Vasil Levski

Infobox Person
name = Vasil Levski


caption = Bulgarian revolutionary
birth_date = birth date|1837|7|18|mf=y
birth_place = Karlovo, Ottoman Empire (now BUL)
dead=dead
death_date = death date and age|1873|2|18|1837|7|18|mf=y
death_place = Sofia, Ottoman Empire (now BUL)

Vasil Levski ( _bg. Васил Левски, also transliterated as Vassil Levski), born Vasil Ivanov Kountchev (Васил Иванов Кунчев) (OldStyleDate|July 18|1837|July 6, Karlovo, Ottoman Empire–OldStyleDate|February 18|1873|February 6, near Sofia, Ottoman Empire) was a great Bulgarian revolutionary, ideologist, strategist and theoretician of the Bulgarian national revolution and leader of the struggle for liberation from Ottoman rule.

Due to his major significance for the liberation of Bulgaria, Vasil Levski is hailed as a national hero and often referred to as "The Apostle of Freedom" by the Bulgarian people. A comprehensive biography of Levski was written by British historian Mercia MacDermott [MacDermott, Mercia. "The Apostle of Freedom: A Portrait of Vasil Levsky Against a Background of Nineteenth Century", Sofia Press, Sofia, 1979] .

Biography

Early life

Levski was born in 1837 in Karlovo, Bulgaria a prosperous center of industry at that time. He took the vows of a deacon at the age of twenty four (for which reason he was often nicknamed "The Deacon") and while never abandoning religion (he always referred to God in his writings), he joined the liberation movement.

In 1862 Levski went to Serbia to enlist as a volunteer in the Bulgarian Legion organized by another Bulgarian revolutionary, Georgi Rakovski. The pseudonym "Levski" (Lionlike) dates from that period — during a training exercise he performed a long jump qualified by his mates as the jump of a lion. Between 1862–1868 he participated in all Bulgarian armed assaults against the Ottoman Empire.

Revolutionary theory and ideas

At the end of the 1860s, Levski developed a revolutionary theory, which meant a decisive step forward for the Bulgarian liberation movement. The theory saw the national liberation revolution as an armed rising of all Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire. The insurrection was to be prepared, controlled and co-ordinated by a central revolutionary organisation. This organisation was to include a number of local revolutionary committees in all parts of Bulgaria and was supposed to operate fully independent from any foreign powers. Levski's theory came as a result of the repeated failures to realise Rakovski's ideas, i.e. armed detachments ("cheti") coming from neighboring countries to provoke a general uprising leading to Bulgaria's liberation.

Levski also determined the future form of government in liberated Bulgaria — a democratic republic (which he also described as "pure and holy republic"), standing on the principles of the Human and Citizen Rights Charter of the French Revolution. That was the only document hitherto known to guarantee the individual freedom of expression, speech and association in Bulgaria. Levski held that all religious and ethnic groups in free Bulgaria—Bulgarians, Turks, Jews, and others—should enjoy equal rights. He reiterated that Bulgarian revolutionaries fought against the sultan's government, not against the Turkish people and their religion.

Levski had no tolerance for corruption in the revolutionary movement and insisted that a revolutionary must be "just, fearless, and magnanimous." He was known to have said that he would not seek office after the liberation but would go to "other enslaved nations" to help their liberation.

Organized revolutionary network

In 1869 Levski set about setting up local committees. By the middle of 1872 he had succeeded in establishing a strong network of committees in a number of Bulgarian towns and villages which were in constant contact with and subordination to the clandestine government in the town of Lovech. The committees provided weapons, organised combat detachments, and engaged in punitive actions against heavy-handed Ottoman officials and Bulgarian traitors.

In May 1872, the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee and the Internal Revolutionary Organization became convinced that a coordination of the efforts would be for the general good, and merged into one organization.

Capture

In the autumn of 1872, following a notorious robbery of an Ottoman post-office courier organised by the activists of the revolutionary organisation (as claimed — to procure money for weapons, and against Levski's order), the Ottoman police followed in the trail of several committees in northeastern Bulgaria, including the organisation's headquarters in Lovech. The numerous arrests of revolutionaries threatened to destroy the organisation. In an attempt to save its documentation, Levski set off to a risky journey but was captured, brought to trial, convicted and hanged by the Ottoman authorities in Sofia on 19 February 1873.

Heritage

The large national-wide network of revolutionary committees he set up continued to function even after his death and was essential in the April Uprising of 1876. The uprising itself failed but it paved the way for the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878 which ultimately led to Bulgaria regaining its independence after almost five centuries of Ottoman rule.

Honours

Levski Peak, and in association with it also Levski Ridge in Tangra Mountains on Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named for Vasil Levski, as is the successful football team, PFC Levski Sofia. The National Football Stadium of Bulgaria is called Vasil Levski.

References

See also

* History of the Ottoman Empire
* History of Bulgaria
* List of Bulgarians
* Internal Revolutionary Organisation

External links

* [http://www.bulgaria.com/history/ History of Bulgaria]
* Levski