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Historiography in North Macedonia is the methodology of historical studies developed and employed by Macedonian historians. It traces its origins to the 1940s, when
SR Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia, Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia, was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Y ...
became part of Yugoslavia. The first generation of Macedonian historians after WWII traced Macedonian
ethnogenesis Ethnogenesis (; ) is the formation and development of an ethnic group. This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification. The term ''ethnogenesis'' was originally a mid-19th-century neologism that was later introduce ...
to the 19th century. However, after the Tito-Stalin split the relations between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria deteriorated, and Bulgaria vigorously began to deny the existence of a Macedonian nation and language which it had recognised in 1946. Thus an important break occurred and Macedonian historians traced the origins of a Macedonian nation and state further back in time, to the
Samuel of Bulgaria Samuel (also Samoil or Samuil; , ; , ; Old Church Slavonic: Самоилъ; died 6 October 1014) was the Tsar (''Emperor'') of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 977 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, th ...
and his
Cometopuli dynasty The Kometopuli dynasty ( Bulgarian: , ; Byzantine Greek: , ) was the last royal dynasty in the First Bulgarian Empire, ruling from until the fall of Bulgaria under Byzantine rule in 1018. The most notable member of the dynasty, Tsar Samuel, i ...
medieval rule, which was appropriated as Macedonian rather than Bulgarian. After the Republic of Macedonia's independence from Yugoslavia and after the beginning of the Macedonia name dispute with Greece, Macedonian historiography carried the nation's origins back even earlier, to antiquity and to the ancient kingdom of Macedon with a particular emphasis on
Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...
. In the field of historiography,
communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
and
Macedonian nationalism Macedonian nationalism (, ), sometimes referred to as Macedonianism, is a general grouping of nationalist ideas and concepts among ethnic Macedonians that were first formed in the second half of the 19th century among separatists seeking the a ...
are closely related. After the
fall of communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...
, Macedonian historiography did not significantly revise its communist past, because of the key role played by communist policies in establishing a distinct Macedonian nation. The debates in North Macedonia concerning its relationships with Bulgaria and Greece have had significant impact on historiographic narrative in the country, introducing a new revisionist interpretation of the past. Macedonian historians consider as one of their main purposes is to assort the facts free from foreign manipulation and the alleged twisted views of the neighboring historiographies, and present them in a true light. Thus, Macedonian historians with the same principle as their colleagues in Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia, make extreme efforts to present the Slavic Orthodox population of the region in the 19th and 20th century as Macedonian, regardless of what the written records say. Via the medium of education, unsubstantiated historical claims have been transmitted to generations of students in the country, to conceal that many prominent Macedonians had viewed themselves as Bulgarians. The
Skopje 2014 Skopje 2014 () was a project financed by the government of the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) of the then-ruling nationalist party VMRO-DPMNE, with the official purpose of giving the capital Skopje a more Classical architecture, ...
project, for example, promoted the idea of continuity of the Macedonian nation from antiquity until modern times. Some domestic and foreign scholars have criticized this agenda of negationist historiography, whose apparent goal is to affirm the continuous existence of a separate Macedonian nation throughout history. Diverging approaches are discouraged because of economic limitations, and researchers who express alternative views risk academic career obstacles and stigmatization as "national traitors". Typical for young historiographies like the Macedonian is to be obsessed with questions of the nation, since the formation of the national past is among the first rationales of modern historiography.


History


Pre-independence

In 1892, Gjorgjija Pulevski, one of the first Macedonian national activists, completed a "General History of the Macedonian Slavs", although his knowledge of history may have been modest and largely influenced by
pan-Slavism Pan-Slavism, a movement that took shape in the mid-19th century, is the political ideology concerned with promoting integrity and unity for the Slavic people. Its main impact occurred in the Balkans, where non-Slavic empires had ruled the South ...
. The Macedonian historical narrative is rooted in leftist and communist groups active during the
Interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
, especially in the 1930s, when the
Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...
issued a
special resolution In business or commercial law, an extraordinary resolution or special resolution is a resolution passed by the shareholders of a company by a greater majority than is required to pass an ordinary resolution. The precise figures vary in different ...
in their support. According to activists from those groups, the Macedonian nation was forged through a differentiation from the earlier Bulgarian nation. In that framework, the Macedonian awakening in the 19th century took place as part of the
Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian Revival (, ''Balgarsko vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and ), sometimes called the Bulgarian National Revival, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian pe ...
