Liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman yoke. Is it true that the Day of Liberation from the Ottoman yoke in Bulgaria was celebrated without the Russians, but with the Turks? A look at the socialist past
After the cancellation of the main article of the Paris Peace on the neutralization of the Black Sea, Russia again gained the opportunity to provide more active support to the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula in the fight against the Ottoman yoke.
In 1875, an uprising broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It soon spread to the territory of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia.
In the summer of 1876, Serbia and Montenegro declared war on the Sultan. However, the forces were unequal. The Turkish army brutally suppressed the resistance of the Slavs. In Bulgaria alone, the Turks massacred about 30 thousand people.
Serbia suffered defeats from Turkish troops. A small Montenegrin army took refuge high in the mountains. Without the help of European powers, and primarily Russia, the struggle of these peoples was doomed to defeat.
At the first stage of this crisis, the Russian government tried to coordinate its actions with the Western European powers. Broad sections of Russian society demanded that Alexander II take a more decisive position.
Russian Slavic committees in St. Petersburg, Moscow and some other cities were active. The most prominent representatives of the intelligentsia took part in their activities (writer and publicist I.S. Aksakov, literary critic V.V. Stasov, sculptor M.M. Antokolsky, scientists I.I. Mechnikov, D.I. Mendeleev, etc.). The committees collected funds for “brothers by blood and faith” and sent Russian volunteers, among whom were doctors N.F., to support the rebel Serbs, Bulgarians and other Balkan peoples. Sklifasovsky and S.P. Botkin, writer G.I. Uspensky, artists V.D. Polenov and K.E. Makovsky.
Considering the passivity of Western Europe in the Balkan issue and yielding to public pressure, the Russian government in 1876 demanded that the Sultan stop the extermination of the Slavic peoples and make peace with Serbia. However, the Turkish army continued active operations: it suppressed the uprising in Bosnia and Herzegovina and invaded Bulgaria. With the Balkan peoples suffering defeat and Turkey rejecting all proposals for a peaceful settlement, Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire in April 1877. The 2nd stage of the Eastern crisis began.
Russia sought to avoid this Russian-Turkish war (1877-1878) because it was poorly prepared. The military reforms that began in the 60s were not completed. Small arms corresponded only 20% to modern models. The military industry was weak, and the army lacked shells and other ammunition. Russian military thought was in captivity of the German military doctrine, the father of which was Moltke.
At the same time, the Russian army had talented generals M.D. Skobelev, M.I. Dragomirov, I V. Gurko. The War Ministry developed a plan for a quick offensive war, as it understood that protracted operations were beyond the capabilities of the Russian economy and finances. Russia mobilized and signed an agreement with Romania on the passage of Russian troops through its territory.
The plan of the Russian command provided for the end of the war within a few months, so that Europe would not have time to interfere in the course of events. Since Russia did not have a navy on the Black Sea, it was difficult to pass through the eastern regions of Bulgaria (near the coast). Moreover, in this area there were powerful fortresses of Silistria, Shumla, Varna, Rushchuk, forming a quadrangle, in which the main forces of the Turkish army were located, and advance in this direction threatened the Russian army with protracted battles. It was decided to bypass these fortresses through the central regions of Bulgaria and go to Constantinople through the Shipka Pass.
By the beginning of June 1877, the Russian army, led by Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (185 thousand people), concentrated on the left bank of the Danube. She was opposed by troops of approximately equal numbers under the command of Abdul Kerim Pasha. The bulk of the armed Turks were in the already indicated quadrangle of fortresses. The main forces of the Russian army concentrated somewhat to the west, at Zimnitsa. The main crossing of the Danube was being prepared there. Even further west, along the river, from Nikopol to Vidin, Romanian troops (45 thousand people) were stationed.
In terms of combat training, the Russian army was superior to the Turkish one, but in terms of the quality of weapons it was inferior to the Turks. Thus, the Turkish army was armed with the latest American and British rifles. The Turkish infantry had more ammunition and entrenching tools (shovels, picks, etc.). Russian soldiers had to save ammunition. An infantryman who spent more than 30 rounds of ammunition (more than half of his cartridge bag) during a battle was threatened with punishment.
On December 24, 1877, Turkey, defeated by Russia, turned to the powers with a request for mediation. Only the British government responded and notified St. Petersburg of this appeal. Reply A.M. Gorchakov said: if the Porte wants to end the war, then with a request for a truce it must turn directly to the commander-in-chief of the Russian army. The granting of a truce was conditional on the preliminary acceptance of the provisions of the future peace treaty.
On January 8, 1878, the Porte turned to the Russian commander-in-chief, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (senior) with a request for a truce. The offensive of the Russian troops developed successfully, so the Russian government was in no hurry to actually begin negotiations.
