Macedonia and the Macedonians

In Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History, Andrew Rossos gives us a detailed, if at times less than perfect, history of the Macedonian people and nation. The Macedonian people have been pushed around by competing powers since the days of the Romans, and Rossos does an admirable job of reconstructing the centuries from a pro-Macedonian perspective.  Clearly a Macedonian nationalist committed to the dream of “greater Macedonia,” he goes out of his way to explain away any ethnic intrusions that might disrupt his narrative.  The simplicity of his explanations is often matter-of-fact, but the frequent repetition of complaints against the Bulgarians, Greeks and Serbs raises the specter of “thou protesteth too much.”  Perhaps his cause would have been better served by acknowledgment of some of the difficulties of his case, rather than ignoring the claims of other parties or dismissing them as indefensible.

The book is divided into four parts describing Macedonian history from its earliest years to Ottoman Rule (c. 600 BCE – 1800 CE), national awakening (1800 – 1913), twentieth century partitioning and confusion  (1913 – 1940), and history since WWII (1940 – present), with an emphasis on 20^th century politics and the emergence of the Macedonian state.  This is truly a political history, with only the briefest nod to culture towards the end of the book.

Anyone who has mentioned the word “Macedonian” to a Greek knows why Rossos is so militant.  The Greeks exhibit an irrational state of denial about any ethnic distinction between the two peoples.  Some chalk that up to national pride, others to fear of separatist elements stoking civil war in Aegean Macedonia.  Certainly one could point to Rossos as evidence to support the latter.  In the epilogue, however, Rossos seems to recognize the impossibility of greater Macedonia as a united and independent nation, demanding only “acceptance… of a Macedonian identity, nation and state and of Macedonian national minorities.” A measured, realistic, and less parochial approach would help achieve that end.

Reviewed by Bob Faber

Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History

By Andrew Rossos

Table of Contents:

Abbreviations

List of Maps

Preface

Land and People at the Crossroads

• Land
• People

PART ONE — FROM ARGEAD KINGDOM TO OTTOMAN VILAYETS (600BC-c. AD 1800)

From Argeads to Huns (600 BCE-c. 600 CE)

• The Early Kingdom (c. 600-359 BCE)
• Expansion and Empire (359-323 BCE)
• Division and Decline (323-168 BCE)
• Roman and Byzantine Rule, Goths, and Huns (168 BCE-c. 600 CE))

Medieval, Slavic Macedonia  (c. 600-c. 1400)

• The Byzantine Commonwealth
• The Slavic Invasions
• Macedonia (c. 600-c. 850)
• Bulgarian Rule (864-971)
• Tsar Samuil’s Macedonian Empire (971-1018)
• Macedonia: Cradle of Slav Orthodox Culture
• Byzantine Rule and Chaos (1018-c. 1400)

Ottoman Rule (c. 1400-c. 1800)

• The Ottoman Administration and the Orthodox Millet
• Ottoman Expansion and Decline
• Ottoman Decline and the Balkans (c. 1600-c. 1800)
• Macedonia: Ethnic Transformation, Resistance, Anarchy, and Cultural Stagnation

PART TWO — NATIONAL AWAKENING (c. 1800-1913)

Ottoman Reform and Decline (c. 1800-1908)

• Macedonian Growth and Decline (1800-1870)
• Propaganda War for Macedonia (1870-1900)

National Awakening and National Identity (1814-1913)

• Historiography
• Early Macedonian Nationalism (to 1870)
• Paths to Nationhood (1870-1913)

The VMRO and Ilinden (1893-1903)

• The VMRO (1893-1903)
• Ilinden

PART THREE — STRANGERS IN THEIR HOMELAND (1913-1940)

Decline and Partition (1903-1919)

• The VMRO’s Decline and Split (1903-1908)
• Intervention, Wars, and Partition (1903-1913)
• Sequel: The Great War and the Peace Settlement

Macedonia in Three Parts (1920s and 1930s)

• Partition and Assimilation
• Yugoslav (Vardar) Macedonia
• Greek (Aegean) Macedonia
• Bulgarian (Pirin) Macedonia
• Macedonianism  Survives

Macedonian Nationalism: From Right to Left (1920s and 1930s)

• Unification Aborted (1924)
• The VMRO and Macedonian Nationalism on the Right
• VMRO (ob.):  Macedonian Nationalism on the Left

PART FOUR — STATEHOOD AND INDEPENDENCE

(DURING AND AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR)

War and Revolution (1940-1949)

• A New Partition (1941-1944)
• Hostile Neutrality and Beyond (1941-1944)
• Toward a Yugoslav Republic (1941-1944)
• Greek and Bulgarian Macedonia (1941-1944)
• Macedonians in a New Balkans (1944-1949)

Yugoslav Macedonia: Politics and Government (1944-1991)

• Yugoslavia’s New Dispensation (1944-1948)
• Macedonia: Putting Dreams on Ice (1945-1948)
• Yugoslav Communism (1948-1991)
• Macedonia: A Junior Partner (1943-1991)

Economics, Culture, Minorities (1944-1991)

• The Economy: Agriculture and Industry
• Culture: Language, Education and the Arts
• National Minorities

Independent Republic (1991-2004)

• Setting Up an Independent Republic
• Seeking Foreign Recognition (1991-1995)
• Politics in the 1990s: From Left to Right
• Economic Problems
• Macedonian-Albanian Relations

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Bibliographical entry:

Rossos, Andrew.  Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History.  Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 2008.