, but managed to evolve separately from it in the early 20th century. One of them —
Vasil Ivanovski Vasil Atanasov Ivanovski (Bulgarian: Васил Атанасов Ивановски; 18 October 1906, Golovrade – 1991, Sofia) also known by his pseudonym Bistrishki, was a Bulgarian Communist Party activist, publicist, theoretician of the ethnic ...
, declared for the first time that many Bulgarian historical figures were, in fact,
ethnic Macedonians Macedonians ( ) are a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group native to the region of Macedonia in Southeast Europe. They speak Macedonian, a South Slavic language. The large majority of Macedonians identify as Eastern Orthodox Christians, ...
. It was only after the Second World War, however, that those writings were widely appreciated, as prior to the establishment of
Communist Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...
, the existence of a separate Macedonian nation was still not widely recognized. A history department was established in the University of Skopje in 1946. The first national scientific institution in this field – the Institute for National History of the PR Macedonia - was established in July 20, 1948, under the Cyril Methodius University in Skopje. It had the obligation of studying the history of the Macedonian people. The role played by the Macedonian partisans and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia was emphasised by the Yugoslav Macedonian historiography. The leader of the new
Socialist Republic of Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia, Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia, was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Y ...
Lazar Koliševski Lazar Koliševski ( ; 12 February 1914 – 6 July 2000) was a Macedonians (ethnic group), Macedonian Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav Communism, communist political leader in the Socialist Republic of Macedonia and briefly in th ...
, initially proclaimed that the Republic's history had begun with the communist struggle during the Second World War, whereas early 20th century events such as the
Ilinden Uprising Ilinden ( Bulgarian/ Macedonian: Илинден) or Ilindan ( Serbian Cyrillic: Илиндан), meaning " Saint Elijah's Day", may refer to: Events * Republic Day (North Macedonia) Republic Day () or Ilinden () is a national holiday in North ...
, or organisations such as the
IMRO The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; ; ), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1893 in Salonica, it init ...
, were mere Bulgarian conspiracies. At the same time, the first rector of the
University of Skopje The Saints Cyril and Methodius University () is a public research university in Skopje, North Macedonia. It is the oldest and largest public university in the country. It is named after the Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries Cyri ...
- Kiril Miljovski - admitted that early Macedonian revivalists and revolutionaries identified as
Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...
. With explicit state support from the Yugoslav government, historical studies emphasizing the distinctness of Macedonian nationhood were expanded. New Macedonian historiography held, as a central principle, that Macedonian history was separate from Bulgarian history. Its primary goal was to foster an independent Macedonian national consciousness, with an "anti-Bulgarian" or "de-Bulgarizing" trend, and to sever any ties with Bulgaria. This distinct Slavic consciousness would inspire identification with
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
. The first generation of Macedonian historians focused on the 19th and 20th centuries, claiming a Macedonian national awakening and distinguished it from the Bulgarian one. However, some people from the region who were included in the narrative had also played a significant role in the
Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian Revival (, ''Balgarsko vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and ), sometimes called the Bulgarian National Revival, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian pe ...
. This apparent problem was solved by the Communist system using censorship, control of historical information, and manipulation. Numerous prominent activists with
pro-Bulgarian Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, while in No ...
sentiment from the 19th and the early 20th centuries were described as (ethnic) Macedonians. Despite the fact that in many documents of that period, the local Slavic population was not referred to as "Macedonian", but rather as "Bulgarian", Macedonian historians argued that it was Macedonian anyway. They also claimed that the term "Bulgarian" did not refer to any specific ethnicity at the time, but was rather used as a synonym for "Slavic", "Christian" or "peasant". In 1874, the Orthodox population of the
bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
s of
Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...
and
Ohrid Ohrid ( ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording a population of over 42,000 inhabitants as of ...
were given the chance by the Ottoman authorities to participate in a plebiscites, where they voted overwhelmingly in favour of joining the Bulgarian Exarchate (Skopje by 91%, Ohrid by 97%). However, Macedonian historians claimed that the spread of Bulgarian national feeling in Macedonia was a result of a organized propaganda which made a breakthrough with the formation of the
Bulgarian Exarchate The Bulgarian Exarchate (; ) was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953. The Exarchate (a de facto autocephaly) ...