England tried to intervene in the negotiations, but Austria-Hungary did not support the militant position of the British. The Turkish commissioners, who arrived in Kazanlak on January 20, 1878, after hearing the terms of peace, rejected most of the Russian demands. Russian troops continued to rapidly approach the Turkish capital. On January 31, 1878, in Adrianople, the Turks signed an armistice agreement, which included Turkey's consent to the preliminary conditions of the peace treaty proposed to it.
Austria-Hungary demanded that the conditions for the future of the Russian-Turkish world be submitted to an international conference for discussion. After some hesitation, England acceded to this demand. The Russian government did not risk coming into conflict with them. England sent its fleet to the Turkish shores. In response to this, Russian troops stopped 12 km from the Turkish capital, in the town of San Stefano. On February 19 (March 3), 1878, a preliminary peace treaty was signed in San Stefano, ending the Russian-Turkish war. The agreement was signed by Russian representatives - Count N.P. Ignatiev, former ambassador to Constantinople, and head of the diplomatic chancellery under Commander-in-Chief A.I. Nelidov, and on the Turkish side - the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Porta Savfet Pasha and Sadullah Bey.
The Treaty of San Stefano significantly changed the map of the Balkans. A significant part of the Aegean coast was transferred to Bulgaria. Bulgaria became a principality in nominal vassalage of the Sultan, stretching from the Danube and the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea in the south and the Albanian mountains in the west. Turkish troops were deprived of the right to remain within Bulgaria. Within 2 years it was supposed to be occupied by the Russian army. For Turkey's patrons - British and Austro-Hungarian diplomacy - this situation seemed unacceptable.
The British government feared that by including Bulgaria in its sphere of influence, Russia would effectively become a Mediterranean power. In addition, Bulgaria's new borders came so close to Constantinople that the straits and the Turkish capital were under constant threat of attack from the Bulgarian bridgehead. In view of this, the Treaty of San Stefano met with a negative attitude from England.
The Treaty of San Stefano answered just as little to the interests of Austria-Hungary.
In Reichstadt and in the Budapest Convention of January 15, 1877, it was agreed that there would be no creation of a large Slavic state in the Balkans. In order to finally prevent the formation of such a state, the Constantinople Conference (December 1876) in its project divided Bulgaria into two parts along the meridional direction, and Western Bulgaria was to enter the sphere of Austrian influence. The Russians did not adhere to these projects, since they viewed Bulgaria as a single state that would cover a significant part of the Balkan Peninsula.
The Treaty of San Stefano also proclaimed the full sovereignty of Montenegro, Serbia and Romania, the provision of a port on the Adriatic to Montenegro, and Northern Dobruja to the Romanian principality, the return of South-Western Bessarabia to Russia, the transfer of Kars, Ardahan, Bayazet and Batum to it. Serbia and Montenegro had some territorial acquisitions.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, reforms had to be carried out in the interests of the Christian population, as well as in Crete, Epirus and Thessaly. Türkiye had to pay Russia an indemnity in the amount of 1 billion 410 million rubles. However, most of this amount was covered by territorial concessions from Turkey. The actual payment was 310 million rubles. The Russians did not raise the issue of the straits in San Stefano.
The Treaty of San Stefano, in fact, divided the European and Asian possessions of the Ottoman Empire, which significantly weakened the political and economic power of the Porte and contributed to the further rise of the national liberation struggle of the peoples remaining under its rule. For lands that gained independence, it opened up opportunities for national, economic and cultural development.
England and Austria-Hungary, with the support of France, demanded the convening of a European Congress to discuss the articles of the treaty and, in order to put pressure on Russia, began military preparations. Russia, exhausted by the war, was forced to agree.
The Congress opened on June 13, 1878 in Berlin. Russia, England, France, Austria-Hungary, Prussia, Italy and Türkiye took part in it. Representatives of the Balkan states were admitted to Berlin, but were not participants in the congress. The chairman of the congress was Bismarck. Each issue brought up for discussion caused heated debate. On July 13th, the congress ended its work with the signing of the Treaty of Berlin, which amended the Treaty of San Stefano. Russia was deprived of a significant part of the fruits of its victory. But the national interests of the Balkan peoples were also grossly violated in favor of the political and strategic considerations of England and Austria-Hungary.
The Congress deprived the Bulgarian people of the unity that the Treaty of San Stefano had provided them, and for Bosnia and Herzegovina it replaced Turkish rule with Austro-Hungarian rule. An uprising broke out against the new masters and was brutally suppressed. Turkey's "defenders" - England and Austria - captured without firing a shot: the first - Cyprus, the second - Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thus, the essence of the Berlin Treaty was reduced to the partial division of Turkey.
In January 1879, a peace treaty was signed in Constantinople between Russia and Turkey, which established that the articles of the Treaty of San Stefano, repealed or amended in Berlin, were replaced by the terms of the Berlin Treaty. The unamended articles of the Treaty of San Stefano were also finally clarified.
- Türkiye rejected the London Protocol of six European powers, signed on March 31 (19), 1877.
