ABSTRACT

Despite the fact that knowledge of the history, culture, language, and religion of most of the Balkan nations is quite extensive, the sociology of the Slav inhabitants of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (The FYROM) is not. This thesis examines the history of the ancient Macedonians, their language, ethnicity and related issues. It further studies the invasion of the Seven Slavic Tribes into geographic Macedonia, and their sequent settlements, their impact to the region in general and geographic Macedonia in particular.

The thesis apprises as well the issues of the Treaty of San Stefano, The Council of Berlin, the Krushevo Republic, Balkan Wars, and the Treaty of Bucharest along with the communist manipulation of the subject with protagonists Joseph Stalin, Josip Broz Tito, and Georgi Dimitrov. The paper also acquaints the reader with the contribution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) in general and the Socialist Republic of Macedonia in particular to the problem. It explains the latter’s ethnic Slavic population to the civil war in Greece, one of the goals of which was the incorporation of Greek Macedonia to the proposed new federation of the SFRY with Bulgaria as it was discussed at Bled, Slovenia. Moreover, it observes the roots and the evolution of the Slavic nationalism also called Macedonism that drives the country to internal, but also regional instability.

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

Marcus Alexander Templar joined the United States Army in 1982 as a Cryptologic Linguist. He studied Czech, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, and Turkish at the Defense Language Institute, French at Dawson College in Montreal, and Russian at Berlitz. In addition, he speaks Bulgarian (Eastern and Western) and Greek. As an intelligence officer, he was appointed to various assignments in Balkan and Middle Eastern affairs. Retired from the U.S. Army, Mr. Templar advises the U.S. government on global intelligence issues.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Western Illinois University in history and foreign languages, a Master’s degree from Northeastern Illinois University in Human Resource Development specializing in instructional design, and a second Master’s degree in Strategic Intelligence from the National Defense Intelligence College. He is a recognized expert in Balkan and Middle Eastern issues.

Acknowledgments

I want to thank my dear mother, Fani Dimitriou Papazoglou for her priceless information she offered me over the years on the customs, language, heritage, and history of her own hometown, Bitola, and her old country, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Moreover, I would like to thank my wife Elizabeth for her support and assistance she gave me over the years and especially during my academic career years.

In addition, I want to thank my Thesis Committee for their valuable assistance and encouragement they gave me when I struggled. Furthermore, I want to offer my sincere thanks to my friends and relatives who live in Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Greece.

I want to make a special reference to the Pan-Macedonian Association of the United States and especially I want to thank its President Professor Nina Gatzoulis of the University of New Hampshire for all the help she gave me during my research. Her cooperation and assistance made my research easier and more interesting.

[*] We are grateful to Mr. Marcus A. Templar for allowing us to publish in this Blog his excellent Thesis.

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