. Per Macedonian historians the Macedonian Slavs did not joined the Exarchate because they felt themselves Bulgarian, but rather because they were Slavs who opposed Greek domination. Furthermore they claim that the Exarchate attempted to destroy the previous self-governing activity of the Greek Patriarchate church municipalities which were ran by anti-
Phanariot Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Fanariots (, , ) were members of prominent Greeks, Greek families in Fener, Phanar (Φανάρι, modern ''Fener''), the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople where the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Ecume ...
locals, to supplant their democratic electoral system by appointing like-minded people as municipal presidents, who spread Bulgarian propaganda with the help and contact of the Bulgarian Exarchate. After the Tito-Stalin split, in the 1950s, Macedonian historians also traced the origin of the Macedonian nation further back into the Middle Ages. Croatian historian Stjepan Antoljak gave Macedonian historians the idea to claim
Samuel of Bulgaria Samuel (also Samoil or Samuil; , ; , ; Old Church Slavonic: Самоилъ; died 6 October 1014) was the Tsar (''Emperor'') of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 977 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, th ...
as an ethnic Macedonian ruler. Macedonian historians declared Samuel's kingdom as a Macedonian kingdom. When historians from
Skopje University The Saints Cyril and Methodius University () is a public research university in Skopje, North Macedonia. It is the oldest and largest public university in the country. It is named after the Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries Cyri ...
published in 1985 their collection of documents on the struggle of the Macedonian people, they included into the excerpts of medieval chronicles a footnote for every use of the terms "Bulgaria" and "Bulgarian". In the 1960s, Macedonian and Serbian scholars typically referred to the ancient local tribes of the Central Balkan region as Daco-Moesian. Yugoslav Macedonian historians argued that any plausible link between ethnic Macedonians and their ancient namesakes was, at best, accidental.


Post-independence

The situation did not change significantly after the
Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...
achieved independence in the late 20th century. The reluctance towards a thorough reexamination of Yugoslav communist historiography was fueled by the fact that the Macedonian nation was a product of Yugoslav communist policies. The generation of Macedonian historians closely associated with the Yugoslav period, who were instrumental in establishing national myths, have been in charge of the Institute, while the Institute monopolised the historiography. The main goal of the historiography has been to prove that the Macedonian nation existed. Bulgarian historians have continued to dispute the Macedonian interpretation of events. As a result of the
Macedonia naming dispute The use of the country name "Macedonia (terminology), Macedonia" was disputed between Greece and the North Macedonia, Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) between 1991 and 2019. The dispute was a source of instability in the Balkans#W ...
and Greek opposition, there were efforts to include ancient Macedonians in the narrative. According to this new narrative, most of the cultural achievements of the ancient Macedonians were actually (ethnic) Macedonian. This new historical trend, called antiquisation, has depicted the Macedonian nation as being a thousand years older. In this view,
Ancient Macedonians The Macedonians (, ) were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Vardar, Axios in the northeastern part of Geography of Greece#Mainland, mainland Greece. Essentially an Ancient Greece, ancient ...
were not
Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...
, and a separate existence of ancient Macedonians in the
Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...
is maintained, 800 years after the fall of their kingdom, as well as their admixture in the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
with
early Slavic The early Slavs were speakers of Indo-European languages, Indo-European dialects who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th centuries AD) in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Ea ...
settlers arriving in the late 6th century. The
Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts () is an academic institution in North Macedonia. History The Academy of Sciences and Arts was established by the Socialist Republic of Macedonia's assembly on 23 February 1967 as the highest scientifi ...
(MANU) was also involved in efforts of proving that ethnic Macedonians are the descendants of ancient Macedonians. In 2009, the first Macedonian Encyclopedia was published by MANU. The publication caused international and domestic protests because of its content, and it has been subject to criticism. Even some Macedonian academics criticised the book as hastily prepared and politically motivated. Soon thereafter, the controversial encyclopedia was withdrawn from libraries. In 2008, Macedonian Canadian historian Andrew Rossos published the first professional English language overview of the history of Macedonia. However, Stefan Troebst had suggested that his narrative was influenced by the dominant views in the Republic of Macedonia, thus reflecting the latest developments in official Macedonian historiography. The governments of Bulgaria and Macedonia signed a friendship treaty to bolster the complicated relations between the two Balkan states in August 2017. As a provision of the treaty, a joint commission on historical and educational issues was formed in 2018. This intergovernmental commission is a forum where controversial historical issues are to be raised and discussed, to resolve problematic readings of history. In an interview given in 2019, the Macedonian co-president of the joint historical commission - Dragi Gjorgiev - indicated that it was necessary to acknowledge there had been forgeries made on the Macedonian side. An example provided was the replacement of "Bulgarian" with "Macedonian" in certain historical artifacts, seen in Macedonian textbooks. According to Gjorgiev, the historiography had been a function of the process of nation-building for many years. In early October 2019, Bulgaria set a lot of tough terms for North Macedonia's EU progress. The Bulgarian government accepted an
ultimate Ultimate or Ultimates may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums *Ultimate (Bryan Adams album), ''Ultimate'' (Bryan Adams album) *Ultimate (Jolin Tsai album), ''Ultimate'' (Jolin Tsai album) *Ultimate (Pet Shop Boys album), ''Ult ...
