View source for Aleksandar Protogerov

{{Short description|Bulgarian general, politician and revolutionary}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Aleksandar Protogerov
| birth_date    = 28 February 1867
| death_date    = {{d-da|7 July 1928|28 February 1867}}
| birth_place   = [[Ohrid]], [[Ottoman Empire]] 
| death_place   = [[Sofia]], Bulgaria
| image         = Protogerov Parade uniform.jpg
| caption       = 
| native_name   = Александър Протогеров
| native_name_lang = bg
| nickname      = 
| allegiance    = {{Flagicon|Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908-1946)}}  [[Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908-1946)|Tsardom of Bulgaria]],<br>  {{flagicon image|Gorna Dzhumaya rebellion 1895 flag.jpg}} [[Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee|SMAC]]<br>{{flagicon image|Flag of the IMRO.svg}} [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization|IMRO]]
| branch        = [[File:Bulgaria war flag.png|20px]] [[Bulgarian Army]]
| serviceyears  = 
| rank          = [[Lieutenant General]]
| commands      = 
| unit          = 
| battles       = {{tree list}}
*[[Gorna Dzhumaya Uprising]]
*[[Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising]] 
*[[Balkan Wars]]
**[[First Balkan War]]
**[[Second Balkan War]]
*[[World War I]]
**[[Toplica Uprising]]
**[[Radomir Rebellion]]
{{tree list/end}}
| awards        = 
}}
'''Aleksandar Protogerov''' ({{langx|bg|Александър Протогеров}}; 28 February 1867 &ndash; 7 July 1928) was a [[Bulgarian Army]] general, politician and revolutionary. He was among the leaders of the [[Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee]] and the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]].

== Biography ==
[[File:Protogerov to Matov.JPG|right|thumb|180px|Congratulatory telegram from Protogerov to [[Hristo Matov]] in relation with the [[Macedonian front|invasion of Macedonia by the Bulgarian Army]] in 1915.: „''Hristo, I send you cordial greetings from Free Macedonia.''“]]
[[File:Alexander Protogerov Certificat from Grand Lodge of Bulgaria.jpg|right|thumb|180px|Protogerov's certificate from the [[Grand Lodge]] of Bulgaria.]]
Protogerov was born in 28 February 1867 in [[Ohrid]] in the Ottoman Empire (now in [[North Macedonia]]).<ref name="db">{{cite book |author=Dimitar Bechev |title=Historical Dictionary of North Macedonia |date=2019 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781538119624 |pages=246–247 |edition=2nd}}</ref><ref name="rd">{{cite book |author=Raymond Detrez |title=Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria |edition=3rd |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |date=2014
|isbn=978-1442241800 |pages=400–401}}</ref><ref name="bio">{{cite book |editor1=Wojciech Roszkowski |editor2=Jan Kofman |title=Biographical Dictionary of Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century |date=2008 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=9780765610270 |pages=813–814}}</ref> Later he completed his primary education there in the local [[Bulgarian Exarchate]] school. On 5 October 1882 he entered the [[Vasil Levski National Military University|Military School]] in [[Sofia]] and as a cadet was a volunteer in the Serbo-Bulgarian War (1885). In 1887, he graduated from the Military School and was assigned to the infantry. On 18 May 1890, he was already a lieutenant. On 2 August 1894 he became a captain and served as an adjutant in the 1st Brigade of the 5th Danube Infantry Division. He served in [[Rousse]], where he was the leader of the ''[[Bulgarian Officers' Brotherhoods]]''. Later he served as a company commander of the 32nd Zagore Infantry Regiment. As a Bulgarian officer, he was also a member of the [[Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee]]. Protogerov took part in the [[Gorna Dzhumaya uprising]] in 1902 and in the [[Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising]] in 1903.<ref name="db" /><ref name="rd" /><ref name="bio" /> Later he joined the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] (IMRO).<ref>Янакиев, Николай. Македонските българи-офицери в Горноджумайското въстание, сп. Македонски преглед XV (4). 1992. ISSN 2279-0861. стр. 119.</ref>

