The Republic of Macedonia, whose history dates back to ancient times, is a small European state in the Balkans with the capital Skopje, which has no seaports and access to the sea. In the UN, the state is included in the status of the Former Yugoslav Macedonia, the official language is Macedonian. The territory of the republic is 25,333 sq. km, which corresponds to the 145th place in the world. The state also occupies 145th place in terms of the number of inhabitants. A brief history of Macedonia will be presented to the reader in the article.
History
The historical region of ancient Macedonia, sensational in ancient legends, myths and chronicles, is today divided between the territories of the modern states of Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria. In ancient times, its territory and the peoples inhabiting it were owned by Paeonia and Rome, Serbian andBulgarian kingdoms, Ottoman Empire and Byzantium. As history shows, the name "Macedonia" comes from two Greek words meaning "high land" or simply "highlands".
Under the rule of the wise kings of the Argead dynasty in the region of Edessa from multilingual peoples and tribes in the VIII century. BC e. for the first time the ancient Macedonian state was formed. Under the first Macedonian king Perdikka I (707-660 BC), the influence of the state in the Balkans increased significantly. By the 5th century BC e. its lands expanded, the ancient Pella became the capital of the state, the centralization of the power of local kings was gradually achieved, the army was reorganized, and metal deposits were developed. The power of Athens on the mainland of Greece also increased, the Greeks treated the Macedonians with a dismissive prejudice, considering them, who were essentially the same ethnic Greeks, as uneducated and uncultured barbarians. But over time, it so happened that the cities of Hellas are subject to Macedonia (the history of Greece and Macedonia describes in detail the events of those times).
King Philip II
The period of the reign of Philip II of Macedon historians consider the heyday of the ancient Balkan state. In historical chronicles, Philip II is better known as the father of the greatest warrior of his time, Alexander the Great, but it was he who coped with the most difficult tasks of establishing Macedonia as a state. His son subsequently used the ready-made, battle-hardened, army formed by Philip for his conquests andcreation of a world empire. Under Philip II, the country quickly seized the entire Aegean coast, gained power over the peninsula of Halkidiki, Epirus and magnificent Thessaly, the Orchid Lake region and Thrace.
The most important date in the history of ancient Macedonia was 338 BC. e. Then the famous battle of Chaeronea took place. In the legendary battle, Philip II near Thebes in the town of Chaeronea, with the strength of his 32,000th infantry and cavalry troops, utterly defeated the united army, then formed by the Greek city-states. The result of this battle was that all the ancient cities of Hellas are subject to Macedonia. It has played a significant role in history. We'll talk more about this later.
History of Macedonia: Alexander the Great
The history of the ancient world knows many great warriors and commanders, but the name of Alexander the Great always stands apart in historical documents and works of art. The vast conquests of Philip II on the European continent were multiplied many times by his legendary son Alexander, known in historical documents as Macedonian (356-323 BC). The greatest ancient commander spread his conquests to the Asian region and northern Africa and created a truly world empire.
At the very beginning of his reign, which he entered 20 years after the death of King Philip II of Macedonia, he had to suppress a powerful Thracian uprising, in which he showed his decisive and firm character. The uprising was brutally suppressed, Greece was re-subjugated, the rebellious Thebes was completely destroyed. B 334BC e. Tsar Alexander sends his prepared, combat-ready army to the shores of Asia Minor and starts a war with Persia, which his father dreamed of. After victories at the Granicus over the Persian satraps, at Issus over the army of King Darius III and the decisive battle in this war at Gaugamela, Alexander takes the title of "King of all Asia" and considers conquering the world.
With a terrible and devastating whirlwind, his army passed and in three years (329-326 BC) completely conquered all the ancient states of Central Asia and the Middle East, Syria and Palestine, Caria and Phoenicia. Like a new deity, he was welcomed into Egypt, where he founded Alexandria. Returning to Persia, Alexander conquers Persepolis, Susa and Babylon, which he makes the capital of his vast world empire. Having captured Bactria and Sogdiana, Alexander sets out to conquer India. The unsurpassed commander, tactician and strategist of his time, Alexander the Great was not defeated in a single battle, showed the whole world the steadfast character of a true Macedonian.
Rome Rule
The empire of Alexander the Great with his death began to quickly disintegrate into separate parts, controlled by his comrades-in-arms in military conquests. Macedonia and continental Greece came under the control of one of the commanders of the troops of Alexander Antipater. The next decades passed in the internecine struggle of the generals for power in Macedonia, as a result of which in 277 BC. e. the Antigonid dynasty ascended the throne of Macedonia.
