasons of internal and organizational character.[15] Typical for the uprising was the scale participation of volunteers - Bulgarians of all parts of the country. Some figures as an illustration: 100 volunteers from Sofia, 27 from Tirnovo, 65 from Pazardzhik, 19 from Troyan, 31 from Pleven, 74 from Orhanye, 129 from the Plovdiv district, 17 from Provadia, 30 from Eastern Rumelia and others. A large number of insurgents and leaders of different parts of Macedonia also participated in the uprising. After the uprising some 30,000 refugees fled to Bulgaria.[16] The failure of the uprising led to the attention of the Bulgarian political and strategic leaders to the liberation of the other parts of the Bulgarian territories and another main strategic objective - unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia, the latter being under the Sultan's power, but still having a large autonomy. Macedonia and Thrace should have to wait.

Controversy
See also: Macedonian historiography

The uprising is celebrated today in both Bulgaria and North Macedonia as part of their nations’ struggle against the Ottoman rule. In Bulgaria, it is regarded as a rebellion prepared by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire and the Unity Committee in Bulgaria itself, whose common goal was the unification of Bulgaria and Ottoman Macedonia.

In North Macedonia, it is regarded that the rebellion was carried out by two different groups with two different goals. The Unity Committee attempted to subdue the Uprising, fighting in favour of unification of Macedonia with Bulgaria, while one group, centered around Berovski, strived for an independent Macedonia, as seen in the Proclamation of Kresna Uprising.

However, the Proclamation is considered to be а forgery by Bulgarian historians. As reasons, they have cited, among other things, the absence of an original, the use of anachronistic language and the stark contradiction of its contents to the other surviving documents.[17][18] They have also pointed at the existence of an identical document with completely different contents titled "Temporary rules about the organisation of the Macedonian Uprising" prepared by Stefan Stambolov and Nathanael of Ohrid.[19] The rest of the preserved documentation left from the insurgents had a Bulgarian character,[20][21] moreover distinct Macedonian national identity was not developed at that time.[22][23][24][25]

