Razlovci uprising

The insurgents' banner which states "Awaken to liberate you" (Bulgarian: СТАНЕТЕ ДА ВИ ОСВОБОДА, romanized: Stanete da vi osvoboda) and "Macedonia" (МАКЕДОНІЯ). It was made on the order of Berovski.

The Razlovci uprising (Bulgarian: Разловско въстание, romanized: Razlovsko vastanie; Macedonian: Разловечко востание, romanized: Razlovečko vostanie) was a Macedonian Bulgarian rebellion in the areas of Maleševo and Pijanec in Ottoman Macedonia.[1][2]

The work on its preparation began in late 1875 in Thessaloniki. A revolutionary group was created there, that took a decision to organize an anti-Ottoman insurrection. This group consisted of activists of the Association "Bulgarian Dawn".[3] The leader of the group was Dimitar Popgeorgiev - Berovski. In March 1876, Father Gennady, a courier of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee, met with the conspirators in Thessaloniki. He informed them of the preparations for the April Uprising, which was scheduled to break out in May.[4]

The preparations for the rebellion began in late 1875 in the village of Razlovci, guided by Dimitar Berovski and Stoyan Razlovski. Nedelya Petkova and her daughter sewed the flag of the uprising.[5] She also founded the society "Bulgarian dawn" which became the nucleus of the rebellion.[6] It was planned that the rebellion would cover Maleševo, Radoviš, Strumica, Petrich, Melnik and later the Osogovo. Due to betrayal, the planned for May Bulgarian uprising, broke out in late April and therefore it was subsequently called the April Uprising.

After its outbreak, a number of arrests were made by the Ottoman authorities in Razlovci area.[7] Because of this, the revolt broke out prematurely on May 7 (May 19 in Gregorian), in Razlovci. Two revolutionary bands of about 60 people got the village for a short time, and then the rebellion spread in Malеševo and Pijanec. However, the revolt was suppressed, and many of the rebels were killed or arrested. One of the chief organizers, priest Stoyan Razlovski, managed to withdraw to the Rila Monastery, where, to protect the monastic brotherhood, he committed suicide.[8] The survivors escaped into the Maleševo Mountains, but no further action was possible.[9]

According to Bulgarian historians, although the rebellion was prepared independently and had no direct organisational connection with the April Uprising, it is considered part of it.[1][3] This view is also supported by the Norwegian historian Vemund Aarbakke, per whom the Macedonian historians baseless challenge its Bulgarian character.[2] A distinct Macedonian national identity was not developed at that time, while the designation "Macedonian" had mostly a regional meaning.[10][11][12][13] According to Macedonian historians, the uprising had national and political goals - to intensify and turn the attention of European powers to bring diplomatic intervention on Macedonia's behalf.[14] Per academic Blaže Ristovski, the uprising had a Macedonian national-liberation character and was connected with April Uprising and Herzegovina Uprising and some of the Great Powers.[15] According to the leader Dimitar Popgeorgiev, the rebellion was organised to provide support for the Herzegovina Uprising.[16][17]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Славе Гоцев. „Национално-революционни борби в Малешево и Пиянец 1860–1912“, Издателство на Отечествения фронт София, 1988, стр.66–80
  2. 1 2 At the time of the Russo-Turkish war and in connection with the Berlin Peace Treaty several significant events took place on the local level. The Bulgarian April uprising in 1876, that was the prelude to the Russo-Turkish war, also spread into Macedonia at Razlovtsi in east Macedonia, but the uprising was unsuccessful and soon suppressed by the Ottoman authorities... Macedonian historians naturally challenge the unity of the Bulgarian people. They stress the local character of an uprising...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 see: Ethnic rivalry and the quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913, Vemund Aarbakke, East European Monographs, 2003, ISBN 0880335270, pp. 54; 57-58.
  3. 1 2 Исторически записки по първото македонско въстание през 1876 г. Коте Попстоянов, Д. Дойнов, стр. 15–20.
  4. ↑ Коте Попстоянов, Тридесет години назад, Исторически записки по първото македонско въстание през 1876 г. (Съставител Бойко Киряков, Издателство на Отечествения Фронт, София, 1988) "Дневници и спомени за българската история", стр. 45.
  5. ↑ For Freedom and Perfection: The Life of Yané Sandansky, Mercia MacDermott, Journeyman Press, 1988, ISBN 1-851720-14-6, p. 10.
  6. ↑ Енциклопедия. Българската възрожденска интелигенция. Учители, свещеници, монаси, висши духовници, художници, лекари, аптекари, писатели, издатели, книжари, търговци, военни... София, ДИ „Д-р Петър Берон“, 1988. с. 47, 57, 501.
  7. ↑ Антони Гиза. „Балканските държави и македонският въпрос“, Македонски Научен Институт, София, 2001.
  8. ↑ Енциклопедия. Българската възрожденска интелигенция. Учители, свещеници, монаси, висши духовници, художници, лекари, аптекари, писатели, издатели, книжари, търговци, военни... София, ДИ „Д-р Петър Берон“, 1988. с. 565.
  9. ↑ Freedom or death, the life of Gotsé Delchev, Mercia MacDermott, Journeyman Press, 1978, ISBN 0-904526-32-1, pp. 41-42.
  10. ↑ Tchavdar Marinov (2009). "We, the Macedonians: The Paths of Macedonian. Supra-Nationalism (1878-1912)". In Diana Mishkova (ed.). We, the People: Politics of National Peculiarity in Southeastern Europe. Central European University Press. pp. 131–132. ISBN 9786155211669. 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.
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ↑ Danforth, Loring M. (10 November 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.
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. ↑ Macedonia and Its Relations with Greece. 1993. p. 49.
  15. ↑ Ristovski, Blaže (1999). Историја на македонската нација. Macedonian Academy of Sciences. p. 43.
  16. ↑ Димитър Попгеоргиев Беровски (Живот и Дело) (PDF) (in Bulgarian). Sofia. 1986. pp. 130–133. Известията за херцеговските акции, движението на турските войски и моето положение станаха за мене еднакво непоносими. От ден на ден нетърпеливостта в мен растеше и в декември 1875 г. реших да организирам въстание в Македония, с което търсех да се даде помощ на Херцеговското въстание... [The news of the Herzegovinian actions, the movement of the Turkish troops and my own situation became equally unbearable for me. Day by day my impatience grew and in December 1875 I decided to organize an uprising in Macedonia, with which I sought to provide assistance to the Herzegovinian uprising...]{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. ↑ Ljape, Ljuben (1976). Razlovečkoto vostanie od 1876 godina i ličnosta na negoviot organizator Dimitar Pop Georgiev Berovski (in Macedonian). Skopje: Institute for National History. pp. 64–67.
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