As evidenced by the history of the ancient world, Macedonia,striving for independence, in the III century. BC e. faced a very formidable enemy, gradually strengthening Rome. The so-called Macedonian wars began, in which Philip V of Macedon suffered defeat after defeat. After the next defeat of the Macedonian troops in 197 BC. e. in the fierce battle of Cynoscephalae, Macedonia renounces part of its territories of Illyria, Thessaly and Thrace, loses the fleet and in 146 BC. e. becomes a province of Rome. Roman governors settled in Thessaloniki, some Macedonian cities managed to maintain self-government. Under the rule and protection of Rome, cities and trade relations developed in Macedonia, roads and bridges were built.
It was in Macedonian Philippi for the first time in Europe that, according to the "Acts of the Apostles", a community of Christians appeared, from here the faith of Christ began to spread to the entire continent. In 380, Theodosius I signed a decree in Thessaloniki recognizing Christianity as the religion of the state. With the collapse of the Roman Empire in 395, the historical region of Macedonia was also divided, it suffered devastating raids by nomads, the economy and all major cities fell into complete decline.
Middle Ages
The most important event on the difficult historical path of Macedonia was the arrival of the Slavs in the Balkans in the VI-VII centuries. As the history of the Ancient World tells, Macedonia revived again, once abandoned fields began to be sown using harnessed plows, the Slavs were engaged in hunting, beekeeping and fishing, crafts flourished, the manufacture of tools, weapons, jewelry,pottery and blacksmithing, trade. Foreign coins and a natural product were used in trading calculations.
The Slavs were skillful warriors, in clashes with the militant neighbors their military skills were honed, and the military organization of the Slavic tribes was strengthened. After the fall of the Hun empire, the resettlement of Slavic tribes to the Balkans became massive, but these territories were disputed due to the claims of Byzantium. Historians suggest that there was an initial conflict between Christian Macedonians and pagan Slavs, but this is not documented. It was on the territory of the former Byzantine Balkan provinces that the first local states of the Slavs appeared.
Bulgarian Kingdom
From IX c. By 1018, Macedonia was conquered by the Balkan Bulgarians and submitted to the power of the Bulgarian kingdom, only Thessalonica and the surrounding territories remained under the rule of Byzantium. The active Christianization of the Balkan Slavs continued, St. Clement and St. Naum built two monasteries on the shore and in the vicinity of Orchid Lake. But it was in Macedonia and in neighboring Thrace that the heretical teaching of Bogomilism appeared and became very widespread.
With the capture by Byzantium and the squad of Svyatoslav Igorevich in 970-971. of the eastern lands of the Bulgarian Khanate, the core of the lands remaining under the rule of the Bulgarian comitopoulos Samuil with the capital in Ohrid, was precisely Macedonia. Samuil eventually conquered part of the kingdom, Epirus and Albania, part of Bulgaria and Serbia, but with the defeat in the Battle of Belasitsk, his kingdom finally falls apart.
Part of Byzantium
Swith the fall of the Bulgarian kingdom in 1018, all its lands, together with Macedonia, again returned to Byzantium. Macedonia became part of the administrative unit of the theme Bulgaria with its capital in Skopje. The governor-strategist ruled here, uniting absolute military, political and civil power in his hands. Feudalization is intensifying in Macedonia, the expansion of land ownership and the oppression of peasants.
Church authorities established the Archdiocese of Ohrid, the Greek language becomes official and mandatory in church services instead of Old Church Slavonic. Only the first archbishop of Ohrid was a Slav by origin, Jovan from Debar, later this place was occupied only by the Greeks. Despite strict persecution, Bogomilism remained in Macedonia. In the struggle against high Byzantine taxes in 1040 and 1072, spontaneous popular uprisings arose, and external invasions of the Selj Turks, Crusaders, and Normans intensified. In the XII-XIII centuries. Macedonia became a bone of contention in the territorial disputes between Byzantium and the resurgent Slavic Bulgaria and Serbia.
Under Serbian rule
The civil strife in Byzantium allowed the Serbian kings Stefan Milutin, Stefan Dechansky and Stefan Dushan to conquer almost all of Macedonia except for the large city of Thessaloniki. It was the Macedonian lands with royal residences in Serra and Skopje that became the center of the strengthened state of Stefan Dusan, who was simultaneously crowned king of all Serbs and Greeks. With his death, the Serbian state collapsed, separate parts of the once strong state were ruled by the successors of the Serbiankings.