Footnotes
  1. Кресненското востание во Македонија 1878 – 1879. Материјали од Научниот собир одржан по повод 100-годишнината од востанието во Берово, 2-4 октомври 1987 година. Македонска академија на науките и уметностите, Скопјe, 1982 година.
  2. Дойно Дойнов, Кресненско-Разложкото въстание, 1878-1879. Принос за неговия обхват и резултати, за вътрешните и външнополитическите условия, при които избухва, протича и стихва. Издателство на Българската Академия на науките. София, 1979, Г. Кацаров и Ив. Кепов. Цит. съч., д. № 87, 88, с. 55. В писмо до Джумайския комитет Д. Попгеоргиев хвърля вината на доброволците. “Комитите ни само на пиенето били юнаци”, а в писмо на Г. М. Николчев от Кресна от 29 октомври още по-определено се казва: “Началникът на щаба на македонското востание г. Д. п. Георгиев задължава мя да Ви явя, че вчерашната победа е наша, сос храбростта на македонските харамии, а доброволците избегаха кой где виде, П. Буховски (поп Константин - б.м.) побегна и дойде да ся бие с нашето полицейско управление, да живеят храбрите харамии с войводите си.”
  3. Laszlo Valki, Changing Threat Perceptions and Military Doctrines, Palgrave Macmillan (1992) ISBN 1349120626, p. 219: "The Macedonian Question emerged in 1878, as a result of the provisions of the Berlin Congress, by virtue of which Macedonia and the region of Adrianople were taken away from the newly formed Bulgarian state and given back to the Ottoman Empire. Up until that time, the national liberation struggle of Macedonia had been an inseparable part of the Bulgarian struggle against Ottoman domination. In response to the unjust provisions of the Berlin Congress (1878), the Kresna-Razlog uprising broke out in September of the same year."
  4. Anna Mazurkiewicz, East Central European Migrations During the Cold War (2019) De Gruyter, ISBN 9783110607901, p. 63: "The desire for uniting the ethnic Bulgarian lands and the brutal policies of the Ottoman authorities in Macedonia and Thrace sparked immediate resistance and led to organized efforts for liberation from Ottoman rule and uniting with Bulgaria. The struggle against the dictates of the Treaty of Berlin started almost straight away and every revolt against the Ottomans in Macedonia and Thrace, crushed with extreme brutality, was followed by mass emigration of the survivors population. This was the case with the Kresna-Razlog uprising (5 October 1878 – spring 1879) when 30,000 people escaped to Bulgaria."
  5. A concise history of Bulgaria, Cambridge concise histories, R. J. Crampton, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 85 ISBN 0-521-61637-9.
  6. Who Are the Macedonians? by Hugh Poulton, page 49, Indiana University Press, 2000 ISBN 1-85065-534-0
  7. Stefan Stambolov and the emergence of modern Bulgaria, 1870-1895, Duncan M. Perry, Duke University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-8223-1313-8, pp. 14-15.
  8. Ethnic rivalry and the quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913, Vemund Aarbakke, East European Monographs, 2003, ISBN 0880335270, p. 56.
  9. Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009, ISBN 0810855658, p. 122.
  10. Raymond Detrez, Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, Rowman & Littlefield, 2014, ISBN 1442241802, p. 279.
  11. The Macedonian Question - Origin and Development, 1878-1941 Dimiter Minchev, Ph.D. Sofia, 2002.
  12. НВИМ, вх. № 30, 33/59 г., оригинал (National Museum of Military History, Bulgaria, number 30, 33/59 y., original)
  13. The Macedonian Question - Origin and Development 1878-1941 Archived July 26, 2021, at the Wayback Machine. Colonel Dimiter Minchev, Ph.D. (Sofia, 2002)
  14. The Kresna-Razlog Uprising of 1878. Sofia, 1970, p. 135.
  15. THE KRESNA-RAZLOG UPRISING 1878-1879 (Summary) DOYNO DOYNOV. Bulgarian Academy of Science 1978.
  16. Дойнов, Д. Кресненско-Разложкото въстание..., с. 84.
  17. Христо Христов. Писма и оправки - По следите на една историко-документална фалшификация. (Исторически Преглед, 1983, кн. 4, с. 100—106). Hristo Hristov. 1983. Tracking a historical documental falsification. Historical Review 4:100-106, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
  18. In the early 1980s Bulgarian and Macedonian historiography engaged in a serious clash that undermined the prestige of history as a science. As a casus belli served the "Rules of the Macedonian Insurgent Committee", published by Archpriest Dr. Slavko Dimevski. According to his statements it was about an original document of the Kresna-Razlog (Macedonian) Uprising of 1878-1879 kept in the personal archive of the Bulgarian Patriarch Cyril, to which Sl. Dimevski has had access in the 1960s. In 1980 (nine years after the death of the Bulgarian Patriarch) in Skopje came out a collection of studies of Macedonian historians dedicated to the "document" and its importance for the history of the liberation struggles of Macedonia. Bulgarian historiography reacted vigorously to this documentary mystification. On the basis of research in the archive of Patriarch Cyril and the correspondence between him and Sl. Dimevski this article makes the conclusion that there is no such "document" and it has never existed. It was also found that the Macedonian churchman and historian has abused historical truth and scientific morality also on other similar occasions For more see: Елдаров, С. (2019). Through the Bulgarian-Macedonian Historiographical Disputes in the second half of the 20th century: The “Slavko Dimevski Case”. A Historical Investigation. Drinovsky Sbornik, 10, 451-467. https://doi.org/10.7546/DS.2017.10.45
