Editing Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising

{{Short description|Anti-Ottoman revolt in the Balkans (1903)}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising
| width             = 
| partof            = 
| image             = Ilinden-Preobrazhenie-Krastovden-Rhodope Uprising.PNG
| image_size        = 324px
| caption           = Map of the uprising in the regions of Macedonia and Thrace, with contemporary Ottoman frontiers and present-day borders
| date              = August 2, 1903 – October 1903
| place             = [[Ottoman Empire]]
*[[Manastir vilayet]]
*[[Salonica vilayet]]
*[[Kosovo vilayet]]
*[[Adrianople vilayet]]
| coordinates       = 
| map_type          = 
| map_relief        = 
| latitude          = 
| longitude         = 
| map_size          = 
| map_marksize      = 
| map_caption       = 
| map_label         = 
| territory         = 
| result            = Ottoman victory
| status            = 
| combatants_header = 
| combatant1        = {{flagicon image|Flag of the IMRO.svg}} [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization|IMARO]]<br>[[File:SMAC Seal2.JPG|25px]] [[Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee|SMAC]]<br>[[File:Flag of the Kruševo Republic.svg|25px]] [[Kruševo Republic]]<br>[[File:Strandzha Commune.svg|25px]] [[Strandzha Commune]]
| combatant2        = {{flag|Ottoman Empire}}
| combatant3        = 
| commander1        = {{Plainlist|
* [[Dame Gruev]]<ref name="DPerry">{{cite book|title=The Politics of Terror. The Macedonian Revolutionary Movements, 1893–1903|last=Perry|first=Duncan|publisher=Duke University Press|date=1988|place=Durham and London|isbn=0-8223-0813-4|page=136}}</ref>
* [[Boris Sarafov]]<ref name="DPerry"/>
* [[Nikola Karev]]<ref name="FAdanir">{{cite book|title=Die Makedonische Frage. Ihre Entstehung und Entwicklung bis 1908 |last=Adanir |first=Fikret |trans-title=The Macedonian Question. Its Genesis and Development Until 1908 |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |place=Wiesbaden |year=1979 |isbn=3-515-02914-1}}</ref>
* [[Georgi Sugarev]]<ref name="FAdanir"/>
* [[Yane Sandanski]]
* [[Mihail Gerdzhikov]]
* [[Lazar Madzharov]]
* [[Stamat Ikonomov]]
* [[Ivan Tsonchev]] (SMAC)
}}
| commander2        = * [[Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha]]<ref name="DPerry"/>
* Omer Ruchidi Pasha<ref name="DPerry"/>
| commander3        = 
| units1            = 
| units2            = 
| units3            = 
| strength1         = 26,408 (IMARO figures)<ref name="IMARO_memoir">{{cite book|title=[[:File:Makedonija-i-Odrinsko-1893-1903.pdf|Македония и Одринско 1893–1903. Мемоар на Вътрешната организация.]] |trans-title=Macedonia and Adrianople Region 1893–1903. A Memoir of the Internal Organization.| publisher=[[IMARO|Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization]] |language=bg |year=1904 |place=Sofia}}</ref>
| strength2         = 350,931 (IMARO figures)<ref name="IMARO_memoir"/>
| strength3         = 
| casualties1       = IMARO figures:<ref name="IMARO_memoir"/> {{Plainlist|
* 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
}}
| casualties2       = 5,328 killed / wounded (IMARO figures)<ref name="IMARO_memoir"/>
| casualties3       = 
| notes             = 
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Bulgarian–Ottoman wars}}{{Campaignbox Early IMRO Activity}}
}}
{{History of North Macedonia}}
{{History of Bulgaria}}

The '''Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising''' ({{langx|bg|Илинденско-Преображенско въстание|Ilindensko-Preobrazhensko vastanie}}), consisting of the '''Ilinden Uprising''' ({{langx|mk|Илинденско востание|Ilindensko vostanie}}; {{langx|el|Εξέγερση του Ίλιντεν|Exégersi tou Ílinden}}) and '''Preobrazhenie Uprising''',<ref>Crampton, Richard J. (2005). A Concise History of Bulgaria. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|9781139448239}}. p. 128.</ref><ref>Ivo Banac (1984). [https://books.google.mk/books?id=KfqbujXqQBkC&pg=PA316''The National Question in Yugoslavia. Origins, History, Politics''], Cornell University Press, p. 316. {{ISBN|0801494931}}.</ref><ref name="Keith Brown">Keith Brown (2013). Loyal Unto Death Trust and Terror in Revolutionary Macedonia. Indiana University Press. pp. 15-18. {{ISBN|9780253008473}}.</ref> was an organized revolt against the [[Ottoman Empire]], which was prepared and carried out by the [[Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization]], with the support of the [[Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee]], which included mostly [[Bulgarian military]] personnel.<ref>Victor. Roudometof, The Macedonian Question From Conflict to Cooperation? in Constantine Panos Danopoulos, Dhirendra K. Vajpeyi, Amir Bar-Or as ed., Civil-military Relations, Nation Building, and National Identity: Comparative Perspectives, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004, {{ISBN|0275979237}}, p. 216.</ref> The name of the uprising refers to ''Ilinden'', a name for [[Elijah#Prophet saint|Elijah's day]], and to ''Preobrazhenie'' which means [[Feast of the Transfiguration]]. The revolt lasted from the beginning of August to the end of October.

The rebellion in the region of [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]] affected the [[Manastir vilayet]], supported by [[Macedonian Bulgarian]] revolutionaries, and to some extent by the [[Aromanians|Aromanian]] population of the region. A 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.<ref name="Khadzhiev1992">{{Cite book |last1=Khadzhiev |first1=Georgi |translator1-last=Firth |translator1-first=Will |chapter=The Transfiguration Uprising and the 'Strandzha Commune': The First Libertarian Commune in Bulgaria |title=Националното освобождение и безвластният федерализъм |trans-title=National Liberation and Libertarian Federalism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DDFOAQAAIAAJ |language=bg |pages=99–148 |date=1992 |publisher=Artizdat-5 |location=Sofia |chapter-url=http://www.savanne.ch/tusovka/en/will-firth/bulgaria.html#strandzha |oclc=27030696 }}</ref> On August 19, a closely related uprising organized by [[Thracian Bulgarian]] revolutionaries in the [[Adrianople vilayet]] led to the liberation of a large area in the [[Strandzha Mountains]], and the creation of a provisional government in [[Tsarevo|Vassiliko]], the ''[[Strandzha Republic]]''. This lasted about twenty days before being put down by the Ottomans.<ref name=Khadzhiev1992/> The insurrection also affected the vilayets of Kosovo and Salonica. In practice, this uprising was designed as a belated replica of the Bulgarian [[April Uprising of 1876]], which finished disastrously, but which the national narrative had transformed into the culmination of the anti-Ottoman struggle.<ref>''Bulgaria's national activists who were devoted to the Macedonian cause became convinced that Macedonian society was reproducing , with a time lag of thirty to forty years, the entire Bulgarian evolution of [[Bulgarian National Revival|Vazrazhdane]]... They would go so far as to imitate the Bulgarian uprising of 1876 (the April uprising), which was disastrous, but which national discourse had transformed into the culmination of the revolutionary movement. They organized their own uprising in 1903 in Macedonia (the Ilinden Uprising), which was just as disastrous. The model was replicated so faithfully that in 1903 it included a revival of the absurd [[Cherry cannon|cannons made out of cherrywood]] that were used in 1876.'' For more see: Bernard Lory, The Ottoman Legacy in the Balkans. In: Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume Three. Brill, {{ISBN|9789004290365}}, pp. 380–381.</ref>

By the time the rebellion had started, many of its most promising potential leaders, including [[Ivan Garvanov]] and [[Gotse Delchev]], had already been arrested or killed by the Ottomans. Towards the end of the uprising there was an attempt to convince the Bulgarian government to send the army against the Ottomans, but the government was pressured by the Great Powers to refrain from military intervention. The revolutionaries managed to maintain a guerrilla campaign against the Ottomans for almost three months, but the uprising was suppressed. This was followed by a mass wave of refugees from the regions of Macedonia and Thrace, mostly to Bulgaria, but also to the United States and Canada. Its greater effect was that it persuaded the European powers to attempt to convince the Ottoman sultan that he must take a more [[Mürzsteg Agreement|conciliatory attitude]] toward his [[Christianity|Christian]] subjects in Europe.<ref>Akhund, Nadine (2009). "Muslim Representation in the Three Ottoman vilayets of Macedonia: Administration and Military Power (1878–1908)". Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. 29 (4): 443–454.</ref> Through bilateral agreement, signed in 1904, Bulgaria committed not to support the revolutionary movement, while the Ottomans undertook to implement the [[Mürzsteg Agreement|Mürzsteg Reforms]], however neither happened.

The uprising is celebrated in both Bulgaria and North Macedonia as the peak of their nations' struggle against the Ottoman rule and thus its legacy has been disputed between both countries. While in Bulgaria it is considered as a general rebellion prepared by the joint revolutionary organization of the [[Bulgarian Millet|Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire]], with a common goal [[autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions]], in North Macedonia it is assumed that there were in fact two separate uprisings. Calls for common celebrations, especially from the Bulgarian side, did little to change this state of affairs.

