For 140 years, the Macedonian Question has been on the political map as a key issue for the countries of Southeast Europe. The United Kingdom became one of the main international factors that brought about the creation of the Macedonian Question. Immediately after the Congress of Vienna, during the existing ‘Metternich’ system and especially after 1856, the United Kingdom was successfully coordinating and directing the foreign policy strategy of civilized Europe towards the Ottoman Empire. The Macedonian Question proved to be an excellent tool, especially in the rearrangement of political schemes after the two world wars. The United Kingdom's foreign policy played a significant role in the region and the political history of Europe.

The British interest was primarily related to the three parts of Macedonia located in the three neighbouring Christian countries: Bulgaria, Greece and Yugoslavia (the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes until 1929) – countries with different status and geopolitical strength. The exacerbation of the Macedonian Question was marked by the establishment of the threefold dismemberment of the Ottoman province in 1913. Its name, Macedonia, was not well accepted in the empire. Macedonian nationalism appeared more than a century later than the Serbian, the Greek and the Bulgarian due to the lack of ethnic preconditions for its earlier emergence. The United Kingdom's attention on the Balkans was mainly focused on the events happening in Bulgaria. Since the country had revisionist attitudes, it became problematic for the status quo. The British correspondence with Bulgaria prevails because the Macedonian Question was considered unsolved in the defeated country, while the other two – Greece and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were satisfied with their territorial achievements and were in favour of subsiding the problem and keeping the status quo.

This book explores the intersection of the United Kingdom's diplomatic efforts and the development of the neuralgic Macedonian Question.