for Macedonia
Brief History:
Ancient
Modern
Recent
City Info:
Skopje
Bitola
Ohrid
Strumica
Other Cities
Mala Prespa
Villages
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Brief History of Macedonia:
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| Quick Summary of Macedonian History | Brief | |
| Ancient - Modern | Brief | Detailed |
| Early 20th Century | Brief | Detailed |
| 1945-’92 From Yugoslav Republic to Independence | Brief | Detailed |
| ’93-’98 Growing Pains | Brief | Detailed |
| ’99-’00 Rumors of Rebellion | Brief | Detailed |
| ’01 Open Rebellion | Brief | Detailed |
| ’02 Reconstruction | Brief | Detailed |
Quick Summary of Macedonian History
Macedonia had been the only peaceful country after the break-up of Yugoslavia until ’01 when the country barely avoided an official civil war. Rebels took control of much of northwestern Macedonia, demanding greater rights for the ethnic Albanian minority. Many ethnic Macedonians, and some Albanians fled their homes in response to the violence, threats, and ethnic killings.
After months of armed conflict, foreign intervention forced the Macedonian government into a peace deal in which the guerrillas exchanges their arms for amnesty and greater ethnic-Albanian recognition.
Constitutional changes giving greater acknowledgement of ethnic-Albanian rights were approved by parliament in late ’01. However splinter groups continue to hinder the police in their attempts to regain control of northwestern Macedonia, giving rise to fears of more attempts to violently gain independence from Macedonia. NATO forces remain on guard with Task Force Fox (TFF).
Ancient - Modern
359-336 B.C. - Phillip II carried out military and financial reforms, and unified Greece, including modern Macedonia.
336-323 B.C. - Alexander the Great, son of Philip II, conquered much of the known world and spread Hellenistic culture.
Late 6th & early 7th centuries - Slavs settled in the territory of Macedonia, gradually mixing with and replacing the original Macedonian people.
855 - The brothers Cyril and Methodius created the first Slavonic alphabet, precursor to all Cyrillic alphabets.
886 - Saints Kliment and Naum, students of Cyril and Methodi, came to Macedonia, spreading Christianity in the Slavonic language and founding the Ohrid (
) Literary School.
1371 - The Ottoman Turks penetrated the Balkans at the Battle of Marica, and Macedonia fell under Turkish occupation in 1395. The Turks were mostly Muslim and put harsh restrictions, often involving torture or death, upon the mostly Orthodox people.
1767 - The Greek Patriarchate of Constantinople pushed for the abolition of the Archbishopric of Ohrid ( ) by an irade of the Sultan.
1878 - The Treaty of Berlin redrew the Balkan political boundaries. Serbia, Montenegro and Romania became independent, and the principality of Bulgaria was created. Slovenia and Croatia stayed under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian empire, which also took control of Bosnia, and Macedonia remained under Turkish rule. • •
Early 20th Century
14-22 Nov. ’08 - The Albanian alphabet was formalized in ).
’12-’13 - The Balkan Wars led from the London Conference, which greatly expanded Macedonia in order to make it a bufferzone, to the Peace Treaty of Bucharest and the partition of Macedonia. • •
’14-’18 - The First World War ended with the Treaty of Versailles sanctioning the partition of Macedonia. •
’41-’44 - Macedonia's participation in the Second World War (National Liberation War of Macedonia) led to the Proclamation of the Macedonian state on 2 Aug ’44. •
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