History of the Macedonian People - Institute of National History (2008)

nents regarding the changes, the fear from the fall of the state and so on had also their own impact on the situation. On the other side, the oppressed and exploited people, especially the Macedonian people had no time to waste. They requested a quick improvement of the situation, which was far behind the situation of the free neighboring peoples. All this and many other remnants of the previous system in the everyday life such as the corruption, the betrayals, inequality and so on were additional reasons for the active change from the positive political atmosphere of support to the Young Turk regime to the creation of an atmosphere full with rage and hostility and conciseness for the need of changing the situation regardless what might have happened after that.

Exactly because of that in the last years of the Ottoman rule, among the Macedonian people emerged the dilemma of where they should direct, how to achieve and with whom they were supposed to act.

Regarding those segments of the Macedonian population that were under chauvinistic propaganda there were not problems in that context. They completely disposed themselves to the needs of the troops of their mentors. In order to gain the sympathies from the suspicious the faithless people they spread over the information that with signing of the alliance agreement, Serbia and Bulgaria would also oblige themselves to create the autonomous Macedonia on the liberated territory of Macedonia. This lie has a facilitating effect in terms of attracting the part of the Macedonian liberation movement that were firmly determined not to give up the idea for creation of autonomous Macedonia. It was the case of Jane Sandanski. He and his affiliates swallowed the whole story hook, line and sinker and joined the Bulgarian army in the battles against the Ottoman Empire. Despite the fact that Sandanski and its troops entered into the war as an independent factor its position was by no means different from that of the “partisan units�, which were headed by Alexandar Protogerov and Petar Darvingov and were under the command of the Bulgarian Army.

Around 2,000 Macedonian solders were active on the territory of Macedonia and they were of great support to the Bulgarian troops. These units actually liberated the cities of Melnik, Bansko, Nevreokop, Krushevo, Lerin, Gumendze, Veles and Ohrid and here they formed local administration units that were functional till the arrival of the allied troops. Unfortunately, the triumphs of the Macedonian solders were exclusively, if we could say so, of technical character. They were not carried out under the Macedonian insignia nor they were bearer of the Macedonian political objectives in compliance with the Ilinden uprising. In this context, the troops of Jane Sandanski represented an exception. Actually in Macedo210