Bulgaria Marks 133 Years since Liberation War's Shipka Battle

240 members of the "Tradition" Club are recreating the Shipka Pass Battle 133 years later. Photo by BGNES

Scores of Bulgarians are climbing the Shipka Peak in the Balkan Mountain Saturday to mark the 133th anniversary of the heroic Shipka Pass Battle during the 1877-1878 Liberation War.

Some 240 members of the National Association "Tradition" from all over Bulgaria will recreate the historic battle of the Russian-Turkish War, which led to Bulgaria’s liberation from Ottoman domination. The local authorities say 220 authentic rifles will be fired.

The ceremony begins at 11 am, and in addition to the reenactment includes laying of wreaths and flowers and officials’ addresses.

The Battle of the Shipka Pass, which is located in the central part of the Balkan Mountain, took place on August 21-23, 1877.

The pass turned out to be of strategic importance for the outcome of the twelfth war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire but it was initially guarded mostly by the regiments of the Bulgarian "opalchentsi", or volunteers, as well as smaller numbers of Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Finnish soldiers from the Russian Empire's army.

This force of a total of about 7 000 armed forces faced almost 40 000 Ottoman Turkish troops, but managed to hold its critically important positions until the arrival of the Russian army of General Radetski.

The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 ended with the San Stefano Peace Treaty of March 3, 1878, which liberated Bulgaria from Ottoman Turkey.

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