Ottoman Empire
By the middle of the XIV century. Macedonia, as part of the disintegrating Serbian state, again faced the threat of conquest, but by the Ottoman Turks. The Serbs, under the leadership of the Mrnjavchevich brothers, tried to resist the Turkish expansion, but in 1371, in the Battle of Maritsa, they suffered a crushing defeat for their army. By 1393, Macedonia was completely under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Islam was spreading here, Christians were not persecuted, but they were limited in many rights. For more than four centuries, Macedonia was under the yoke of the Turks, like other Balkan peoples, and fought for independence.
Macedonia within Yugoslavia
In 1918, with the end of the fierce battles of the First World War and the collapse of the empire of Austria-Hungary, a unique opportunity arose to resolve the Macedonian issue, to create a unified state of the Balkan Slavs Yugoslavia, which included Macedonia. She was then a backward remote region of Yugoslavia with a poorly educated population. In 1945, the Republic of Macedonia with a special political status was formed as part of the SFRY. With the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991, the Republic of Macedonia declared its independence, elected President Kiro Gligorov and parliament.
Stages of Macedonia's development
The following significant dates are known in the history of the state of Macedonia:
- VIII c. BC e. - 146 BC e. - the time of the ancient Macedonian kingdom.
- 146 BC e. - 395 - the reign of Rome, the Christianization of Macedonia.
- VI-VII centuries. - the arrival of the Slavs to the Balkan lands and Macedonia.
- IX c. – 1018 - Macedonia under the rule of the Bulgarian kingdom.
- 1018 - XII century. - region of Byzantium.
- XII-XIII centuries – Macedonia becomes a disputed territory between Byzantium and a resurgent Bulgaria and Serbia.
- 1281 - 1355 Macedonia was ruled by Serbian kings.
- 1393 - 1918 - the state is under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
- 1918 - 1991 the country is part of Yugoslavia.
- 1945 - the Republic of Macedonia was formed as part of the SFRY.
- 1991 - Macedonia becomes an independent republic.
Famous people
Many famous personalities are described in the history of the country of Macedonia. They made their contribution to literature, philosophy, culture and science. One of the great natives of Macedonia was Aristotle, the famous and beloved teacher of Alexander the Great. The most famous basileus of Macedonia were Philip II of Macedon and his world famous son Alexander of Macedon. Originally from Macedonia, from the city of Saluni were the famous Christian preachers, the creators of the Old Slavonic alphabet Cyril the Philosopher and his brother Methodius.
In historical Macedonia, the basileus of Byzantium Basil the Macedonian (830-886) was born and raised in a family of Armenians. The well-known Greek philosopher Dmitry Kydonis (1324-1398) is also from here. The Greek philosopher and connoisseur of theological texts, a native of Macedonia Filofei Kokkinos, was twice the Patriarch of Constantinople. From 1437 to 1442 Metropolitan of Kyiv was a nativeMacedonian Isidore the Greek, later Cardinal of Rome.
A native of historical Macedonia, Ioannis Kottunios (1577-1658) was a prominent philosopher of his time. The well-known inspirer and organizer of the uprising in Greece in 1770, Georgis Papazolis (1725-1775), served in the Russian army. Heroes of the Greek Revolution of 1821 E. Pappas, A. Gatsos, A. Karatasos and N. Kasomulis were born in Macedonia.
For some time a prominent Greek writer and revolutionary G. Lassanis, who led the secret Greek society Filiki Eteria, lived in Odessa. The famous Bulgarian revolutionary Gotse Delchev and the famous politician of Bulgaria Dmitri Blagoev became the natives of Macedonia. Prominent representatives of the bohemian European intelligentsia were the natives of Macedonia, the marine painter V. Hadzis and the expressionist D. Vitsoris.
The first president of the IOC was Demetrius Vikelas (1835-1908), a native of the historical region of Macedonia. It was the Macedonian roots that prominent politicians of their time had, who first became prime ministers of their countries, and then presidents. In Turkey, these responsible posts were held by M. K. Atatürk, in Greece, respectively, by K. Karamanlis. Bulgarian politician Anton Yugov and Greek President H. Sardzetakis are also from here.
