Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising | |||||||
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A map of the uprising in the regions of Macedonia and Thrace. Present-day borders are visible, together with Ottoman frontiers at the time. |
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Belligerents | |||||||
IMARO SMAC |
Ottoman Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
26,408 (IMARO figures) | 350,931 (IMARO figures) | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
IMARO figures:
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5328 wounded or killed (IMARO figures) |
The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising or simply the Ilinden Uprising of August 1903 (Bulgarian: Илинденско-Преображенско въстание, trl: Ilindensko-Preobražensko vǎstanie; Macedonian: Илинденско востание, Ilindensko vostanie; Greek: Εξέγερση του Ίλιντεν, Eksegersi tou Ilinden) was an organized revolt against the Ottoman Empire, which was prepared and carried out by the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization. The name of the uprising refers to Ilinden (Cyrillic script: Илинден), the Bulgarian and Macedonian name for Elijah's day, and to Preobrazhenie (Cyrillic script: Преображение), which means Transfiguration.
The rebellion in the region of Macedonia affected most of the central and southwestern parts of the Monastir Vilayet receiving the support mainly of the local Bulgarian peasants and to some extent of the Aromanian population of the region. Provisional government was established in the town of Kruševo (to the west of Prilep), where the insurgents proclaimed the Kruševo Republic under the presidency of the school teacher Nikola Karev, which was overrun after just ten days, on August 12. On August 19, a closely related uprising organized by Bulgarian peasants in the Adrianople Vilayet led to the liberation of a large area in the Strandzha Mountains near the Black Sea coast, and the creation of a provisional government in Vassiliko, the Strandzha Republic. This lasted about twenty days before being put down by the Turks.