==Prelude==
[[File:General Ivan Tsonchev Revolutionary Band.jpg|thumb|right|300px|alt=General Tsonchev's ''Supreme Committee's ''band|General [[Ivan Tsonchev]]'s Supreme Committee's band]]
[[File:Adrianople voevodi of IMARO.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Voivode]]s in [[Adrianople vilayet]] before the uprising.]]
The competition for control between national groups took place largely via of [[Slavic speakers in Ottoman Macedonia#National antagonisms|propaganda campaigns]] in the [[Ottoman Empire]], aimed at winning over the local population, and conducted largely through churches and schools. Various groups were also supported by the local population and the three competing governments.<ref name=Jelavich1983>{{Cite book
| title = History of the Balkans
| volume = 2
| first = B.
| last = Jelavich
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| year = 1983
| isbn = 0-521-25448-5
| url-access = registration
| url = https://archive.org/details/historyofbalkans0000jela| pages = 92–93
}}</ref>

The [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization|Internal Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Organization]] (IMARO) was founded in [[Thessaloniki]] in 1893. The group had a number of name changes prior to and subsequent to the uprising. It was predominantly Bulgarian and supported an idea for [[autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions]] within the Ottoman state with a motto of "[[Macedonia for the Macedonians]]".<ref name=Jelavich1983/> IMARO's inspiration certainly belonged to the nineteenth-century [[Balkan]] practice whereby the powers maintained the fiction of Ottoman control over effectively independent states under the guise of autonomous status within the Ottoman state; (Serbia, 1829–1878; Romania, 1829–1878; Bulgaria, 1878–1908). ''Autonomy, in other words, was as good as independence.'' Moreover, from the Macedonian perspective, the goal of independence by autonomy had another advantage. More important, IMARO was aware that neither [[Serbia]] nor [[Greece]] could expect to obtain the whole of Macedonia and, unlike Bulgaria, they both looked forward to and urged partition. Autonomy, then, was the best prophylactic against partition, that would unite the [[Macedonian (obsolete terminology)|multi-ethnic Macedonian population]]. However, the idea of Macedonian autonomy was strictly political and did not imply a secession from Bulgarian ethnicity.<ref name="ib">{{cite book |author=Ivo Banac |title=The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics |date=2015 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=9781501701931 |pages=314–316}}</ref>

The [[Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee]] (SMAC) was a group formed in 1895 in [[Sofia]], Bulgaria, which enjoyed the covert but close cooperation with the Bulgarian government. The members of this group were called the ''Supremists'', and advocated annexation of the region by Bulgaria.<ref name=Jelavich1977>{{Cite book
| title = The Establishment of the Balkan National States, 1804–1920
| first1 = C.
| last1 = Jelavich
| first2 = B.
| last2 = Jelavich
| year = 1977
| publisher = University of Washington Press
| isbn = 0-295-95444-2
| url = https://archive.org/details/establishmentof00char| pages = 210–213, 220–221
}}</ref> The two groups had different strategies. IMARO sought to prepare a carefully planned uprising in the future,<ref name=Jelavich1977 /> but the Supremists preferred immediate raids and guerilla operations to foster disorder and a precipitate intervention from the Great Powers.<ref name="Crampton2005">{{Cite book
| title = A Concise History of Bulgaria
| first = R.J. | last = Crampton
| edition = 2nd
| year = 2005
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| isbn = 9781139448239
| pages = 126–127}}</ref> A leader of IMARO, [[Gotse Delchev]], was a strong advocate for proceeding slowly. SMAC urged a speedy uprising although they had little faith in the internal movement.<ref name="ib" /> Their president [[Danail Nikolaev]] thought that IMARO's idea for a peasant uprising was unreal and perceived Delchev as a "brash youngster". Nikolaev thought that for the struggle to succeed, trained soldiers were needed and also clandestine aid and finance of the Bulgarian government.<ref name= "Palairet 2016">{{cite book|title=Macedonia: A Voyage through History (Vol. 2, from the Fifteenth Century to the Present) | isbn=978-1-4438-8849-3 | last1=Palairet | first1=Michael | date=2016 | publisher=Cambridge Scholars|pages= 133–159}}</ref>

On the other hand, a smaller group of conservatives in [[Thessaloniki]] organized a [[Bulgarian Secret Revolutionary Brotherhood]] (''Balgarsko Tayno Revolyutsionno Bratstvo''). The latter was incorporated in IMARO by 1900 and its members as [[Ivan Garvanov]], were to exert a significant influence on the organization. They were to push for the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising and later became the core of IMARO's right-wing faction.<ref>Революционното братство е създадено в противовес на вътрешната организация от еволюционистите. Уставът му носи дата март 1897 г. и е подписан с псевдонимите на 12 членове – основатели. Братството създава свои организации на някои места в Македония и Одринско и влиза в остър конфликт с вътрешната организация, но през 1899–1900 г. се постига помирение и то се присъединява към нея – Христо Караманджуков, "Родопа през Илинденско-Преображенското въстание" (Изд. на Отечествения Фронт, София, 1986), p. 100.</ref> In 1899, Garvanov developed a friendship with Supremists' new leader [[Boris Sarafov]], through which Garvanov managed to come to eminence in IMARO. Despite the mutual hostility, in this period IMARO and the Supremists collaborated and with Sarafov's help Garvanov and some of the Supremists became members of the IMARO's central committee in Thessaloniki.

At the beginning of 1901, the arrested IMARO member Milan Mihaylov, who previously was a member of SMAC, revealed the names of other IMARO activists. As a result, a series of arrests were conducted, which would become known as the [[Salonica affair]]. Consequently many of the leaders of IMARO were arrested by the Ottomans, including the Central Committee members, others like Delchev took refuge in Bulgaria. In panic that IMARO would collapse, the Central Committee member [[Ivan Hadzhinikolov]], before his arrest, gave the archive and accounts to Garvanov. In this way Garvanov took control of the Central Committee and became its leader. Allegedly the imprisoned IMARO leaders were betrayed by Garvanov in order for him to seize control, thus in the following period the Central Committee was a tool of Garvanov and the Supremists, and plans for the uprising began.<ref name= "Palairet 2016"/> From January 15 to 17, 1903, Garvanov held an IMARO congress in Thessaloniki in order to promote the idea for an uprising that spring.<ref name="va" /> The representative of the [[Serres revolutionary district]] was firmly against, however to gain a positive answer, the participation at the congress was cautiously selected. After heated discussions, all the delegates present signed the protocol with an opinion on starting an uprising.<ref name="Palairet 2016" /><ref name="db">{{cite book |author=Dimitar Bechev |date=2019 |title=Historical Dictionary of North Macedonia |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |pages=141–143 |isbn=1538119625}}</ref> During this period, [[Racho Petrov]]'s Bulgarian government supported IMARO's position that the rebellion was entirely internal. As well as Petrov's personal warning to Delchev in January 1903 to delay or even cancel the rebellion, the government sent out a [[circular note]] to its diplomatic representatives in [[Thessaloniki]], [[Bitola]] and [[Edirne]], advising the population not to succumb to pro-rebellion propaganda, as "Bulgaria was not ready to support it".<ref>[http://www.macedonia-science.org/news.php?extend.546The The Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising of 1903, Dedicated to the 105th. anniversary from the events, Professor Dimitar Gotsev – Macedonian Scientific Institute.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081030074715/http://www.macedonia-science.org/news.php?extend.546The |date=2008-10-30}}</ref> Also, the IMARO was warned by the Minister of War [[Mihail Savov]], that the uprising must be postponed until May 1904, by which time the Bulgarian Army would be ready for military intervention.<ref>Писма между ЦК на ВМОРО и Михаил Савов, в: Билярски, Цочо. Вътрешната македоно-одринска революционна организация (1893 – 1919 г.) – Документи на централните ръководни органи, Том I, Част I, УИ „Св. Климент Охридски“, София, 2007, стр.285 – 286</ref> Prior to the uprising, the Bulgarian government had been required to outlaw the Macedonian rebel groups and sought the arrest of its leaders. This was a condition of diplomacy with Russia.<ref name="Crampton2005" />

The decision to start an uprising was final, but Garvanov wanted to discuss it with the other top people of the organization, therefore, in mid-January, he arrived in Sofia. There, the decision on starting an uprising was discussed with Gotse Delchev, [[Gyorche Petrov]], [[Pere Toshev]], [[Hristo Matov]], [[Hristo Tatarchev]], [[Mihail Gerdzhikov]], and others. It became clear that among the top people of the organization there was no unanimity on this issue, but eventually everyone accepted the idea.<ref name="mm">{{cite book |author=Mercia MacDermott |date=1978 |title=Freedom or Death&nbsp;– The Life of Gotsé Delchev |url=https://macedonia.kroraina.com/en/mm_gd/index.htm |location=London |publisher=Journeyman Press |pages=328–330, 368–369, 372–378}}</ref> However, Delchev remained strongly at the position that they were not ready, he went to the [[Serres]] region where he met with [[Yane Sandanski]] who shared his view. Later he went to Thessaloniki for a meeting with [[Dame Gruev]], who Delchev hoped that as a "heart of the organization" would argue for the postponement of the uprising, but Gruev wanted it to proceed and defended the moral inspiration of the decision.<ref name= "Palairet 2016"/> In late April 1903, a group of young anarchists from the Gemidzhii Circle – graduates from the [[Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki]] launched a campaign of terror bombing, the so-called [[Thessaloniki bombings of 1903]]. Their aim was to attract the attention of the Great Powers to Ottoman oppression in Macedonia and Eastern Thrace. The attacks were followed by reprisals by the Ottoman army and bashibozouks (irregulars) in the countryside, and more IMARO members were arrested.<ref name="va">{{cite book |author=Vemund Aarbakke |title=Ethnic Rivalry and the Quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913 |publisher=East European Monographs |date=2003 |isbn=0880335270 |pages=81, 107–116, 119–120}}</ref><ref name="iy">{{cite book |author=İpek Yosmaoğlu |date=2013 |title=Blood Ties: Religion, Violence and the Politics of Nationhood in Ottoman Macedonia, 1878–1908 |publisher=Cornell University Press |pages=34–36, 39, 62, 249 |isbn=978-0801469794}}</ref> Delchev himself was killed by the Ottomans in May 1903.<ref name= "Palairet 2016"/>

