Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization

The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (in Macedonian: Vnatre?na Makedonska Revolucionerna Organizacija, ????????? ?????????? ?????????????? ????????????, in Bulgarian: Vatreshna Makedonska Revolyucionna Organizaciya, ???????? ?????????? ???????????? ???????????, VMRO), commonly known in English as IMRO, was the name of a revolutionary political organization in the Macedonia region of the Ottoman Empire, and later in Bulgaria and the Macedonian regions of Greece and Yugoslavia. In the 1990s it was revived as a nationalist political party in both the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria.

The interwar years

The postwar Treaty of Neuilly again denied Bulgaria what it felt was its share of Macedonia, and IMRO began sending armed bands called comitadjis into Greek and Yugoslav Macedonia to assassinate officials and stir up Macedonian nationalism. In 1923 IMRO agents assassinated the Bulgarian Prime Minister, Aleksandar Stamboliyski, who favoured a peace treaty with Greece and Yugoslavia so that Bulgaria could concentrate on its internal problems.

Related Topics:
Treaty of Neuilly - 1923 - Aleksandar Stamboliyski

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Following the assassination, the IMRO was given full control of Pirin Macedonia (Petric district) and acted as a "state within a state", which it used as a base for hit and run attacks against Yugoslavia with the unofficial support of the right-wing Bulgarian government and Fascist Italy. Because of this, contemporary observers described the Yugoslav-Bulgarian frontier as the most fortified in Europe. In 1924 IMRO came under the leadership of Ivan Mihailov, who became a powerful figure in Bulgarian politics and favoured the "internationalisation" of the Macedonian question. Numerous assassinations (over 1,000 by one account) were carried out by IMRO agents in many countries, the majority in Yugoslavia. The most spectacular of these was the assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia and the French Foreign Minister, Louis Barthou, in Marseille in 1934 in collaboration with Croatian Ustase.

Related Topics:
1924 - Ivan Mihailov - Alexander of Yugoslavia - Louis Barthou - Marseille - 1934 - Ustase

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This action finally provoked the Bulgarian military to take control and break the power of IMRO, which had come to be seen as a fascist gangster organisation inside Bulgaria and a band of assassins outside it. In 1935 Mihailov was forced to escape to Turkey. IMRO kept its organisation alive in exile in various countries, but ceased to be an active force in Macedonian politics. Mihailov assisted Ustase in German-occupied Yugoslavia in 1941. In September 1944 he arrived in Skopje only to find out that the destiny of Macedonia had already been decided within the framework of Yugoslavia. Mihailov eventually ended up in Rome where he published numerous articles, books and leaflets on Macedonia. In 1945 the Vardar Macedonian area became part of Communist Yugoslavia, all non-Communist political activity was suppressed and the supporters of the IMRO were prosecuted and tortured by the pro-Serbian authorities.

Related Topics:
Fascist - 1935 - Turkey - Ustase - 1941 - 1944 - Skopje - Yugoslavia - 1945 - Vardar

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A separate organisation to Mihailov's IMRO, the IMRO (United) was founded in 1925 in Vienna and was composed of former IMRO members. It remained active until 1936 and was closely linked to the interests of the Bulgarian and Greek communist parties.

Related Topics:
IMRO (United) - 1925 - Vienna

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