Mihajlo Apostolski

Mihajlo Apostolski (Михаjло Апостолски) born Mihail Mitev Apostolov (Михаил Митев Апостолов) on 8 November 1906 in Štip, Ottoman Empire (now Republic of Macedonia) - 7 August 1987 in Dojran, SFR Yugoslavia (now Republic of Macedonia)) was an Yugoslavian general, military theoretician, politician, historian, Commander of the Headquarters of the People's Liberation Army and Partisan detachments in Macedonia.

Biography
He attended primary and secondary school in Štip (now Republic of Macedonia). In 1927 graduated from the Military Academy in Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1933 he graduated from the High Military Academy, and in 1938 graduated Commanding Academy (Serbocroatian: Генералштабна академија).

During the invasion of Yugoslavia by Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Romania, in April 1941, as a commander of the alpine units, he ordered demolition of bridges in order to slow the progress of the German troops.

After the capitulation of Yugoslavia he was captured by the Italian army and was taken to the camp Vestone. Shortly after, his father, a Bulgarian army veteran, made a request to the Bulgarian Minister of War and it was granted soon after. Apostolski, as well as 12,000 other Macedonian POWs, were released with Bulgarian intervention by the German, Italian and Hungarian authorities. After his liberation from the prison, Apostolski was offered a captain's rank as a Bulgarian officer, but he considered this unsatisfactory. Thus, in September Apostolski entered the Macedonian National Liberation Army and became a partisan leader in the National Liberation War of Macedonia. In May 1943 he was appointed Major General. During the Second Session of AVNOJ he was appointed to the Presidency of AVNOJ. In addition to the Macedonian brigades operating under his command, in February 1944, he commanded the brigades from Kosovo and Southern Serbia. He became a member of the Initiative Board for organization of ASNOM. He participated in the First Session of the ASNOM and was elected to its Presidency. He successfully fought against the forces of Bulgaria (which, even today, considers itself as the force that liberated Macedonia, while in the Republic of Macedonia it is considered as an occupying force), as well as against Italian fascist and German nazi forces throughout World War II.

After World War II
After the Second World War Apostolski became one of the military leaders of new SFRY.

After the end of his active military service he began intensively to deal with history of the Macedonian nation. From 1965 to 1970 was head of the Institute of National History in Skopje.

He was actively involved in formation of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, of which he was member since its creation. He was president of Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts for the period 1976-1983.

He was also member of:
 * Serbian Academy of Sciences,
 * Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (now: Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts),
 * Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and
 * Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo.

Legacy
In 1995 the Military Academy in Republic of Macedonia was named "General Mihajlo Apostolski".