Macedonia and Greece

With the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and a pending NATO membership bid, an old conflict between Greece and Macedonia has taken on added significance for the international community. Greece has vehemently argued, particularly in the West, that the name Macedonia was in fact Greek and that its use by this new nation in the Balkans portended Macedonia’s expansionist ambitions. The Macedonians bitterly disputed this, noting that Alexander the Great was a Macedonian, and adducing many other fascinating and rational arguments.
Tensions were said to have been reduced by an interim agreement between the two countries, but the attempted assassination of Macedonian president Kiro Gligorov in October 1995 has again heightened hostility in the area. The genesis of the conflict is detailed here, as well as the modern day events that have led many observers to believe that the area is a flashpoint for a major war, greater than that in Bosnia.

John Shea is a senior associate of the School of Psychology at the University of Newcastle in Callaghan, Australia. He lives in Australia.

John Shea
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 429
Bibliographic Info: maps, notes, index
Copyright Date: 2008 [1997]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3767-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2176-0
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1

1. Two Ancient and Separate Nations      23
2. Origins of the Macedonian Population      44
3. The Hellenization of the Macedonians      62
4. The Great Ethnic Mix of Greece      77
5. Aegean Macedonia      97
6. The Development of a Macedonian National Consciousness      155
7. The Macedonian Language: The Mother of Written Slavic Languages?      192
8. Macedonia Today      211
9. The Course and Meaning of the Greek Embargo Against Macedonia      278
10. Macedonia in the South Balkans: Theories About War      311

Notes      375
Index      403

LIST OF MAPS
The Ancient Macedonian Kingdom      24
Slavs in the Balkans      87
Language Distribution in the Balkans in the Nineteenth Century      99
Macedonia in the Early Part of the Twentieth Century      103
The Republic of Macedonia      212
The Balkans in the Early 1900s      312

“unique…selects the most significant historical points and analyzes them carefully…comprehensive and objective account is recommended”—Library Journal; “well designed and edited and clear and useful maps”—Slavic Review.