Bulgaria marks 146 years since the April Uprising

The April Uprising broke out on April 20, 1876, in the town of Koprivshtitsa. It was suppressed by the Ottoman authorities, but produced a wide international response and indirectly resulted in the establishment of Bulgaria as an independent nation in 1878.

The decision to start the uprising was taken by the Giurgiu Revolutionary Committee, the Bulgarian lands were divided into 5 revolutionary districts - the first Tarnovo, the second Sliven, the third Vratsa, the fourth Plovdiv and the fifth Sofia.

The preparation took only a few months, which explains its failure on the battlefield. In fact, the uprising broke out en masse mostly in the first Tarnovo district, where one of its apostles was the then future Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Stefan Stambolov, and in the fourth Plovdiv district with the apostle Panayot Volov and assistant Georgi Benkovski.

The uprising broke out prematurely on April 20. In an attempt to capture Todor Kableshkov by the Ottomans, the residents of Koprivshtitsa took up arms and killed the local "mudurin" (Turkish Deputy Governor). Kableshkov wrote his famous “Blood Letter”, which was sent to Benkovski in Panagyurishte. He then announced the beginning of the uprising and the rest is history ...

Despite the defeat and atrocities committed by the Ottoman Empire in Batak, Perushtitsa, Klisura, Panagyurishte, the action was a political success, making the Bulgarian question part of the agenda of European diplomacy at the time.

The public in the two most powerful empires at the time and considered irreconcilable opponents - Russia and Britain - stood on the side of the Bulgarian cause. Rallies and meetings in support of the Bulgarians took place in numerous big English cities The situation was similar in Russia, where both conservatives and liberals were united in defending the enslaved Bulgarians.

Thus, the April Uprising, from a military failure became a triumph and a reason for the Liberation of Bulgaria. This happened two years later after Russia carried out the will of the European concert - Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary, France and Italy - declared war on the Ottoman Empire.

Thanks to the self-sacrifice of the heroes of the April Epic, today there is a Bulgarian state, we now know the pleasure of the feeling of speaking our native language. However, the main goal of this uprising was the emergence of Bulgaria on the European political map. This would not have been possible if not for the April Uprising as the highest peak of the Bulgarian national liberation movement.

source: BGNES

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