1908 was an important year in the history of Macedonia, and even more important for the fate of the Ottoman Empire. Seeking to implement a civilian constitution and turn the country post-haste into a parliamentary democracy, the group of reform-minded army officers known as the Young Turks set in motion a whole chain of events. The consequences of this military intervention in political affairs are evident not only within the Ottoman Empire but in all the Balkan states that followed their traces.

The great expectations of the Turks, Greeks and Bulgarians, that constitutional government would as if by magic resolve the problem of peaceful co-existence after nearly four years of inexorable struggle for Macedonia, were captured by the photographer's lens. They were then multiplied, in the form of post cards that revamped, internationally, the humbled political profile of the Ottoman Empire.

The protagonists in the history that was being recorded in photographs were, in addition to the Young Turks, the Greek Makedonomachoi and the Bulgarian komitatzides, and the many outlaws, known and unknown, of the period. All together, in awareness or in ignorance of the political expediencies, they posed for the camera, eager to document the national and social reconciliation. The prime setting for this unique conjunction was the city of Thessaloniki, followed by Monastir. Photographers immortalised these novel political gatherings and scenes of reconciliation from a variety of angles, while printers hastened to stamp across their existing stock the political slogans of the time.

The 300 post cards in the collection assembled by Angelos Papaioannou carry us back into the political climate of the Thessaloniki of 1908. They also provide a picture of the Macedonian Struggle at its official conclusion, when the freedom fighters were hastening to have their picture taken in every town in Macedonia.