At the beginning of March, Bulgaria celebrates its liberation from the Ottoman yoke. For almost five centuries, the Christian country was under the yoke of Muslim laws and paid tribute to the Ottoman Empire not only in gold and food, but also in living goods. Every fifth boy from the family was taken to the barracks and raised as a Janissary. Temples and churches stopped being built; monasteries survived only in remote mountainous areas. The policy of Islamization, actively pursued by the Porte on the territory of the Bulgarian Principality and other Balkan countries, led to the establishment of Christianity as the main enemy of the occupiers. Many Orthodox Christians died, refusing to change the faith of their ancestors. In those days, accepting Islam meant treason.
Policy of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans
Tightening policies towards Christian countries and increasing taxes led to massive uprisings among the local population. But the more the Sublime Porte weakened, the more bloodily the popular unrest and riots were pacified. The uprisings in 1875-1876 in Bosnia, Herzegovina and Bulgaria were suppressed with such brutality that even Western countries, willingly providing military support to the Ottomans in the fight against Russia (Crimean War), tried to force Porto to equalize the rights of Christians with the Muslim population. However, this did not bring any results, all the signed decrees remained only on paper, and in fact the Orthodox residents remained as powerless as they were.
Preparation and entry of Russia into the war of 1876-1878
After such anti-Christian persecutions, public opinion in Western countries and especially in Russia was completely on the side of the Balkan Slavs. Alexander II and the government decided to start a war with Turkey in order to protect our Slavic brothers. Of course, the state hoped that the liberated countries would strengthen our influence in the international arena and allow us to resist the Western coalition of states. The military reform carried out made it possible to hope for revenge after the defeat in the Crimean War.
The company had to be carried out as quickly and efficiently as possible, so that the West would not come to its senses and defect to the Porte. At this stage, Russia was supported in the international arena by Prussia, and the enemy, as usual, was Great Britain. Having refused to follow the recommendations of its Western partners, the Porte was unable to obtain support from the Western coalition at that time. This fatal mistake of the Ottoman Empire made it possible for Russia to begin and carry out a military campaign to liberate the Balkan peoples from the Muslim yoke.
Liberation of the Balkans
The progress of the offensive of the Russian troops was accompanied by examples of heroic behavior of soldiers and officers. Some of his contemporaries compared the crossing of the Balkans with Suvorov’s campaign through the Alps. The crossing of the Danube, the defense of Shipka, the capture of Plevna and the crossing of the Balkans are written in bloody letters in the history of Russia and the Balkan peoples.
And when complete victory was already close and our troops approached Erzurum, where the remnants of the Turkish army were hiding, Western partners woke up and imposed peace on us under the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano, where Turkey paid Russia a large indemnity in gold, recognized some territorial claims and gave independence Bulgaria, Romania and Montenegro. To ensure this peace and stop Russian soldiers from marching on Constantinople, the Western powers flooded the Mediterranean Sea with their warships.
The Russian-Turkish War of 1876-1878 gave independence to the Balkan peoples, sacrificing almost two hundred thousand Russian soldiers. Some Bulgarian historians call it the most honest and noble war, if such words are appropriate in relation to the war. After liberation, the Balkan countries rushed under the wing of the more developed countries of Europe, and Russia received only part of Bessarabia, although under the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano, territorial acquisitions were more extensive. But the Western coalition, extremely dissatisfied with the victory of such a strong enemy, convened the treacherous Berlin Congress, where many of the achievements of the San Stefano Treaty were canceled. But that is another story.
Celebration
"Bulgarian, kneel
in front of the Holy Tomb -
here lies the Russian Warrior,
who gave his life for our freedom"
The day of the conclusion of the Treaty of San Stefano is considered the day of the liberation of Bulgaria. This big national holiday is marked with a red day on the calendar. Holidays in Bulgaria are celebrated on a grand scale: on this day, mass processions are held, politicians congratulate residents, and events are held to introduce residents to the history of the country.
A prayer service is being served in memory of the fallen Russian soldiers who gave their lives for the liberation of Bulgaria from Turkish slavery. The solemn funeral service is held in the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky, built in the 19th century. Throughout the country there are more than 400 monuments to Russian soldiers, to whom flowers and wreaths are laid on this day.
On March 3, wreaths are solemnly laid at the Freedom Monument, erected in honor of the Russian soldiers who defended Shipka. This memorial was erected on the highest mountain of the Shipka Pass, where a handful of Russian soldiers and Bulgarian partisans held many times superior enemy forces under constant artillery fire for a month so as not to allow Turkish troops to enter Northern Bulgaria. This mountain was named Stoletova in honor of the Russian general who led the defense.
On March 3, 2018, Bulgaria celebrated the 140th anniversary of its liberation from the Ottoman yoke. It was on this day in 1878 that Russia and Turkey signed the Treaty of San Stefano, according to which Bulgarian statehood was restored after 500 years of foreign rule. Despite the decisive contribution of Russian troops to the liberation of Bulgaria, over the past century and a half, relations between Moscow and Sofia have not been easy.