The congress of [[Smilevo]] took place from May 2 to 7, 1903. The decision from January to stage an uprising was debated.<ref name="va" /> 50 delegates, representing eight revolutionary districts, participated in the sessions of the congress. The delegates decided that Ottoman buildings should be occupied, the means of communication (roads, telegraphs) should be paralyzed, etc. The [[Manastir vilayet]], which was best prepared, was chosen as the center of the uprising. The congress ordered the formation of chetas consisting of 30 to 50 revolutionaries.<ref name="nla">{{cite book |author=Nadine Lange-Akhund |title=The Macedonian Question, 1893-1908, from Western Sources |date=1998 |publisher=East European Monographs |isbn=9780880333832 |pages=45, 47}}</ref> The Bitola revolutionary region was split into districts, each headed by a [[voivode]]. A General Staff consisting of Dame Gruev, Boris Sarafov and Anastas Lozanchev, was elected. The General Staff made the decision that preparation for the uprising had to be finished by the end of May. There were setbacks during the preparations because in the kaza of Kastoria the Patriarchists under the leadership of the metropolitan, [[Germanos Karavangelis]], had formed an anti-Bulgarian front.<ref name="va" /> In all revolutionary districts, the voidoves organized the storage of supplies which were hidden in the mountains. Medicines were bought from cities. Participants had to take a course of military training. During May, Gruev and Sarafov, accompanied by chetas, visited the Monastir vilayet to verify that all their instructions (such as storage of supplies) were being followed.<ref name="nla" /> The General Staff set August 2, Elijah's day (July 20 in the [[Julian calendar]]), as the date of the uprising. On July 11 (June 28 in the Julian calendar), 1903, a congress was held in [[Petrova Niva]]. 47 delegates, which were guarded by several hundred men, participated in the sessions for four days. They decided to revolt in Adrianople on August 19 (August 6 in the Julian calendar), on the [[feast of the Transfiguration]].<ref name="mm" />

Garvanov, himself, was arrested by the Ottomans.<ref name="Palairet 2016" /> The aim of the uprising was to cause the Great Powers to intervene and to gain [[Autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions|autonomy for the regions of Macedonia and Adrianople]].<ref name="db" /> Old Russian [[Berdan rifle|Berdan]] and [[Krnka]] rifles as well as [[Mannlicher M1895|Mannlichers]] were supplied from Bulgaria to Skopje following the demand for higher rates of fire by Bulgarian army officer [[Boris Sarafov]].<ref name="lod">{{cite book |author=Keith Brown |date=2013 |title=Loyal Unto Death: Trust and Terror in Revolutionary Macedonia |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=9780253008473 |pages=4–5, 8, 15–18, 35, 53, 148}}</ref> In his memoir, Sarafov wrote that the main source of funds for the purchase of the weapons from the Bulgarian army came from the funds of the [[Miss Stone Affair|kidnapping of Miss Stone]], as well as from contacts in Europe.<ref>{{Cite book|last=and Basevski|first=Nikolov|title=Spomeni na Dame Gruev, Boris Sarafov and Ivan Garvanov|publisher=Press P. Glushkoz|year=1927|location=Sofia|pages=146, 153}}</ref> Many Mauser rifles were gained from killed Ottoman soldiers as well.<ref name="nla" />

==Ilinden Uprising==
[[File:Klisura ilinden.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Unified [[chetas]] during the capture of Kleisoura.]]
[[File:Ohrid Banner1.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The banner of the insurgents from [[Ohrid]] with [[Bulgarian flag]] on it and the inscription [[Свобода или смърть]] ( "Freedom or Death")]]
[[File:Krushevo voivodi 1903 IMARO.JPG|thumb|200px|right|The [[Forest Staff of the Krushevo Revolutionary Region|Kruševo headquarters]], among them are [[Nikola Karev]], [[Todor Hristov (officer)|Todor Hristov]] and [[Antinogen Hadzhov]] (second, fourth and fifth from right to left in the down row).]]
On July 28, in the Bitola revolutionary region, instructions and proclamations for the people were sent to the voivodes.<ref name="mm" /> The uprising began on August 2,<ref name="mq">{{cite book |title=The Macedonian Question: Culture, Historiography, Politics |date=2000 |pages=143, 150 |publisher=East European Monographs |editor=Victor Roudometof |isbn=9780880334518}}</ref> in the [[Manastir vilayet]].<ref name="nla" /><ref name="bulg">{{cite book |title=Bulgaria |isbn=9780198205142 |date=2007 |publisher=OUP Oxford |author=Richard J. Crampton |pages=167–168}}</ref> The uprising was chosen in the Manastir vilayet allegedly because it was located the farthest from [[Bulgaria]], attempting to showcase to the [[Great powers of Europe|Great Powers]] that the uprising was purely of a Macedonian character and phenomenon.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Perry|first=Duncan M.|date=1980|title=Death of a Russian Consul: Macedonia 1903|journal=Russian History|volume=7|issue=1|page=204|doi=10.1163/187633180x00139|issn=0094-288X|quote=The long-awaited revolt began at dusk on Sunday, 2 August 1903, Saint Elijah's Day{{snd}}or Ilinden. The insurrection was confined to Bitola Vilayet because, according to one source, it was farthest from Bulgaria, a factor designed to show the Great Powers that the revolt was purely a Macedonian phenomenon.}}</ref> Per one of the founders of IMARO – [[Petar Poparsov]], the idea to keep distance from Bulgaria, was because any suspicion of its interference could harm both sides: Bulgaria and the organization.<ref>Тодор Петров, Цочо Билярски, Вътрешната македоно-одринска революционна организация през погледа на нейните основатели; Военно издателство; София, 2002, {{ISBN|954-509-233-5}} стр. 205.</ref> The telegraph lines to Bitola were cut. The Bulgarians announced the beginning of the uprising by setting the haystacks of Muslim peasants on fire in the villages near Bitola. On the day of the uprising the town of [[Smilevo]] and became the headquarters. An attack on Resen failed.<ref name="va" /> That night and early the next morning, the town of [[Kruševo]] was attacked and captured by 800 rebels who were led by the locals [[Nikola Karev]] and [[Pitu Guli]].<ref name="mm" /><ref name="nla" /> The insurgents set the administrative offices on fire. 12 government officials were killed, along with Patriarchists who were accused of being Ottoman spies.<ref name="Palairet 2016" /> Most of the soldiers of the small garrison, consisting of almost 60 men, were captured or killed. After their victory, the insurgents raised the flag of IMARO, bearing a cross on one side and the other side had the slogan "[[Svoboda ili smart|Freedom or Death]]."<ref name="nla" /> On August 3, the telephone communications were cut in the kazas of Monastir, Ohrid, Prilep, Kastoria and Florina. The insurgents several times attempted to blow up the railroad which passed through Bitola and compelled the authorities to place a military guard along the railroad.<ref name="nla" /> On August 4, under the leadership of Karev, a local administration called ''[[Kruševo Republic]]'' had been set up. That same day and the next, Ottoman troops made unsuccessful attempts to retake Kruševo.<ref name="Khadzhiev1992" /><ref name="hp">{{cite book |title=Who are the Macedonians? |date=2000 |author=Hugh Poulton |isbn=9781850655343 |edition=2nd |pages=57, 147 |publisher=C. Hurst & Co.}}</ref> On the same day, several chetas, consisting of 400 men, led by four voivodes, captured the town of [[Kleisoura, Kastoria|Kleisoura]].<ref name="nla" />

The uprising was led by IMARO and SMAC. The number of insurgents has been estimated as 26,000.<ref>{{cite book |title=Battling Over the Balkans: Historiographical Questions and Controversies |date=2020 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=9789633863251 |editor1=Constantin Iordachi |editor2= John R. Lampe |page=157}}</ref> After the eruption of the uprising, IMARO's leaders sent a declaration to the Great Powers, writing:<ref name="nla" /> {{blockquote|Unpunished violence by the Muslims and systematic administrative persecutions have forced the Christians of Macedonia and the vilayet of Adrianople to take up arms for the purpose of resistance. They have resorted to this extreme action only after exhausting all peaceful means to call the intervention of Europe in accord with the treaties which regulate the condition of these populations.}} IMARO also appealed for the nomination of a Christian governor independent from the Ottoman Empire and a collective international control on a permanent basis.<ref name="va" /> Insurgents also burned houses and crops on 11 Ottoman estates.<ref>{{cite book |title=Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood: Passages to Nationhood in Greek Macedonia, 1870-1990 |isbn=9780226424996 |date=2009 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |author=Anastasia N. Karakasidou |page=101}}</ref> The uprising began with attacks on Turks and Albanians. In the kaza of Bitola, they burned the fields in villages like [[Ramna, North Macedonia|Ramna]], [[Lera, Bitola|Lera]], [[Bratin Dol]], etc. Attacks on Muslims also occurred in the kazas of Florina, Kastoria and Demir Hisar. Most of the Ottoman troops were stationed in the [[Kosovo vilayet]]. Many Muslims in the Manastir vilayet had to organize their self-defense. In the areas of Ohrid and Debar, Muslims from the villages that had been attacked in the beginning of the uprising counter-attacked. Turks and Albanians from the villages [[Dolenci, Bitola|Dolenci]], Lera and Ramna destroyed the village Šrpce.<ref name="va" />

