An undeclared war

The Macedonian struggle was not exactly a war. It was a strange kind of struggle between Greeks and Bulgarians that took place in the Ottoman Empire. During this struggle there was no official declaration of war until 1913. The historical, political, cultural and geographical characteristics of the region are instrumental in understanding the facts that led to this war.

The Macedonian struggle was a result of two other wars. The Russo-Turkish war (1877-1878) that was the cause of the expansionist policy of the Bulgarians and the Greco-Turkish war in 1897 where the Greeks were defeated.

It is often said that this struggle started after the arrival of the Young Turks in 1094 and ended in 1908. In fact it had two different periods: 1897-1904 when the Bulgarians kept terrorizing the Greeks and 1904-10908 when the Greeks decided to react. It actually ended in 1912.

In September of 1900 the comitadjis shot captain Kotta in the context of executing the Slavophone Greeks that blocked their plans. In 1912, just before the Balkan Wars, Lazos Dougiamas and Athanasios Betzios were murdered also by Bulgarians.

Macedonia was not yet a part of Greece despite its important role during the Greek War of Independence in 1821 and its constant struggles for freedom after the year 1830. Its western boundaries were formed by Pindus-Grammos-Prespes-Achrida, its eastern by Nestos and Rhodope, its southern by the Aegean Sea and Mount Athos and its northern by Skardos-Mount Rilas.

During the Turkish domination it was divided in three “problematic vilayets”, those of Monastiri, Thessaloniki and Skopia where the Turks had send about 200.000 soldiers. Monastiri was the seat of the 3rd Army Corps with 10.000 soldiers and 100 cannons. In the decade of 1860 the first Greco-Bulgarian conflict took place. The reason was that the Ottomans allowed the creation of the Bulgarian Exarchate in order to give an impulse to the independence of the Bulgarian church. But the Bulgarians used this fact to forward their expansionist policy in Macedonia and Thrace. A part of this policy was also the incorporation of eastern Rumelia despite its many Greek inhabitants. The “Supreme Macedonian Committee” was created in Sofia in 1895.

In 1900 the Bulgarians took action by finding supporters and secret agents as well as by creating a powerful army. They also created a committee in every village. There was a leader (Natsalnik), a treasurer, an emissary and a kind of public court of law. Furthermore, armed groups (Militsia) were set up in every village and helped the regular army.

Each of these armed groups had its leader, the voivod. The soldiers were carrying rifles, revolvers, 200 bullets, grenades and knives. Their regimentals were simple and of waterproof fabric. They wore rustic shoes (tsarouhia) and thick socks that reached up to their knees. They also wore capes of wool and caps on their heads. Their mission was to organize the struggle as well as to terrorize and punish those who reacted.

These groups of comitadjis started persecutions against the Greeks, the Slavs and the Vlachs of Macedonia. Their victims were mostly priests, teachers, scientists and other wealthy citizens. Their goal was to convert the inhabitants to the Bulgarian Exarchate and finally to occupy Macedonia.

The Greek Reaction

The first Greek reaction came from the Patriarch Joachim the 3rd who appointed young and skilled priests in the region. Among them were Chrysostomos Kalafatas in Drama, Germanos Karavangelis in Kastoria, Joachim Foropoulos in Monastiri, Stefanos Daniilidis in Edessa.

At this point it is worth to make a special mention to the fearless bishop Germanos Karavangelis. Due to his insistence to send soldiers and guns to Macedonia the Zaimis told about him: “Let’s get rid of Karavangelis because he can cause us much trouble. He is the one who brought captain Kottas and Strempeniotis in this region”.

When he died he wrote in his will: I owe to no one. I offered whatever a bishop of the revolution could offer to his country.

Fortunately, at the beginning of the 20th century the Greeks started to react. The creation of the “Macedonian committee” took place. Dimitrios Kalapothakis was its president and its action was organized by the Greek consulate and Lampros Koromilas. Its mission, according to the written instructions given to the soldiers of Macedonia, was to protect the Greek populations, to bring them back to Orthodoxy, to punish the murderers and the traitors.

Officers who used pseudonyms (Mazarakis, Kakkavos, Avrasoglou) came over to Macedonia in order to support and organize the struggle. Armed forces were massed at Macedonia to protect the citizens and to take part in the struggle. These forces soon realized that it would be impossible for them to accomplish their mission without the help of the locals. “National committees” were created that consisted of few members; most of them were teachers, priests and doctors. These committees recruited the leaders, the emissaries as well as the soldiers of the battalions. Especially in the region of central Macedonia (Roumlouki), the locals were instrumental in the success of the operations.

It is about all those farmers, fishermen, priests, teachers, women and children who remained in the background and risked their lives by helping the Greek troops. There are many documentaries about these people, some of them recently discovered in Koryfi, which can help us to learn more about this period. The creation of troops with locals as chieftains had a great impact especially in the psychology of the Macedonians.

The marsh

One of the most important facts of the Greek struggle for Macedonia in 1906 was the battle for the control of the lake of Giannitsa or the “marsh” as it was called by the guerillas and the locals. The marsh of Giannitsa was a wide area in the plain of Thessaloniki that belonged to the Ottoman Empire but was not under the control of the Turks. It was an “independent state” of water, leeches, mosquitoes and reeds. The men of the Sultan collected a tax from the fishermen of the lake only when they came back to land. No one dared to go into the lake that had become a territory of the voivod Apostol Petkov and his soldiers.