Celebrating the Day of Liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman yoke Gettyimages.ru © Contributor
Made in San Stefano
On March 3, Bulgaria celebrates Liberation Day from the Ottoman yoke. This is one of the main national holidays of the country, established in honor of the end of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. On March 3, 1878, in the suburb of Constantinople San Stefano (now Yeşilköy), where Russian troops advancing towards the capital of the Ottoman Empire stopped, representatives of Russia and Turkey signed a peace treaty. One of his conditions was the re-establishment of the Bulgarian state.
In addition, Turkey was forced to recognize the independence of Serbia, the United Principality of Moldavia and Wallachia (the future Romania) and Montenegro, which were allies of Russia in that war.
As Associate Professor of Nizhny Novgorod State University noted in an interview with RT. N.I. Lobachevsky Maxim Medovarov, the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878 and the San Stefano Peace Treaty “awakened the Balkans,” influencing not only the processes in Bulgaria.
"Both the Albanian and Macedonian problems were first identified in San Stefano." , notes the expert.
It was in 1878, Medovarov emphasizes, with the formation of the Albanian League of Prizren that the movement for the creation of an Albanian state began.
Signing of the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878 © Wikimedia Commons
Macedonia, which, according to the San Stefano Peace Treaty, was supposed to become part of Bulgaria, according to the results of the Berlin Congress that followed this treaty, remained part of Ottoman Turkey. The result was the growth of a national movement in a radical form and the creation in 1896 of the Internal Macedonian-Odrinian Revolutionary Organization, which began a guerrilla war against the Turks, and after the annexation of Macedonia to Serbia in 1913, against the Serbs. The most famous victim of the Macedonian militants was the King of Yugoslavia, Alexander I Karadjordjevic, who was killed in Marseille in 1934. The Abwehr and Croatian Ustashes actively helped the Macedonians in organizing this assassination attempt.
As a result of the Berlin Congress, imposed on Russia by the European powers, Bulgaria itself was also affected, its territory being reduced by more than half compared to the terms of the San Stefano Peace Treaty. However, already in the 1880s, the country reoriented its policy from the Russian Empire to the states of Europe.
As Medovarov noted, the social base on which the Bulgarian political elite was created played a key role in this process.
"Bulgaria was, in fact, created in San Stefano, and the entire Bulgarian political class was created from the intelligentsia or lower-class merchants, there was simply no one else,"- notes the expert. - “They all received their education either in the West or in Russia among Russian nihilistic revolutionaries.” .
A striking example is the Prime Minister and Regent of Bulgaria Stefan Stambolov, expelled from the Odessa Theological Seminary in 1873 for his connections with revolutionaries. It was this former Russian seminarian who most actively fought against Russian influence in the country.
Paradoxically, the Russian Empire itself also contributed to the distance between Bulgaria and Russia.
« After San Stefano, the Russian authorities imposed on Bulgaria in 1879 the liberal so-called Tarnovo Constitution, which removed the Orthodox clergy from the levers of government - that part of the educated population that could be our support. All power passed into the hands of revolutionary intellectuals and their parties “- states Medovarov.
According to him, this constitution played a fatal role in the formation of the pro-Western orientation of the Bulgarian political class. Under the first prince of Bulgaria, Alexander I of Battenberg, the Bulgarian politician favored an alliance with Great Britain, and after the accession of Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the Bulgarian throne in 1897 - with Germany and Austria.
The people are silent
« Many Bulgarians accused Russia of not conquering Macedonia and other lands for them, Medovarov notes another reason for the cooling of the Bulgarian elite towards Russia. - Our country was accused of insufficiently defending Bulgarian interests at the Berlin Congress of 1879 ».
The fact that Russia did not support Bulgaria during the Second Balkan War of 1913, when the country was attacked by Serbia, Greece, Romania and Turkey, according to the historian, finally brought Bulgaria into the camp of countries allied with Germany. Later, in two world wars, Sofia tried to regain control over Macedonia lost after the Second Balkan War. After Soviet troops liberated Bulgaria, a communist regime was established in the country. Now this is another reason for criticism of Russia by pro-Western liberals.
“Resentments accumulated, but these were grievances on the part of a certain part of the Bulgarian political class,” Medovarov emphasizes, “The people have always been on the side of Russia. The masses have always been pro-Russian, but had no voice in politics.”
This is confirmed, according to the historian, by the fact that reviews of Russia from the peasants who made up the majority of the Bulgarian population, as well as priests, were positive at the end of the 19th century, although the authorities in Sofia were already oriented toward the West. And now, according to a study by the American sociological center Pew Research Center, conducted in May 2017, 56% of Bulgarians believe that a strong Russia is necessary in order to resist the West.
