1896–1897 Greek Macedonian Rebellion
Athanasios Broufas, a leader of the rebellion
Date July 1896 – 20 May 1897 Location Ottoman Macedonia Salonika Vilayet Monastir Vilayet Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Greek Revolutionaries Supported By: Greece	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Athanasios Broufas Dimitrios Natsios	Ahmet Resber

The1896–1897 Macedonian Rebellion (Greek:Μακεδονική επανάσταση του 1896–1897) was aGreek rebellion, launched in 1896, and a guerrilla movement that took place inMacedonia in order to preserve the conscience and ready-mindedness of theMacedonian Greek populations, to create a rivalrous awe against theBulgarians the demarcation of the Greek territorial claims in theOttoman area and the creation of a distraction for the events ofCrete. The movement was of Macedonian character, as the regiments invading Macedonia from Thessaly consisted primarily ofMacedonian chieftains and fighters, most of whom were fromNorthwestern Macedonia. The initial impetus was given by theEthniki Etaireia(Greek National Company), but then several Macedonian chieftains spontaneously and without coordination were involved in the events, while in some regions of Macedonia the events took the form of massive uprisings. The main rebels of the Macedonian Revolution of 1896 were the areas ofSanjak of Monastir(Florina,Bitola,Prespes),Sanjak of Korytsa(Kastoria),Sanjak of Servia (Grevena,Kozani),Sanjak of Salonica(Thessaloniki,Pieria,Imathia,Pella,Tikveš) andSanjak of Serres(Serres,Upper Nevrokopi,Lower Nevrokopi).^[1][2]

Already in theMacedonian revolution of 1878 around 1,000 Revolutionary veterans were inThessaly, while other 2,000 to 2,500 thousandMacedonians who had been expelled because of the degraded situation in their homelands were counted. On top of that, many leaders of the Macedonian Revolution of 1878 had remained inMacedonia and continued the guerrilla action. They used to let go in the winter and from the spring they were destroying mainlyOttoman targets. TheEthniki Etaireia(Greek National Company) invited the chieftains who were in the freeGreece to organize and coordinate their action. The chiefs who participated were Zermas, Makris, Alamanos, Naoum Konstantinidis, Vlachavas, Athanasios Broufas, Takis Natsios (Periphanos) fromMegarovo, Pelagonia, Panagiotis Ververas and Christos Ververas. At the same time, without agreement, Nikolaos Tsapanos fromPelagonia, who lived in Thessaly, bought 500 weapons for the rebels. Chief of the revolutionary forces was proclaimed Athanasios Broufas. A total of 400 rebels came from Thessaly to Macedonia, whose vast majority were from Northwestern Macedonia. Also participated,Epirotes, heard theThessalians and theStereohelladites and, to a lesser extent, theCretans, theGreeks of Russia and theEastern Rumelians.^[1][2]

The firstinfantry under Athanasios Broufas, 90 men, withMacedonians Demetrios Kannavos, Takis Natsios (Periphanos), Ioannis Georgantas, Ioannis Tsamis fromPisoderi, Vassilios Economou andLazaros Varzis disembarked in early July 1896 inSkala Eleftherohoriou and afterwards victorious battles with theOttomans inVermio Mountains split into two groups. The one with Takis Natsios (Periphanos), Ioannis Tsamis and Lazaros Varzis was headed toFlorina, while the second with Athanasios Broufas, Ioannis Georgantas and Vassilios Economou was headed toVeria,Naousa,Ostrovo,Morichovo andKafantari. The Broufas'infantry split into smaller and moved toEordaia andKozani where he gave several battles withOttoman military regiments. Also, great battles were given inVladovo andPozar,Pella. At the end of July 1896, Athanasios Broufas and his men gave a long battle against theOttomans at theAxiosGates atTikves. There, Demetrios Kannavos lost his life. The Natsios (Periphanos)'infantry fromPeristeri where he was headed was headed on 15 August at the Monastery of Panagia Slimnitsa, inLouboino ofPelagonia, where he met with the chieftains Lazaros Varzis (Zarkadas), Makris, Ioannis Tsamis, Katarachias, Mitsos and Davelis. There they co-authored a revolutionary declaration to the people ofMacedonia, the Ottoman authorities and the European consuls explaining the causes of the revolution and its purposes. They were then separated and acted separately inKastoria,Nestorio,Florina andEordaia.^[1][2]

The declaration was mentioning among others: "We, being Greek, want Macedonia Greek, and for this we fight".^[3]

Initially, the military commander ofManastir Vilayet underestimated the revolution and assured theVali (governor) Abdul Kerim that he was in control of the situation and that he would fight the rebels. However, the acceptance of the movement by the localGreek population was great; many Greeks fromOhrid andMorichovo were trying to join the guerrillas. Twenty-one fighters were recruited inBoufi. This situation alienated Avdul Kerim Pasha and took action himself. Ottoman reprisals took place inTrebeno,Eordaia, where a furious mob murdered Emmanuel Tsiotsias and Nikolaos Georgiou. InKozani, the mob caused great disasters in Greek properties and threatened with a general massacre of the Greeks. In theSarakinoi ofPella, theOttomans burned many homes, tortured the inhabitants, raped the women, and hung the priest of the village. Finally, it was decided to create a special troop of 800 men who would chase the rebels.^[1][2]

Then otherinfantries enteredMacedonia and acted inMorichovo,Almopia and Nevrokopi (Upper andLower). The revolution lasted until the autumn of 1896 in the areas ofGrevena andKozani, when it was decided to withdraw for the winter due to the lack of munitions and the fear of the Ottoman reprisals in the villages that participated. In the spring of 1897, some chieftains who remained in Macedonia continued their action but the unfortunate outcome for the Greek side, of theGreco-Turkish War finally ended the revolution.^[1][2]

The outburst of the 1896 Revolution in Macedonia was great and had been remembered by theMacedonians for several years, although it was short and without practical results. However, the presence and claims of theHellenism of the region that remained alive was what really gained from this revolutionary movement and created a revolutionary tradition with a host of chieftains and rebels who could rebel at any time. It was the yeast that gave the numerous guerrillas during the period of theMacedonian Struggle. The European diplomatic representatives in the region as well as theOttoman authorities were impressed by the ethos of the Greek revolutionaries, as they never turned against civilians, did not commit looting and thefts.

The 1896 revolution was engraved in the memory of theGreeks of Macedonia and a number of folk songs survived in the oral tradition.

• Macedonian Struggle
• Macedonian Question
• History of Modern Greece

• 19th-century revolutions
• Greek rebellions against the Ottoman Empire
• Macedonia under the Ottoman Empire
• Macedonian Question

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