A Bulgarian Revolutionary: Petko Voyvoda

Let me post a song and a story. I'm sure you'll like it, it's not long.

Play the song first. You'll enjoy the story better if you do:

YAKU - Kapitan Petko voivoda. On the image: Bulgarian actor Vassil Mihailov, who played Captain Petko Voyvoda.

Now the story. Ready?

It's the end of the 19th century. Bulgaria, the oldest European country, which was founded in 681 AD, hasn't existed as a sovereign state for over 500 years, following its conquest by the Ottoman empire. The Ottomans destroyed the country by systematically converting Christians to Muslims, forcefully marrying Ottomans to Bulgarians, stealing Bulgarian children to work as Ottoman solidiers and slaughtering any resistance.

There have been a multitude of rebellions, all unsuccessful, all ending with the rebels giving their life away for the freedom of the Bulgarians.

Petko Kiryakov Kaloyanov, later referred to as Captain Petko Voyvoda ("voyvoda", "воевода", meaning war leader) was a 19th century hayduk - a freedom fighter - who opposed the Ottoman empire and dedicated his life to freeing the region of Thrace (current central to South Eastern Bulgaria).

Thrace
Thrace, overlayed on modern day Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. Source: Wikipedia.

His wife, a Greek woman, was attaked by a group of bashi-bazouks (from Turkish "crazy heads" - a particularly undisciplined group of Turkish soldiers). Petko killed them all, including their leader, Mehmed Bay.

This incident changed his life and he began his fight against the Ottomans. After his visit to Italy, several years later, he met Guiseppe Garibaldi, who helped him organize the "Garibaldi Battalion", consisting of 220 Italians and 67 Bulgarians, whom he led against the Ottomans on the island of Crete. Following that, he was given the title of Kapitan (Captain) of the Italian army.

During the Russian-Turkish war in the end of the 1870's, he liberated his home region of Moroneia (now in Greece), after a three-month-long war effort. Then he moved up north, now with a group of 300 soldiers, counteracting the efforts of Saint Claire - a British commander, who organized an Ottoman force in the Rhodope mountain, and called himself "Hidaet" Bay. After several attacks, Capitan Petyko Voyvoda defeated Hidaet Bay's group of 3,000 insurgents.

After the end of the war, he was given the rank "Captain of the Russian Army". Because of his close connections to Russia, he was later wrongfully accused of plotting the murder of the Bulgarian prime minister and his lands and property were taken away by the local authorities.

Monuments of this freedom fighter can be seen in many locations around Europe. A peak, in the region of Antarctica, also bears his name. Here is his statue in Rome:

Capitain Petko Voyvoda
Image not property of the author.

There's also a statue of him in my city - Burgas. I've never made a point to take a photo of it and show it to you, although I probably should have. Because we both have the same family name.

Check out some of my previous posts: