THE KRESHNA UPRISING

THE KRESHNA UPRISING

At the end of September 1878 a meeting was held in Gornodzhumaia Region. The meeting was attended by over ten haiduk leaders and other patriots. Included among those who took part in the meeting were haiduk leaders Stoian Karastoilov -Starchieski, Atanas Cholakot (Daskalot), Dimitar Pop Georgiev, Kocho Mutrukov, Kocho Liutata, Todor Palaskarot, Kosta Kukoto and Stoian Tsaparevetsot. Among the issues discussed was what preparations needed to be made for an uprising to take place. It was also decided to inform the people of the start of the uprising with the attack on the Ottoman military garrison stationed in the village Kreshna. An operational plan was developed for that purpose, Stoian Karastoilov was elected military leader of the insurgency, and haiduk leaders Atanas and Cholakot were appointed to assist him. The military forces were deployed in several units which included many villagers.

The Kreshna Uprising began on October 17, 1878 with about 400 haiduks and villagers taking place. Stoian Karastoilov was in command of the haiduk leaders who led the haiduk attack on the Ottoman army in Kreshna. And thus began the Kreshna Uprising, which later got its name on account of the place where the first and successful insurgent action took place. The fighting lasted for two days. The insurgents demanded that the Ottoman soldiers surrender. The Ottomans initially refused, believing that reinforcements would be arriving from Melnik and other places. The reinforcements however were beaten back and didn’t reach the battle. Then, after many hours of fighting, the Ottoman army was forced to surrender with two officers and 119 soldiers. One insurgent was killed and three others were wounded. On the Ottoman side, 9 soldiers were killed and 11 wounded. According to his contemporaries, Stoian Karastoilov and his good leadership was credited for the great victory.

The Kreshna Uprising had a positive echo in the European press, which surprisingly wrote about the heroism of the Macedonian insurgents. The Macedonian villagers enthusiastically received the uprising’s successful start and began to join the insurgency en masse. But due to lack of weapons not all could be recruited. There

was a great shortage of weapons from the moment the uprising began.

Despite the fact that the insurgents faced great difficulties from the start, still the uprisings continued to spread until the beginning of November and covered a large area consisting of several kazis (districts) in today’s Pirin Macedonia. Immediately after the uprising started in Kreshna, battles broke out in the villages Ostava, Vlahi, Grncha, Novo Selo (Ienikioi) and others. Included among the insurgent leaders who fought these battles were Kosta Kukoto, Krsto Svetivrachki and Dedo Giorgi Gadzhalot.

The success of this uprising and the course it took was a result of the support provided by the Macedonian villagers and the considerable measures the insurgent leadership took. After the first battles the leadership evolved its battle tactics as well as its military forces to meet the situation. The armed insurgents were deployed in four large detachments led by Stoian Karastoilov, Kosta Georgiev, Stoian Torolinko and Krsto Arizanov. Karastoilov was elected top military leader of the insurgent forces through the course of the uprising. The Cossack Adam Kolmikov was elected ataman (a Cossack chief) of the uprising and a “Headquarters of the Macedonian Uprising” was also formed.

From the several official documents left behind by the insurgency leadership, we can see that the participants in the uprising themselves called the uprising a “Macedonian Uprising”, about which even the European press wrote. The headquarters of the Macedonian uprising consisted of the haiduk leaders commanded by Karastoilov. Dimitar Pop Gieorgiev-Berovski was elected Chief of Staff and held a seal with the inscription: “Seal of the Chief of the 1878 Macedonian Uprising”, which not only carried the name Macedonia but also the year the uprising took place as well as its national character. Berovski dealt mainly with political and administrative issues, which arose during the fighting and in the liberated areas. The Headquarters was located in the village Vlahi. From the nature of its activities it can be said that the headquarters, in addition to carrying out military duties, functioned as an interim insurgent government. The headquarters had organized a functioning administration and appointed people to administer the

liberated areas, maintain relations with the “Unity” Committees, conduct negotiations with representatives from the Ottoman government, etc. It is interesting to note that in the official documents the Chief of Staff, when addressing important issues, spoke on behalf of the haiduk leaders or on behalf of Karastoilov, something that testifies to the fact that the supreme leadership of the uprising consisted of Macedonians only.

By its activities carried out in the liberated territories, the insurgent leadership, the insurgent organization and the insurgent people’s government proved to the Macedonian people that a base was created from which the insurgency could draw material goods such as food, as well as new military recruits that could be deployed in uprisings in other areas in Macedonia. Unfortunately, by its accomplishments, the Macedonian insurgency leadership and Macedonian internal forces came into sharp conflict with the Bulgarian committees, which directly or indirectly served the interests of Greater Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian committees and Bulgarian ruling circles were extremely upset by the course the 1878 Macedonian uprising had taken. They saw it as a new Macedonian revolutionary movement taking place which posed danger to the Greater Bulgarian aspirations in Macedonia. That’s why they took (as we shall see later) hostile actions to remove the insurgency leadership led by Karastoilov and Berovski.

As was mentioned earlier, many of the administrative functions in the people’s insurgency government in the liberated areas were managed by elders. The people’s militias in the villages were put in charge of providing security and keeping the peace in the population while the elders resolved disputes and assisted the militia. Conducting themselves in a fair manner towards the villagers, the insurgency leadership won over not only the residents of Razlovtsi but also those of Demir Hisar, Pehchevo and places where the population was in full swing and ready to rise in revolt. The village militias were of special importance for maintaining order and defending the liberated areas from enemy attacks. The village militias were also responsible for guarding various prominent places

and for keeping the insurgents informed about enemy movements. The militia was led by a board that was based in the village Kreshna.

After various measures taken by the insurgency leadership, the uprising began to spread even more successfully. The insurgents liberated the areas up to the villages Gradeshnitsa - Belitsa, on the eastern side of the river Struma, where long and disparate battles were fought against the Ottoman army and bashibozuks. As the uprising spread west of the Struma River, several villages in Petrich Region were also liberated. Almost the entire Karshiak Region had fallen into the hands of the insurgents led by Zlatko, Giorgi Okoto, Indzheto, Mitko Iurukot and others. The insurgent incursion to the south was blocked at the Strmeshnitsa River by a large Ottoman army. The insurgents also pushed towards Strumitsa and liberated the village Sushitsa but their advance was again blocked by Ottoman military forces dispatched from Strumitsa.

The largest and longest battles fought by the insurgents took place on the Gradeshnitsa – Belitsa line where the rebels deployed cavalry led by Nikola Makedonski. The insurgent forces were also assisted by Pop Kostadin – Bufski’s detachment. But even though the battles were led by Stoian Karastoilov himself, the insurgents failed to take this line because a large Ottoman army and bashibozuks, reinforced with cannon fire, held it.

While the battles were being fought on this line above the village Gradeshnitsa, the Ottoman authorities from Melnik proposed holding negotiations with the insurgency representatives. Negotiating on behalf of the Ottoman government, they promised to abolish taxes on the villagers but only for a few years. The insurgency representatives, on the other hand, demanded much more than what the Ottoman government offered. So the negotiations produced no resolutions.

The insurgency failure to break through enemy lines at the Gradeshnitsa - Belitsa front as well as other places halted the spread of the uprising in other areas. It was one of the factors that negatively impacted the future course of the overall uprising. Another factor was the “Unity” Committees which offered help to the uprising, but according to Russian historian Levintov it wasn’t to

help the uprising but to stall it. When the leader of the Macedonian uprising addressed the “Unity” Committees he made sure to let them know that he was fully aware of their anti-insurgent role. He said: “The hopes we had in your offer to help us have evaporated. We now see that you were making fun of us… Imagine how many detachments we armed with the first and last 60 rifles you sent us…” In another letter, speaking on behalf of the insurgency leaders, Chief Berovski protested against the “Unity” Committees’ interference in the uprising and pointed out that their role was to act as observers and supply the insurgency with funds and not to interfere in the uprising. “That’s why we consider it our duty to tell you that. And if you continue like before... we will be forced to act as we see fit...”

During the various arguments the insurgency leaders had with the “Unity” Committees, the name “Macedonian” Uprising surfaced as an issue. The “Unity” Committees were against using the word “Macedonian”, to which the insurgency leadership replied: “This word will not die. We will not accept your correspondence without the word Macedonian written on your letters...” At the same time, the insurgency leadership, when convinced that some of the “Unity” Committee leaders were doing harmful work, expelled them from their ranks. Day by day relations between the “Unity” Committees and the insurgency became more and more tense.

The Sofia based “Unity” Committee, tasked by the Bulgarian “Unity” Committees to contact the insurgency leadership through its branch in Gorna Dzhumaia, decided to secretly arrest the chief of the insurgents and replace him and the entire Macedonian uprising leadership with its own people. A three-member commission, headed by D.S. Statelov, member of the Sofia “Unity” Committee, was created for that purpose. The commission, accompanied by several armed men, was dispatched to rebel territory where, at the end of November 1878, they arrested Chief Berovski and imprisoned him in a jail in Kiustendil. The rebel leadership strongly protested but couldn’t do anything because it was busy fighting against the Ottomans.

At the same time, the Sofia “Unity” Committee created a detachment under the leadership of Bratan Marinov, a Bulgarian

officer, and dispatched it to Razlovtsi to spread propaganda in favour of a Greater Bulgaria. Not knowing that this was the work of the Sofia “Unity” Committee, many Macedonians in Razlovtsi began to join Marinov’s detachment including several local haiduk detachments. Then, on November 20, 1878, it attacked the Ottoman defenses in the town Bansko and after several hours of fighting the Macedonian villagers liberated Bansko and captured 34 Ottoman soldiers. Several other villages were also liberated. At that time Russian detachments led by Russian officers A. Kalmikov and L. Voitkevich acted in Razlovtsi, sent there by the Sofia “Unity” Committee.

After that, the insurgency leadership in Razlovtsi organized a popular insurgency government modeled on previous such governments established in the area. However this government, as well as the liberated part of Razlovsko, was short-lived. About a week later the government was abolished and many people suffered greatly. This is because the Sofia “Unity” Committee not only didn’t organize security for the population, but when Razlovtsi was attacked by the Ottoman army the insurgents sent there by the Sofia “Unity” Committee fled the area and abandoned the people.

During the last days of November 1878, the Ottoman army had quelled almost all the uprisings in Macedonia. Preparations for it had started immediately after the uprisings began. According to the foreign press, “uprisings in Macedonia were a typical issue”. This was, however, a delicate issue for the Ottoman government. Its biggest fear was that Russia might use them to invade Macedonia. In response to Ottoman fears the Russian imperial government said it had nothing to do with the uprisings and, in fact, opposed them. This was encouraging for the Porte (Ottoman government) which then appointed the infamous Selim Pasha to quell them. Selim Pasha, commander-in-chief of the Ottoman army and bashibozuks, was responsible for suppressing the Crete Uprising sometime earlier. Quelling the uprisings in Macedonia was supported by the British government, which assisted the Ottoman Empire by providing them with ships to transfer Ottoman troops from Asia to Macedonia. The British government incited the Porte to quell the uprisings in order to prevent Austro-Hungary from launching a landing operation in Solun, which it had dreamed of for a long time.

After a large Ottoman army and bashibozuks arrived in the region, the insurgents retreated and the Ottomans re-took the liberated areas. Many Macedonian people were killed and hundreds of houses were burned down. On top of that many properties were looted and livestock were stolen. The villagers who failed to escape in time, such as those in Razlovtsi, were badly mistreated and some were outright killed. Most of the insurgents that survived the uprisings fled to Bulgaria to escape their demise.

According to the European press, on top of the uprisings in Macedonia being suppressed, the insurgency suffered another major blow. In addition to Chief Berovski being arrested, Stoian Karastoilov and his comrade G. Cholakov were killed by Greater Bulgarian agents. According to A. Kostenchev’s memoirs, a teacher who at the time was serving in the Russian administrative bodies in Gorna Dzhumaia, “A commission, led by Stefan Stambolov, arrived in Kreshna from Sofia... The commission leaders asked Stoian Karastoilov to surrender his company to them to which Stoian replied that he was prepared to act independently and would not give up his comrades. Then, on Stefan Stambolov’s order, in the absence of his company, he was killed in the room where he was sleeping. This was in the village Oshtava.

When Stoian’s troops and his subordinates found out that he had been murdered, they went after the assassins and agents of the Sofia “Unity” Committee, who in turn had fled to Sofia. After Karastoilov and Cholakov were murdered there was public outrage which resulted in Berovski’s release from prison. Once he was out of prison the people of Karshiak, Petrich Region, invited him to help them sort out their situation. After the Ottoman army left, almost the entire region remained free and the people who’d fled to the mountains, began to return to their burned out villages. With help from the insurgent cadres from this region, the people took advantage of the Ottoman government’s absence and organized a local government, which was largely modeled after the insurgency people’s government.

Restoration of the popular insurgency government in Krshiak began in mid-December 1878. The people gladly accepted the new order

except for the rich whose influence was limited. They disliked the new order and sent a commission, accompanied by Pahomii, a monk, to the Sofia “Unity” Committee to slander Berovski and Zlatkov. As a result, Berovski was re-arrested. It is interesting that the rich in their maneuverings against Berovski and the popular insurgency government relied on the Bulgarian “Unity” Committees, the Greek bishop in Melnik and the Ottomans to help them.

Some of the wishes and aspirations of the Macedonian people for achieving a free and independent Macedonian state came to the fore during the Kreshna Uprising. According to what Ivan Hadzi Nikolov said in his memoirs, later IMRO leaders drew from the experiences gained during the Kreshna Uprising.