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Today is March 3, the national holiday of the Republic of Bulgaria. On this date in 1878 the foundations of the Third Bulgarian State were laid.
Many believe that the dates of September 6, 1885, when the two parts of divided Bulgaria (Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia) were united or September 22, 1908, when Prince Ferdinand solemnly declared Bulgaria’s independence from the Empire. Ottoman, they are more appropriate for a national holiday, since the events were carried out with the effort of the Bulgarians themselves.
It should not be forgotten, however, that in the Russo-Turkish war selflessly
a Bulgarian militia is also fighting,
which, especially in the Shipka epic, contributed to its victorious outcome. There, 16,000 Turks were fired against 3,500 Bulgarians and some Russians. On January 8-9, 1878, the entire militia went into battle in the attack on the fortified by the Turks near Sheynovo. In the headquarters of General Skobelev is the writer PR Slaveykov, who knows the steps of the Balkans. AN Kuropatkin, chief of staff of Skobelev’s column, wrote about him: “And it is really difficult to say what we would have done without Slaveykov. He provided us with innumerable information on the situation of the Turks beyond the Balkans. He had organized entire detachments that passed and inspected the Turkish positions. All the way through the Skobelev detachment, he removed many obstacles and supplied two and a half divisions with everything they needed. “And only then did he rest when we passed the Balkans and the Turks were destroyed near Sheynovo.”
March 3 is the date that marks the resurrection of the Bulgarian state, which is why today we celebrate our national holiday.
On March 3, 1878, a peace treaty was signed between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the city of San Stefano, now Yeshilkoy, a suburb of Istanbul. He put an end to the Russo-Turkish war of liberation (1877-1878) and created the Bulgarian state after 500 years of Ottoman rule.
The date was not chosen at random.
It coincided with the coronation of Alexander II in 1855 and the liberation of the serfs in Russia in 1861, for which the Russian emperor received the nickname of Liberator. The treaty is preliminary, that is, preliminary and is subject to the approval of the other great powers. According to him, liberated Bulgaria is an autonomous, tributary vassal principality (which pays taxes) and with its own government and people’s army. Its area is more than 170,000 square kilometers.
One of the main reasons for the Russo-Turkish war was the brutal repression of the April Uprising of 1876, which provoked a huge response in Europe. Several prominent European public figures and statesmen, including the names of William Gladstone, Victor Hugo, raised their voices in support of oppressed Bulgarians.
Saint Stefano Bulgaria, with few exceptions, superimposes the map of the Exarchate from 1870, with which the Sultan legitimized the Orthodox spirituality of the Bulgarian population.
Unfortunately, the treaty was revised by the great powers. The Berlin Congress, inaugurated on June 13, 1878, in which Russia, England, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany and Turkey participated, decided to divide Bulgaria.
By virtue of its clauses, San Stefano Bulgaria is divided into five parts
– Northern Bulgaria and Sofia Sandzak form the vassal principality of Bulgaria, which pays an annual tax to the Turkish Sultan, has its own militia and is led by a prince chosen by the people, but with the consent of the great powers and the sultan . ; the lands between the Balkans and the Rhodopes were formed into a separate autonomous region called Eastern Rumelia, ruled by a governor general appointed by the Upper Gate; Macedonia and the Edirne region remained within the Ottoman Empire under the direct rule of the Sultan; the cities of Pirot and Vranje were ceded to Serbia, and Romania received northern Dobrogea.
One of the important results of the Treaty of San Stefano is
which created an ideal that was the basis of great national successes and catastrophes for the Bulgarian state after 1878
The great successes, as we know, are the Union and the declaration of independence. However, the two successive national catastrophes – during the Inter-Allied War and the First World War – put an end to the ideal of “Bulgaria on three seas”. A wave of refugees began in the then lost Bulgarian lands, who settled within the Bulgarian state and gradually integrated into it.
For the first time, March 3 was celebrated in 1880, two years after the Liberation, as the Day of the Ascension to the Throne of Emperor Alexander II. Starting in 1888, the holiday began to be celebrated as the Day of the Liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman rule. . Once a national holiday, the day was celebrated in 1978 to mark the centenary of Liberation. Ten years later, in 1988, it became an official holiday, and in 1990, when changes began in Bulgaria, by decision of the Grand National Assembly, the date was declared a national holiday of the country.
On this day the national flag is raised and wreaths are laid at the monument to the Unknown Soldier in Sofia, in memory of the Bulgarians who died in the struggle for the liberation of the Fatherland. At night, in the square in front of the National Assembly, next to the monument of the Liberator Tsar – Alexander II, a solemn fireworks display takes place. Citizens lay wreaths and flowers at the monument to the Russian, Finnish and Romanian soldiers who died for the liberation of Bulgaria.
Many of those who fought for the liberation of Bulgaria
the officers and soldiers were Ukrainians.
And there is nothing strange about this: the Russian Imperial Headquarters has chosen to use the military potential of its colony closest to Bulgaria, instead of sending garrisons from the Moscow and St. Petersburg regions. Therefore, the mobilization for war took place mainly among the Ukrainian population of the military districts of Kiev, Odessa and Kharkiv.
In the structure of the then combat army there are a large number of regiments and other military formations, the names of which reveal the origin of the recruited soldiers: Kiev, Kharkov, Poltava, Grodno, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Mariupol and dozens of others. The army also includes a large number of Ukrainians of Bulgarian origin, who with great enthusiasm set out to liberate their ancestral homeland, and some of the officers then remain in Bulgaria to prepare their young army.
The composition of the first Russian military unit to set foot in Bulgaria is also interesting. This is the 14th Infantry Division, which created a bridgehead for the invasion. It is made up mainly of Ukrainians and is led by General Mikhail Dragomirov.
Happy Holidays!
Bulgaria
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