During the uprising, IMARO won some popular support due to its promises to abolish peasant debts and redistribute land.<ref name="reg">{{cite book |title=Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe: Part 1 |pages=134–139 |publisher=LIT Verlag |isbn=9783825813871 |editor1=Klaus Roth |editor2=Ulf Brunnbauer |date=2008}}</ref> Peasants took part in the uprising. Sometimes peasants harbored the insurgents or gave them food.<ref name="nla" /> Women supplied the insurgents with food and ammunition, while children carried messages.<ref name="mq" /> [[Aromanians]] (Vlachs) took an active part in the revolutionary struggle.<ref name="va" /> There were Bulgarian sentiments among the insurgents, who flew Bulgarian flags everywhere and sang Bulgarian marching songs.<ref name="hp" /><ref name="reg" /><ref name="iy" /> These acts resulted in the insurgents being associated with Bulgaria.<ref name="iy" /> Sultan [[Abdul Hamid II|Abdul Hamid]], after hearing about the uprising while he was in Istanbul, sent Omer Ruschi Pasha and 12 battalions into the Manastir vilayet to suppress it. The Ottoman authorities also tried to depict the uprising as a "marginal action of some Bulgarian terrorists" to the European public.<ref name="nla" /> On August 9, IMARO sent a memorandum to the representatives of the Great Powers in Sofia, describing the destruction by the Ottoman forces.<ref name="iky">{{cite book |title=Ottoman Passports: Security and Geographic Mobility, 1876-1908 |author=İlkay Yılmaz |year=2023 |isbn=9780815656937 |page=51 |publisher=Syracuse University Press}}</ref> On August 11, in [[Gevgelija]] in the Salonica vilayet, a bridge further away from the station was bombed, as well as that between Florina and Kinali.<ref name="nla" /> On August 12, following the [[Battle of Sliva]] and the [[Battle of Mečkin Kamen]], a force of 18,000 Ottoman soldiers recaptured and burned Kruševo.<ref name= "Palairet 2016"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mia.com.mk/default.aspx?mId=1&vId=66543986&lId=1&title=%d0%9c%d0%90%d0%9a%d0%95%d0%94%d0%9e%d0%9d%d0%98%d0%88%d0%90+-+%d0%92%d0%9d%d0%90%d0%a2%d0%a0%d0%95%d0%a8%d0%9d%d0%90+%d0%9f%d0%9e%d0%9b%d0%98%d0%a2%d0%98%d0%9a%d0%90|title=MIA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405114735/http://www.mia.com.mk/default.aspx?mId=1&vId=66543986&lId=1&title=%d0%9c%d0%90%d0%9a%d0%95%d0%94%d0%9e%d0%9d%d0%98%d0%88%d0%90+-+%d0%92%d0%9d%d0%90%d0%a2%d0%a0%d0%95%d0%a8%d0%9d%d0%90+%d0%9f%d0%9e%d0%9b%d0%98%d0%a2%d0%98%d0%9a%d0%90|archive-date=2012-04-05|url-status=dead|access-date=29 November 2014}}</ref> A Muslim militia from the area of [[Pribilci]] took part in the pillaging of Kruševo.<ref name="va" /> 117 people were killed, 150 women and girls were raped, 159 houses and 210 shops were burnt.<ref name="mm" />

On August 14, rebels under the leadership of [[Nikola Pushkarov]], attacked and derailed a military train near [[Skopje]].<ref name="Khadzhiev1992" /> At the same time, insurgents destroyed all the wooden bridges on the roads of [[Gradsko, North Macedonia|Gradsko]], [[Kičevo]], Kruševo and [[Veles, North Macedonia|Veles]]. The chetas then simultaneously attacked the military outposts and small garrisons across the vilayet of Manastir.<ref name="nla" /> Other regions involved in the uprising included [[Ohrid]], [[Giannitsa]], [[Gevgelija]], [[Tikveš]] and [[Kratovo, North Macedonia|Kratovo]]. In the [[Thessaloniki]] region, operations were much more limited and without much local involvement, due in part to disagreements between the factions of IMARO. There was also no uprising in the [[Prilep]] area, immediately to the east of Bitola.<ref name="Khadzhiev1992" /> [[Kostadina Rusinska|Kostadina Boyadzhieva]] and other female teachers from Ohrid opened a hospital during the uprising. The hospital was located in an old archbishopric building in Ohrid's Varoš district. The Ottoman authorities discovered the hospital and imprisoned the women for actions against the state. However, because of the lack of supporting evidence, the authorities released them after a brief imprisonment, after the women had endured beatings from the authorities.<ref name="wm">{{cite book |title=Women and the City, Women in the City: A Gendered Perspective on Ottoman Urban History |publisher=Berghahn Books |date=2014 |isbn=9781782384120 |pages=107, 119–120}}</ref> Greek diplomats tried discreetly assisting Ottoman efforts to suppress the rebellion.<ref name="va" />

The uprising spread to the adjacent vilayets of Kosovo, Thessaloniki and Adrianople (in Thrace).<ref name="rd">{{cite book |title=The A to Z of Bulgaria |author=Raymond Detrez |date=2010 |isbn=9780810872028 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |pages=216–217}}</ref> In the Kosovo vilayet, the uprising was confined to the southern part because IMARO's leaders did not want any confrontations with the local Albanians. IMARO's committees were also not as present in the vilayet as they were in Manastir.<ref name="nla" /> Contemporary reports of the British diplomats stationed in Thessaloniki, Bitola and Skopje to their Istanbul embassy described the participants of the uprising as "Bulgarian insurgents" closely linked to the [[Bulgarian Exarchate]] and that the uprising was the work of the "Bulgarian Macedonians". Alfred Rappoport, the Austrian consul general in Skopje, referred to "Macedonian cause" and "Macedonian fighters", arguing that they had the goal to achieve "Macedonian-Bulgarian autonomy", leading to an independent "Macedonian state", and that they were allied, not subordinated, to Bulgaria. However, he acknowledged that the majority of the leaders were "Bulgarians".<ref name="ah">{{cite book |title=The Macedonian Question and the Macedonians: A History |author=Alexis Heraclides |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780367218263 |date=2021 |pages=25–26, 44–46, 72, 92}}</ref>

===Krastovden Uprising===
Some historians describe the rebellion in the [[Serres revolutionary district]] as ''Krastovden Uprising'' ([[Holy Cross Day]] Uprising), because on September 14 the revolutionaries there also rebelled.<ref>''On September 14 (the Holy Cross Day – the Elevation of the Holy Cross), the Bulgarians in almost the entire Serres Revolutionary District (the town of Serres being its centre) also rebelled. Even though they did not proclaim a liberated territory in the region, historians describe their operations as an uprising in the full sense of the word, calling it the Holy Cross Day Uprising. On the eve of the insurrection, a voivodi’s council was summoned, during which the old opponents [[Yane Sandanski]] (leader of the Melnik Revolutionary District of the IMARO) and General [[Ivan Tsochev|Ivan Tsonchev]] (SMAC) were reconciled, shaking hands and embracing each other. The result of the truce was that “supremist” cheti, which were led by Colonel [[Anastas Yankov]] and Captain Yordan Stoyanov (1869–1910), took part in the battles together with Sandanski’s supporters.'' For more see: Peter Kardjilov (2020) The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One) Cambridge Scholars Publishing, p. 19, {{ISBN|1527550737}}.</ref><ref>''The rebel army was to divide into three: Yané, Doncho, Stoyanov and Darvingov were to go south to the Melnik District; Dimitŭr Anastasov, Mihail Chakov and Stoyan Mŭlchankov were to go to the Nevrokop area, while General Tsonchev, Colonel Yankov and Dimitŭr Stefanov were to go north to Razlog. Tsonchev and Stefanov were to act as the General Staff, with their H.Q. in Pirin above Bansko, and the rising was to begin on September 14 (old style)—Krŭstovden, the Feast of the Raising of the Cross.'' Mercia MacDermott, For freedom and perfection, The Life of Yané Sandansky. (Journeyman, London, 1988), p. 141.</ref><ref>Vanče Stojčev, 2004, Military History of Macedonia, Military Academy "General Mihailo Apostolski", vol. 1, p. 363.</ref> Rebel chetas active in the regions of [[Pirin Macedonia]] and [[Serres]], led by [[Yane Sandanski]], and chetas of the Supreme Committee led by [[Ivan Tsonchev]] and [[Anastas Yankov]], engaged in battles with the large Turkish forces. The fighting began in the [[Melnik, Bulgaria|Melnik]] region even before the planned date on the [[Feast of the Cross]] (Krastovden in Bulgarian, September 27) day and lasted until October 21, the local population was not involved as much as in other regions. In the [[Razlog Valley]] the population joined in the uprising.<ref name="Khadzhiev1992" />

In areas encompassing the uprising of 1903, Albanian villagers were in a situation of being either under threat from IMARO chetas or recruited by Ottoman authorities to end the uprising.<ref name="Brown267">{{cite book|last=Brown|first=Keith|title=The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation|year=2003|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691099958|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=48NyoQdOWH0C&q=Kru%C5%A1evo+past+in+question|pages=267}} "The Uprising in 1903 had involved mainly Slav-speaking Christians with the assistance of the Vlah population. Albanian villagers had largely found themselves either under threat from VMRO četas or recruited into the Ottoman effort to crush the Uprising."</ref>

==Preobrazhenie Uprising and Rhodope Mountains Uprising==
[[File:N.Danailov, Peio Shishmanov, Hristo Karamandjukov.jpg|right|230px|thumb|The delegates at Rhodope Mountains congress.]]
On August 19, a revolt by Bulgarians began in the Ottoman province of Adrianople.<ref name="rd" /><ref name="rch">{{cite book |title=War in the Balkans: An Encyclopedic History from the Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Breakup of Yugoslavia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |editor=Richard C. Hall |date=2014 |isbn=9781610690317 |page=144}}</ref> [[Mihail Gerdzhikov]], Georgi Kondolov, [[Stamat Ikonomov]], and [[Lazar Madzharov]] were the commanders in this district.<ref name="db" /> The insurgents proclaimed a "[[Strandzha Commune|Republic of Strandzha]]", which was named after the local mountain range.<ref name="rch" />

According to Khadzhiev, the main goal of the uprising in Thrace was to give support to the uprisings further west, by engaging Ottoman troops and preventing them from moving into Macedonia. Many of the operations were diversionary, though several villages were taken, and a region in [[Strandzha]] was held for around twenty days. According to Khadzhiev, "there was never a question of state power in the Thrace region." It was decided to attack [[Malko Tarnovo]], whose attack, however, failed. Despite this, many of the regional villages were captured, after which [[Tsarevo]] and [[Ahtopol]] fell into the hands of the insurgents. Subsequently, a strong army advanced into the region. Ottoman military units carried out a planned offensive against the insurgents, including a marine landing. Thus, the rebels were attacked from two sides and their units were defeated.<ref name="Khadzhiev1992"/>

In the [[Rhodope Mountains]], [[Western Thrace]], the uprising was expressed only in some cheta's diversions in the regions of [[Smolyan]] and [[Alexandroupoli|Dedeagach]].<ref>Петко Т. Карапетков, Славейно. Пловдив, 1948 г., стр 216—219.</ref>

