Jason Branson Jr., age 16, of Helena, Mont., for his question:
WHERE IS MACEDONIA?
Macedonia is a historic part of Europe that is located northwest of the Aegean Sea. At one time it was a great empire. During World War II the Italians and Bulgarians held the entire region. Today it is sliced up between three countries: Bulgaria holds the northeastern part, Yugoslavia the northwestern part and the rest belongs to Greece.
At the end of the Sixth Century B.C. the Greeks built city states in the region and Macedonia became important. Macedonian kings expanded to the east and the west. They built fine roads and developed a system of money.
One of the early great rulers of Macedonia was Philip II. He extended his kingdom all the way to the Dardanelles and Bosporus.
At the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C. Philip II defeated the other Greek states and was elected captain general of all the Greeks. He planned to lead the Greeks in war against Persia but in 336 he was murdered.
Philip's son was Alexander II, called Alexander the Great. He carried out his father's plans. By the time he was finished, he had conquered most of the civilized world.
Alexander built up and developed a conquered country so that it was able to provide for the needs of his conquering army. He also built up an army of professional soldiers and came up with unusual battle tactics. One of his favorite tricks was to have his infantry hold the enemy in check and then allow his cavalry to come around with and attack from the rear.
History shows us that Alexander the Great was outstanding both as a military man and as a civic leader. He brought civilization and wise government to all of the countries that he conquered. The empire extended east as far as the Indus River in India.
But Alexander died in 323 B.C. and almost immediately Macedonia lost its lands and its importance. In 197 B.C. Macedonia was conquered by Rome.
After Constantinople became the eastern capital of the Roman Empire in 330 A.D., Macedonia became part of the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire.
Over the years Macedonia was invaded many times and also conquered many times. At various times it fell to the Goths, the Bulgarians, the Serbs and the Greeks. Then by 1371 Macedonia belonged to the Ottoman Turks.
During the 19th Century Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece agreed to turn against the Turks. But the problem was that each state wanted to rule Macedonia by itself. They were never able to do anything.
Finally Turkey was defeated in the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913. Serbia, which is now Yugoslavia, received the upper Vardar Valley, Bulgaria the leads north of the Rhodope Mountains and Greece the rest of Macedonia.
Bulgaria and Italy held Macedonia during World War II and now it again belongs to Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Greece.
Macedonia is mainly a mountainous region with a large lowland section in the south central part.