The Transfiguration Uprising breaks out in East Thrace, resulting in the establishment of the Strandzha Commune.

The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising, consisting of the Ilinden Uprising and Preobrazhenie Uprising, was an organized revolt against the Ottoman Empire, which was prepared and carried out by the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization, with the support of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee, which included mostly Bulgarian military personnel. The name of the uprising refers to Ilinden, a name for Elijah's day, and to Preobrazhenie which means Feast of the Transfiguration. The revolt lasted from the beginning of August to the end of October.

East Thrace or Eastern Thrace, also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the part of Turkey that is geographically in Southeast Europe. Turkish Thrace accounts for 3.03% of Turkey's land area and 15% of its population. The largest city is Istanbul, which straddles the Bosporus between Europe and Asia. East Thrace is of historic importance as it is next to a major sea trade corridor and constitutes what remains of the once-vast Ottoman region of Rumelia. It is currently also of specific geostrategic importance because the sea corridor, which includes two narrow straits, provides access to the Mediterranean Sea from the Black Sea for the navies of five countries: Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia. The region also serves as a future connector of existing Turkish, Bulgarian, and Greek high-speed rail networks. Due to the guest worker agreement with Turkey and Germany, some Turks in Germany originally come from Eastern Thrace, mostly from the Kırklareli Province.

The Strandzha Commune, also known as the Strandzha Republic, was a short-lived anarchist commune in East Thrace. It was proclaimed during the Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903 by rebels of the Internal Macedonian Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO), in the Adrianople vilayet of the Ottoman Empire.