“Freedom or death!”
In 1869 Levski founded the first revolutionary committees and thereby laid the foundations of the Internal Revolutionary Organization. In three years he built the organizational structure of the resistance creating hundreds of committees more in urban and rural areas. By 1872 the Bulgarians already lived with the thought of the forthcoming insurrection. Levski had established himself as a veritable leader for which was rightfully called the Apostle of Freedom. Then the conspiracy was betrayed, many people were put under arrest. In December 1872 the Apostle himself was detained and brought before the Turkish court where he behaved with dignity. Levski was hung on 19th February 1873 in the outskirts of Sofia.
A time of profound crisis followed in the entire revolutionary organization. In order to escape from the Turks most revolutionaries had to flee to Wallachia. But then in August 1875 a Grand Meeting was held in Bucharest which decided that an immediate uprising should be declared. This time Botev – with the extraordinary power of an ideologist and a revolutionary leader – articulated his views of a fraternal union of the Balkan nations. One of the most energetic leaders in the Committee was Stefan Stambolov (1854-1895). Under the chairmanship of Stambolov the participants decided that a general uprising was to be prepared by the spring of 1876 Holidays Bulgaria. The Bulgarians would fight until the uprising developed into an All-European matter and the Great Powers intervened…
General meeting of committee
And so, between 14th and 16lh of April 1876, a general meeting of committee representatives was held in the forest of Oborishte, an area not far from the town of Panagyurishte. However, due to betrayal, the uprising commenced prematurely: on 20th of April instead of 1st of May. The rebels from the villages between the Rhodopes and the Balkan Range were ready to accomplish the holiest sacrifice… But the Turkish garrisons were already roused. The insurgent settlements were targeted by columns of regular army soldiers and hordes of bashibazouks. A British military instructor participated in the crushing of the uprising. What followed during the next days was a bloody massacre. The Turks initiated inhuman atrocities. Two weeks later Botev and his 200 adherents crossed the Danube on
board the Austrian ship Radetzki, headed south to create another centre of the struggle, but after unequal battle his men were dispersed and he was shot to death in the head…
Historical Ottoman 