Protogerov was a Bulgarian [[Freemason]] and held a leading position (Grand Master) in the lodge where he was a member since the 1910s.<ref>{{cite web |author=Георги Балански |title=Генерал Александър Протогеров – първият Велик майстор на Великата ложа на България |url=https://www.uglb.bg/?page_id=478 |publisher=Сп. „Зидарски преглед“ |date=2010 |website=Обединена Велика ложа на България |language=bg}}</ref><ref name="mni">{{cite web |title=Генерал Александър Протогеров (1867 - 1928) |language=bg |website=Macedonian Scientific Institute |date=7 July 2016 |url=http://www.mni.bg/2016/07/aleksandur-protogerov.html?m=1}}</ref> In the [[Balkan Wars]], Protogerov was one of the organizers of the [[Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps]] and Assistant Commander of this military unit. From 1912 to 1918 he was the president of the Executive Committee of the Macedonian charitable brotherhoods in Bulgaria.<ref name="mni" /> During [[World War I]], he commanded the Third Infantry Brigade of the [[11th Macedonian Infantry Division]]. Protogerov captured the region of Štip, together with [[Todor Aleksandrov]]. In late October, he ordered the massacre of 120 wounded and ill Serbian prisoners of war from the Štip hospital, who were killed in a village near Štip by units of the 11th Division and [[komitadji]]s under the command of voyvoda Ivan Yanev Barlev. In early March, he became the chief of the [[Morava Valley|Morava area]]. The Bulgarian Supreme Command chose him because he had experience in [[guerrilla warfare]] and was active in the pro-Bulgarian IMRO. He regarded the Serbs as the worst enemies. On 10 March, he gave the rebels the ultimatum to surrender within five days. Within fifteen days, he defeated the rebels. The army under his command and his IMRO units repressed civilians, destroyed many villages, killed thousands of people and committed [[mass rape]].<ref>{{cite book |editor=Paul Robert Bartrop |title=The Routledge History of the First World War |date=2024 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781032426037 |page=290}}</ref> Atrocities continued in the next months under his successors, Colonel Tasev (who replaced him as chief) and Lieutenant Colonel Durvingov (who was chosen by Protogerov).<ref>{{cite journal |author=Milovan Pissari |date=2013 |title=Bulgarian Crimes against Civilians in Occupied Serbia during the First World War |url=http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-7653/2013/0350-76531344357P.pdf |journal=Balcanica |publisher=Institute for Balkan Studies |issue=44 |pages=373–374, 381–382 |doi=10.2298/BALC1344357P |doi-access=free}}</ref> In 1918, as a commander of [[Sofia]]'s garrison, he suppressed the [[Radomir Rebellion]], which was a revolt by Bulgarian soldiers.<ref name="db" /><ref name="fc">{{cite book |author=Frederick B. Chary |title=The History of Bulgaria |publisher=ABC-CLIO |date=2011 |isbn=978-0313384479 |pages=62, 70}}</ref> Yugoslav authorities regarded him and Aleksandrov as war criminals.<ref>{{cite book |editor1=John Horne |editor2=Robert Gerwarth |title=War in Peace Paramilitary Violence in Europe After the Great War |date=2012 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780199654918 |page=150}}</ref> After World War I, In 1919, IMRO was restored, with him, Todor Aleksandrov and Petar Chaulev being part of the Central Committee. However, Aleksandrov was recognized as the leader and many people called it "Aleksandrov's VMRO."<ref name="ar">{{cite book |author=Andrew Rossos |title=Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History |date=2013 |publisher=Hoover Institution Press |isbn=9780817948832 |pages=149, 156}}</ref> In the same year, on behalf of the Executive Committee of Macedonian Societies, he sent a letter to the [[Paris Peace Conference]], requesting the incorporation of Macedonia into Bulgaria. However, [[Vardar Macedonia]] was ceded to the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.]]<ref name="bio" /> Both him and Aleksandrov were arrested by the Bulgarian Agrarian authorities after they came to power in August 1919,<ref name="hp">{{cite book |author=Hugh Poulton |title=Who are the Macedonians? |date=2000 |publisher=Hurst & Co. Publishers |isbn=9781850655343 |pages=80, 82–83, 92}}</ref> who charged them with war crimes, but they managed to escape with the help of Bulgarian officers on 13 November 1919.<ref name="hp" /><ref name="jn">{{cite book |title=Yugoslavia in the Shadow of War: Veterans and the Limits of State Building, 1903-1945 |author=John Paul Newman |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107070769 |page=95}}</ref> Afterward, they established a stronghold of the IMRO in the Petrich district, which they ran like an independent state. Taxes were also imposed on the locals and funds were given by the Italian authorities, who were supporting them against Yugoslavia. The Minister of Interior Aleksandar Dimitrov ordered the arrest of the IMRO leaders, but they went underground.<ref name="jb">{{cite book |author=John D. Bell |title=Peasants in Power: Alexander Stamboliski and the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union, 1899-1923 |date=2019 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691656861 |pages=199–200}}</ref> He signed an agreement in November 1920 with Albanian representative [[Hasan Prishtina|Hasan Bey Prishtina]], stipulating the 'liberation of Macedonia in her ethnographic and geographical frontiers', while [[Debar]] was to be decided with a plebiscite.<ref name="hp"  /><ref name="ib">{{cite book |author=Ivo Banac |title=The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics |date=2015 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=9781501701931 |pages=325–326}}</ref> In 1922, Protogerov projected the creation of an autonomous Macedonia, with Thessalonica as capital, as part of the Tsardom of Bulgaria.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Jedrzej Paszkiewicz |date=2014 |title=The Macedonian Issue in the Geopolitics of the Balkans in the 20s of the Twentieth Century in the Light of British Diplomatic Relations |journal=Politeja |doi=10.12797/Politeja.11.2014.30.03 |page=20 |volume=11 |issue=4|doi-access=free }}</ref> In 1923, the IMRO under him and Aleksandrov assassinated Bulgaria's prime minister, [[Aleksandar Stamboliyski]], after he signed the [[Treaty of Niš (1923)|Treaty of Niš]] with the [[Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes]] and undertook the obligation to suppress the military operations of the IMRO carried out from Bulgarian territory.

