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subjugated Greece under Alexander's father, Philip II, yet adopted Greek mores. Alexan-
der spread the Greek culture and language widely, creating a Hellenistic soc- \iety that
would be absorbed by the Romans. Later, after their empire split into eastern and western
halves in the 4th century AD, the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire emerged.
Thessaloniki became Byzantium's second city, a vital commercial, cultural and stra-
tegic centre on the Balkan trade routes. However, 6th- and 7th-century-AD Slavic migra-
tions brought new populations and challenges. The empire frequently battled with the
medieval Bulgarian kingdom from the 9th century to the 11th century. In 1018 Emperor
Basil II finally defeated Bulgarian Tsar Samuel, who had ruled much of the southern
Balkans from Macedonia's Mikri Prespa Lake.
After Serbian rule in the 14th century, Macedonia and the Balkans were overrun by the
Ottoman Turks. The Ottoman system distinguished subjects by religion, not race, causing
strife in the late 19th century, when guerrilla movements arose to fight the Turks,
pledging to annex Macedonia for Greece, Bulgaria or even an independent 'Macedonia
for the Macedonians'; in the very early 20th century, great powers such as Britain fa-
voured the latter.
Ottoman atrocities against Macedonia's Christian populations presaged the First
Balkan War of 1912, in which Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia drove the Turks from Mace-
donia; however, the Bulgarians were unhappy with their share, and declared war on their
former allies in 1913 (the Second Balkan War). Bulgaria's quick defeat lost its allotted
portions of eastern Macedonia and Thrace, and Greece was the big winner, taking half of
geographical Macedonia, with Serbia taking 38%. Bulgaria was left with 13%. Newly
created Albania received a sliver around Ohrid and the Prespa lakes.
In 1923, with the massive Greek-Turkish population exchanges, the government re-
settled many Anatolian Greek refugees in Macedonia, displacing the indigenous (non-
Greek) populations. A vigorous program for assimilating non-Greeks was already under
way, primarily through education and the church. In WWII Greece was occupied by the
Nazis, who deported and killed most of Macedonia's significant Sephardic Jewish popu-
lation. After, during the Greek Civil War (1944-49), authorities targeted 'communist
supporters' - often a label for ethnic minorities - causing the expulsion of thousands of
(Slavic) Macedonians, many of them children, as well as Bulgarians and others. Greek
Macedonia today is thus different from what it was even 60 years ago.
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ThessalonikiΘεσσαλονίκη
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