Gorna Dzhumaya Uprising

The Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC) led by General Ivan Tsonchev and Stoyan Mihaylovski started to prepare the uprising in 1901. The goal of the uprising was to cause the Great Powers to intervene, which would force the Sublime Porte to implement Article 23 and Article 62 of the Treaty of Berlin, granting autonomy to Macedonia and Adrianople. In 1901, SMAC began sending detachments to Ottoman Macedonia to prepare the population for an uprising. Ivan Garvanov, who was the leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), cooperated with SMAC. SMAC was able to increase its influence in Ottoman Macedonia. Starting from 1902, detachments from Bulgaria entered the Serres sanjak. Many local committees in Macedonia strongly resisted SMAC's advances. Garvanov became convinced that an uprising in 1902 would have fatal consequences for the Macedonian revolutionary movement. Tsonchev's faction was opposed by factions by Gotse Delchev and Boris Sarafov. The Central Committee of IMRO in Salonica disapproved of Tsonchev's plans for an uprising and made preparations in northeast Macedonia to resist against Tsonchev's followers. In August 1902, Bulgarian military officer Anastas Yankov went to western Macedonia to prepare the planned uprising. Yankov's attempts to raise an uprising ended in failure, due to the opposition of IMRO's local leaders. At the end of August and the beginning of September 1902, SMAC concentrated the detachments of officers Petar Darvingov, Todor Saev, Sofroni Stoyanov, Yordan Stoyanov, Hristo Sarakinov, Dimitar Dumbalakov, Anton Bozukov, Vladimir Kanazirev and Konstantin Kondov in Pirin, under the command of Ivan Tsonchev and Stefan Nikolov. ==Uprising==

The uprising started on September 23, 1902, when around 300 men crossed the Ottoman border from Bulgaria. The rebels had their first operation in the village of Zheleznitsa. Ottoman forces engaged in battle with the rebels and set the village on fire. On the same day, battles also took place near the villages of Srbinovo and Gradevo between Ottoman forces and rebels led by the local voivode Pavle Davkov. even though Tsonchev personally led the operation and despite the promises about Russian and Bulgarian intervention. This was mainly because of IMRO's disapproval of the uprising. while Ottoman sources put the number as 200. Rallies were convened, which appealed to Europe and the Bulgarian government for intervention. According to Ottoman sources, around 15 villages were damaged and 37 people were killed. Per Bulgarian sources, 28 villages were destroyed and over 100 girls and women were violated by the Ottomans. IMRO's Memoir gave the following statistics about the uprising: • 2,580 rebels and 13,960 Ottoman soldiers took part in the fighting; • 95 rebels were killed; • In the battles near near Kresna and Srbinovo - Gradevo, 43 rebels and 108 Ottomans were killed. • 15 villages in the Gorna Dzhumaya and Razlog districts were subject to fires, tortures, dishonor and looting; • 37 men and 8 women were killed; • 304 men and 134 women were tortured; • 111 girls and women were raped; • 807 houses were robbed and 67 were burned; • 29 girls and women and 2 elderly men were dishonored by Ottomans in the villages of Leshko, Padezh, Dobrinishte, Bansko and Eleshnitsa over the course of three months. SMAC sent Mihaylovski on a tour around Europe to give news about the situation in Macedonia. In a telegram to the Great Powers, Mihaylovski said that Ottoman forces were massacring women and children. The uprising was suppressed by the Ottomans by the middle of November. ==Aftermath==

The uprising did not result in military intervention by the Great Powers as the participants had hoped. The repression by the Ottomans resulted in the suppression of many revolutionary cells and detachments. IMRO was persecuted by the Ottoman forces after the suppression of the uprising. In the Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary, the uprising was seen as an indication of the febrile state of Macedonia. Russian and Austro-Hungarian diplomats began considering how to stabilize the region. Russian foreign minister Vladimir Lamsdorf insisted that all connections between the governments and armies of Serbia and Bulgaria and the revolutionaries who wished to destroy Ottoman rule in Macedonia be severed. Bulgarian prime minister Stoyan Danev ordered the disbandment of the Macedonian organizations in Bulgaria and the arrest of leading activists, which was approved by the National Assembly. The uprising accelerated the preparation of the general uprising by IMRO in Macedonia and Adrianople in 1903. Then IMRO and SMAC reached an agreement for unified revolutionary actions. ==See also==