In the Footsteps of Vasil Levski

As a professor of archaeology and history in Europe, I always enjoyed leading students on city tours and extended academic excursions. For example, in Rome, I taught a course on Roman art and architecture using the city as my classroom. We would begin the class on the banks of the Tiber River, discussing Romulus and Remus, and ended the course, fourteen weeks later, at the Arch of Constantine. Each class session presented a chapter in the history of ancient Rome and the meandering path we followed each allowed me to recount the biographies of the emperors, the daily life of citizens and slaves, and the significance of the monuments of ancient Rome. 

As director of the American Research Center in Sofia, Bulgaria, I oversaw our fellowship program. One of the many benefits of being a fellow was that my institute (i.e., yours truly) organized excursions in Bulgaria, Serbia, Republic of Macedonia, northern Greece, and Edirne, the westernmost city of Turkey. One of my favorite itineraries was planned for the first weekend of the academic year, when our new fellows arrived. I called it the “Vasil Levski tour”, a three-day excursion around and over the northern range of the Balkan Mountains, known as the Stara Planina. Vasil Levski is the national hero of the 19^th century Bulgarian revolution for independence against the Ottoman Empire. 

Situated close to Istanbul, or I should say Constantinople, Bulgaria was the breadbasket of the Ottomans between the 15^th and late 19^th centuries. Ottoman overlords, bureaucrats, business owners, merchants, and soldiers were stationed throughout the province of Bulgaria. Much like the Romans, the Ottomans were tolerant of people who did not share their faith; thus, Jews and Christians were permitted to practice their religion, but were considered second class citizens. The natives of Bulgaria were farmers, manufacturers, and merchants who paid taxes in kind and in coin to the Sultan. Because the Ottomans relied so heavily upon Bulgaria for resources and manufactured good, there was a great economic surge in many parts of the country. Moreover, the Ottomans greatly improved the living conditions by providing clean and well-organized cities and many of the baths, markets, schools, and mosques are still well preserved (hmm…good topic for another article).

The 18^th and 19^th centuries were a time of cultural change and outright revolution throughout Europe. Intellectuals, the bourgeois, and the working classes became increasingly frustrated by the oppressive conditions of kings, emperors, and local authorities. Like the recent Arab Spring, European countries ignited and concepts of freedom, democracy, and the pursuit of happiness spread throughout the lands. Revolutionary groups formed and devised plans to set their people free. Alliances were made between the liberation groups and neighboring countries and/or mercenaries.

The first stirrings of Bulgarian nationalism commenced in the 18^th century with the construction of some new building types by guilds and the publication in the 1760s of a treatise on the history of the Slavonic and Bulgarian peoples by a Bulgarian monk named Paisiĭ. The Russo-Turkish war, 1806-12, weakened the position of the Ottomans in Bulgaria. Despite their increased desire for independence, the Bulgarians were controlled more severely under the iron fist of the sultan. Several hundred-thousands of Bulgarians fled over the Danube into southern Romania over the next few decades. And, these refugees, who sought help from the Russians, would play a strong role in the revolution of the 1870s.

Many Bulgarians clearly remained and cooperated, at least from a business point of view, with the Ottomans. The output of Bulgarian factories increased, thanks to industrialization. Owners and workers were rewarded for their efforts. But, a good economy did not quell dreams of independence and by the middle of the 19^th century, the groundwork for revolution was laid. With the increased wealth into Bulgarian towns came an increase in building. The wealthiest members of communities build schools, whereby students would be taught in Bulgarian (not Greek, which until now was the official language imposed by the Ottomans), and Orthodox churches. There was a push to promote Bulgarian history, culture, and language. Some of the leading towns were Svishtov, Shumen, Plovdiv, and Veliko Tarnovo. Cultural centers, chitalishte, were established by wealthy patrons. The first Bulgarian printing presses were established in the 1840s, but there was still considerable debate about the literary language.  was developed during the same period, but was not fully adopted until the 1870s.

While the Bulgarians were indeed demonstrating their Bulgarianness (българите), ethnic and cultural identity, actual revolutionary activities did not begin until the 1860s. The leader of the Bulgarian revolution is considered to be Georgi Rakovski, whose first attempt at a revolutionary group was the Bulgarian Legion, formed in 1862 to assist the Serbs in their struggle against the Ottomans. After an initial failure, he withdrew to Bucharest, Romania, where he developed in 1867 the Secret Central Bulgarian Committee. Rakovski sought support from Russia and countries in western Europe. He and his companions led small led small campaigns against the Ottomans, to no avail. Already in 1862, one of Rakovski’s greatest supporters was Vasil Levski.