==Suppression==
[[File:Letter No. 534 from the General Staff of the Second Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Region.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Letter from the General Staff of the Second Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Region to the Bulgarian Government, requesting military intervention for the salvation of the local Bulgarians.<ref name="lt">{{cite book |publisher=Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of History, Bulgarian Language Institute |title=Macedonia: Documents and Materials |location=Sofia |date=1978 |page=531 |isbn=9789531472838 |quote=Letter No. 534 from the General Staff of the Second Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Region to the Bulgarian Government on the position of the insurgent Bulgarian population, requesting military intervention from Bulgaria, September 9, 1903; No.92: To the Esteemed Government of the Principality of Bulgaria. In view of the critical and terrible situation of the Bulgarian population of the [[Monastir Vilayet]] following the devastations and cruelties perpetrated by the Turkish troops and bashibazouks, in view of the fact that these devastations and cruelties continue systematically, and that one cannot foresee how far they will reach; in view, furthermore, of the fact that here everything Bulgarian is running the risk of perishing and being obliterated without a trace by violence, hunger and by approaching poverty, the General Staff considers it its duty to draw the attention of the Esteemed Bulgarian Government to the fatal consequences for the Bulgarian nation, if it fails to discharge its duty to its own brothers here in an impressive and energetic manner, made imperative by force of circumstances and by the danger threatening the common Bulgarian homeland at the present moment&nbsp;...}}</ref>]]
In mid-August, the Anatolian forces, from the vilayet of Kosovo, along with Albanian militia units as supporting forces,<ref name="iky"<ref name="va" /> were sent to Macedonia to suppress the uprising. Around 40 battalions came to reinforce the troops. On August 24, Omer Ruschi Pasha was replaced by Nasir Pasha, who launched a massive offensive on the same day. He divided his army into five detachments. His soldiers surrounded every zone controlled by the insurgents. The soldiers systematically burned and destroyed Christian villages.<ref name="nla" /> The villages were usually burned by Albanian irregulars. They were burnt on [[Hilmi Pasha]]'s order.<ref name="va" /> At the end of August, two columns of troops recaptured Smilevo and Kleisoura.<ref name="nla" />

In Sofia, Athens, and Belgrade, meetings were organized by writers, academics, and various Macedonian associations. These meetings condemned the "massacres of Christians" by Ottoman soldiers and the "timidity of European diplomacy", which was called to intervene against the Ottoman Empire.<ref name="nla" /> Some chetas crossed into Bulgaria, others surrendered to the Ottoman forces.<ref name="va" /> On September 9, the General Staff of the Uprising sent a letter to the [[Bulgarian government]], appealing for immediate armed intervention: <blockquote>"The General staff considers its duty to turn the attention of the respectable Bulgarian government to the disastrous consequences for the Bulgarian nation, if it does not carry out its duty towards its birth brothers here, in an impressive and active manner, as imposed by the power of the circumstances and the danger, which threatens the all-Bulgarian fatherland&nbsp;– through war."<ref name="ah" /><ref name="lt" /></blockquote> In the beginning of October, SMAC sent bands into the northern parts of the [[sanjak of Serres]] to relieve the insurgents, but failed. Many of the locals were hostile to these chetas.<ref name="va" /> Bulgaria was unable to send troops to the rescue of the rebelling fellow Bulgarians in Macedonia and Adrianople (Thrace). When IMARO representatives met the Bulgarian Prime-Minister [[Racho Petrov]], he showed them the ultimatums by Serbia, Greece and [[Romania]], which he had just received and which informed him of those countries' support for the Ottoman Empire, in case Bulgaria intervened to support the rebels.<ref>The Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising of 1903, Dedicated to the 105th. anniversary from the events, Professor Dimitar Gotsev&nbsp;– Macedonian Scientific Institute.</ref> The Great Powers also pressured Bulgaria to not intervene.<ref name="rch" /> At a meeting in early October, the general staff of the rebel forces decided to cease all revolutionary activities, and declared the forces, with the exception of regular militias, as disbanded.<ref name="Khadzhiev1992"/> The peasants began to return home. Many surrendered to Ottoman authorities. During the first week of October, 1,700 rifles were returned to the [[Wali (administrative title)#Ottoman Empire term|vali]] of Manastir.<ref name="nla" /> The uprising was suppressed by the end of October.<ref name="va" />

==Aftermath==
{{See also|Macedonian Struggle}}
[[File:Mokreni.jpg|thumb|180px|Ruins of the village of [[Mokreni]] after the uprising.]]
[[File:The Balkan boundaries after 1913.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The partition of Macedonia and Thrace in 1913.]]
A reason for the failure of the uprising was the absence of outside support by the Great Powers and neighboring countries. Another reason was because they were insufficiently prepared in terms of preparation (training, strategy and planning) and the insufficient weapons they had.<ref name="nla" /> According to Bulgarian figures, 9,830 houses were burned down and 60,953 people were left homeless.<ref name="jp">{{cite book |title=The New Macedonian Question |date=1999 |isbn=9780312222406 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |editor=James Pettifer |pages=10–11, 31}}</ref> After the suppression of the uprising, 30,000 Bulgarian Christians from Ottoman Macedonia and Thrace went to the [[Principality of Bulgaria]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Muslim Land, Christian Labor: Transforming Ottoman Imperial Subjects Into Bulgarian National Citizens, C. 1878-1939 |isbn=9789633861615 |date=2017 |publisher=Central European University Press |page=192 |author=Anna M. Mirkova}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1=Victoria Hudson |editor2=Lucian N. Leustean |title=Religion and Forced Displacement in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia |date=2022 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=9789463727556 |page=72}}</ref> Half of these refugees came from Eastern Thrace.<ref name="mig">{{cite book |title=Migration in the Southern Balkans: From Ottoman Territory to Globalized Nation States |isbn=9783319137193 |date=2015 |editor1=Hans Vermeulen |editor2=Martin Baldwin-Edwards |editor3=Riki van van Boeschoten |pages=68, 76}}</ref> An IMARO memorandum issued in 1904 made the following estimates: 5,000 casualties, 205 villages burned down, 70,000 homeless, 30,000 refugees to Bulgaria and the United States.<ref name="db" /> According to Georgi Khadzhiev, 201 villages and 12,400 houses were burned, 4,694 people killed, with some 30,000 refugees fleeing to Bulgaria.<ref name="Khadzhiev1992"/> 2,500 people were killed in Thrace.<ref name="mig" /> In Bulgaria, the movement of refugees was taken care of by the government and Slavic charity societies.<ref name="nla" /> Relief missions were organized and sent to the affected villages.<ref name="iy" /> Around 1,000 insurgents were killed. Relief organizations estimated more than 4,500 dead, with 200 villages destroyed by Ottoman forces, during and after the uprising. At least 3,000 rapes were reported, and more than 100,000 people were left homeless for the winter.<ref name="lod" />

The uprising did succeed in bringing the intervention of the Great Powers, to some extent.<ref name="jp" /> In October, [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary]] and [[Nicholas II of Russia]] met at [[Mürzsteg]] and sponsored the [[Mürzsteg Agreement|Mürzsteg program of reforms]], which provided for foreign policing of the Macedonia region, financial compensation for victims, and establishment of ethnic boundaries in the region.<ref name=Jelavich1977/> The Mürzsteg Agreement was reached on October 2, 1903, which was accepted reluctantly by Abdul Hamid on November 25.<ref>{{cite book |title=Talaat Pasha: Father of Modern Turkey, Architect of Genocide |date=2020 |publisher=Princeton University Press |author=Hans-Lukas Kieser |isbn=9780691202587 |page=46}}</ref> Writing after the uprising in 1903, [[Krste Misirkov]] called it a "complete fiasco" and argued that the main reason why the uprising failed was due to its "Bulgarian bias", although he also argued that it "prevented Macedonia from being partitioned."<ref name="ah" /> He also wrote: "The only Macedonian Slavs who played a leading part in the uprising were those who called themselves Bulgarians", while also expressing the sentiment that due to the uprising, "Macedonia has become lost to the Bulgarian nation".<ref name="reg" /> In 1904, Bulgaria signed a treaty with the Ottoman Empire. Both parties promised to police their common borders more effectively.<ref name="bulg" /> It also enabled Bulgaria to secure the release of all political prisoners of the Ilinden uprising.<ref name="jh">{{cite book |title=The Macedonian Slavs in the Greek Civil War, 1944–1949 |date=2019 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=9781498585057 |author=James Horncastle |page=31}}</ref> All political prisoners, including participants and organizers of the Ilinden uprising, were released.<ref name="iy" /> However, Bulgaria covertly supported the former prisoners.<ref name="jh" /> Through the Bulgarian-Ottoman agreement, Bulgaria promised to refrain from helping the guerrilla units in Macedonia, while the Ottoman Empire promised to implement the Mürzsteg Reforms. Neither happened.<ref name="rd" />

As soon as order appeared to be re-established, international aid was organized. [[France]] permitted the communities of Lazarites and the [[Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul|Daughters of Charity]] (already established in Macedonia) to help the victims of the uprising. In coordination with the English and American Protestant missions, French religious organizations distributed food supplies, blankets, and clothing in the Manastir vilayet.<ref name="iy" /> In 1904, Bulgarian women's organizations were appealing to the consulates of the Great Powers to secure the release of Bulgarian women who were arrested by the Ottoman authorities due to their participation in the Ilinden uprising.<ref name="wm" /> British anthropologist [[Edith Durham]], who visited Macedonia after the Ilinden uprising as a member of the British Relief Mission, described the uprising as purely Bulgarian, while also claiming that the purpose of the uprising was "to make Big Bulgaria, not Great Serbia."<ref name="ah" /> A year after the uprising, many of the refugees had returned. The Ottoman inspectorate kept registers of Bulgarian teachers, including their names, places of birth, past appointments, and any information on their ties to the IMARO. If the administrative council of a village could not vouch for the character of a teacher and report their location, the teacher would be not allowed to work and remain in their place of birth.<ref name="iy" />

