Georgi Benkovski

The Bulgarian Secret Central Committee, founded by émigré Bulgarians in Bucharest in 1866, continues Rakovski's mission under the leadership of Vasil Levski and Liuben Karavelov

These ideologues refine Rakovski's idea of armed revolutionary groups, creating a cadre of intellectuals who will prepare the people to rise for independence.

Beginning in 1868, Levski founds the first revolutionary committees in Bulgaria.

Captured by the Turks, he becomes a national hero when he is hanged in 1873.

In 1870 Karavelov founds the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee (BRCC) in Bucharest.

The death of Levski temporarily shatters the group, but the committee resumes its activities when Georgi Benkovski joins its leadership in 1875.

By this time, the political atmosphere of the Balkans is charged with revolution, and the Ottoman Empire looks increasingly vulnerable.

Britain, Russia, and Austria-Hungary were growing concerned about the implications of those trends for the European balance of power.

In 1875 Bosnia and Herzegovina revolt successfully against the Turks, and the next year Serbia and Montenegro will attack the Ottoman Empire.

The BRCC builds an intricate revolutionary organization in the early 1870s, recruiting thousands of ardent patriots for the liberation struggle.

Finally, in 1875 the committee believes that external distractions have weakened the Ottoman Empire enough to activate this struggle.

Local revolutionary committees in Bulgaria attempt to coordinate the timing and strategy of a general revolt.

Armed groups are to enter Bulgaria from abroad to support local uprisings, and diversionary attacks on Ottoman military installations ware planned.

Despite these efforts at coordination, the BRCC strategy fails.

Although planned as a general revolt, the September Uprising of 1875 occurs piecemeal in isolated locations, and several local revolutionary leaders fail to mobilize any forces.

The Turks easily suppress the uprising, but the harshness of their response attracts the attention of Western Europe; from this time, the fate of Bulgaria becomes an international issue.

The Ottomans’ execution of revolutionary leader Vasil Levski had temporarily shattered the Bucharest-based Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee (BRCC), but the committee resumes its activities when Georgi Benkovski joins its leadership in 1875.

By this time, the political atmosphere of the Balkans is charged with revolution, and the Ottoman Empire looks increasingly vulnerable: Britain, Russia, and Austria-Hungary are growing concerned about the implications of these trends for the European balance of power.

Following the failure of the September Uprising, Georgi Benkovski reorganizes the BRCC and makes plans for a new revolt.

The April Uprising of 1876 is more widespread, but it also suffers from poor coordination.

Poor security allows the Turks to locate and destroy many local groups before unified action is possible.

Massacres at Batak and other towns further outrage international opinion by showing the insincerity of recent Turkish reform proposals.

The deaths of an estimated thirty thousand Bulgarians in these massacres spur the Bulgarian national movement.

An international conference in Constantinople produces proposals to curb the Muslim fanaticism responsible for the Bulgarian massacres and give local self-government to the Christians on European territory in the empire.

Two autonomous Bulgarian regions were proposed, one centered at Sofia and the other at Turnovo.

When the sultan rejects the reforms, Russia declares war unilaterally in early 1877.

This is Russia's golden opportunity to gain control of Western trade routes to its southwest and finally destroy the empire that has blocked this ambition for centuries.

Britain, shocked by the Turkish massacres, does not oppose Russian advances.

Russian troops occupy all of Bulgaria and reach Constantinople in eight months.

At this high point of its influence on Balkan affairs, Russia dictates the Treaty of San Stefano in March 1878.

This treaty provides for an autonomous Bulgarian state (under Russian protection) almost as extensive as the First Bulgarian Empire, bordering the Black and Aegean seas, but Britain and Austria-Hungary, believing that the new state will extend Russian influence too far into the Balkans, exerts strong diplomatic pressure that reshapes the Treaty of San Stefano four months later into the Treaty of Berlin.

The new Bulgaria will be about one-third the size of that prescribed by the Treaty of San Stefano; Macedonia and Thrace, south of the Balkans, will revert to complete Ottoman control.

The province of Eastern Rumelia will remain under Turkish rule, but with a Christian governor.

Georgi Benkovski reorganizes the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee following the failure of the September Uprising, and makes plans for a new revolt.

The BRCC lays plans for a nationwide uprising in 1876 against the background of the wider Balkan crisis.

The April Uprising (beginning April 20 [Old Style], May 2 [New Style]) is more widespread than the uprising of the previous September, but it too suffers from poor coordination, and breaks out prematurely.

Poor security allows the Turks to locate and destroy many local groups before unified action is possible.

Many villages and some monasteries are destroyed; isolated risings in the mountains are crushed with equal severity.