Accounts of the llinden Uprising in Australian and other foreign newspapers of the time, invariably echo the way the event was perceived by the general world media.

The reader will discover that according to the reports in the newspapers, (as indeed in those of any other contemporary source), the Insurgent Slavs were the Bulgarians of Macedonia. A “Macedonian” ethnic group simply did not exist!!

 In accounts which refer to the ethnic make-up of Macedonia, the Slavs ol the region are always described as Bulgarians for the frustration of FYROM’s propagandists…

 For this is precisely what they themselves believed. This tact is exemplified by the numerous references in many reports, to the ‘local Bulgarians’ of the Monastir and Krushevo district – the area in which the 1903 rebellion centred.

(Both towns are now in the south­western part ol the FYROM).  

There are also, quite naturally, references to the “Macedonian” revolution and to “Macedonian bands’. This is

expected; given that the events took place mainly in the Turkish ‘province’ of Macedonia. Essentially it is a short-hand

reference to the events that occurred in this region: and to the local Bulgarian population as opposed to the population of

the independent Hulgarian kingdom.

Any casual reading of the reports will very clearly show that the term “Macedonian’ was used entirely and purely in a regional sense. In fact, the two terms. Bulgarian’ and ‘Macedonian are frequently used interchangeably; Ihe former ethnically, Ihe latter regionally.

Fact is that the Bulgarian Uprising of Ilinden took place only because of certain circumustances. Mainly because the greatest part of the Ottoman troops that were stationed in Monastir were absent at that time,they were sent somewhere in Albania to repress some local riots, so the Bulgarians of Macedonia took a huge advantage of this event. Otherwise, for instance the so-called “Krushevo Republic” certainly wouldnt have lasted for…10 whole days because simply it wouldnt have taken place at all.

In a “New York Times” report of the uprising dated 10 August 1903. for instance, a ‘Μacedonian” revolutionary (as described in the report), is quoted as stating that the revolutionary organization in Macedonia “Came info existence nine years age when the percecution of Ihe Bulgarian population of Macedonia became flagrant.

 The following pages contain accounts of the Ilinden Uprising, as recorded in a representative sample of contemporary Australian newspapers like The Age, The Herald and the Sydney Morning Herald but also newspapers from all around the world.

Thanks to Samios Makedonas and Kostas68 for some of the Newspaper scans.

New York Times – 14 August 1903

Fitchbourg Daily Sentinel 1903

Welsborough Gazzete 15 Octomber 1903

Ogden Standard 11 October 1903

Lincoln Evening News 14 October 1903

Delphos Daily Herald

Times September 1903

Courier 1903

New York Times 26 August 1903

15 August 1903

19 August 1903

Contemporary Australian Newspapers

The last page contains a letter from Gotse Delchev, a leading revolutionary of the time. He is claimed as a national icon by both ihe Bulgarians and the Slav Macedonians.