  19. Дойно Дойнов Кресненско-Разложкото въстание, 1878-1879, София 1979, с. 71, бел. 323, с. 154, с. 163-164, бел. 235
  20. Macedonian historians refer to some data from the anti-Ottoman movement for national “liberation” which presumably confirm a certain attempt for emancipation vis-à-vis the neighboring nations and a more “ethnic” usage of the term “Macedonians.” The latter is to be found in the so-called “Rules Constitution” of a “Committee of the Macedonian Uprising” as well as in its “Military directives” that are deemed to be composed during the ill-fated uprising of Kresna-Razlog in the autumn of 1878. These documents trace a project of administrative structure of a future autonomous Macedonian state while the Slavs from the region are named “Macedonians” instead of Bulgarians or Serbs. The Bulgarian historians denounce the authenticity of both documents. But even if one assumes that they are authentic, they were literally “excavated” by modern historians: the marginal influence of theirs is confirmed by the fact that they left virtually no trace in the public sphere of the late 19th century. For more: Tchavdar Marinov, We, the Macedonians: The Paths of Macedonian. Supra-Nationalism (1878-1912). pp. 107-137; in: We, the People: Politics of National Peculiarity in Southeastern Europe (2009) Edited by Diana Mishkova, Central European University Press. ISBN 9786155211669.
  21. Колектив, Македонският въпрос (1968) Историко-политическа справка. Институт за история при БАН. София, стр. 37.; И. Бурилкова, Ц. Билярски (2012) Македонският въпрос в българо-югославските отношения 1968-1989. Част 1-2, Архивите говорят. Том 65-66; Държавна агенция "Архиви", София, стр. 56.
  22. Fine, J. (1991). The Early Medieval Balkans, A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. University of Michigan Press. pp. 36–37. ISBN 0-472-08149-7. Until the late nineteenth century both outside observers and those Bulgaro-Macedonians who had an ethnic consciousness believed that their group, which is now two separate nationalities, comprised a single people, the Bulgarians. Thus the reader should ignore references to ethnic Macedonians in the Middle Ages which appear in some modern works. In the Middle Ages and into the nineteenth century, the term Macedonian was used entirely in reference to a geographical region. Anyone who lived within its confines, regardless of nationality, could be called a Macedonian. Nevertheless, the absence of a national consciousness in the past is no grounds to reject the Macedonians as a nationality today.
  23. Danforth, Loring M. (November 10, 2020). The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World. Princeton University Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0691043579. Many disinterested observers at the time concluded that the Slavic-speaking inhabitants of Macedonia were "Bulgarians" (R.King 1973:187) and that the term "Macedonian" was not used to identify people as belonging to a distinct "Macedonian" ethnic or national group. Rather "Macedonian" was either used in a general regional sense to designate all the inhabitants of Macedonia regardless of their ethnicity, or it was used more specifically to refer to the Slavic-speaking Christians living in the geographical area of Macedonia.
  24. Eberhardt, Piotr; Owsinski, Jan (2002). Ethnic Groups and Population Changes in Twentieth Century Eastern Europe: History, Data and Analysis. Routledge. p. 350. ISBN 0765606658. The total number and the ethnic composition of the Macedonian population at the turn of the 20th century are very difficult if not impossible to determine. Three different assessments of the historical ethnic demography in Macedonia exist: Serbian, Bulgarian, and Greek. Each of these assessments concerns a different area, and none treats 'Macedonians' as a separate nation. At this time, no 'Macedonian' national identity had yet taken shape.
  25. Macedonian historians naturally challenge the unity of the Bulgarian people. They stress the local character of an uprising which was later taken over by the Bulgarians...It is stressed that the uprising was called the Macedonian uprising by the insurgents. Here we encounter the problem that in many sources the population is called Macedonian Bulgarians. In most cases it is not clear if the words Macedonia/Macedonian have anything else than a regional (as opposed to national) sense. For more: Ethnic rivalry and the quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913, Vemund Aarbakke, East European Monographs, 2003, ISBN 0880335270, pp. 57-58.

Sources
  • Дойно Дойнов. Кресненско-Разложкото въстание, 1878-1879 Принос за неговия обхват и резултати, за вътрешните и външнополитическите условия, при които избухва, протича и стихва. (Издателство на Българската Академия на науките. София, 1979) (Doyno Doynov. Kresna–Razlog uprising 1878-1879: On its scope and results, internal and external political circumstances in which it starts, continues, and ends. Sofia. 1979. Published by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
  • BULGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Institute of History Bulgarian Language Institute - MACEDONIA, DOCUMENTS AND MATERIALS. Sofia 1978
  • БАЛКАНСКИТЕ ДЪРЖАВИ И МАКЕДОНСКИЯТ ВЪПРОС - Антони Гиза.(превод от полски - Димитър Димитров, Македонски Научен Институт, София, 2001)
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