Preface-Kresna

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Preface One hundred years ago, on the 17th of October, 1878* Macedonian rebels attacked the Turkish garrison of 119 soldiers in the village of Kresna. The voivode, Stoyan Karastoilov from the village of Starchishta-Nevrokop region (today's Gotsé Delchev), and Dimitar Pop Georgiev from Berovo led the Macedonians through a nineteen-hour battle, winning, in the end, total victory. What remained of the Turkish army was taken prisoner. That was the beginning of the Macedonian uprising in 1878, known in history as the Kresna Uprising.

The "Macedonian Uprising," as the rebels themselves labeled their action, occurred toward the end of the "Eastern Crisis."

In essence, the Eastern Crisis was the escalating of national revolutionary movements appearing in the late 70s of the 19th century. In Bosnia-Hercegovina it was the Bosnia-Hercegovinian Uprising of 1875; in Bulgaria, "The April Uprising" of 1876; and in Macedonia, the much smaller Razlovtsi Uprising, also in 1876. The struggle of the Balkan peoples for freedom from centuries of Ottoman domination was reflected in the Ottoman Empire's strained international relations: the Serbo-Turkish conflict of 1876; and the Russo-Turkish wars of 1877 through 1878. The latter conflict was resolved, for the time being, by the signing of the San Stefano Peace Treaty on March 3, 1878. With Turkey defeated and weakened by internal strife, the Russian Czar was able to dictate the terms of the treaty. In an attempt to secure enduring access to the Aegean Sea, he created the new Bulgarian state on the Balkans. However, when the Western powers convened for the Congress of Berlin in July, 1878, the Russian hopes for creating a Greater Bulgaria on the Balkans were stymied.

In either case, the Macedonian people were treated as objects. Their efforts for national liberation did not even come into consideration by the great powers. The war experiences of other peoples taught the lesson that without one's own efforts, without one's own self-sacrifice, freedom could not be gained. Freedom is not something given; it must be fought for. Thus, wide-spread revolutionary movements developed throughout Macedonia before and after the Congress of Berlin. Such conditions spawned the "Macedonian Uprising" in Kresna. The aim of the rebels was to incite all of Macedonia. They fought against the decision of the Congress of Berlin which had simply reinstated the Ottoman reign. However, the Macedonian rebels did not fight for a return to the terms of the San Stefano Treaty, but rather for the liberation of Macedonia, for the creation of a Macedonian state, against Bulgarian designs on Macedonia.

The goals of the Kresna Uprising were: eradication of the feudal system; equal rights for all citizens before the law of the liberated Macedonian state, regardless of nationality and religious belief; cooperation and mutual assistance with the neighboring states of Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece; and mutual cooperation with the Albanian revolutionary movement.

Motivated by egoism, the Greater Bulgarian bourgeoisie applied fierce pressure to the Macedonian rebels, aiming to subjugate the Kresna Uprising. The epilogue was the unnecessary killing of the Uprising's most revered, most valiant man, voivode Stoyan Karastoilov. He had refused to submit to the tyranny of a foreign power. His death was a grievous loss to the Macedonians. It was political murder used as a means of punishing the recalcitrant, as a method of imposing foreign domination.

The Author

• According to the Old Style Calendar which was used at that time, the Kresna Uprising occurred on the 5th of October, 1878. (Translator's note).