The Historical Evolution of Macedonia

Historically, Macedonia existed more as a generalized geographical name. It is located in the south-central part of the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, bordering the Albanian Mountains in the west, the Rodopi Mountains in the east, the Serra Mountains in the north and the Aegean Sea in the southeast. Located in the core of the Balkans, it is the gateway to the southern Mediterranean and has always been an important trade and military channel. The ancient Macedonian Empire rose here and later belonged to the Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Geographically Macedonia belongs to three countries. * * * Republic, which belongs to Serbia, is called Valdar Macedonia, Bulgaria is called Pirin Macedonia, and Greece is called Aegean Macedonia.

Macedonia was the frontier area at the northern end of Greek civilization in ancient times. The Macedonian Empire, which rose in the 4th century BC, conquered Asia Minor, Persia, Egypt and other places, and spread Greek civilization to all parts of the Middle East.

Macedonia is located in the northern part of Greece and consists of upper Macedonia and lower Macedonia. Upper Macedonia is a plateau and mountainous area, with only a few passes connected with the outside world. Lower Macedonia is fertile and suitable for agriculture. It is the political, economic and cultural center of Macedonia and has traditional suzerainty over Upper Macedonia.

The ethnic composition of Macedonians is complicated. In the early Bronze Age, a group of Greek-speaking tribes moved to Macedonia, and then gradually moved south in batches, but some people still stayed in northern Greece. Perhaps in the 7th century BC, Macedonians, one of these remaining ethnic groups, occupied Igai, expanded to the coastal plain of Lower Macedonia, and formed Macedonia. They worshipped Greek gods, especially Zeus and Heracles. Other Greek tribes mingled with Illyrians, Paeonia lactiflora and Thracians in Upper Macedonia. Generally speaking, Macedonians are not pure Greeks, but they are related to Greeks.

Macedonians are one step behind the Greeks in the south in the development of civilization. At a time when the Greek city-state has reached a high degree of political, economic and cultural prosperity, Macedonia has just entered the threshold of civilized society. The king is the master of the country's land, the supreme commander in the war and represents the country in foreign relations. He is also a priest, a judge and a treasurer. However, his ruling power was also limited to some extent, and the tribes under his jurisdiction still maintained considerable independence, with their own royal family and tribal kings, who sent troops to fight as nominal vassals of the king in wartime. The king's throne is hereditary, but it must be recognized by the people, who have the right to depose the king. Cases involving treason should be tried by the people. Macedonians are mostly farmers, herdsmen and soldiers. The king chose his comrades among the tribal nobles. Comrades should be completely loyal to the king, participate in political affairs in peacetime, and go out with the king in wartime. The king selected some of these comrades-in-arms to form his "parliament" At the beginning of the 5th century BC, Persia invaded Greece, and Macedonia was once ruled by Persia. But King Alexander I of Macedonia (about 495-450 BC) secretly communicated with the Greek city-states that resisted Persian aggression and informed them of Persian military information.

The real strength of Macedonia was in the period of Philip II. In the early summer of 359 BC, Macedonians elected the youngest son of the former king as king, and Philip was the regent of the new king's uncle. Philip took hostages in Thebes in his early years, and made friends with the famous Thebes star Ipaminanda. He carefully understood the political situation, diplomatic means and war means of the Greek States at that time. This experience is of great help to his future success. He was ordered to be in danger. At this time, the situation in Macedonia was chaotic, some territories attempted to separate from Macedonia, and Philip's half-brother waited for the throne. Philip sized up the situation, was capable and calm, quickly stabilized the situation and won prestige and power. It was about this time that Macedonians abolished the young king and elected Philip II as king (359-336 BC).

Philip's reform made Macedonia a military power in the Balkans. Illyria and Epirus in the west, Thrace in the east and Pioria in the north are all within his sphere of influence. Philip adopted the gold and silver standard. Established a standing army loyal to the king and created a powerful Macedonian phalanx. Later, when he invaded the gold mines in Thrace, he had a steady income every year to expand his military strength. The fighting capacity of Macedonian army surpassed that of other Greek city-states. Philip also built a powerful fleet to prepare for marching into the eastern countries. With the strengthening of kingship, the expansion of territory and the enhancement of strength, there was neither civil strife nor foreign invasion, and the Greek city-state in the south was naturally his goal of further conquest.

