Bulgaria Marks 139th Anniversary of April Uprising

Bulgaria marks the 139th anniversary of the 1876 April Uprising for the liberation of Bulgaria.

Celebrations will be held in different towns and cities in the country, including Koprivshtitsa, Klisura, and Panagyurishte.

Koprivshtitsa was one of the centers of the Uprising and is known for its traditional Bulgarian architecture, making it a very popular tourist destination.

In the towns of Klisura and Koprivshtitsa there will be celebrations and reenactments of the events which took place in 1876.

The town of Koprivshtitsa, where the first shot of the uprising was fired, will host festivities and fireworks, while Panagyurishte will hold a beating retreat and fireworks, which will be attended by President Rosen Plevneliev.

The April Uprising was an insurrection organized by Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876, whose indirect result was the establishment of Bulgaria as an independent nation in 1878.

The 1876 uprising was the last and biggest in a string of Bulgarian revolts, but spread only in parts of the Bulgarian territories.

In November 1875, activists of the Bulgarian Central Revolutionary Committee met in the Romanian town of Giurgiu and decided that the political situation was suitable for a general uprising. The uprising was scheduled for April or May 1876.

The territory of the country was divided into five revolutionary districts with centers in Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo, Sliven, Plovdiv and Sofia.

The uprising started, but the reaction of the Ottoman authorities was quick and ruthless. Detachments of regular and irregular Ottoman troops (bashi-bazouks) were mobilized and attacked the first insurgent towns as early as April 25th.
By mid-May, the insurrection was completely suppressed. At least 15 000 people were killed in the suppression of the uprising by the Ottomans.

Some 80 villages and towns were burned and destroyed and 200 others were plundered. The atrocities which accompanied the suppression of the insurrection reached its peak in the northern Rhodopes.

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