Vasil Kunchev (later known as Levski) was born in 1837 in Karlovo, central Bulgaria. From a very pious family, Kunchev was convinced by his uncle to join the priesthood. In 1858, he was ordained and served the church in nearby Stara Zagora. Feeling strongly about the liberation of Bulgarians and their neighbors from the Ottoman yoke, Kunchev disrobed and joined Rakovski’s Bulgarian Legion in Belgrade. The Legion dissolved quickly, but not before Kunchev demonstrated his military prowess and bravery. He soon acquired the nickname, Levski (like a lion). Levski returned to Bulgaria to teach in his native Karlovo as well as Dobrujda region of Romania. He was a founder of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee, based in Bucharest and in 1869, made his way back to Bulgaria, where he established local branches of the BRCC. During this time, he is known to have declared, “If I succeed, the whole nation succeeds; if I fail, then I perish alone.”

In 1870, he was instrumental in developing a Provisional Government of Bulgaria in the city of Lovech, one of his strongholds. The plans of the PGB were foiled two years later when, without Levski’s approval, a group of the committee robbed a Turkish outpost at Arabakonak, in the mountains to the east of Sofia. The unauthorized group was captured and the leaders declared that this was a political attack on behalf of the BRCC. They were tortured and gave crucial information to the Ottomans about the BRCC and the whereabouts of Vasil Levski. Levski needed to flee to Romania, if he were to remain unharmed. He hid for many weeks in the autumn of 1872 in the Balkan Mountains. He could not escape without securing BRCC documents in Lovech. Therefore, in December, while hiding in the Troyan monastery, he made plans to take the documents and flee. He arrived to Lovech on Christmas Day, hiding in the farmhouse of a friend. Despite the strength of his support in the region, he was betrayed and captured the next day. The Ottoman guards hauled Levski to Sofia, where he was put on trial and found guilty of revolutionary activity. Vasil Levski was executed in Sofia on February 18, 1873.

Levski died alone, but the revolution continued. The Ottomans hunted down the revolutionaries ruthlessly for the next two years, but Rakovski and others persevered. At a meeting in the town of Oborishte, the leaders of the BRCC determined that May 1876 was the time for a true revolution. The local chapters of the committee had stockpiled provisions and weapons. As the decision was made in April, the movement is known as the April uprising. The Ottomans, however, learned almost immediately about the plans of the BRCC and troops were sent to Oborishte. Fortunately, the BRCC was, by now, a complex organization and had backup plans. Plan B was to begin an insurrection in the town of Koprivshtitsa. Again, the Ottomans were ruthless, slaughtering thousands of poorly trained and armed rebels as well as civilians. One particularly brutal episode occurred at Batak in the western Rhodope Mountains where 5000 people, primarily women and children, were killed. The outside world started to take notice of the atrocities against the Bulgarians and the revolutionaries gained both sympathy and support. From a diplomatic point of view, agents from western Europe and the United States documented the killings. One of the most notable personalities was Eugene Schuyler, an American scholar and diplomat whose career brought him to the Balkans. He arrived several months after Bulgaria’s “April Uprising” and was a prime mover in the documentation of atrocities of the Turks in Bulgaria.

The BRCC always had the backing of the Russians and in June 1877, Russia championed the Bulgarians by declaring war upon the Turks. The Russians, with support of Bulgarian troops secured the northern part of the country and by August pushed south, up the Stara Planina Mountains. It was in this month and location that the turning point of the war occurred, the Battle of the Shipka Pass. Warfare concluded in February 1878, five years after the execution of Vasil Levski with the peace of San Stefano. According to the treaty, Bulgaria would be governed by a neutral prince, Alexander Battenberg, but would remain a vassal of the ever-shrinking Ottoman Empire.

The Vasil Levski tour departs from Sofia with stops in Koprivshtitsa, Karlovo, Shipka, the Freedom Monument atop the Stoletov peak of the Balkan Mountains, Trayvna, Gabrovo, Veliko Tarnovo, Lovech, and the Troyan Monastery. This was always a full 3-day adventure with nights in Trayvna and Veliko Tarnovo, departing Sofia at about 9:00 a.m. and returning to Sofia by about 6:00 p.m. on the third day. 
(composed 2013 for blog of American Research Center in Sofia)

Photos Eric De Sena, 2013