- Residents of Sofia meet Soviet soldiers, 1944 RIA Novosti
Medovarov recalls that in 1940, a mass movement developed in Bulgaria to conclude a non-aggression pact with Soviet Russia - after the pro-German government came to power.
« Almost half the country signed up for an alliance with the USSR, but the authorities completely ignored it "- notes the expert.
As Bulgarian political scientist Plamen Miletkov, chairman of the board of the Eurasian Institute of Geopolitics and Economics, said in an interview with RT, a similar situation is observed to this day.
« Ordinary people - they are with Russia, - notes the expert. - But politicians sometimes say one thing and do another. They fulfill American orders in Bulgaria and the Balkans. You will now see how Bulgaria will work with Macedonia, with Kosovo, with Greece, so that Bulgaria becomes a leader in the Balkans, but this is the wrong course ».
According to the expert, the main goal of the Bulgarian policy to draw Macedonia into the EU and NATO is to create obstacles to plans to carry out the European part of the Turkish Stream through this country to the Balkans. However, this, like Sofia’s refusal from South Stream, is in the interests not of Bulgaria, but of the United States.
« Now in Bulgaria there is American propaganda that Russia did not liberate Bulgaria and did nothing, and there was no war at all"- notes the expert.
Hopes for change
Bulgaria is celebrating the 140th anniversary of the restoration of statehood today as a member of NATO, a military-political bloc that is now in power. However, for the first time since 2003, the country's leadership invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to celebrate the anniversary of the country's liberation from the Ottoman yoke. This was done by President Rumen Radev, elected in November 2016, who advocates establishing friendly ties with Russia.
And although the President of the Russian Federation will not come to Bulgaria this year on March 3, as noted by the Russian Ambassador in Sofia Anatoly Makarov, it is quite possible that he will visit this country within a year. Makarov himself will represent Russia at the festive events. The day before, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' arrived in the country on a special visit.
Although President Radev constantly talks about the need to lift the sanctions that Bulgaria, like other EU countries, have imposed against Russia, the government, which holds the real power, is in no hurry to raise this issue. In September 2017, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said that he could not agree with the thesis that Russia is not an enemy of Bulgaria.
- Bulgarian President Rumen Radev Reuters © Tony Gentile
« How can one say in military doctrine that Russia is not our enemy and still remain a member of NATO? - the Prime Minister said on local television. - This is a contradiction. Our doctrine says that if war breaks out, we will fight on the side of NATO».
At the same time, the prime minister emphasized that he is against the strengthening in the Black Sea and for cooperation with Russia in the tourism and energy fields.
« Boyko Borisov wants to work with Russia, but does what the American ambassador orders "- notes Miletkov.
According to the expert, the United States may have dirt on the Bulgarian leader. In the early 1990s, he headed a security agency that was suspected of having ties to the underworld. A CIA cable published by WikiLeaks dated May 9, 2006, alleged that Borisov may be involved in drug trafficking. The Prime Minister of Bulgaria himself denies this information.
- Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borisov Reuters © Yves Herman
However, according to the Bulgarian expert, it is likely that in 2018 there will be a change in power in Bulgaria. Currently, Borisov’s government relies on a shaky coalition between his GERB party (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) and the nationalist United Patriots bloc, which, in turn, has disagreements regarding relations with Russia.
« I think that at the end of the year, in November-December, the government will change, there will be new elections and we will work normally with Russia"- states Miletkov.
« For us now the situation is favorable in the sense that, at least, the people are loyal to us, and these people have shown their abilities by electing an adequate president "- says Medovarov.
According to the expert, Bulgaria’s exit from US influence is “not only a Balkan, but a global issue.”
« If the American grip begins to really weaken around the world, then we will have more opportunities in the Balkans "- says the political scientist.
Many peoples were liberated from Ottoman rule during the Russian-Turkish wars. Under the reign of Alexander II, independence was granted to a number of Balkan principalities, as well as Bulgaria. The end to the strategic confrontation was reached in 1878 in the suburb of Constantinople - San Stefano.
In our article we will talk about the main milestones of the Bulgarian people’s struggle for independence, the liberation war of 1877-1878, as well as the strong ties of brotherhood with the Russian Empire.
Anti-Turkish uprisings
In the 70s of the 19th century, a wave of anti-Turkish uprisings swept across the Balkans. Peoples who had dreamed of independence for centuries began to realize their plans. In 1875, Bosnia and Herzegovina burned. The following year, the war of liberation began in Bulgaria. The uprising was brutally suppressed, but the unrest did not subside. The Western powers understood that the solution to the Ottoman issue could not be postponed for long.
The empire, which existed through despotic governance and vassal relations, has long been rotten and bursting at the seams.
The major European powers, including Russia, signed an agreement obliging Constantinople to implement reforms and grant broad autonomy to the Balkan states. Only England, pursuing its goals in the region, did not agree to a deal. The powder keg of Europe, as the Balkan Peninsula was deservedly called, exploded in 1876. Serbia and Montenegro declared war on the Sultan.
