Nonforcible Intervention in the Ottoman Macedonian Provinces (1903–08)

This chapter examines the European powers' nonforcible intervention in the Ottoman provinces of Macedonia during the period 1903–1908. Like the case of Crete, the European governments' intervention in the Macedonian provinces was not a full-fludged intervention against massacre. Macedonian nationalists thought that evidence of indiscriminate massacres and atrocities would convince the European powers to intervene. They did not realize that from the European perspective, nationalism was among the factors preventing humanitarian interventions from taking place. The chapter first considers the uprisings of 1902–1903 and the European press' attitude toward the Macedonian Question, and particularly the massacres in the Macedonian provinces. It then discusses the terrorist attacks of 1903 and the Mürzsteg program for reforms in the Macedonian provinces. It also assesses the outcome of the European intervention in Macedonia.