Macedonian Struggle - Background

Background

Since the creation of the modern Greek state in 1830, the Megali Idea, an irredentist concept of Greek nationalism, dominated Greek politics. The Megali Idea project called for the annexation of all ethnic Greek lands, including Macedonia, parts of which had participated in the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s, were unsuccessful and remained under foreign rule. There was a rebellion in 1854 aiming to unite Macedonia with Greece, but it failed.

As Ottoman rule in the Balkans crumbled in the late 19th century, competition arose between Greeks and Bulgarians (and to a lesser extent also other ethnic groups such as Serbs, Aromanians and Albanians) over the multiethnic region of Macedonia. The defeat of Greece in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 was a loss that appalled Greeks. The Ethniki Eteria was dissolved by Prime Minister Theotokis. In order to strengthen Greek efforts for Macedonia, the Makedoniko Komitato (Μακεδονικό Κομιτάτο, meaning "Macedonian Committee") was formed in 1903, under the leadership of wealthy publisher Dimitrios Kalapothakis; its members included Ion Dragoumis and Pavlos Melas.

Read more about this topic:  Macedonian Struggle

Famous quotes containing the word background:

    Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.
    Emma Goldman (1869–1940)