The Russian Tsar could not help but stand up for the fraternal peoples, mobilization and preparations for war began. At the same time, active work was carried out in the diplomatic direction. They tried to convince the Sultan to resolve the crisis peacefully. The last attempt to reach an agreement was made by European monarchs at a meeting with the Ottoman delegation in London.
However, official Constantinople remained adamant and did not want to make concessions to the Balkan peoples. The next Russian-Turkish war began on April 12, 1877.
Holding Shipka
The Shipka Pass in Bulgaria served as a kind of gateway opening the way to the southern part of the country. It was control over this area that played a decisive role in the war with Turkey. In July 1877, Russian troops, who by this time had managed to liberate a significant part of the country, including its capital, delivered the main blow in the direction of Shipka.
Our soldiers were actively supported by the Bulgarian militias. The enemy could not resist for long and decided to leave the strategic height.
Now the main task was to keep Shipka. Suleiman Pasha sent forces there that outnumbered the Russians tens of times. Every day the liberators repulsed several enemy attacks. The shelling became more intense every day. The defining date was August 11, 1877. The positions of our troops were engulfed in fire from all sides.
During the day, several powerful attacks by the Circassians, who fought on the side of the Turks, were repulsed. There were attempts to enter from the rear and break through the central defense of the pass. At the cost of numerous casualties, the Russians still managed to maintain control over the heights, however, by the evening the Turkish positions were located at a small distance from our forces. The situation was close to critical.
Reinforcements arrived the next day. The regiment under the command of Major General M.I. Dragomirova occupied the central part of the pass. They also brought provisions and ammunition. In the following days, Turkish troops were driven out from all key positions in the Shipka area. Bloody battles began on the approaches to the pass. A week later, the losses of the joint Russian-Bulgarian troops amounted to about 3.5 thousand people, in turn, the Turks lost 8 thousand soldiers.
In the fall, the active phase of hostilities gave way to positional battles and fortification at occupied heights. By winter, the weather became a real test: soldiers died from cold and disease. And yet, this “sitting” made it possible to maintain significant forces of the Sultan in this direction, and at the beginning of the next year to carry out a striking counterattack and reach the Ottoman capital.
Battles for Plevna
One of the most heroic pages in the history of the Russian army was the siege of the Bulgarian city of Plevna, which housed a garrison of Turkish troops. Fighting for the fortress began in July 1877. The corps of General Schilder-Schuldner attacked the fortified positions of the Turks in the northern direction. The attempt ended in failure; our army lost more than 2 thousand soldiers.
The second attack was led by generals Kridener and Shakhovskoy, the number of troops exceeded 30 thousand people. During fierce battles, they managed to capture two redoubts, but by the evening the Turks had nullified all the military achievements of the Russian troops. In September, the city was already attacked from three sides; the strengthened troops could oppose the Ottoman general with about 100 thousand people. The Turks desperately resisted.
It was possible to put the finishing touches on the unyielding opponent only at the end of November. The Ottomans made a sortie to remove the wounded and stock up on food and ammunition. The Russians managed to break through the first line, but the subsequent battle did not go in favor of the Turks. Ultimately, the city was occupied, and almost 40 thousand soldiers of the Turkish Pasha were captured. The city resisted for 143 days, and it took the Russian army incredible efforts to capture it. After this victory, strategic advantage passed to Russia, and the outcome of the war was a foregone conclusion.
Peace Treaty and Consequences of War
The historical document was signed near Constantinople in the town of San Stefano. This happened on February 19, 1878. The effective part of the peace treaty confirmed the right of Serbia and Montenegro to full independence. Bulgaria, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, received full autonomy. Part of Bessarabia returned to the Russian Empire, and a number of fortresses in the Caucasus were transferred. The Turks were obliged to pay a huge indemnity.
The strengthening of Russia's position did not suit the major European powers. Diplomatic pressure on St. Petersburg followed, which could have escalated into a full-fledged war. The Russian army was unable to conduct a second campaign in a row, especially against the troops of the formed coalition. We had to agree to revise the terms of the peace treaty.
In Berlin there was a discussion about a new world order. As a result, the balance of power in the region changed somewhat. The territory of one of Russia's main allies in the war - Bulgaria - was significantly reduced, the British occupied the island of Cyprus, and Austria-Hungary received the right to occupy the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Russia retained almost all territorial acquisitions.
The victory of Russian weapons in the war of 1877-1878 made it possible to once again secure the Empire’s status as one of the leading world powers. This success also allowed Russia to rehabilitate itself after the disastrous Crimean War and expand its influence in southeastern Europe. The fraternal peoples of Bulgaria and the Balkan principalities were able to throw off the shackles of the centuries-old Turkish yoke.
