site.bta148th Anniversary of April 1876 Uprising

On April 20, 1876 (May 2, New Style), Bulgarians, whose lands had been part of the Ottoman Empire since 1396, embarked on their most massive attempt to regain their independence, known in history as the April Uprising. Even though the uprising was brutally quelled, it and the ensuing events elicited a strong response from the rest of the world, precipitating the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War that led to Bulgaria's liberation.  

The April 1876 Uprising came as the apex of a decades' long national liberation movement, which was organized and implemented by the some of Bulgaria's greatest revolutionaries and men of letters like Georgi Rakovski, Lyuben Karavelov, Vassil Levski and Hristo Botev.

At the end of 1875, when the Ottoman Empire was in a crisis and in a near default, young revolutionary activists set up a revolutionary committee in Giurgiu, Romania, and decided to prepare an armed uprising in the spring of the following year. They divided the country into five revolutionary districts, centred in Tarnovo, Sliven, Vratsa, Plovdiv and Sofia. A leader called "apostle" was appointed to head each district and its preparation for the revolt.

Not all Bulgarians supported the liberation drive, as many feared bloodshed or doubted that Bulgarians could free themselves unaided.

At a general meeting held in the Oborishte locality near Panagyurishte between April 14 and 16, 1876, it was decided that the uprising would break out on May 1.

On April 20, 1876, when Turkish police tried to arrest the head of the revolutionary unit in Koprivshtita Todor Kableshkov, he and his followers captured the local office of the Ottoman government. Kableshkov then proclaimed the uprising and announced its outbreak to Georgi Benkovski and the Panaguysihte Revolutionary Committee in a letter he signed with the blood of an Ottoman policeman who was killed by the insurgents. This message is Kableshkov's famous Bloody Letter.  

The start of the uprising in the Plovdiv District ten days ahead of the planned date resulted in massive-scale arrests of committee members in other districts, a quick mobilization of irregular Turkish troops and deployment of military units in all major Bulgarian cities.

Panagyurishte revolted right after Koprivshtitsa. Benkovski formed a cavalry unit called the ''Flying Detachment", with which he went round the villages in the area and raised them in revolt. On April 22, the insurgent flag was solemnly consecrated in Panagyurishte. The flag was made by teacher Raina Popgeorgieva, whom Bulgarians called Raina Knyaginya [Princess Rayna].

Soon after the regular Ottoman army and bashibozuk attacked the insurgent settlements, Strelcha and Klisura were the first to fall, and after four days of resistance Panagyurishte fell, too. The village of Batak experienced the worst tragedy, as over 5,000 residents were slaughtered in the St Nedelya Church. In Perushtitsa, Kocho Chistemenski and Spas Ginev killed their entire families before committing suicide to spare them a fate worse then death at the hands of the enemy.

By the time the Bloody Letter reached Tarnovo, the Ottoman authorities had already taken action. The uprising broke out there, too, albeit on a smaller scale than planned. Several detachments were formed, including one headed by Father Hariton, who repelled the Ottomans in the course of 9 days at the Dryanovo Monastery. The Sliven District did not revolt, but the apostles there did form a detachment which was surrounded and defeated after heavy fighting.

The committees in the Vratsa District were hesitant and finally decided to wait for Botev's detachment, which set out from Romania, commandeered the Austrian steamer Radetzky on May 16, and soon landed on the Bulgarian Danube bank near Kozloduy. The uprising in the Vratsa District never broke out, and Botev was killed on May 20 in unclear circumstances, after which his detachment split and was destroyed one by one.

At the same time, a detachment led by Tanyo Stoyanov also crossed the Danube and was defeated, too, effectively ending the April Uprising.

The April Uprising is a riveting historic tale in which the heroic figures and actions are as numerous as the betrayals and disappointments. Nearly 80 settlements were burned down, and between 15,000 and 30,000 people were killed. The cruelty by which Ottoman authorities suppressed the insurgency outraged the international community. Rallies and petitions were organized in defence of the Bulgarian people, nearly 3,000 articles deplored these events, and dozens of celebrities such as Dmitry Mendeleev, Leo Tolstoy, Giuseppe Garibaldi, William Gladstone, Oscar Wilde and Charles Darwin came out in support of Bulgarians. In the end, the April Uprising and the public response to it whipped up international tensions, and Bulgaria was ultimately liberated in 1878 as a result of a war in which Russia defeated Turkey.