Ilinden Uprising

Revolt against the Ottoman Empire in Southeastern Europe 1903

The Ilinden Uprising (Macedonian: Илинденско востание, Greek: Εξέγερση του Ίλιντεν, Bulgarian: Илинденско въстание) was an uprising organized by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization in the Ottoman Empire. The uprising was against Ottoman rule.[4]

Ilinden Uprising
Илинденско востание

Map of the Uprising
Date2 August 1903 - November 1903
Location
Result Suppression of the uprising[1]
Belligerents
MRO
SMAC
Kruševo Republic
Strandža Commune
 Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Strength
26,408 (IMRO figures)[1] 350,931[1]
Casualties and losses

MRO figures:[1]

  • 994 insurgents killed / wounded
  • 4,694 civilians killed
  • 3,122 girls and women raped
  • 176 girls and women abducted
  • 12,440 houses burned
  • 70,835 people left homeless
5,328 killed / wounded[1]

The uprising lasted from 2 August 1903 to November 1903. The name of the uprising comes from the Christian Orthodox holy day of Ilinden on which the revolt began. Ultimately the uprising was crushed by the better equipped and much larger Ottoman army. The casualties on both sides were small however a large number of people were made homeless, the majority of which number around 30,000 fled to Bulgaria.[5]

Provisional government was established in the town of Kruševo, where the insurgents proclaimed the Kruševo Republic, which was overrun after just ten days, on August 12.[6] On August 19, a closely related uprising organized by Thracian revolutionaries in the Adrianople Vilayet led to the liberation of a large area in the Strandža Mountains, and the creation of a provisional government in Vassiliko, the Strandža Republic. This lasted about twenty days before being put down by the Turks.[6] The insurrection also affected the vilayets of Kosovo and Salonika.

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Македония и Одринско 1893–1903. Мемоар на Вътрешната организация. [Macedonia and Adrianople Region 1893–1903. A Memoir of the Internal Organization.] (in Bulgarian). Sofia: Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization. 1904.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Perry, Duncan (1988). The Politics of Terror. The Macedonian Revolutionary Movements, 1893–1903. Durham and London: Duke University Press. p. 136. ISBN 0-8223-0813-4.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Adanir, Fikret (1979). Die Makedonische Frage. Ihre Entstehung und Entwicklung bis 1908 [The Macedonian Question. Its Genesis and Development Until 1908]. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 3-515-02914-1.
  4. Chisholm, Hugh (1910–1922). The Encyclopaedia Britannica : a dictionary of arts, sciences, literature and general information. Internet Archive. New York : Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  5. Македония и Одринско 1893–1903. Мемоар на Вътрешната организация. [Macedonia and Adrianople Region 1893–1903. A Memoir of the Internal Organization.] (in Bulgarian). Sofia: Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization. 1904.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Khadzhiev, Georgi (1992). "The Transfiguration Uprising and the 'Strandzha (in Bulgarian). Translated by Firth, Will. Sofia: Artizdat-5. pp. 99–148