Philip II invaded Greece in the south after the country became powerful and Greece was in a scuffle among the city-states. In 338 BC, the anti-Macedonian coalition led by Athens and Thebes fought a decisive battle with Macedonian troops in Cronia, central Greece, and the coalition was defeated. In the second year, Philip convened a meeting of the city-states in Corinth, and announced that the Greek city-states had formed an alliance. Almost all Greece recognized Macedonia's hegemony and decided to attack Persia. In 336 BC, Philip was assassinated at his daughter's wedding banquet. After the murder of Philip II, there was another anti-Macedonian uprising in Greek states.

Alexander, who was only 20 years old, quickly suppressed the rebellion in less than half a year after he succeeded to the throne. In the spring of 334 years ago, Alexander crossed the Heiles Strait and attacked the Persian Empire. Alexander's army and the army of Darius Iii, king of Persia, fought for the first time on the banks of the grani Kush River in grani, Asia Minor. The Greek army won a great victory and occupied Asia Minor in less than half a year. In 333 BC, Alexander defeated the 65,438+Persian army led by Darius Iii in the Syrian Isus Plain, and captured Darius' mother, wife and two daughters. Darius Iii fled eastward. In 333 BC, Alexander conquered Syria and Phoenician cities. The following year, he conquered Egypt and established a new city in Egypt called Alexandria. Alexander left Egypt in the spring of 33 1 BC to continue his crusade. 10, when crossing the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, a war broke out between Abela and Darius Iii's army. It is reported that there were about 400,000 Persian troops, including the "Ma bu" or horse stance just look troops and elephant soldiers, but they were all defeated by Alexander and Darius Iii fled eastward.

Alexander went on and conquered Babylon. He moved eastward from Babylon, entered Persia, occupied Susa and Persepolis in Persia, got a lot of gold, silver and jewels, and then set fire to Persepolis and killed its residents to avenge the hatred of Persian King Xerxes I who set fire to Athens in 480 BC. In the next three years, Alexander suppressed sporadic resistance in northeast Persia. Darius Iii, king of Persia, was also killed by his men, and Persia perished. In 327 BC, he re-entered India. He led the army from the south bank of the Caspian Sea to the east, passed through Pattaya, conquered Afghanistan, entered India, defeated the Indian rebels, pacified Punjab, and planned to continue southward along the Indus River. However, his soldiers have been fighting abroad for many years and they are eager to return home. Because of the rainy and hot weather in India, the soldiers suffered a lot, and they even mutinied openly. Alexander divided the conquered part of India into three provinces and returned them. At the beginning of 324 BC, Alexander established a huge empire-Macedonian Empire (also known as Alexander Empire) with Babylon as its new capital. In June, 323 BC, Alexander suddenly developed malignant malaria, and died 10 days later, at the age of 33.

After Alexander's death, Greek countries and all parts of Persia took the opportunity to resist. Alexander will fight with each other for land again, and the empire will immediately fall into chaos and eventually split into three relatively stable countries. His Ministry occupied Egypt and southern Syria with Ptolemy, and established Ptolemy dynasty. Seleucus occupied Asia Minor, Mesopotamia and northern Syria and established the Seleucus dynasty. Kesander occupied Macedonia and Greece and established the kingdom of Macedonia. These three countries were the most powerful countries in the late Greek era. These late Greek countries existed for about 300 years. After Rome destroyed Carthage in BC 146, they developed eastward. These countries were successively conquered by Rome.

Macedonia was ruled successively by Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire (ruled by Greeks). Slavs began to enter Macedonia in the 5th century, and settled there (especially in the interior of Macedonia), thus laying the foundation for the split between the north and the south of modern Macedonia (south: Greeks/north: Slavs). Slavs migrated to Macedonia in large numbers in the 7th century. From the second half of 10 century to10/8, Samoilo established the first Macedonian country.

