The Macedonian Struggle (; ; ; ; ) was a series of social, political, cultural and military conflicts that were mainly fought between Greek and Bulgarian subjects who lived in Ottoman Macedonia between 1893 and 1912. The conflict was part of a wider rebel war in which revolutionary organizations of Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbs all fought over Macedonia. Gradually the Greek and Bulgarian bands gained the upper hand. Though the conflict was largely pacified by the Young Turk Revolution, it remained a low intensity insurgency until the Balkan Wars. Background Initially the conflict was waged through educational and religious means, with a fierce rivalry developing between supporters of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Greek-speaking or Slavic/Romance-speaking who generally identified as Greek), and supporters of the Bulgarian Exarchate, which had been recognized by the Ottomans in 1870. As Ottoman rule in the Balkans crumbled in the late 19th century, competition arose between Greeks and Bulgarians (and to a lesser extent also other ethnic groups such as Serbs, Aromanians and Albanians) over the multi-ethnic region of Macedonia. The Bulgarians founded the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization in 1893 which coordinated the majority of Bulgarian actions in the region. The defeat of Greece in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 was a loss that appalled Greeks which led to the dissolution of the Ethniki Eteria, by Prime Minister Georgios Theotokis. With little prospect of liberation by Greece, the Macedonian Greeks took their fate into their own hands and began to form various armed bands that would ultimately fall under the control of the Hellenic Macedonian Committee. The region quickly became a constant battleground among various armed groups, with hostilities peaking in 1904-1908. The Ottoman Army was also involved in the conflict and perpetuated atrocities against the Christian population in attempt to quell the unrest. Due to the Christian population of Macedonia, whether Greek, Serb, Bulgarian or Aromanian, engaging in more or less constant rebellion against the Ottoman Empire, in conjunction with the revolutionary activities of Armenian nationalists in Anatolia, many Ottoman officers believed that the all Christians of the empire were disloyal and treasonous. Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization In 1893, the Bulgarian Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) had been founded in Thessaloniki. It self-identified as being representative of all nations in Macedonia, along with anti-Ottoman revolutionaries, with the aim of freeing Macedonia and Thrace from Ottoman rule, potentially to unite with Bulgaria. The IMRO was