In 1924, IMRO entered negotiations with the [[Comintern]] about collaboration between the communists and the Macedonian movement and the creation of a united Macedonian movement. In 1924, in [[Vienna]], he signed the [[May Manifesto]] along with Aleksandrov and Chaulev, declaring IMRO's fight for an independent Macedonia in an alliance with the communists.<ref name="ib" /> Later, Protogerov denied through the Bulgarian press that they had ever signed any agreements, claiming that the May Manifesto was a communist forgery. Shortly after, Aleksandrov was assassinated in unclear circumstances and IMRO came under the leadership of [[Ivan Mihailov]]. In 1925 Protogerov was injured in the [[St Nedelya Church assault]] organized by the communists.

IMRO was split between Protogerov's wing, supported by [[Aleksandar Tsankov]], and Mihailov's wing, supported by [[Andrey Lyapchev]].<ref name="fc" /> The faction led by Protogerov opted for continuing with the tactics of guerrilla warfare, while that led by Mihailov insisted on individual terrorist attacks.<ref>{{cite book |title=Territorial Revisionism and the Allies of Germany in the Second World War |date=2012 |editor1=Marina Cattaruzza |editor2=Stefan Dyroff |editor3=Dieter Langewiesche |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=9780857457394 |page=167}}</ref> Protogerov was assassinated under Mihailov's orders on 7 July 1928.<ref name="db" /><ref name="ar" /> After his death, Mihailov became the sole leader of IMRO.<ref name="fc" />

== Military awards ==
{{Unsourced section|date=March 2025}}
* Soldier's Cross of Bravery III grade, Bulgaria
* [[Order of Bravery|Military Order of Bravery]] III grade, Bulgaria
* [[Order of Saint Alexander (Bulgaria)|Royal Order of St. Alexander]] III grade with swords in the middle, Bulgaria
* [[Order of Military Merit (Bulgaria)|People's Order of Military Merit]] III grade on military ribbon, Bulgaria

== Legacy ==
After his death, a faction consisting of his supporters (known as Protogerovists) emerged in the IMRO. They were involved in an internecine struggle with Mihailovists from 1928 to 1934, after which they merged with [[Zveno]] and joined the communist [[Fatherland Front (Bulgaria)|Fatherland Front]] during [[World War II]].<ref name="db" /> The [[Macedonian historiography]] in the Yugoslav era regarded Protogerov as part of a group of "[[Bulgarisation|bulgarized]] renegades of the Macedonian revolutionary and liberation movement".<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Boeckh |editor1-first=Katrin |editor2-last=Rutar |editor2-first=Sabine |title=The Balkan Wars from Contemporary Perception to Historic Memory |date=2017 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=9783319446424 |page=301}}</ref> He is considered as an ethnic [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonian]] in North Macedonia.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2022-01-07 |title=North Macedonia |doi=10.1079/cabicompendium.108501 |doi-access=free }}</ref>{{qn|date=October 2024}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* Вазов, В., ''Животописни бележки'', София, 1992, Военноиздателски комплекс „Св. Георги Победоносец“, {{ISBN|954-509-002-2}}, с.123

{{Bulgaria in World War I}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Protogerov, Alexandar}}
[[Category:1867 births]]
[[Category:1928 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Ohrid]]
[[Category:Bulgarian revolutionaries]]
[[Category:Members of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]]
[[Category:Bulgarian generals]]
[[Category:People of the Serbo-Bulgarian War]]
[[Category:Bulgarian military personnel of the Balkan Wars]]
[[Category:Bulgarian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Assassinated Bulgarian politicians]]
[[Category:Assassinated Bulgarian military personnel]]
[[Category:Macedonian Bulgarians]]
[[Category:People murdered in Bulgaria]]
[[Category:20th-century Bulgarian politicians]]
[[Category:Deaths by firearm in Bulgaria]]
[[Category:Bulgarian Freemasons]]
[[Category:People from the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Politicians assassinated in the 1920s]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Bulgaria]]