Macedonian Hussar Regiment

The Macedonian Hussar Regiment was a military unit involved in the Russian Imperial Army. The establishment of the Macedonian Hussar Regiment occurred on the 10th of May, 1759. The Hussars were active in defense of Russia's southern borders, which had become volatile due to new migration and the aftereffects of the War of the Austrian Succession. Over the following decades, the regiment was disbanded and reformed frequently, before disbanding permanently in 1783.

History

In the middle of the 18th century started a migration from the Military Frontier of the Habsburg Monarchy to the Russian Empire. Russian authorities gave these new settlers a land, which acquired names as New Serbia and Slavo-Serbia, soon after the War of the Austrian Succession.[1] The purpose of these polities was protection of southern borders of the Russian empire as well as participation in Russian military operations near that region. Commandant of New Serbia was Jovan Horvat. On March 9, 1759, Horvat, with the permission of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, formed the Macedonian Hussar Regiment. New Serbia and Slavo-Serbia in fact were populated by a different nationalities and the names of the regiments formed there did not reflect exactly their national composition.[2] Many of the refugees who formed the Macedonian Regiment were described by the imperial authorities as Bulgarians,[3] Vlachs, Serbs and Greeks among the participants.[4][5][6] Some were counted as Macedonians, but also a large number of Montenegrins were presented there. The commander of the Macedonian Hussar Regiment was Aleksey Kostyurin.[7] The coat of arms of the Macedonian Hussar Regiment was approved in 1776 and represented: "A silver shield in a red field, with different decorations, and under it two crossed wooden arrows covered with gold dots." On July 26, 1761, the Macedonian Hussars were merged with the existing Bulgarian Hussar Regiment into a general Macedonian Hussars Regiment because of the small number of personnel in both the regiments.[8] On May 10, 1763, by decree of Empress Catherine II, the Macedonian Hussar Regiment was disbanded and its personnel were assigned to the Polish, Moldovan and Serbian Hussar Regiments. On December 24, 1776, a new Macedonian Hussar Regiment consisting of 6 squadrons was created from the 9 foreign regiments established on the territory of Azov and Novorossiysk regions to protect the southern borders of the empire. On June 28, 1783, it was disbanded and his staff assigned to the Alexandrian Hussar Regiment.

Modern references

Despite its name, the Macedonian Hussar Regiment was not composed of Macedonians.[9] The designation Macedonian then was popular in Europe only in early modern cultural contexts,[10] but was nearly forgotten in the modern-day region.[11] Austrian and Russian Empires used it during the 17th and 18th centuries about populations coming from the Balkans and this is the case of the name of that regiment.[12] Some modern Macedonian historians consider its existence as a confirmation of an ethnic Macedonian continuity, but such claims contradict the historical logic.[13] However along with pointing the example of some participants' belonging to the Macedonian nation, the historian Aleksandar Matkovski has confirmed, that it was too early for existence of such entity in the modern sense.[14] On the other hand Blaze Ristovski has agreed, that the theories of Macedonian identity evolved outside the modern region and existed without the participation of Macedonian Slavs at least until the second half of the 19th century.[15] According to some reports, the regiment was dominated by Aromanians (Vlachs), who were then often treated as Macedonians, which is the reason for the regiment's name.[16] However per two guides issued by the Russian Academy of Sciences, the first in 1861, and another one from 1910, during the 18th century as Macedonians were designated part of the Bulgarian refugees.[17][18] According to some researchers, the idea of creating these regiments was not a project to build national units, while it preceded the birth of nationalism in Europe.[19]

See also

References
  1. Белова, Е. В. Гранычары Новой Сербии: южнославянская колонизация России в 1740—1760-е гг. Вестник Российского университета дружбы народов: журн. 2008. № 1 (11). С. 82—93. (История России) ISSN 2312-8674.
  2. Roger P. Bartlett, Human Capital: The Settlement of Foreigners in Russia 1762-1804; CUP Archive, 1979, ISBN 0521222052, pp. 17-19.
  3. Вл. Милчев (Украйна) - Два хусарски полка с българско участие в системата на държавната военна колонизация в Южна Украйна (1759-1762/63 г.) в сп. Исторически преглед, БАН, 2001, бр. 5-6, стр. 147-165.
  4. Агоп Гарабедян и Румяна Комсалова, Переселение болгар и сербов во время Петра Великого и его наследников, стр. 157.
  5. Сайт «Русский Биографический Словарь», Хорват-Куртиц Иван.
  6. Белова, Е. В. Балканские военные поселения служили укреплению южной границы России. Середина XVIII века, стр. 50-53, Военно-исторический журнал. 2008, N6: По данным, которые приводит историк Н. А. Попов, (Попов Н. А. Военные поселения сербов в Австрии и России. «Вестник Европы», 1870 г.) в 1759 году в Новой Сербии были сформированы два полевых полка из числа болгар, греков и валахов, названных Македонским и Болгарским. Интересен тот факт, что при объявлении набора в новые полки желание воевать на стороне России изъявили не только болгары, сербы, молдаване, валахи, греки, но и немцы с мадьярами. стр. 52.
  7. Македония и македонцы в прошлом: сборник научных трудов, Institut za nacionalna istorija (Skopje, Macedonia) NIP "Nova Makedonija", 1970, p. 176.
  8. Дойнов, Стефан. Българите в Украйна и Молдова през Възраждането (1751 – 1878). София, Академично издателство „Марин Дринов“, 2005. ISBN 954-322-019-0. с. 49 – 51.
  9. Galin Dimitrov, The creation of so-called Macedonian Regiment in Ukraine in Bulgaria, the Bulgarians and Europe - Myth, History, Modernity, 2019, Volume 13, Issue 1, Veliko Tarnovo University, p. 125.
  10. Drezov K. (1999) Macedonian identity: an overview of the major claims. In: Pettifer J. (eds) The New Macedonian Question. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London, ISBN 0230535798, pp. 50-51.
  11. D. Livanios' review of Vemund Aarbakke, Ethnic Rivalry and the Quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913 in The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 83, No. 1 (Jan., 2005), pp. 141-142
  12. Roumen Daskalov, Tchavdar Marinov as ed., Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies, Balkan Studies Library; BRILL, 2013, ISBN 900425076X, p. 281.
  13. Galin Dimitrov, The creation of so-called Macedonian Regiment in Ukraine in Bulgaria, the Bulgarians and Europe - Myth, History, Modernity, 2019, Volume 13, Issue 1, Veliko Tarnovo University, pp. 117-127.
  14. Aleksandar Matkovski, Makedonskiot polk vo Ukraina (Skopje: Misla, 1985), str. 180-190.
  15. Blaze Ristovski, Makedonskiot narod i makedonskata nacija, vol. 1 (Skopje: Misla, 1983). p. 85.
  16. Тютюнджиев, Иван (1995) Български военни формирования в Украйна през XVIII век. Българите в Северното Причерноморие. том 4. Унив. изд. Св. св. Кирил и Методий, 1995, с. 131-136. В. Търново, стр. 134.
  17. Хронологическій указатель матеріалов для исторіи инородцев Европейской Россіи, Петр Кеппен, Императорской Академіи наук, 1861, стр. 59.
  18. Россия. Полное географическое описание нашего отечества : Настольная и дорожная книга для русских людей: [В 19-ти т.] Русскоe геогр. о-вo; том 14, стр. 198.
  19. Милчев, В. Два хусарски полка с българско участие в системата на държавната военна колонизация в южна Украйна (1759–1762/3). – В: Исторически преглед, София, 2002, № 5–6, с.154–164.
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