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The armed band of Georgios Galanopoulos 1907-1908, Athens, National Historical MuseumThe Bulgarian uprising of 1903 sounded the alarm in Athens, which realized - albeit belatedly - that merely having many schools was not the best way of balancing the dynamism of the Bulgarian committees.
The start of the Greek armed defensive can be attributed to the initiative of the metropolitan of Kastoria Yermanos Karavangelis, the diplomat Ion Dragoumis and the Macedonian Committee, an ostensibly private organization with substantial state backing, based in Athens.
The manning of the Greek bands with chieftains from Macedonia and volunteers from the Greek mainland and Crete led to a four-year undeclared and unconventional war between bands of troops. This war tipped the balance of power in favour of Greece, but at the same time provoked no end of European interventions.
The conflict formally ended with the coup of the Young Turks, officers in the Turkish army who forced the drafting of a constitution which was expected to improve the administration of the Empire and smooth the relations among its peoples.
The Macedonian Struggle in west Macedonia
The hero Pavlos Melas 1904, Athens, National Historical MuseumThe greatest part of the armed Macedonian Struggle was waged in the mountains of western Macedonia, the homeland of the most active members of the Greek Committee and the Internal Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Organization, known as IMRO.
Yermanos Karavangelis, the metropolitan of Kastoria, was the first to advocate and implement the idea of an armed counterattack using local patriarchal chieftains, in the belief that IMRO's footing among the Slav-speaking followers of the Patriarchate was not solid.
The nucleus of Karavangelis' organization was the band led by the local chieftain Kotas Christou, while Pavlos Melas, an officer in the Greek army, initiated the influx of volunteer fighters from Greece; the publicity surrounding his death at Statista near Kastoria drew the attention of Athens to the Macedonian problem.
The fighting, however, was particularly burdensome for the farming and stock-breeding communities in the mountains. For four years not only did they have to feed and shelter hundreds of armed men, they also frequently paid with their blood for their allegiance to one or the other camp.
The Macedonian Struggle on the marshes of Yannitsa
Tellos Agapinos with some of his men 1906-1907, Athens, Y. Mazarakis collectionThe waters of the flooded Loudias river formed an extended swamp in south-central Macedonia, in the silted land between the Aliakmon and Axios rivers. In the years of the conflict between Greece and Bulgaria, this swamp, formerly accessible only to the local fishermen, was turned into a battlefield of Homeric proportions.
The safe access to its expanse of reeds offered a secure hideout, and control of the surrounding plain and any road communication towards northern and western Macedonia. However, the swampy, malaria ridden waters, combined with the trials of war, made living conditions so difficult that even the most hardened fighters sometimes succumbed.
The legendary figures of Kapetan Agras and Kapetan Nikiforos, flanked by certain local guides, came to be identified with the fighting in the sodden marshlands, and were given the central roles in Pinelopi Delta's well-known novel "The Secrets of the Swamp."
The Macedonian Struggle in east Macedonia
Georgios Yianglis with some of his men 1904-1908, Athens, National Historical MuseumBecause of its geography, the Greeks found their struggle more arduous in eastern Macedonia than anywhere else. The armed Greek counterattack did not really begin there until 1906, and even then it was carried out almost exclusively by celebrated local leaders.
Thanasis Hatzipantazis and Steryios Vlachbeis were active in the district of Beles and Meleniko; Kapetan Yianglis and the priest Kapetan Androutsos dominated the district of Nigrita, while two legendary figures, Doukas Zervas and Mitrousis Gogoulakis, carried out their operations in Zichna and Mount Pangaio.
Administrative tasks were in the hands of the Serres and Kavala consulates. A host of patriots, organized into national societies and networks, handled the dispensing of information and weapons very efficiently.
However, no one in eastern Macedonia contributed more to the Struggle in terms of both deeds and prestige than the metropolitan of Drama, Chrysostomos Kalafatis. In 1907 his open collaboration with the Greek side cost him his position in the Church; 15 years later, with his violent death in Smyrna, he paid even more dearly for his national pursuits.