In the beginning of 1904, the Bitola Regional Committee of IMARO ordered voivodes of southern Macedonia to forcibly convert the Patriarchist villages to the Exarchate. In a couple of weeks, around 40 villages had been forcibly converted. This policy was opposed by [[Gyorche Petrov]], but the Regional Congress in Bitola in the summer of 1904 overruled objections.<ref name="va" /> In 1904, the Bulgarian government used its control over the Supremists to assume authority over IMARO. However, this resulted in IMARO splitting into a right-wing headed by [[Ivan Garvanov]] and [[Boris Sarafov]], which favored a pro-Bulgarian stance and a left-wing headed by [[Yane Sandanski]], which favored an autonomous Macedonia as part of the [[Balkan Federation]].<ref name="jh" /> The Greek government decided to sponsor paramilitary activities in Ottoman Macedonia.<ref name="col">{{cite book |title=Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict: Greece, Bulgaria, and the Macedonian Question |isbn=9780275976484 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |date=2002 |author=Victor Roudometof |pages=54, 59, 61–62, 68, 94}}</ref> Greek and Serbian bands used the weakening of Bulgarian activity to strengthen themselves and staged a series of attacks in Macedonia.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Routledge Handbook of Balkan and Southeast European History |publisher=Taylor & Francis Group |date=2021 |isbn=9780429464799 |editor1=John R. Lampe |editor2=Ulf Brunnbauer |pages=78, 126}}</ref> The two wings engaged in outright conflict which meant mafia-style killings on a larger scale. In this style, Garvanov and Sarafov were assassinated in 1907 by [[Todor Panitsa]] on the order of Sandanski.<ref name= "Palairet 2016"/>

The [[Balkan Wars]] of 1912 and 1913 subsequently split up Macedonia and Thrace. Serbia took a portion of Macedonia in the north, which roughly corresponds to [[North Macedonia]]. Greece took [[Macedonia (Greece)|south Macedonia]], and Bulgaria was only able to obtain a small region in the northeast, [[Pirin Macedonia]].<ref name=Jelavich1977/> The Ottomans managed to keep the Adrianople region, where the whole [[Thracian Bulgarians|Thracian Bulgarian]] population was subjected to [[ethnic cleansing]] by the Ottoman Empire.<ref>Academician [[Lyubomir Miletich]], "The Destruction of Thracian Bulgarians in 1913", p. 11, [[Bulgarian Academy of Sciences]], Sofia, State printing house, 1918. On-line publication of the phototype reprint of the first edition of the book in Bulgarian (in Bulgarian "Разорението на тракийските българи през 1913 година", Българска академия на науките, София, Държавна печатница, 1918 г.; II фототипно издание, Културно-просветен клуб "Тракия" - София, 1989 г., София).</ref> The rest of Thrace was divided between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey following World War I and the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)|Greco-Turkish War]]. Most of the local Bulgarian political and cultural figures were persecuted or expelled from Serbian and Greek parts of Macedonia and Thrace, where all structures of the [[Bulgarian Exarchate]] were abolished. Thousands of Macedonian Slavs left for Bulgaria. Some fled after the Greeks burned [[Kilkis]], during the [[Second Balkan War]], and the [[Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine|Treaty of Neuilly]] population exchange between Greece and Bulgaria saw 92,000 Bulgarians exchanged with 46,000 Greeks from Bulgaria.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Greek-Bulgarian exchange of populations|url=http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/HellenicMacedonia/en/EA.4.1.1b.html#:~:text=The%20Greek%2DBulgarian%20exchange%20of%20populations&text=During%20the%20Peace%20Conference%2C%20Greece,the%20drawing%20of%20the%20frontier.|access-date=20 November 2021|website=Macedonian Heritage}}</ref> Bulgarian (including the Macedonian dialects) was prohibited, and its surreptitious use, whenever detected, was ridiculed or punished.<ref>"The immediate effect of the partition was the anti-Bulgarian campaign in areas under Serbian and Greek rule. The Serbians expelled Exarchist churchmen and teachers and closed Bulgarian schools and churches (affecting the standing of as many as 641 schools and 761 churches). Thousands of Macedonian Slavs left for Bulgaria, joining a still larger stream from devastated Aegean Macedonia, where the Greeks burned Kukush, the center of Bulgarian politics and culture, as well as much of Serres and Drama. Bulgarian (including the Macedonian Slavic dialects) was prohibited, and its surreptitious use, whenever detected, was ridiculed or punished.", Ivo Banac, in ''The National Question in Yugoslavia. Origins, History, Politics'', pp. 307–328, Cornell University Press, 1984, retrieved on September 6, 2007.</ref>

==Legacy==
{{See also|Historiography in North Macedonia|Macedonian nationalism}}
[[File:Celebration of the Ilinen Uprising in Bitola in 1916 under Bulgarian occupation.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Celebration of the Ilinden Uprising in Bitola [[Bulgarian occupation of Serbia (World War I)|during 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>]]
[[File:Krushevo 1918.jpg|220px|thumb|Procession organized by the mayor of [[Kruševo]], the IMRO komitadji [[Naum Tomalevski]], marking the anniversary of the Uprising in 1918]] 
[[File:Pametnik na preobrazhenskoto vustanie petrova niva.jpg|thumbnail|[[Petrova Niva]] monument, dedicated to the Preobrazhenie Uprising, near [[Malko Tarnovo]], [[Bulgaria]].]]
[[File:Македониум - Крушево.jpg|thumbnail|[[Makedonium]] monument, dedicated to the Ilinden Uprising, [[Kruševo]], [[North Macedonia]].]]
The uprising was commemorated by the Macedonian and Thracian diaspora in Bulgaria, and by all factions within the IMARO.<ref name="db" /> It was commemorated officially in Macedonia under [[Bulgaria]]n rule when it occupied then ''South Serbia'' during [[World War I]].<ref>''Известно е че през 1918 г. в разгара на Първата световна война и в навечерието на контраофанзивата на войските на Антантата на Македонския фронт, страната ни отбелязва 15-годишнината от Илинденско-Преображенското въстание. Но малко известен е фактът, че с тази задача се залавя водачът на ВМОРО Тодор Александров, подпомогнат от ректора на Софийския университет „Св. Климент Охридски“ проф. Георги Шишков и тогавашния кмет на Крушево Наум Томалевски.'' For more see: Цочо В. Билярски, През 1918 година Тодор Александров организира честването на Илинденското въстание.</ref> In the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]] during the interwar period, the local celebration of the event was passively ignored or actively repressed by Yugoslav officials.<ref name="pq">{{cite book |title=The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=2003 |isbn=9780691099958 |author=Keith Brown |pages=131–132, 136, 153}}</ref> Celebrations occurred also in 1939 and 1940 in defiance of the ban by Serb authorities.<ref name="db" /><ref>''Appealing to this positive historical inheritance, the Regional Committee of the KPJ in Macedonia organised Ilinden demonstrations in the towns before the war, in 1939 and 1940, as the most effective way of activating nationalism''. For more see: Stefano Bianchini and Marco Dogo as ed., The Balkans: National Identities in a Historical Perspective,	Longo, 1998, p. 125, {{ISBN|8880631764}}.</ref> The Bulgarian regime recognized the legacy of the event as its own during World War II and granted pensions to veterans, but excluded those who were perceived as engaging in "anti-Bulgarian or anti-state expression or activity."<ref name="pq" /> Celebrations of the event then were officially institutionalized.<ref name="db" /> Before World War II, [[Serbian historiography]] claimed the uprising was Bulgarian and also attempted to downplay its significance for the locals in the Bitola region, who were subjected to [[Serbianization]]. After the creation of the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]], and the recognition of a Macedonian state and people within it, it changed its stance.<ref name="lod" /> According to historian Elisabeth Barker, there are accounts which claim that the uprising was imposed by the Bulgarian War Office (encouraged by Russia) on the reluctant leaders of IMARO, who thought that the time was not right for an uprising.<ref name="jp" />

During World War II, Macedonian communists claimed to be the inheritors of the Ilinden uprising and the Kruševo Republic.<ref>{{cite book |title=Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume Two |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004261914 |date=2013 |editor1=Diana Mishkova |editor2= Roumen Daskalov |pages=535–536}}</ref> Ilinden veteran [[Panko Brashnarov]] spoke in the first session of [[ASNOM]] on August 2, 1944, declaring a "Second Ilinden" of the Macedonian people.<ref name="ah" /><ref>{{cite book |title=Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004250765 |date=2013 |editor1=Rumen Daskalov |editor2=Tchavdar Marinov |pages=236, 302, 328}}</ref> In the 1940s, the uprising became one of the most potent foundation myths of [[Macedonian nationalism]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Dimitris Livanios |title=The Macedonian Question: Britain and the Southern Balkans 1939–1949 |publisher=Oxford University Press US |date=2008 |isbn=0199237689 |pages=19, 185}}</ref> During the brief entente between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia from 1946 to 1948, Macedonian historians gained access to Sofia's archival materials and published accounts, on whose basis they claimed Ilinden as an early expression of Macedonian commitment to national liberation.<ref name="lod" /> After the [[Tito–Stalin split]], Bulgarian historians began emphasizing the Bulgarian identity of the uprising's participants again.<ref name="pq" /> In 1948, the IMRO revolutionaries [[Pavel Shatev]] and [[Panko Brashnarov]] wrote a statement to the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]] of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] on the situation in Yugoslav Macedonia, where they declared themselves against [[League of Communists of Yugoslavia|Communist Party of Yugoslavia]]'s policy. They insisted that it was a mass practice to neglect everything Bulgarian, even though it was a historical fact the participants in the Ilinden Uprising were Bulgarians. Afterwards they were quickly eliminated.<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Vlado Treneski |editor2=Dejan Tančovski |title=White Book about the Language Dispute Between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia |url=https://www.academia.edu/45406587/WHITE_BOOK_ABOUT_THE_LANGUAGE_DISPUTE_BETWEEN_BULGARIA_AND_THE_REPUBLIC_OF_NORTH_MACEDONIA |location=Sofia |publisher=Orbel |date=2021 |isbn=978-954-496-149-7 |page=66}}</ref><ref>Панко Брашнаров и Павел Шатев за обстановката във Вардарска Македония през 1944-1948 г. — изложение до ВКП(б). Във Веселин Ангелов, "Македонският въпрос в българо-югославските отношения (1944-1952)", УИ "Св. Климент Охридски", София  2005. Том 31 от “Архивите говорят” на Главно Управление на архивите, стр. 437-444.</ref>  

