Editing Bitola (section)

===Ilinden Uprising===
[[File:Bitola.1914.jpg|thumb|Street in Bitola in 1914]]
[[File:Celebration of the Ilinen Uprising in Bitola in 1916 under Bulgarian occupation.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Celebration of the Ilinden Uprising in Bitola during the [[Bulgarian occupation of Serbia (World War I)|WWI Bulgarian occupation of Southern Serbia]].<ref>Илюстрация Илинден, София, октомври 1927, бр. 5, стр. 7-8. [https://www.strumski.com/books/Lyubomir_Miletich_Praznuvane_Ilinden_v_Bitola_1916.pdf Любомир Милетич, На Илинденско Тържество в Битоля (1916).]</ref>]]
The Bitola region was a stronghold of the [[Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising|Ilinden Uprising]]. The uprising was conceived in 1903 in Thessaloniki by the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] (IMRO).<ref>Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, Scarecrow Press, 2009, {{ISBN|0810862956}}, p. 82.</ref> The uprising in the Bitola region was planned in [[Smilevo]] village in May 1903. Battles were fought in the villages of Bistrica, Rakovo, Buf, Skocivir, Paralovo, Brod, Novaci, Smilevo, Gjavato, Capari and others. Smilevo was defended by 600 rebels led by [[Dame Gruev]] and [[Georgi Sugarev]]. They were defeated and the villages were burned.