Ilindensko Vustanie (Ilinden uprising) Street in the Sofia residential area of Nadezhda is named after the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie uprising which took place in what is now Macedonia and Bulgaria. The Christian holiday Ilinden, on August 2, is also the national holiday of Macedonia.

The disappointment of the Bulgarian population in Macedonia and Thrace was huge after the Congress of Berlin from June-July 1878 decided that Macedonia would remain under Ottoman rule. It also decided that Bulgaria would extend from the Danube river to Mt. Stara Planina, and the region south of Mt. Stara Planina, Eastern Rumelia, would remain autonomous but not a part of the Bulgarian state.

Gradually, this disappointment turned into a purposeful resistance and struggle for freedom. Three factors were predominant: the policy of the Kingdom of Bulgaria, large-scale patriotic activity by the exarchate in church matters and education, and the revolutionary organization.

In 1893, in Thessaloniki, organized revolutionary activity began, enriched in two years by the establishment of the Odrin Committee. Forces were joined in the Thessaloniki Congress in 1896 when the name Bulgarian Macedonian-Odrin Revolutionary Committees was adopted. Under the leadership of Gotze Delchev and Dame Gruev, the committees share many of the elements of the freedom movement in 1877, prior to Bulgaria's liberation in 1878.

Their objective was the autonomy of Macedonia and the Odrin area, and the means was a revolution, both moral and in arms. The Internal Macedonian-Odrin Revolutionary Organization (IMORO) later chose this name in order to stress its wish to unite all those sympathizing with its activities, disregarding their nationalities. A network of committees was built for a few years and channels for connections with Bulgaria, and liberation squads, were formed.

Around that time, the Supreme Macedonian-Odrin Committee (SMOC) was established in Sofia, chaired by Trayko Kanchev. The committee's conviction was that the liberation from Turkish rule of these areas was possible with the help of the Bulgarian army only. The contradictions led to fights for supremacy, and, later, to bloody confrontations with the liberation squads of the two organizations.

In this period, the Macedonian movement for liberation had some of its greatest successes but also its biggest setbacks, which were begotten by delusion and imprecise estimation of the situation. The first major deception stemmed from the improvement of the relations between Bulgaria and Russia. The festive welcoming of Prince Ferdinand in St.

Petersburg and the exciting commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the defence at the Shipka peak raised hopes that the imperial government would protect the Bulgarian cause in Macedonia. The SMOC instigated the start of an uprising in the valley of Struma River in 1902 (the so-called Gorna-Djumaya uprising), but it was brutally stifled.

Disappointment originated not only from the setback, but also from the position of Russia, under whose impact the cabinet of Stoyan Danev outlawed the SMOC and the forming of liberation squads in the Kingdom of Bulgaria. Thus the myth of the liberators was incurred, and the revolutionary movement lost its front in Bulgaria.

The second deception also collapsed - that the Kingdom of Bulgaria would relentlessly support the struggle. The third deception was connected with the position of the Great Powers - that they actually wanted peace in the Balkans. But the bloody Macedonian drama did not raise even an attempt for more serious reforms.

Despite the complicated situation and all the arguments against it, in the beginning of 1903, the IMORO in Thessaloniki took the decision for an uprising without its most influential leaders.

The prelude was impressive and bloody - a heroic self-sacrifice of the Thessaloniki assassins in April who blew up Bank Ottoman and set the French ship Gwadalkevir on fire. This was followed by a wave of repressions and Delchev was killed on May 4. Despite that, on a congress in the Bitola revolutionary county, it was decided that the struggle should continue.

The regions of Bitola, Lerin, Kostur, Ohrid, Prilep and Kichevo started the uprising on August 2, the Christian holiday of Ilinden. The armed squads had the objective to resist continually and to attract the attention of the European community.

On August 15, the region of Strandja rose as well. The date coincided with the Christian holiday of Preobrazhenie. The squads comprised 2,000 people, and freed the Black Sea towns of Ahtopol and Vasiliko and, for a few weeks, they controlled significant territories in the region.

But the uprising had no chance against the army of the Ottoman Empire. The main headquarters of the uprising in Macedonia, under the leadership of Gruev and Boris Sarafov, was aware of that.

In the Bitola area, there were approximately 150 fights and more than 200 burned down villages, approximately 7,500 victims, and 30,000 refugees.

The repercussions from the uprising were felt in several directions. The Great Powers at the time realized that their involvement for reforms in Turkey was inevitable. Serbia and Greece took advantage of the situation and tried to strengthen their positions there, also reiterating the idea for the division of Macedonia.

Bulgaria itself could not support the uprising because it was threatened with total isolation. The Bulgarian cabinet appealed for reforms in Turkey. There was a growing concern that the way toward the national unification passed through a war with Turkey. Despite the pending war, Bulgaria tried to improve relations, which was aided by reforms in parts of Turkey which were a part of Europe and helped by the Great Powers. After several months of negotiations, an agreement between Bulgaria and Turkey was reached for amnesty for some of the participants in the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie uprising, on the condition that the Kingdom of Bulgaria would not allow the forming of liberation squads. Through this agreement and through an agreement for mutual reforms in Macedonia with Serbia, Bulgaria tried to protect its national interests. This line of policy had as its objective the non-division of Macedonia.