"The Bloody Letter" heralds the beginning of the April Uprising

In 1396, medieval Bulgaria fell under Ottoman rule, which lasted nearly five centuries and left lasting marks on the history and development of the country. Since the beginning of the 19th century, the Sultan's power over the Balkans had been shaken by rebellions and uprisings of the local peoples, who were fighting for their liberation. The great powers joined the race to acquire new lands and influence from and over the Ottoman state, which has fallen into constant crisis. That is how “The Eastern Question” was born.

After the uprising of the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1875 and the intervention of Austria-Hungary, Russia and England, the Bulgarians began to restore the Internal Revolutionary Organization founded by Vasil Levski. In the beginning of 1876, a network of committees in four revolutionary districts started preparing an uprising, which broke out prematurely on April 20 in Koprivshtitsa. The head of the local revolutionary committee, Todor Kableshkov, sent a letter to the leaders in the town of Panagyurishte, which ended with a call for an uprising and for the rejection of five centuries of foreign domination. The letter was sent to revolutionary committees in different settlements and went down in history with the name "The Bloody Letter".

"When Kableshkov wrote the letter, the people of Koprivshtitsa did not even know whether they would be followed by those in Panagyurishte and other settlements. At that time, there was a great tension over this moment and that is precisely what makes it unique," says Svetlana Muhova, a historian from Koprivshtitsa. During the National Revival, Koprivshtitsa was a rich mountain town and an educational center with a high revolutionary spirit.

"The Bloody Letter" briefly but in detail describes the beginning of the April Uprising:

“Brothers! Yesterday Neceb Aga arrived in our village from Plovdiv, and asked to imprison some people, including me. When I heard about your decision, made at the Council of Oborishte, I called up some brave men and after we got armed, we headed towards the konak and attacked it, killing the müdür and some guards. Now, as I am writing this letter, the flag is waving in front of the konak, rifles are thundering accompanied by the echo of the church bells, and the brave men are kissing one another on the streets... If you, brothers, happen to be true patriots and apostles of Freedom, then do follow our example...”
Koprivshtitsa, 20th April, 1876 T. Kableshkov

The text of the letter – a call for rebellion – is found in the book "Memoirs of the Bulgarian Uprisings", written by participant in the national liberation movement Zahariy Stoyanov. However, Svetlana Muhova does not lose hope that the original of the letter, or at least its translation into Ottoman Turkish, may someday emerge from the archives in Istanbul.

"The ellipses in the letter are interesting. Years ago, I tried to examine Todor Kableshkov's letters very carefully. I noticed that when he writes something, he usually observes the correct punctuation for his time. But when there is some excitement, some emotion, he very often interrupts the letter with an ellipsis. These ellipses perhaps show Kableshkov's excitement at the moment of declaring the uprising," the historian says.

Svetlana Muhova says that many people believe that the letter was called "bloody" because it was written in blood. However, referring to contemporaries from 1876, she says that it could not be written in blood and assumes that the only possibility is that there was a cross under the text, drawn with the blood of Kableshkov himself. After April 1876, the expression "Bloody Letter" became for Bulgarians an idiom of determination, action, a call to fight and an honestly fulfilled word.

The April Uprising was prepared in a short time and was poorly coordinated and therefore quickly suppressed. But the rebels achieved their ultimate goal. The atrocities against the civilian population in suppressing the rebellion caused the intervention of Europe. They led to the Russo-Turkish War and the emergence in 1878 of the first Bulgarian free lands in the Principality of Bulgaria and the autonomous region of Eastern Rumelia.

See also:

Januarius MacGahan and the Liberation of Bulgaria

Batak is the symbol of history written in blood that must not be forgotten

Foreigners in Georgi Benkovski 's "Flying Cavalry"

Pavel Bobekov and the grammar of the April Uprising