"Framework Position", warning that Bulgaria would not let the EU integration of North Macedonia be accompanied by European legitimization of an anti-Bulgarian ideology. In the list, there were more than 20 demands and a timetable to fulfill them, during the process of North Macedonia's accession negotiations. It stated that the rewriting of the history of part of the Bulgarian people after 1944 was one of the pillars of the bulgarophobic agenda of then-Yugoslav communism. The "Framework Position" was approved by a parliamentary vote on 10 October. As a result, in an interview with Bulgarian media in November 2020, Macedonian Prime Minister
Zoran Zaev Zoran Zaev (, ; born 8 October 1974) is a Macedonian economist and politician who served as prime minister of North Macedonia from May 2017 to January 2020, and again from August 2020 to January 2022. Prior to entering politics, he ran a privat ...
conceded that, among other things, Bulgaria was not a ''fascist occupier'' during WWII, and had in fact joined Macedonian Partisans in battles to repel Germans from the area in 1944. This sparked criticism and accusations by Macedonian public figures, politicians and historians of historical revisionism. Protests broke out demanding Zaev's resignation. The leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski stated that he was concerned that the negotiation process with Bulgaria could threaten Macedonian national identity. According to former Macedonian Prime Minister
Ljubčo Georgievski Ljubčo Georgievski (, ; ; born 17 January 1966) is a Macedonian politician and writer who served as the only Vice President of Macedonia from January to October 1991 and as the Prime Minister of Macedonia from 1998 to 2002. He advocated for th ...
, those reactions were the result of ignorance, hypocrisy or politicking. On November 17, 2020, Bulgaria blocked the official start of North Macedonia's EU accession negotiations. One of the main reasons provided was an "ongoing nation-building process" based on
historical negationism Historical negationism, also called historical denialism, is falsification or distortion of the historical record. This is not the same as '' historical revisionism'', a broader term that extends to newly evidenced, fairly reasoned academic rein ...
of Bulgarian identity, culture and legacy in the broader
region of Macedonia Macedonia ( ) is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time; however, it came to be defined as the modern geographical region by the mid-19th century. ...
. The acknowledgement of Bulgarian influence on Macedonian history is highly problematic, because it clashes with the post-WWII Yugoslav Macedonian narratives, based on a profound anti-Bulgarian stance in the historiography as well. In August 2022, the joint historical commission reached an agreement and recommended the joint commemoration of historical figures like
Cyril and Methodius Cyril (; born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (; born Michael, 815–885) were brothers, Population of the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Christian theologians and Christian missionaries, missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs ...
,
Clement of Ohrid Saint Clement (or Kliment) of Ohrid ( Bulgarian, Macedonian, , ''Kliment Ohridski''; , ''Klḗmēs tē̂s Akhrídas''; ; – 916) was one of the first medieval Bulgarian saints, scholar, writer, and apostle to the Slavs. He was one of the mos ...
,
Saint Naum Naum ( Bulgarian and ), also known as Naum of Ohrid or Naum of Preslav (c. 830 – December 23, 910), was a medieval Bulgarian writer and missionary among the Slavs, considered one of the Seven Apostles of the First Bulgarian Empire. He was a ...
and
Tsar Samuel Samuel (also Samoil or Samuil; , ; , ; Old Church Slavonic: Самоилъ; died 6 October 1014) was the Tsar (''Emperor'') of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 977 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, the ...
. In September 2024, after he was replaced in the historical commission, Dragi Gjorgiev criticized the prime minister
Hristijan Mickoski Hristijan Mickoski (, ; born 29 September 1977) is a Macedonian politician and former mechanical engineer, currently serving as Prime Minister of North Macedonia, a position he has held since June 2024. He is also a university professor and the p ...
for accusing the historical commission of not defending national interests, stating that anyone who does not comply with these views will face disagreeable consequences.


