Throughout history, every power that aspired to dominate the Balkans—from the ancient Romans to Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia in the age of imperialism and nationalism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—has sought to control Macedonia. But although Macedonia figured prominently in history, it remained a little-known land until the nineteenth century.

This detailed volume surveys the history of Macedonia from 600 B. C. to the present day, with an emphasis on the past two centuries. It reveals how the so called Macedonian question has long dominated Balkan politics, and how for well over a century and a half, it was the central issue dividing Balkan peoples, as neighboring nations struggled for possession of Macedonia and denied any distinct Macedonian identity—territorial, political, ethnic, or national.

The book shows how, during the long struggle for Macedonia, some ethnic Macedonians adopted or had to adopt the national identity of one of the competing nations, most chose a Macedonian identity—and how Macedonia's struggle to establish a distinct national identity goes on even today.

The author concludes that Balkan acceptance of a Macedonian identity, nation, and state has become a necessity for stability in the Balkans and in a united Europe.

Visit Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History Download Page

Full-text PDF versions of each chapter can be accessed below by clicking on the desired chapter title.

Paperback: 366 pages
Author: Andrew Rossos
Publisher: Hoover Institution Press (July 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0817948821
ISBN-13: 978-0817948825

PREFACE

Macedonia is an ancient land in the central part, the heart, of the Balkan Peninsula. It controls the great north–south corridor route from central Europe to the Mediterranean along the Morava-Vardar valleys. It also possesses fertile agricultural lands in its many river valleys and plains, as well as the great port of Salonika (Thessaloniki). Both its strategic function and its economic value help account for its turbulent history.

Throughout the centuries, every power that aspired to dominate the Balkans, this crucial crossroads between Europe, Asia, and Africa, found it necessary and thus sought to control Macedonia. After the destruction of the remnants of the ancient Macedonian kingdom, successive invaders— Roman, Gothic, Hun, Slav, Ottoman—passed through or subjugated the area and incorporated it into their respective dynastic or territorial empires. The last, the Ottoman Turks, ruled Macedonia for over five hundred years, until the Balkan Wars of 1912–13.

More recently, in the age of imperialism and nationalism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Macedonia became the peninsula’s ‘‘bone of contention,’’ its ‘‘apple of discord.’’ After the Congress of Berlin in 1878, the so-called Macedonian question dominated Balkan politics, the central issue dividing the new and ambitious Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia and their respective patrons among the great European powers. ...

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