Exactly 140 years ago - on March 3, 1878 - a peace treaty was signed in San Stefano between the Russian and Ottoman empires, putting an end to the Russian-Turkish war. The result was the appearance of new independent states on the world map - Bulgaria and Montenegro, and international navigation on the Danube was also opened. This date is extremely significant for a number of Balkan states: Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, but the most important anniversary of the signing of the document remains for Bulgarian society. In this state, March 3 is officially considered Independence Day and is a non-working day.
The Ottoman Empire controlled Bulgarian, Serbian, and a number of Montenegrin and Romanian territories since 1382. At the same time, severe restrictions on rights and freedoms were introduced for the Christian part of the population of these lands. Christians were subject to harsh taxes, could not fully manage their property, and did not have the right to personal freedom.
In particular, the Turkish authorities could without hesitation take Christian children in infancy to work in the Ottoman Empire, while parents were then prohibited from seeing their sons and daughters. Moreover, at one time the Turks had the right of first night for Christian women who wanted to marry other Christians.
To top it all off, most cities in Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina banned Christians from living on certain lands.
This policy led to a series of protests against Turkish rule in the 19th century. At the end of that century, uprisings of Christian Serbs broke out simultaneously in Bosnia, as well as the April Uprising in Bulgaria in 1875-1876. All these protests were harshly suppressed by Turkey, and the Turks distinguished themselves with particular ruthlessness during the suppression of the April Uprising, when, according to documents, of the 30 thousand of the total number killed during the dispersal of the rebels, only 10 thousand were in one way or another involved in hostilities against the Ottoman Empire, the rest were either relatives or acquaintances of the rebels. In addition to murders, Turkish military and irregular forces were noted for mass looting of Bulgarian homes and rape of Bulgarian women. The painting of the Russian Itinerant artist “Bulgarian Martyrs,” painted in 1877, was dedicated to these events.
Events in the Balkans at that time caused outrage in society around the world. This was facilitated by the articles of the American war correspondent Januarius McGahan, who wrote for a series of reports about the crimes of the Turks against Bulgarians of both sexes.
A number of prominent politicians and creative figures of the late 19th century condemned the policies of Istanbul. Among them were the writers Oscar Wilde, the scientist, politician and revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi.
However, Russian society, in which the issues of oppression of the Slavs on the Balkan Peninsula were traditionally perceived painfully, was most indignant at the actions of the authorities of the Ottoman Empire.
The uprising in Bosnia and Bulgaria received widespread press coverage. Fundraising began in Russian Orthodox churches and newspaper editorial offices to help the rebels; public organizations helped accept Bulgarian refugees; in addition, dozens of volunteers went to the Balkans to take part in hostilities against the Ottomans. For some time they tried to abandon a direct war with Turkey, since military reform had not yet been completed in Russia, and the economic situation was not very favorable.
In December 1876, Russia, England, France and Turkey held a conference in Istanbul, where the Russian side demanded that the Turks recognize the autonomy of Bulgaria and Bosnia under the protectorate of the world community. The Ottoman Empire pointedly refused this. And in April of the following year, under pressure from public opinion and a number of politicians, Russia declared war on Turkey.
From the very beginning it was extremely difficult for Russia. With great difficulty, Russian troops crossed the Danube. In addition, Turkish supporters managed to raise an uprising in Abkhazia, Chechnya and Dagestan. As a result, almost the entire Black Sea coast on Abkhaz territory was taken by the Turks by the spring of 1877. To suppress these protests, the Russian authorities were forced to transfer reinforcements from the Far East.
In the Balkans, combat operations were also difficult for the Russian army: the lack of modern weapons and problems with supplying the army with food and medicine affected it. As a result, Russian troops managed to win the key battle of the war and take the city of Plevna only a few months after it began. Nevertheless, Russian troops, with the support of volunteers from among the Bulgarians, Romanians and Serbs, managed to liberate the entire territory of Bulgaria, part of Bosnia and Romania from Turkish rule. The general's units occupied Adrianople (modern Edirne) and came close to Istanbul. The commander-in-chief of the Turkish army, Osman Pasha, was captured by the Russians.
The war found a wide response in Russian society. Many people went to participate in hostilities voluntarily. Among them were famous people, including doctors, Sergei Botkin, writers and.
The commander of the 13th Narva Hussar Regiment of the Russian Army, the son of the great Russian poet and prose writer, also took part in the hostilities.
Stolen Victory
After a series of military failures, Türkiye was forced to hastily make peace with Russia. It was signed in the western suburb of Istanbul San Stefano (now called Yeşilköy). On the Russian side, the agreement was signed by the former Russian ambassador to Turkey, Count and Head of the Diplomatic Chancellery of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army in the Balkans, Alexander Nelidov. From Turkish - Foreign Minister Savfet Pasha and Ambassador to Germany Saadullah Pasha. The document proclaimed the creation of the independent state of Bulgaria, the principality of Montenegro, and a significant increase in the territories of Serbia and Romania. At the same time, Bulgaria received a number of Turkish territories where the Bulgarians lived before the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans: Bulgarian territory extended from the Black Sea to Lake Ohrid (modern Macedonia). In addition, Russia received a number of cities in Transcaucasia, and the autonomy of Bosnia and Albania was formed.