Domestic and revisionist views

After the
fall of Communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...
, historical revisionists in the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) questioned the narrative established in Communist Yugoslavia. Specifically revisionism came into prominence from the mid-1990s. Some revisionists include Zoran Todorovski, Stojan Kiselinovski, Violeta Ačkoska and Stojan Risteski, who have been ideologically aligned with
VMRO-DPMNE The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (), abbreviated as VMRO-DPMNE (), is a conservative and the main centre-right to right-wing political party in North Macedonia. It was establ ...
, which during the reign of
Ljubčo Georgievski Ljubčo Georgievski (, ; ; born 17 January 1966) is a Macedonian politician and writer who served as the only Vice President of Macedonia from January to October 1991 and as the Prime Minister of Macedonia from 1998 to 2002. He advocated for th ...
was accused of being pro-Bulgarian by the most prominent Macedonian historians. After 1945 the Yugoslav authorities rehabilitated only certain IMRO revolutionaries, who were not associated with the idea of union of Macedonia with Bulgaria, while other IMRO figures remained neglected because of their strong pro-Bulgarian stands. Todorovski has tried to rehabilitate figures regarded as controversial pro-Bulgarians in the historiography such as
Todor Aleksandrov Todor Aleksandrov Poporushov ( Bulgarian/Macedonian: Тодор Александров Попорушов; 4 March 1881 – 31 August 1924), anglicised as Todor Alexandrov, was a Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary, Bulgarian army officer, polit ...
and
Ivan Mihailov Ivan Mihaylov Gavrilov (; ;He is credited in English-language sources as ''Mihailov'', while the Bulgarian and Macedonian transliteration schemes render it as ''Mihaylov'' and ''Mihajlov'', respectively. 26 August 1896 – 5 September 1990), ...
. Kiselinovski on the other hand has re-evaluated the standardization of the
Macedonian language Macedonian ( ; , , ) is an Eastern South Slavic language. It is part of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of a larger Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch. Sp ...
and the role that
Blaže Koneski Blaže Koneski ( Macedonian and ; 19 December 1921 – 7 December 1993) was a Macedonian poet, writer, literary translator, and linguistic scholar, who had a major contribution to the codification of the standard Macedonian language, for which ...
played in it, who according to him Serbified it. Ačkoska and Risteski have written about the repressions against the opponents of the communist regime. Revisionist historians with anti-Yugoslav and anti-Serbian sentiments have argued the politics of SFR Yugoslavia continued the pre-war oppressive Serbian policies, thus the revisionists were legitimizing the political agenda of VMRO-DPMNE at the time. Revisionists have been labelled as
Bulgarophiles Bulgarophiles (; Serbian language, Serbian and , ''bugarofili'' or ''bugaraši''; ; ) is a pejorative term used for Slavs, Slavic people from the regions of Macedonia (region), Macedonia and Morava Valley, Pomoravlje who identify as ethnic Bulgar ...
by their opponents. Historian Todor Čepreganov has criticized the attempted rehabilitation of such figures like Aleksandrov as politically motivated in order to cause greater controversies and divisions. Also, Čepreganov explained that almost all Macedonian revolutionaries sometimes took pro-Bulgarian stands or identified as Bulgarians, but noted the absence of a Macedonian state at the time and the strong influences of neighboring countries. Many people were then educated in
Bulgarian Exarchate The Bulgarian Exarchate (; ) was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953. The Exarchate (a de facto autocephaly) ...
schools. Similar views were espoused by
Ivan Katardžiev Ivan Katardžiev (; ; January 6, 1926 – December 1, 2018) was a Macedonian historian. He was regarded as the country's most important expert on the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) and the Macedonian history under Yugoslavia ...
. People such as
Ivan Mikulčić Ivan Mikulčić ( Croatian: Ivan Luka Mikulčić; Macedonian: Иван Микулчиќ) was a prominent archaeologist from North Macedonia. Biography Mikulcic was born on March 25, 1936, in the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the Srem town of In ...
