Following the two Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913 and the dissolution of the Ottoma

n Empire, most of its European-held territories were divided between Greece, Bul
garia and Serbia. The territory of the modern Macedonian state was then named Ju n
a Srbija, "Southern Serbia". After the First World War, the Kingdom of Serbia be
came part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In 1929, the Kingdom was
officially renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and divided into provinces called
banovinas. Southern Serbia, including all of what is now the Republic of Macedon
ia, became known as the Vardar Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
The concept of a United Macedonia was used by the Internal Macedonian Revolution
ary Organization (IMRO) in the interbellum. Its leaders including Todor Alexandr
ov, Aleksandar Protogerov, and Ivan Mihailov promoted independence of the Macedo
nian territory split between Serbia and Greece for the whole population, regardl
ess of religion and ethnicity[citation needed]. The Bulgarian government of Alex
ander Malinov in 1918 offered to give Pirin Macedonia for that purpose after Wor
ld War I,[42] but the Great Powers did not adopt this idea because Serbia and Gr
eece opposed it.[citation needed]
IMRO followed by starting an insurgent war in Vardar Banovina, together with Mac
edonian Youth Secret Revolutionary Organization, which also conducted guerilla a
ttacks against the Serbian administrative and army officials there. In 1923 in S
tip a paramilitary organisation called Association against Bulgarian Bandits was
formed by Serbian chetniks, IMRO renegades and Macedonian Federative Organizati
on (MFO) members to oppose IMRO and MMTRO.[43]
The Macedonist ideas increased during the interbellum, in Yugoslav Vardar Macedo
nia, and among the left diaspora in Bulgaria, and were supported by the Cominter
n.[44] In 1934 it issued a special resolution in which for the first time direct
ions were provided for recognizing the existence of a separate Macedonian nation
and Macedonian language.[45]