During the [[Greek Civil War]], many of [[SNOF]]'s leaders adopted ''noms de guerre'', that had been used by participants in the Ilinden uprising.<ref name="jkc">{{cite book |editor=Jane K. Cowan |title=Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference |date=2000 |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=9780745315898 |pages=75, 80–81, 105}}</ref> [[SR Macedonia]] granted monthly pensions and commemorative medallions (''Ilinden spomenica'') to Ilinden veterans whose applications were successful. However, those who were prosecuted in a court for criminal acts against the ''people'' and the state were excluded.<ref name="pq" /> Extensive historical research was done to nationalize the Ilinden myth. This process of nationalization caused tensions with Greece and Bulgaria.<ref name="il">{{cite book |editor1=Ljiljana Šarić |editor2=Karen Gammelgaard |editor3=Kjetil Rå Hauge |title=Transforming National Holidays: Identity Discourse in the West and South Slavic Countries, 1985-2010 |date=2012 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |isbn=9789027206381 |pages=193, 195, 208}}</ref> [[Greek historiography]] has downplayed the uprising as the work of extremists. During the [[Cold War]], in response to Macedonian scholarship, the [[Bulgarian Academy of Sciences]] published works highlighting the Bulgarian aspects of the uprising.<ref name="reg" /> The uprising has been traditionally commemorated by Bulgarian Macedonians.<ref name="col" /> A monument for the uprising was revealed in Petrova Niva in 1958.<ref name="mig" /> Approximately 20% of the essays in the journal ''Macedonian Review'' between 1971 and 1989 mentioned the Ilinden uprising.<ref name="col" />

The post-WWII [[Macedonian historians|Macedonian rendition of history]] has reappraised the Ilinden uprising as an anti-Bulgarian revolt, led by [[ethnic Macedonians]].<ref>Gold, Gerald L. ''Minorities and mother country imagery'', Memorial University of Newfoundland. Institute of Social and Economic Research, 1984, {{ISBN|0919666434}}, p. 74.</ref> Both North Macedonia and Bulgaria claim the uprising as their own, which has led to a dispute about its legacy between both countries.<ref name="db" /> The uprising has been seen by the [[Macedonian historiography]] as exclusively Macedonian, although Ottoman and European sources usually called it "Bulgarian".<ref>{{cite book |editor=Ulf Brunnbauer |chapter=Historiography, Myths and Nation in the Republic of Macedonia |title=(Re)Writing History. Historiography in Southeast Europe after Socialism |publisher=Lit Verlag |date=2004 |url=https://unipub.uni-graz.at/obvugroa/content/titleinfo/5971976 |page=185}}</ref> Macedonian historians regard the qualification of the uprising as Bulgarian as biased, with one historian asserting that it was a uprising of the Macedonian people regardless in which church they prayed, school they learned and which [[Slavic speakers in Ottoman Macedonia#National antagonisms|national name they carried]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ulf Brunnbauer |title=Serving the Nation: Historiography in the Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) after Socialism |journal=Historien |volume=4 |date=2004 |doi=10.12681/historein.86 |page=166|doi-access=free }}</ref> The leader of the IMARO and architect of the uprising [[Ivan Garvanov]],<ref>Perry, Duncan. “Ivan Garvanov: Architect of Ilinden.” East European Quarterly 19, no. 4 (1986): 403–416.</ref> is regarded there as a [[Greater Bulgaria]]n agent who pushed the decision for a premature uprising.<ref name= "Palairet 2016"/><ref>Pero Korobar, Orde Ivanoski, The Historical Truth: The Progressive Social Circles in Bulgaria and Pirin Macedonia on the Macedonian National Question: Documents, Studies, Resolutions, Appeals and Published Articles, 1896–1956. Kultura, 1983, p. 277.</ref> [[Bulgarian Officers' Brotherhoods|Bulgarian Army officers]]' significant participation is represented there as an alien element,<ref>Keith Brown (2003) The Past in Question: Modern Macedonia and the Uncertainties of Nation, Princeton University Press, p. 175, {{ISBN|0691099952}}.</ref> while the fact the uprising's leaders were Bulgarian schoolmasters,<ref>Bulgarian teachers in Macedonia constituted the backbone of the Internal organization while, according to their social profile, its leaders were quite often themselves former Exarchist teachers. For more see: Perry, Duncan. The Politics of Terror. The Macedonian Liberation Movements 1893–1903. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1988. pp. 144–151, 182–183.</ref> is neglected. The leaders of the Ilinden uprising are celebrated as national heroes in modern-day [[North Macedonia]], and regarded as founders of the strive for [[Independent Macedonia (IMRO)|Macedonian independence]].<ref name="Frusetta">{{cite book|editor=John R. Lampe, Mark Mazower|title=Ideologies and national identities: the case of twentieth-century Southeastern Europe|year=2004|publisher=Central European University Press|isbn=978-963-9241-82-4|pages=110–121|author=James Frusetta|chapter=Common Heroes, Divided Claims: IMRO Between Macedonia and Bulgaria}}</ref> The Kruševo Republic and the names of the IMARO revolutionaries like [[Gotse Delchev]], [[Pitu Guli]], [[Dame Gruev]] and [[Yane Sandanski]] were included into the lyrics of the Macedonian national anthem [[Denes nad Makedonija]] ("Today over Macedonia").<ref name="db" /> August 2 is a [[Public holidays in North Macedonia|national holiday]] in [[North Macedonia]], known as [[Republic Day (North Macedonia)|Day of the Republic]],<ref>{{cite web|title=August 2nd, non-working for Macedonian citizens |url=http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/2562/1/ |website=macedoniaonline.eu |date=2008-07-29 |access-date=30 July 2008 |archive-date=2012-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315134321/http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/2562/1/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> which considers it the date of its statehood in modern times. Although a national holiday, ethnic Turks in the country do not relate with the event.<ref name="jkc" /> Macedonian historians connected the uprising with the partisan struggle during World War II. SR Macedonia was regarded as having fulfilled the goals of the uprising. Since it is also the symbolic date on which in 1944 the [[People's Republic of Macedonia]] was proclaimed at the [[Anti-fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia]] (ASNOM) as a constituent republic of the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]], the ASNOM event is referred as the "Second Ilinden" in North Macedonia.<ref name="Frusetta"/> September 8, 1991, the day when the Republic of Macedonia declared its independence from Yugoslavia, has been often referred to as the "third Ilinden" there.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World |publisher=Princeton University Press |author=Loring M. Danforth |date=1997 |isbn=0691043566 |page=52}}</ref> In the Macedonian narrative, there have been attempts to establish a continuity between Ilinden and other events such as the establishment of IMARO in 1893, [[Karposh's rebellion|Karposh's uprising]] and the [[Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC)|battle of Chaeronea]]. This campaign was promoted by the [[Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts]].<ref name="il" /> While insurgents and the [[Principality of Bulgaria]] regarded the Ilinden uprising and Preobrazhenie uprising as part of the same revolutionary movement, Macedonian scholarship only refers to the Ilinden uprising.<ref>{{cite book |title=Images of Imperial Legacy: Modern Discourses on the Social and Cultural Impact of Ottoman and Habsburg Rule in Southeast Europe |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |page=122 |date=2011 |isbn=9783643108500 |editor1=Tea Sindbaek |editor2=Maximilian Hartmuth}}</ref>

The name for the uprising in the [[Bulgarian historiography]] is ''Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising''.<ref name="ah" /> The dominant view in Bulgaria is that at that time the [[Macedonian Bulgarians|Macedonian]] and [[Thracian Bulgarians]] predominated in all regions of the uprisings and that Macedonian ethnicity did not exist yet.<ref>"The Ilinden - Preobrazhenie Uprising of 1903". Authors: Hristo Hristov, Dimiter Kossev, Lyubomir Panayotov; Publisher: Sofia Press - 1983; in English language.</ref> According to political scientist [[Alexis Heraclides]], Bulgarian historian Tchavdar Marinov wrote that the Ilinden Uprising is the founding myth of the Macedonian identity in all its formulations, and the Bulgarian state has tried to appropriate the myth of the Ilinden uprising and include it in the pan-Bulgarian narrative, since the uprising in Bulgaria does not have the same value as in North Macedonia and is less popular compared to the [[April Uprising of 1876]], which is the Bulgarian foundation myth.<ref name="ah" /> There are annual celebrations in Petrova Niva commemorating the uprising.<ref name="mig" /> Attempts from Bulgarian officials for joint actions and celebration of the Ilinden uprising were rejected from the Macedonian side as unacceptable.<ref>[http://www.duma.bg/2006/0606/070606/sviat/sv-1.html "Сите ние сме Бугари". Македонски историци "на бунт" срещу общото честване на празниците ни. в-к "Дума", 07.06.2006.] {{dead link|date=May 2017|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>[http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_Bulgarian/Theme_Bulgaria_i_Sveta/Material/040806_po_sasedski.htm България и светът. 04 Август 2006, По съседски: Събития с балкански адрес. Новина № 2.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061020034258/http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_Bulgarian/Theme_Bulgaria_i_Sveta/Material/040806_po_sasedski.htm |date=2006-10-20}}</ref>