, Krste Crvenkovski, Slavko Milosavlevski and Irena Stefoska tried to openly oppose the popular historical myths in the Republic of Macedonia. According to Stefoska, such a reading of history contributes to the distortion of Macedonian national identity, and does harm to the academic integrity of history as a discipline. Mikulčić, for example, proved through archaeological evidence that there were no ancient Macedonians when the Early Slavs arrived in Macedonia. He also found several
Bulgar Bulgar may refer to: *Bulgars, a historical Turkic group *Bulgar language, the extinct language of the Bulgars *Oghur languages Bulgar may also refer to: *Bolghar, the capital city of Volga Bulgaria *Bulgur, a wheat product * Bulgar, an Ashkenazi ...
graves on the territory of the modern republic and argued the Slavs in Macedonia adopted the
demonym A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a group of people ( inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place ( hamlet, village, town, city, region, ...
"Bulgarians" in the 9th century. Milosavlevski and Crvenkovski challenged the myth of the significance of the communist partisan resistance movement against the
Bulgarian Army The Bulgarian Army (), also called Bulgarian Armed Forces, is the military of Bulgaria. The commander-in-chief is the president of Bulgaria. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for political leadership, while overall military command is in ...
during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Such studies became the only exception to the new Macedonian historiography, with most historians staying loyal to the political elite, writing publications appropriating the Hellenistic part of the Macedonian past, the medieval Bulgarian Empire and the Bulgarian national revival from the Ottoman period. According to Macedonian professor of
pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...
and then-MP Vesna Janevska, the conflict during WWII was a fratricidal or civil war. Per Macedonian philosopher Katerina Kolozova, the term "Bulgarian fascist occupiers" is dubious, because significant part of them were practically local collaborators of the Bulgarian authorities. According to her, the connection of modern Macedonian identity with anti-fascism and partisans has been so deeply rooted in the society, that any historical revision of it is unimaginable. Historian Petar Todorov wrote that the myth of
victimisation Victimisation ( or victimization) is the state or process of being victimised or becoming a victim. The field that studies the process, rates, incidence, effects, and prevalence of victimisation is called victimology. Peer victimisation Peer ...
is among the biggest and most important myths within the historiography. Intellectuals from the Macedonian elite, such as Denko Maleski and
Ljubčo Georgievski Ljubčo Georgievski (, ; ; born 17 January 1966) is a Macedonian politician and writer who served as the only Vice President of Macedonia from January to October 1991 and as the Prime Minister of Macedonia from 1998 to 2002. He advocated for th ...
, admit that the distinct Macedonian nation is a recent phenomenon that developed in the years around the Second World War. According to Bulgarian historian Naoum Kaytchev such views are spread among younger educated citizens, as well as Macedonians who lived in the 1940s. Their views align with scholars such as Hugh Poulton, Jan Rychlík and Ulf Brunnbauer.


Foreign studies and views

The mainstream European historiography maintains that the separate Macedonian nation was developed during the Second World War. According to anthropologist Loring Danforth, the majority of Macedonian Slavs up until the Second World War did not have a clearly developed sense of national identity at all, any expression of it was superficial and imposed by educational and religious propaganda or by terrorism from guerilla bands. Danforth further states that the recent date of the creation of a Macedonian state and development of Macedonian nation, compared to other
Balkan The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
cases, does not make the Macedonian identity no more or less "artificial" than the others or any identity overall. Anthropologically the Macedonian national identity does not begin with ancient Macedonians, any more than the Greek national identity begins with the ancient Greeks, both claims of racial and cultural continuity are part of nation-building process itself. Also per Danforth, the ancient heritage of modern Balkan countries is not the mutually exclusive property of one specific nation but the shared inheritance of all Balkan peoples. Historian John Van Antwerp Fine stated that throughout the Middle Ages and Ottoman era, the name Bulgarians was used to denote the local Slavs and those among them who had ethnic consciousness believed they are Bulgarians, and the designation "Macedonian" was entirely regional. According to Greek historian Apostolos Vacalopoulos, already from the beginning of the 18th century, there is mention only of Bulgarians in Macedonia, which reveals they formed the largest Slavic community there. The Macedonian Slavs were nationally amorphous during the 18th and the early 19th century. Afterwards they, already Bulgarian by name, began to acquire a Bulgarian national identity. Historian Alexander Maxwell maintains that national identity was espoused within small number of educated people at the end of the 19th century and by the middle of 20th century, Macedonians began to see Macedonian and Bulgarian loyalties as mutually exclusive. Per historian Bernard Lory the ethnic divergence between Bulgarians and Macedonians happened mainly in the first half of the 20th century. The identification as ethnic Bulgarians occurred in Macedonia during the
Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian Revival (, ''Balgarsko vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and ), sometimes called the Bulgarian National Revival, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian pe ...