There is a description of the lake and the region in Penelope’s Delta novel “The secrets of the marsh”: “The lake had many inhabitants, not permanent ones but farmers who went there to fish or hunt or even to cut out reeds which they used for covering the roofs of their houses, for filling the pack-saddles, for making mats and many other things. Furthermore, the lake was full of leeches that the farmers used to sell… its vegetation was luxuriant… ….reeds everywhere, up to four meters high, a wall that was green during summer, yellow and dry during winter, a wall that was able to cover every whisper”.

The humidity was exhausting, capable of paralyzing ones body. Demestichas mentioned that: “the moisture in the air of the marsh that was even worse at that time of the day made us realize the hell we had been living in for the last seven months. All we had was a kind of boat without a keel and one paddle. The men lived in huts built in shallow waters. Actually, they were kind of redoubts with a floor and a roof of reeds, surrounded by mud in order not to be visible from far away. The huts were built in a way they could protect one another. The Greeks fought under these circumstances against the Bulgarians. The first chieftain to arrive at the marsh in order to protect the locals from the comitadjis was Tzolas Perifanos from Gidas with some of his men. The second one was also from Gidas, Theocharis Kougas. The first Greek Officer to arrive at the marsh was Konstantinos Mpoukouvalas and some others were Demestichas, Papatzaneteas Sarros and of course the great hero Agras (Tellos Agapinos). Of great importance was the contribution of the slavophone captain Gonos from Giannitsa who knew the region of the marsh that well he was given the name “the phantom of the marsh”. He was killed by the Turks at Nisi while he was trying to get back into the marsh. After stopping the Bulgarians’ advance in the marsh the struggle started to slacken in 1908. It is then when the Young Turks made their appearance, the Greek troops left and a fake fraternization took place.

At this point it is worth mentioning some of the facts that took place at Nisi on March 14-15 in 1906. Nisi was a village that contributed a lot to the struggle but also suffered the revenge of the comitadjis who attacked the village under the leadership of Loukas and Apostol. At the beginning of the month the Greeks attacked the Bulgarian villages Golo Selo (Gymna), Agia Marina and Golesani (Levkadia) in order to punish Bulgarian secret agents. At the same night 55 comitadjis armed with bottles filled with petroleum attacked Nisi and burned down the whole village. The inhabitants tried to protect their families and their belongings. 27 houses were burned (according to Gonos) and many farmers lost their cattle which were also burned or killed. The most tragic event was the murder of the eight year old Thomas Spanos as well as the murder of Konstantinos Spanos who were both killed by Bulgarians. The immediate action of the Greek troops forced the Bulgarians to leave and eventually saved the village.

In order to pay a tribute to the memory of the dead and of the residents of Nisi for their contribution it is worth mentioning some of the facts that came to light during the research about Roumlouki, its history, folklore and its role in the struggle for Macedonia. In a book signed by an American reporter who lived with the comitadjis while doing his research is some very important written evidence about the contribution of Nisi.

“I will do it. Akritas and his men are hiding in the marsh, near the village of Nisi. Nisi provides them with emissaries and leaders. If we burn down the village they will leave and maybe we are lucky enough to catch them.”

Names of men that took part
in the Struggle for Macedonia

Koryfi
Kouziortis Vasileios Secret agent class c’
Panagiotopoulos Evangelos (Velentzas) Soldier

Klidi
Vasileiou Evangelos Soldier
Karagiannis Georgios Soldier
Karagiannis Spiros Soldier

Alexandreia(Gida)
Kougas Theocharis Chieftain
Koukouloudas Thomas Secret agent class b’
Matopoulos Apostolos Chieftain
Moschopoulos Antonios Priest-Teacher
Perifanos Georgios (Tzolas) Soldier

Kavasila
Theodoropoulos Sotirios Soldier
Tzampasis Georgios Soldier

Kambochori
Mpantis Stefanos Soldier
Samaras Emmanouel Soldier
Toliopoulos Thomas Soldier

Neochori
Trikalinos Dimitrios Soldier

Nisi
Dellos Evthimios Soldier
Tsiampourlianos Konstantinos Secret agent class c’

Xechasmeni
Katsiampas Dimitrios Secret agent class c’
Skotidas Prodromos Secret agent class c’

Makrochori
Papakonstantinou Grigoris Secret agent class c’

Agathia
Gizaliotis Nikolaos Soldier

Diavatos
Theocharopoulos Giorgos Leader
Theocharopoulos Stefanos Leader
Maliopoulos Georgios Soldier
Maniopoulos Georgios Soldier
Akribopoulos Athanasios Soldier

Schinas
Proios Dimitrios Secret agent class c’

Palatitsia
Tsirogiannis Triantafyllos Soldier
Tsantilas Konstantinos Soldier
Tsilourdatos Triantafyllos Secret agent class c’

Stavros
Chiras Petros Soldier

Palaiochori
Geropoulos Vasileios Soldier

Niseloudi
Anagnostakis P. Soldier

Grigoris Giovanopoulos,

Teacher majored in Modern History and Modern Culture of Greece