According to anthropologist Keith Brown, there is evidence in the historical record to confirm the narratives of the three historiographies (Bulgarian, Greek and Macedonian).<ref name="lod"/> On August 2, 2017, the Bulgarian Prime Minister [[Boyko Borisov]] and his Macedonian colleague [[Zoran Zaev]] placed wreaths at the grave of Gotse Delchev on the occasion of the 114th anniversary of the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising, after the previous day, when both signed a treaty for friendship and cooperation between the neighboring states.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.focus-fen.net/news/2017/08/02/421632/pms-borisov-zaev-place-wreaths-at-gotse-delchevs-grave-in-skopje.html |title=PMs Borisov and Zaev place wreaths at Gotse Delchev's grave in Skopje, 2 August 2017, FOCUS News Agency. |access-date=2 August 2017 |archive-date=19 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419202056/http://focus-fen.net/news/2017/08/02/421632/pms-borisov-zaev-place-wreaths-at-gotse-delchevs-grave-in-skopje.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> The treaty also calls for a committee to "objectively re-examine the common history" of Bulgaria and Macedonia and envisages both countries will celebrate together events from their shared history.<ref>Macedonia, Bulgaria Sign Historic Treaty, Renounce Rivalry, [https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/08/01/world/europe/ap-eu-macedonia-bulgaria-treaty.html Aug. 1, 2017, The New York Times.]</ref> In an interview on August 4, 2018, Zaev said that "the Ilinden uprising is Macedonian" and "if any citizen of Bulgaria wants to celebrate it, let them celebrate it."<ref>Martin Dimitrov, Macedonia PM Apologises for Offending Bulgarians. [https://balkaninsight.com/2018/08/10/zaev-underscores-importance-of-friendship-with-bulgaria-amidst-controversial-ilinden-remark-08-10-2018/#:~:text=In%20an%20interview%20with%20Macedonian%201TV%20on%20August,from%20Bulgarian%20Socialist%20Party%2C%20BSP%20leader%20Kornelia%20Ninova. Sophia, BIRN, August 10, 2018.]</ref> In 2020, Bulgaria blocked the candidature of North Macedonia to the European Union over an 'ongoing nation-building process' based on [[Historical negationism#North Macedonia|historical negationism]] of the Bulgarian legacy in the broader [[Macedonia (region)|region of Macedonia]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Foreign Minister Zaharieva: Bulgaria Cannot Approve EU Negotiating Framework with North Macedonia - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency|url=https://www.novinite.com/articles/206579/Foreign+Minister+Zaharieva%3A+Bulgaria+Cannot+Approve+EU+Negotiating+Framework+with+North+Macedonia|access-date=2020-12-09|website=novinite.com}}</ref>

==Honors==
===In Bulgaria===
*[[Ilindentsi]] village in [[Strumyani Municipality]], in [[Blagoevgrad Province]] is named after the uprising
*[[Preobrazhentsi]] village in [[Ruen Municipality]], in [[Burgas Province]] is named after the uprising
*[[Ilinden, Blagoevgrad Province|Ilinden]] village in [[Hadzhidimovo Municipality]], in [[Blagoevgrad Province]] is named after the uprising
*[[Ilinden, Sofia]] is a district of [[Sofia]], located in the western parts of the city, named after the uprising
*[[United Macedonian Organization Ilinden–Pirin|OMO Ilinden-Pirin]], ethnic Macedonian organization in Bulgaria
*[[Ilinden (organization)]] was a veteran nonpolitical organization set up by [[Macedonian Bulgarians|Bulgarian]] refugees from [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]].

===In North Macedonia===
*[[Ilinden Municipality]], in the [[Skopje Statistical Region|Skopje region]]
*[[Ilinden (village)|Ilinden]], the seat of Ilinden Municipality
*Ilinden is a peak on [[Baba (North Macedonia)|Baba Mountain]] in [[Pelister National Park]]<ref>[http://eprints.ugd.edu.mk/5646/1/%D0%94%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%20%D0%92.%20%D0%9D.%20%282008%29%20%D0%9F%D0%95%D0%9B%D0%98%D0%A1%D0%A2%D0%95%D0%A0%20-%20%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%BE%20%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%84%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%20%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%2C%20%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D1%83%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%20%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D1%82%20%D0%B2%D0%BE%20%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%84%D0%B8%D1%98%D0%B0.pdf Пелистер]</ref>
*[[FK Ilinden 1955 Bašino]], football club near [[Veles, North Macedonia|Veles]]
*[[FK Ilinden Skopje]], football club in the village of Ilinden

===Elsewhere===
*[[Ilinden Peak]] on [[Greenwich Island]] in the [[South Shetland Islands]], [[Antarctica]], is named after the uprising
*[[Rockdale Ilinden FC]] football club in [[Sydney]], [[Australia]]

==Gallery==
<gallery class="center">
File:Macedonian refugees in Bulgaria, 1903.jpg|[[L'Illustration]] magazine depicting Macedonian Bulgarian refugees crossing the Ottoman - Bulgaria border after the Ilinden Uprising.
File:BASA-1932K-1-435-1.jpg|One of the Kruševo chetas during the uprising
File:Macedonians Take Towns - New York Times August 14 1903.jpg|The events in the Ilinden Uprising as seen by the American [[New York Times]]; August 14, 1903.
File:IMARO Activists - Bulgarian Comitadjii - Captured by the Allies Police.jpg|A convoy of captured Bulgarian IMRO activists
File:Macedonian demonstration in Sofia after the Ilinden Uprising.JPG|[[L'Illustration]] magazine depicting a refugee demonstration in Sofia, Bulgaria, after the crushing of the Uprising.
File:Puck magazine, 1903 October 7.jpg|A [[Puck (magazine)|Puck Magazine]] satirical illustration depicting Bulgaria and Macedonia as Russian puppets, sword fighting, with the Bulgarian one about to decapitate the Macedonian one, October 1903.<ref>''In order to explain the meaning of the caricature, we consulted with Dr. Vancho Gjorgjiev from the Institute of History at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje... In the caricature, the part where "Bulgaria" tries to cut off the head of "Macedonia" actually refers to Bulgarian diplomatic activities, as well as its duplicitous role in the insurrectionary movement in Macedonia... Bulgarian circles manipulated the term autonomous Macedonia, i.e. they sought for Macedonia to gain autonomy and then [[Bulgarian irredentism|join the Bulgarian state]]. To achieve this goal... aimed at artificially staged insurrectionary movements in Macedonia, such as the so-called [[Gorna Dzhumaya Uprising]] of September 1902. The organizer... was the Supreme Macedonian Committee headed by [[Stoyan Mihaylovski]] and General [[Ivan Tsonchev]], who acted in agreement with the Bulgarian government and Prince [[Ferdinand I of Bulgaria|Ferdinand]]... The biggest consequence of the [[Supreme Macedonian Committee|Supremists]] movement is that it greatly influenced the rise of the Ilinden Uprising in 1903... the Bulgarian government, which bore the burden of the Gorna Dzhumaja Uprising, with the intention of absolving itself of responsibility for future unrest in Macedonia, adopted a decision to administratively ban the Supreme Macedonian Committee... Bulgaria's duplicity did not end there... on February 5, 1903, the Bulgarian government... asked the leaders of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (MRO) to abandon the planned uprising... However, the refusal of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (MRO) to postpone the uprising at the request of Bulgaria is a demonstration of an independent Macedonian character... The part of the caricature where "Russia" is depicted refers to the diplomatic games of the [[Great Powers]] over the [[Macedonian question]]. Under the pressure of the uprising, two concepts for resolving the Macedonian question emerged among European diplomacy, the English one through autonomy and the Austrian one through reforms. During the diplomatic games, the Austrian concept prevailed. Austria-Hungary, supported by Germany, turned to Russia. The two Great Powers began negotiations at the highest level, which lasted from September 30 to October 3... The so-called [[Mürzsteg Agreement|Mürzsteg Reforms]] emerged from these negotiations.'' For more: Вистината за „заедничката историја“: Карикатурата од 1903 година за Македонија од американското списание „Пук“. [https://novamakedonija.com.mk/makedonija/politika/vistinata-za-zaednichkata-istorija/ Novamakedonija 07.11.2022]</ref>
File:Викиекспедиција Железник 264.jpg|Museum in [[Smilevo]] dedicated to the Smilevo congress of May 1903, on which the decision for a uprising was confirmed and the date was chosen
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Commons category|Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising}}
*[[Razlovci uprising]]
*[[Ohrid-Debar Uprising]]
*[[Tikvesh Uprising]]
*[[Kresna-Razlog Uprising]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|colwidth=40em}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050506171356/http://makedonija.150m.com/makedonija/timesabouttheilindenuprising.htm The English daily newspaper "Times", issues about the Ilinden uprising in August, 1903]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20010128212300/http://library.ferris.edu/~cochranr/mac/macintr.htm Twenty-four letters from Macedonia – 1903, John MacDonald]
* [http://www.peacelink.nu/Boker/Durham/Durham.html Durham, Edith. (1905). The Burden of the Balkans]
* [[Henry Noel Brailsford|Brailsford, Henry Noel]] (1906) [http://www.promacedonia.org/en/hb/index.html ''Macedonia: Its Races and Their Future''. London: Methuen & Co] ([http://www.promacedonia.org/en/hb/hb_photo.html Brailsford's photographs])
* Pozzi, Henry. (1935). Black hand over Europe. F. Mott and Co., London (''for online version of relevant pages, click'' [http://www.hic.hr/books/blackhand/bulgarian.htm here] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904183044/http://www.hic.hr/books/blackhand/bulgarian.htm |date=2019-09-04}})
* {{Cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Gilbert |title=A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume One: 1900–1933 |year=1997 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=New York |chapter=1903 |isbn=0-688-10064-3}}
{{Refend}}

{{Balkan Wars}}
{{Bulgaria topics}}
{{North Macedonia topics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising}}
[[Category:Conflicts in 1903]]
[[Category:Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]]
[[Category:Macedonia under the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Rebellions in the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Military history of North Macedonia]]
[[Category:Manastir vilayet]]
[[Category:Adrianople vilayet]]
[[Category:Ottoman Kruševo]]
[[Category:Ottoman Thrace]]
[[Category:20th-century rebellions]]
[[Category:Bulgarian rebellions]]
[[Category:1903 in the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:1903 in Bulgaria]]
[[Category:Ilinden Municipality]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1903]]
[[Category:Macedonian Question]]
[[Category:History of the Aromanians]]