However, a number of European powers did not agree with the provisions of the document, primarily Great Britain. The English squadron approached Istanbul, and a serious threat of war between the United Kingdom and Russia arose. As a result, a new treaty was concluded in Berlin, called the Berlin Treaty. According to it, Bulgaria was divided into two parts, one proclaimed an independent state with its capital in Sofia, and the second proclaimed autonomy, but within the Ottoman Empire. Also, Serbia and Romania had to abandon some of the acquisitions of the San Stefano Treaty, and Russia was forced to return some of the Transcaucasian acquisitions. However, she retained the historically Armenian city of Kars, which was actively populated by Russian settlers.
Also, under the Berlin Agreement, Austria-Hungary received the right to establish a protectorate over Bosnia and Herzegovina, which eventually became one of the reasons for the First World War.
“The liberation war of 1877-78 is considered by a number of historians to be the fairest, since after the brutal suppression of the April Uprising it was the all-Slavic upsurge that became its driving force. This war of liberation was essentially started by the people, and they won it. And the San Stefano Treaty fixed the independence of Bulgaria within its historical borders. However, Russia’s military victory then turned into a diplomatic defeat for both the Russian Empire and Bulgaria,” he says in an interview with Gazeta. Ru” Ambassador of Bulgaria to Russia Boyko Kotsev.
According to him, this was due, among other things, to the fact that the Peace of San Stefano was developed by some people, first of all, Count Ignatiev, and another delegation was sent to Berlin for negotiations - led by Count Mikhail Gorchakov. “Being of an advanced age and lacking information from his ambassadors, some of whom were engaged not so much in state affairs as in personal affairs, he was unable to protect the interests of Russia, as a result of which it lost a number of achievements of the war. This also affected Bulgaria, which lost some of its historical lands as a result of the Berlin dictatorship, as we called it, forever. However, we remember those who made their invaluable contribution to the formation of the Bulgarian state, and since then Count Ignatiev, who developed the draft San Stefano Agreement, is considered a national hero of Bulgaria,” concluded Kotsev.
Some historians believe that the reason St. Petersburg signed the Berlin Agreement was Russia's unwillingness to fight with England. As a result of the battles of the war of 1877-1878, 15.5 thousand Russian soldiers and officers, about 3.5 thousand Bulgarian volunteers were killed, in addition, 2.5 thousand militiamen from Serbia and Montenegro were killed.
Bulgarians think differently
Despite the fact that the date of the Treaty of San Stefano is one of the main national holidays in Bulgaria, now people have appeared in the intellectual and political elite of the country who have begun to advocate the removal of references to this event from Bulgarian history textbooks. “In Bulgaria there is a certain layer of people who advocate the broadest cooperation with a number of European countries and the United States, but they prefer to forget about the role of Russia.
I remember well my conversation with one activist. In front of me, she was indignant that in Bulgaria they even dared to erect monuments to Russian soldiers; they, they say, were occupiers and killed Bulgarians, and did not protect them. And when the Russian Patriarch came to Bulgaria, she was literally shaking with anger, shouting: “Kakva is impudent! Kakva impudence!!!" (What impudence - Bulgarian). It turns out that the Patriarch had the “arrogance” to call Russians and Bulgarians a single people.
“They, these Russians, want to occupy Bulgaria again through the church!” she almost shouted. I dared to object that he meant the Slavic brotherhood, and she replied that it doesn’t matter,” traveler and Balkanist Danko Malinovsky, who has Russian and Macedonian roots, told Gazeta.Ru.
Some Bulgarian public figures admit that there are people in the country who do not recognize the significance of the Treaty of San Stefano in Bulgarian history, but emphasize that they are in the minority.
“There are people in Bulgaria, this is about 4% of our society, who are trying to give this event a political and economic flavor, trying to show that Russia then pursued the goal of reaching the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, and was not interested in the liberation of the Bulgarians,” says “ Gazeta.Ru” Chairman of the Bulgarian National Movement “Russophiles” Nikolai Malinov. He emphasized that the vast majority of Bulgarians have a completely different position on this matter. “Let’s not forget that after the liberation of Bulgaria, Russia actually created the Bulgarian fleet and army, created the constitution of our country and laid the foundations of our statehood. Two years after the end of the war of 1877-1878, the Russians left all this to us and simply left without demanding anything in return. And, of course, we have not forgotten this. Today, up to 100 thousand people will come to the Shipka Pass, where one of the key battles of that war took place, to honor the memory of the fallen Russian soldiers and officers, as well as the Bulgarian militia. It is expected that the memorial on Shipka will also be visited,” Malinov added.