National Holiday

Day 3,391, 02:41 • Published in United Kingdom Iran • by Vladi U

Hello everyone! Here I am again with a new article about Bulgaria 😉. I hope you feel well because today we, the Bulgarians, feel our best! On third of March we celebrate our national holiday.

History:
The Bulgarian national holiday or the Liberation of Bulgaria refers to the events of the Russo-Turkish War (1877-187😎 that led to the re-establishment of the Bulgarian state under the Treaty of San Stefano on 3rd of March 1878. The Bulgarian volunteers and the Russian army, assisted by Romanian forces, liberated Bulgaria from almost 500 years of Ottoman yoke (1396-187😎.

Scenes from the war:







We are very proud of our army of volunteers, known as opalchentsi, who took part in the war. Their help was priceless. They helped the Russians to win one of the most decisive battles which was at Shipka pass. Three days in August 1877, a group of 5,000 Bulgarian and 2,500 Russian troops repulsed attacks against the peak by a nearly 40,000 strong Ottoman army. If they did not succeed, the result of the war could be different. It is said that when the Bulgarians ran out of bullets, they started to throw rocks and stones but when they also ran short, the volunteers were throwing the dead bodies of their fellows. This was the first time in history when alive and dead fought together!

Scenes from the battle at Shipka:





Nowadays there is a monument which will always remember about this memorable battle:








The British contribution to the Bulgarian Liberation

In April 1876, uprisings in many parts of the Ottoman Empire were spread by Bulgarians. The suppression of the revolts by the Ottomans was horrific and the atrocities were made public to the West and Russia. William Gladstone a British politician – wrote articles about this and with his help international condemnation was widespread. This led to 24 of April 1877 when Russia formally declared war on the Ottoman Empire.


Despite our liberation we did not achieve our national ideal – to unite all lands that were predominantly inhabited by Bulgarians. This is the main reason for our participation in the following two Balkan wars as well as in the First and the Second World wars.


Thank you for your attention! I hope it was interesting!