Bulgarian nationalism emerged in the early 19th century under the influence of western ideas such as liberalism and nationalism, which trickled into the country after the French revolution, mostly via Greece, although the first Bulgarian nationalistic text Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya was written in 1762 from Paisius of Hilendar. The Russians, as fellow Orthodox Slavs, could appeal to the Bulgarians in a way that the Austrians could not. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca of 1774 gave Russia the right to interfere in Ottoman affairs to protect the Sultan's Christian subjects.
- national awakening of bulgaria - Background
- The Greek revolt against the Ottomans which began in 1821 (see History of Ottoman Greece), also influenced the small Bulgarian educated class. But Greek influence was limited by the general Bulgarian resentment of Greek control of the Bulgarian Church, and it was the struggle to revive an independent Bulgarian Church which first roused Bulgarian nationalist sentiment. When some Bulgarians threatened to abandon the Orthodox Church altogether and form a Bulgarian Uniate church loyal to Rome, the Russians intervened with the Sultan. In 1870 a Bulgarian Exarchate was created by a Sultan edict, and the first Bulgarian Exarch (Antim I) became the natural leader of the emerging nation. The Constantinople Patriarch reacted by excommunicating the Bulgarian Exarchate, which reinforced their will for independence.
- national awakening of bulgaria - The April uprising
- In April 1876 the Bulgarians revolted in the so-called April uprising. The uprising was organised by the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee and was inspired by the insurrection in Bosnia and Herzegovina the previous year. The revolt was largely confined to the region of Plovdiv, though certain districts in northern Bulgaria, in Macedonia and in the area of Sliven also took part in it. The uprising was crushed with cruelty by the Ottomans who brought irregular Ottoman troops (bashi-bazouks) from outside the area. Many villages were pillaged and around twelve thousand people were massacred, the majority of them in the insurgents towns of Batak, Perushtitza and Bratzigovo in the area of Plovdiv. The massacres aroused a broad public reaction led by liberal Europeans such as William Gladstone, who launched a campaign against the "Bulgarian Horrors". The campaign was supported by a number of European intellectuals and public figures, such as Charles Darwin, Oscar Wilde, Victor Hugo and Giuseppe Garibaldi.
- national awakening of bulgaria - Conference of Constantinople
- (Picture) Bulgaria after the Conference of Constantinople, 1876, from "Report of the International Commission To Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars, 1914]]The strongest reaction, however, came from Russia. The enormous public outcry which the April Uprising had caused in Europe gave the Russians a long-waited chance to realise their long-term objectives with regard to the Ottoman Empire. The Russian efforts, which were concentrated on ironing out the differences and contradictions between the Great Powers, eventually led to the Conference of Constantinople held in December 1876 in the Ottoman capital. The conference was attended by delegates from Russia, Britain, France, Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy and was supposed to bring a peaceful and lasting settlement of the Bulgarian Question.Russia insisted to the last minute on the inclusion of all Bulgarian-inhabited lands in Macedonia, Moesia, Thrace and Dobrudja in the future Bulgarian state, whereas Britain, afraid that a greater Bulgaria would be a threat to British interests on the Balkans, favoured a smaller Bulgarian principality north of the Balkan Mountains. The delegates eventually gave their consent to a compromise variant, which excluded southern Macedonia and Thrace, and denied Bulgaria access to the Aegean sea, but otherwise incorporated all other regions in the Ottoman Empire inhabited by Bulgarians ( illustration, left ). At the last minute, however, the Ottomans rejected the plan with the secret support of Britain.==Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878==[[Image:Bulgaria-SanStefano -(1878)-byTodorBozhinov.png|thumb|200px|Borders of Bulgaria according to the Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878
- national awakening of bulgaria - Treaty of Berlin
- As a result, the Treaty of Berlin (1878), under the supervision of Otto von Bismarck of Germany and Benjamin Disraeli of Britain, revised the earlier treaty, and scaled back the proposed Bulgarian state. Much of the Bulgarian territories were returned to the Empire (part of Thrace and Macedonia), while others were given to Serbia and Romania.
- national awakening of bulgaria - Aftermath
- Successive Bulgarian governments in the post-Ottoman and pre-communist period (1878–1944) tried to honor international and bilateral agreements respecting the right of minorities.(Eminov, 1997:49) There was no explicit legal discrimination or political oppression against the Turkish and the Muslim minority in general.
- national awakening of bulgaria - Related topics