Who is Macedonian? For nearly 150 years, two peoples have fought over that question. Historically the land of Philip II and Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Mount Olympus and the Greek gods, Macedonia boasts an impressive cultural heritage that both northern Greeks and former Yugoslavs have claimed as their own. In 1991, a nation resulting from the breakup of Yugoslavia proclaimed itself the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), angering Hellenic Macedonians and adding fuel to the persistent dispute. This book argues the Macedonian question from a Greek perspective. It questions FYROM's right to the Macedonian name, arguing that Greeks possess greater historical, cultural, genetic, linguistic and anthropological ties to the legacy of Alexander than do their historically Slavic neighbors to the north. Research examines the origins of the dispute between Hellenism and Bulgarism in the nineteenth century, the world wars and the rise of Tito's communist regime in Yugoslavia, communism's co-opting of the Macedonian title and subsequent interference in the Greek Civil War, and the Macedonian question today. Cover to cover, it traces the conflict's change from an initial border dispute to a modern war over culture, with two mutually exclusive claims.

Book Information
ISBN 9780786423231
Author George C. Papavizas
Format Paperback
Page Count 302
Imprint McFarland & Co Inc
Publisher McFarland & Co Inc
Weight(grams) 422g