, but it was vaguely defined, after 1878 in the
Principality of Bulgaria The Principality of Bulgaria () was a vassal state under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. It was established by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. After the Russo-Turkish War ended with a Russian victory, the Treaty of San Stefano was signed ...
it developed into a national ideology meanwhile in Macedonia the meaning remained vague, which made the divergence grow, especially in
Vardar Macedonia Vardar Macedonia (Macedonian language, Macedonian and ) is a historical term referring to the central part of the broader Macedonian region, roughly corresponding to present-day North Macedonia. The name derives from the Vardar, Vardar River and i ...
after 1913 and it culminated there after 1944. According to historian
Eugene N. Borza Eugene N. Borza (March 3, 1935 – September 5, 2021) was a professor of ancient history at Pennsylvania State University, where he taught from 1964 until 1995. Academic career Born in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, Borza came from a family of immigrants ...
, the Macedonians, who are a recently emergent people and have had no history, need one, thus are in search of their past. This search is an attempt to help legitimize their uncertain present, surviving on a territory that historically has been the conflict between Greater Serbian and
Bulgarian irredentism Bulgarian irredentism is a term to identify the territory associated with a historical national state and a modern Bulgarian irredentist nationalist movement in the 19th and 20th centuries, which would include most of Macedonia, Thrace and Moesia ...
. Also per Borza, contrary to the claims that
Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...
invented the Macedonian ethnicity and language, he rather provided support and legitimacy to an natural internal nation-building process that started in the late 19th century and culminated with the creation of
SR Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia, Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia, was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Y ...
. According to
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
historian , the Macedonian narrative was identical from 1944 to 1991. Troebst wrote in 1983 that historical research in SR Macedonia was about direct political action. He would go on to characterize this reciprocal dependence of historiography and politics as being more pronounced than what had been observed in Eastern and Southeast Europe. Per political consultant and journalist Carsten Wieland, Stefan Troebst sees the Macedonian nation building as an ideal example of
Gellner's theory of nationalism Gellner's theory of nationalism was developed by Ernest Gellner over a number of publications from around the early 1960s to his 1995 death. Gellner discussed nationalism in a number of works, starting with '' Thought and Change'' (1964), and he mo ...
. Since the creation of the Yugoslav Macedonia, it was realized immediately. According to Austrian historian , the Macedonian
nation-building Nation-building is constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the state. Nation-building aims at the unification of the people within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable. According to Harris Mylonas, ...
process is still ongoing. Diverging approaches are discouraged within the historiography, due to economic limitations and academics who do try new approaches endanger their academic careers and get accused of being traitors. Croatian historian
Tvrtko Jakovina Tvrtko Jakovina (born 2 March 1972) is a Croatian historian. Jakovina is a full time professor at the Department of History at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the U ...
cited the appropriation of Alexander the Great by the historiography as an example of an "obvious lie". Anthropologist Ivaylo Dichev argues that the Macedonian historiography has the impossible task of filling in the huge gaps between the ancient kingdom of Macedon that collapsed in the 2nd century BC, the 10th-11th century state of the
Cometopuli The Kometopuli dynasty ( Bulgarian: , ; Byzantine Greek: , ) was the last royal dynasty in the First Bulgarian Empire, ruling from until the fall of Bulgaria under Byzantine rule in 1018. The most notable member of the dynasty, Tsar Samuel, i ...
, and
Yugoslav Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia, Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia, was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of ...
, established in the middle of the 20th century. Despite the myths of national purity and continuity that came to dominate the official Macedonian historiography, something not unusual for the Balkan region, historian İpek Yosmaoğlu affirmed there is not much to be gained from a search for a Macedonian national lineage, because the Macedonian nationhood was shaped mainly in the decades following World War II. According to the
political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
Kyril Drezov, the controversial continuity view is ahistorical, as it projects modern ethnic distinctions onto the past. Bulgarian historians view the presenting of the 19th and early 20th century Bulgarian identification as simply a term for peasant by Macedonian historians, as part of a systematic trend of denigrating and reviling the ethnonym "Bulgarian". Per Bulgarian
social psychologist Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field of ...
Georgi Stankov, the historiography is based on the
postmodernist Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...
approach, which erases the distinctions between "fact" and "value" and "reality" and "perception." With respect to the Macedonian narrative, both Greek and Bulgarian historiographers have questioned Macedonian historiography's factual basis. Per economics historian Michael Palairet, in the three-way dispute about Macedonian identity, the Bulgarian view is slightly more objective than either the Greek or Macedonian view, but the Macedonian historiographical version departs from common sense and the historical record more than either the Greek or the Bulgarian ones.


