Ohrid–Debar Uprising

Petar Chaulev and members of VMRO during Ohrid—Debar Uprising

The Ohrid–Debar uprising (Macedonian: Охридско-Дебaрско вoстание, Ohridsko-Debarsko vostanie; Serbian: Охридско-дебарски устанак, Ohridsko-Debarski ustanak; Bulgarian: Охридско-Дебърско въстание, Ohridsko-Debarsko vastanie) was an uprising in Western Macedonia, then Kingdom of Serbia, in September 1913. It was organized by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) and by local Albanian leaders against the Serbian capture of the regions of Ohrid, Debar and Struga.

The rebellion started only two months after the end of the Second Balkan War. Local Albanians and Bulgarians, led by Petar Chaulev, Milan Matov and Pavel Hristov expelled the Serbian army and officials, creating a front line 15 km east of Ohrid. A local administration was set up in Ohrid under the leadership of Lev Ognenov.^[1]

After a fortnight of fierce fighting, a Serbian army of 100,000 regulars suppressed the uprising. Thousands were killed, and tens of thousands of local inhabitants fled for Bulgaria and Albania to save their lives. According to the Report by the International Commission of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace the number of Albanians who took refuge from Macedonia was 25,000; many Bulgarian notables were imprisoned or shot, a number of villages were burned.^[2]

See also

• Tikvesh Uprising
• First Balkan War
• Second Balkan War

External links

• 85 Years from the Ohrid-Debar Uprising, Yosif Razsukanov, 'Macedonia', issue 33, 16 Sept. 1998. (in Bulgarian).]

References

1. ^ Гоцев, Димитър. Национално-освободителната борба в Македония 1912–1915, София 1981, с. 48 (Gotsev, Dimitar. The National Liberation Struggle in Macedonia, Sofia 1981, p. 124, Огнянов, Михаил. Македония-преживяна съдба, София 2002, с. 43
2. ^ Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars, published by the Endowment Washington, D.C. 1914, p. 182