Bulgarian propaganda Demographic history of Macedonia

ethnographic map of macedonia: point of view of bulgarians, author: v.kuncov



the regions of balkan peninsula inhabited ethnic bulgarians, bulgarian in 1912.

the bulgarian propaganda made comeback in 1890s regard both education , arms. @ turn of 20th century there 785 bulgarian schools in macedonia 1,250 teachers , 39,892 pupils. bulgarian exarchate held jurisdiction on 7 dioceses (skopje, debar, ohrid, bitola, nevrokop, veles , strumica), i.e., whole of vardar , pirin macedonia , of southern macedonia. bulgarian macedonian-adrianople revolutionary committee (bmarc), founded in 1893 guerilla organization established locals, developed wide network of committees , agents turning state within state in of macedonia. organization changed name on several occasions, settling imro in 1920. imro fought not against ottoman authorities, against pro-serbian , pro-greek parties in macedonia, terrorising population supporting them.

the failure of ilinden-preobrazhenie uprising in 1903 signified second weakening of bulgarian cause resulting in closure of schools , new wave of emigration bulgaria. imro weakened , number of serbian , greek guerilla groups in macedonia substantially increased. exarchate lost dioceses of skopje , debar serbian patriarchate in 1902 , 1910, respectively. despite this, bulgarian cause preserved dominant position in central , northern macedonia , strong in southern macedonia.

the independence of bulgaria in 1908 had same effect on bulgarian idea in macedonia independence of greece hellenic century earlier. consequences closure of schools, expelling of priests of bulgarian exarchate , emigration of majority of young macedonian intelligentsia. first emigration triggered constant trickle of macedonian-born refugees , emigrants bulgaria. number stood @ ca. 100,000 1912.