Gallery

File:Прилеп во јуни 2013 (9).JPG, The former Bulgarian police station in
Prilep Prilep ( ) is the List of cities in North Macedonia, fourth-largest city in North Macedonia. According to 2021 census, it had a population of 63,308. Name The name of Prilep appeared first as ''Πρίλαπος'' in Greek (''Prilapos'') in 1 ...
was attacked by Partisan detachment on 11 October 1941. Today the object is memorial museum. In fact, the only victim of the attack, celebrated as the
day of the Macedonian Uprising Day of the Macedonian Uprising is a public holiday in North Macedonia, commemorating the beginning of the National Liberation Struggle against fascism during World War II in Yugoslav Macedonia, on October 11, 1941. According to the Yugoslav M ...
against Bulgarian fascists, was a local man conscripted in the Bulgarian police. File:Masakr vo Vatasa, 1943.jpg, Macedonian historians have accused the Bulgarian forces of several atrocities, as the massacre of 12 young civilians at the village of Vataša. They were suspected of becoming guerillas in the coming days. However, significant part of the soldiers and some of the commanding officers during the occupation were local staff. File:Court-against the trespassing the Macedonian national honor.jpg, Statute of the Court for the Protection of Macedonian National Honour from January 1945. Per Bulgarian sources tens of thousands
pro-Bulgarian Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, while in No ...
elements were imprisoned, persecuted, repressed, etc. for violations of that ''Law'', and 1,260 were killed in 1945. File:SnimkavROMA.jpg, The last leader of the IMRO
Ivan Mihailov Ivan Mihaylov Gavrilov (; ;He is credited in English-language sources as ''Mihailov'', while the Bulgarian and Macedonian transliteration schemes render it as ''Mihaylov'' and ''Mihajlov'', respectively. 26 August 1896 – 5 September 1990), ...
(to the left) with the former IMRO activist Pandeli Stoyanov in Rome (1969). He is considered a
bulgarophile Bulgarophiles (; Serbian and , ''bugarofili'' or ''bugaraši''; ; ) is a pejorative term used for Slavic people The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout th ...
and ''
fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
'' from Macedonian historiography, while the organisation he led between 1924 and 1934 is also seen as a pro-Bulgarian.''In Macedonia, the interwar VMRO has traditionally been portrayed as Bulgarian, and as a champion of the ideal of a 'Greater Bulgaria' that included Macedonia. In turn, thus, SDSM politicians and mainstream historians have accused the VMRO-DPMNE of falsifying history and of taking a pro-Bulgarian stance. The acknowledgement of Bulgarian influence on Macedonian history is highly problematic to many Macedonians because it clashes with the Yugo-Macedonian narratives. Especially after the Tito–Stalin split of 1948, the cornerstone of Macedonian national identity and historiography had been the notion of a distinct, non-Bulgarian, Macedonian national consciousness, leading to a profoundly anti-Bulgarian stance in politics and historiography.'' For more see: Paul Reef (2018) Macedonian Monument Culture Beyond 'Skopje 2014'. From the journal Comparative Southeast European Studies. De Gruyter Oldenbourg.


See also

*
Macedonian Question The region of Macedonia is known to have been inhabited since Paleolithic times. Еarliest historical inhabitants The earliest historical inhabitants of the region were the Pelasgians, the Bryges and the Thracians. The Pelasgians occupied Em ...
*
Macedonian nationalism Macedonian nationalism (, ), sometimes referred to as Macedonianism, is a general grouping of nationalist ideas and concepts among ethnic Macedonians that were first formed in the second half of the 19th century among separatists seeking the a ...
*
History of North Macedonia The history of North Macedonia encompasses the history of the territory of the modern state of North Macedonia. Prehistory The Vinča culture was an early culture of Southeastern Europe (between the 6th and the 3rd millennium BC), stretch ...
*
Archaeology of North Macedonia Archaeology of North Macedonia is the field of archaeology in the country. It was documented in the broader region for the first time in the 19th century. Before the establishment of a Macedonian state, it was part of the Serbian framework. The est ...
* Sociology in North Macedonia


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Historiography in the Republic of Macedonia Bilateral relations of North Macedonia Ethnocentrism Historical negationism Pseudohistory Anti-Bulgarian sentiment Macedonian nationalism Science and technology in North Macedonia