In 837, Bulgaria conquered Macedonia at the end of 10 and established its capital in Ohrid. 10 18 The Byzantine Empire conquered Macedonia again, and Macedonia changed hands between Byzantium, Bulgaria and Serbia many times in the following centuries. /kloc-At the beginning of the 5th century, the Ottoman Empire conquered Macedonia and began its 500-year rule.

/kloc-In the 20th century, the Zionist movements in Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia were launched one after another, and nationalism was on the rise, making Macedonia a battleground for the three countries. 19 12 years, the three countries defeated the first balkan war of the Ottoman empire, and Osman divided Macedonia into three countries. However, because of Macedonia's specific division plan, the second Balkan War broke out in 19 13. In the end, Greece and Serbia defeated Bulgaria and the three countries divided Macedonia. Serbia got the territory of modern Macedonia. After World War I, Serbia became a part of Yugoslavia.

During World War II, Greece and Yugoslavia were allies, and Bulgaria joined the Axis camp led by Germany. After the fall of Greece and Yugoslavia by Germany, Bulgaria shared most of Macedonia, but after the war, the borders between countries returned to the pre-war state.

After World War II, Yugoslavia became a producer led by Tito. 1946, Tito separated Macedonia from Serbia and became a member of Yugoslavia. 199 1 17 In September, Macedonia left the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia peacefully, but a name dispute broke out with Greece. Finally, Macedonia joined the United Nations in the name of "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" on 1993. Greece finally lifted its economic blockade of Macedonia at 1995.

From 65438 to 0999, the Kosovo war broke out in Yugoslavia, and nearly 400,000 Albanian refugees poured into Macedonia from Kosovo. The trend of ethnic Albanian separation in Macedonia is increasing, and ethnic problems are becoming increasingly prominent. Albanians continue to insist on amending the Constitution, demanding that Albanians become the main ethnic group and Arabic become the official language. After the Albanian Democratic Party took part in politics, the Malaysian government promised to give Albanians corresponding rights according to European standards, and took some measures to alleviate ethnic contradictions, which was relatively slow for a time. Since February, 200012000, Kosovo Albanian extremists have crossed the border between Yugoslavia and Macedonia for many times, occupied Macun and exchanged fire with Macedonian border guards. Subsequently, Albanian extremists attacked Ma Jun in Tetovo, the second largest city in the border area of Malaysia, and were violently countered by Ma Jun. At the same time, Ma Jun held a rally, openly demanding to become the main nation and advocating the establishment of a federal state, and the contradiction between Ma Jun and all ethnic groups rose. After the border conflict in Malaysia, the Malaysian President, Government and Parliament issued statements one after another, strongly condemning the terrorist acts of ethnic Albanian extremists, and decided to take all measures to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Criticize the Kosovo Peacekeeping Force for not conscientiously carrying out its mission to defend the border between Malaysia and Kosovo; Call on the international community to support Malaysia.

The deterioration of the security situation in Malaysia has also aroused serious concern in the international community, and the violent acts of ethnic Albanian extremists have been unanimously condemned by the international community. On March 2, 20001March 2 1, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1345, strongly condemning the violent activities of extremists in parts of Malaysia and South Serbia, reaffirming that the sovereignty, territorial integrity and borders of Malaysia and South Serbia are inviolable according to international law and UN Security Council resolution 1244, and demanding that relevant personnel immediately stop targeting South Serbia. NATO and OSCE also issued statements expressing their support for Macedonia's security, stability and territorial integrity. The peacekeeping force in Kosovo stepped up its patrol on the Kosovo side of the border between Macedonia and South Africa, enabling Yugoslav military and police to return to the "safe zone" adjacent to Macedonia in the south. At the end of April, Albanian extremists attacked the Malaysian army again, and the Malaysian government took military measures to crack down, and the situation in Malaysia deteriorated again.