Thessaloniki in the Macedonian Struggle
Lambros Koromilas 1904-1907, Athens, National Historical MuseumThessaloniki, the natural port and administrative centre for the whole of Macedonia, was the headquarters of the struggle for control of the region. This came about thanks to the efforts of two people in particular, the Greek Consul General, Lambros Koromilas, and 2nd Lieutenant Athanasios Souliotis.
From 1904 to 1907, from his office in the neoclassical building of the Consulate, Koromilas organized and directed the Greek information network and supervised the operations of the armed bands in central and eastern Macedonia.
He had valuable assistance in the form of a team of specially trained officers who were the administrative sectoral heads of the Struggle. Among them, Dimitrios Kakkavos (alias Zois) and Athanasios Exadaktylos (alias Antoniou) stood out for their experience.
Souliotis (alias Nikolaidis) was responsible for the Consulate's security and for rallying Thessaloniki's Greek community to the cause. Camouflaging his espionage activities with his role as a merchant, he managed with systematic effort to create an exceptionally efficient network of information and undercover operations.
Professionals and workers from every social class in Thessaloniki were inducted into this network, and enrolled in picking up and sending messages, executing punishments, and waging a successful economic war at the expense of the (Bulgarian) Exarchic community.
The Committees of Athens
Rally in Thessaloniki in 1903 1903, Athens, National Historical MuseumThe Macedonian committees of Athens were the result of efforts by circles of anxious refugees from Macedonia. After the dissolution of the 'Ethniki Etaireia' (National Society) in 1900, its former members Pavlos Melas, Kostas Mazarakis, Athanassios Exadaktylos and others, became restless: they were anxious about the fate of Macedonia, from where appeals for help kept arriving.
Neoklis Kazazis' society "Hellenism", and the Committee in support of the Greek Church and Education, headed by Vikelas, Streit and Baltatzis, filled the gap, at least temporarily. In 1902, the central Macedonian Association, founded by the brothers Theoharis and Mavroudis Yeroyiannis from Halkidiki, made a vigorous appearance on the scene. After the dramatic events of 1903, the efforts of both individuals and the state took a more dynamic turn.
In May 1904, the Macedonian Committee was founded in Athens. It soon attracted the veterans of the 'Ethniki Etaireia', the activists around the politician Stefanos Dragoumis, members of other committees and associations, as well as representatives of the state. The guiding force behind the effort was Dimitris Kalapothakis, editor of the newspaper "Embros", which came to be the Committee's mouthpiece.
Until the spring of 1908, when it essentially lost its private character, the Macedonian Committee directed and concluded the fighting in western Macedonia. Its success lay primarily in the setting up of a parallel internal organization within Macedonia, which incorporated all the local committees, national associations and information networks. Armed initiatives on a smaller scale were also undertaken by the Yeroyiannis brothers in central Macedonia.
Participants in the Macedonian Struggle from other parts of Greece
The three Cretan leaders of western Macedonia 1903-1908, Athens, National Historical MuseumThe successful waging of any unconventional war rests in the effective collaboration of the local population. That this condition was certainly met in the case of Macedonia should in no way detract from the value of the contribution to the Struggle of hundreds of volunteers from free Greece, Crete, Epirus, the Aegean islands, and even Cyprus.
Apart from the private citizens who joined in the fighting independently, the enlistment of volunteers into the bands was mainly along two lines: individual chieftains and officers in the Greek army were flanked by men either from their own units, especially the border Evzone units, or experienced fighters from the same birthplace.
As officers from Crete and the Mani formed the most ardent and hard-bitten component of the army, a large number of the fighters for Macedonia came from these two areas. The Cretans in particular, known for their zeal and their military prowess, proved to be the most valuable striking force in the whole struggle.
The Cretan bands, led by Yiannis Karavitis, Efthymios Kaoudis, Manolis Katsigaris and Yiannis Volanis, offered inestimable services to western Macedonia and came to be regarded as symbols of military skill and self-sacrifice.
Macedonian Heritage / Ekdotike Athenon S.A.
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