Petar Sokolov was a Bulgarian revolutionary,

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

, and member of the

Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; ; ), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1893 in Salonica, it initia ...

Biography

Petar Sokolov was born in 1870 in

Kyustendil Kyustendil ( ) is a town in the far west of Bulgaria, the capital of the Kyustendil Province, a former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see. The town is situated in the southern part of the Kyustendil Valley, near the borders of ...

, then in the Ottoman Empire. He graduated from the secondary school in Kyustendil and then moved to

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

. Since he had the talent of an artist, he moves among artists and associates with famous artists. After all, Sokolov decided to join the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan revolutionary movement. From June to October 1899 Sokolov took part in a cheta, led by

Gotse Delchev Georgi Nikolov Delchev (; ; 4 February 1872 – 4 May 1903), known as Gotse Delchev or Goce Delčev (''Гоце Делчев''),Originally spelled in older Bulgarian orthography as ''Гоце Дѣлчевъ''. - Гоце Дѣлчевъ. ...

. The Cheta managed to kidnap a rich Greek and later released him for a ransom. In 1899, together with Slavi Merdjanov,

Pavel Shatev Pavel Potsev Shatev ( Bulgarian and ; July 15, 1882 – January 30, 1951) was a socialist revolutionary from Macedonia and member of the left-wing of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO). In 1945 he became Minis ...

and Petar Mandjukov, they dug a tunnel under the central office of the

Ottoman Bank The Ottoman Bank (), known from 1863 to 1925 as the Imperial Ottoman Bank (, ) and correspondingly referred to by its French acronym BIO, was a bank that played a major role in the financial history of the Ottoman Empire. By the early 20th cent ...

in Istanbul, where they planned to set a dynamite. The Chairman of the

Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee The Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC), (), also known as the Supreme Macedonian Committee (SMC), was a Bulgarian paramilitary and political organization, active in Bulgaria as well as in Macedonia and Adrianople regions of the Ottom ...

Boris Sarafov Boris Petrov Sarafov ( Bulgarian and ; 12 June 1872 – 28 November 1907) was a Bulgarian Army officer and revolutionary, one of the leaders of Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC) and of the pro-Bulgarian, rightist wing of the In ...

, provided the money for that operation. In September 1900, the tunnel was almost completed, but due to difficulties with the supply of dynamite, the plan was temporarily abandoned. Soon, however, an Armenian revolutionary was trying to supply to the Bulgarians in the Ottoman capital explosives, but the Turkish authorities managed to arrest him. The investigation led them to the four revolutionaries who are arrested. Still, the Ottoman authorities fail to locate the tunnels and ultimately released the detainees. Merdjanov and Sokolov were deported to Bulgaria. Merdzjanov and Sokolov went to Sofia and began to think up new ideas, one of which was to hold up the

Orient Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger luxury train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe, w ...

on Turkish territory near Adrianople, and to gain possession of the mail in order to finance future actions. In pursuit of this plan, they went to the Adrianople area in July 1901, with a cheta consisting of ten men, equipped with the help of Pavel Genadiev, the Supreme Macedonian Committee's representative in

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

. The cheta managed to place a large quantity of dynamite on the railway line, but something went wrong, and the train passed undamaged. After this failure, they kidnapped the son of a rich Turkish landowner, but they were soon discovered and surrounded by Turkish forces. In a battle near the village of Matochina, most of the terrorists were killed or seriously wounded. Sokolov was among the dead, and Merdzjanov was captured alive, together with a Bulgarian and two Armenians. The captives were taken to Adrianople, where, in November 1901, all four were publicly hanged.Пелтеков, Александър Г. Революционни дейци от Македония и Одринско. Второ допълнено издание. София, Орбел, 2014. ISBN 9789544961022. с. 431-432.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sokolov, Petar People from Kyustendil Bulgarian revolutionaries Members of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization Bulgarian anarchists Bulgarian people imprisoned in the Ottoman Empire Executed anarchists 1870 births 1901 deaths