The Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee (BRCC; ) was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n revolutionary organisation founded in 1866 by

Georgi Rakovski Georgi Stoykov Rakovski () (1821 – 9 October 1867), known also Georgi Sava Rakovski (), born Sabi Stoykov Popovich (), was a 19th-century Bulgarian revolutionary, freemason, writer and an important figure of the Bulgarian National Revival a ...

, among the Bulgarian emigrant circles in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. The decisive influence for the establishment of the committee was exerted by the ''Svoboda'' ("Freedom") newspaper which

Lyuben Karavelov Lyuben Stoychev Karavelov (; – 21 January 1879) was a Bulgarian writer, journalist, revolutionary and an important figure of the Bulgarian National Revival. In his lifetime, he published many literary works. He was a leader of the Bulgarian ...

began to publish in the autumn of 1869. Some of the other revolutionaries who took active part in the formation and work of the BRCK were

Panayot Hitov Panayot Ivanov Hitov () (November 11, 1830 – February 22, 1918) was a Bulgarian ''haidoutin (hajduk)'', national revolutionary and voivoda. Born in 1830 in Sliven (known as İslimiye at the time), he became a haidoutin in Georgi Trankin's band ...

Vasil Levski Vasil Levski (, spelled in Reforms of Bulgarian orthography, old Bulgarian orthography as , ), born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev (; 18 July 1837 – 18 February 1873), was a Bulgarians, Bulgarian revolutionary who is, today, a Folk hero, national ...

and Dimitar Tsenovich. Karavelov was elected chairman of the BRCK in the spring of 1870. He also prepared the first programme of the organisation (promulgated in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

on 1 August 1870), which envisaged the liberation of Bulgaria through a nationwide revolution and the establishment of a

democratic republic A democratic republic is a form of government operating on principles adopted from a republic and a democracy. As a cross between two similar systems, democratic republics may function on principles shared by both republics and democracies. Whil ...

. By the end of 1871, both Karavelov and

, the leader of the other Bulgarian revolutionary society–the

Internal Revolutionary Organisation The Internal Revolutionary Organisation (IRO; ) was a Bulgarians, Bulgarian revolutionary organisation founded and built up by Bulgarian revolutionary Vasil Levski between 1869 and 1871. The organisation represented a network of regional revolution ...

–knew that the future success of the armed struggle against the Ottomans depended on the co-operation of both emigration and local committees. To this end, the two organisations prepared and adopted a joint programme and charter and voted on the merger of the two organisations under the name of BRCK at a general meeting held in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

in May 1872. The charter of the joint organisation represented a compromise between the ideas of both Levski and Karavelov. The committee network of the organisation in Bulgaria expanded considerably after the general meeting and the preparation of the uprising was well advanced, when a faction in BRCK led and initiated by Dimitar Obshti attacked a convoy of the Ottoman postal service near

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 ...

in order to procure money for ammunition. The robbery caused the exposure of a number of committee activists in the region of

and eventually resulted in the capture and hanging of

on 18 February 1873. NHMB-Seals-of-Bulgarian-Revolutionary-Central-Committee--copies

The dissolution of the committee network around

and the death of Levski dealt a hard blow to BRCK and its work. The attempt to find a successor to Levski was unsuccessful, the ''Svoboda'' newspaper was banned by the Romanian authorities and Karavelov was forced to flee Romania for fear of being extradited to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. In 1874 Karavelov tried to regain control of the organisation at its second general meeting held in Bucharest but the other delegates passed censure on him and he left the organisation in March 1875. Karavelov was replaced as chairman of the BRCK by

Hristo Botev Hristo Botev (, ), born Hristo Botyov Petkov (Христо Ботьов Петков; – ), was a Bulgarian revolutionary and poet. Botev is considered by Bulgarians to be a symbolic historical figure and national hero. His poetry is a prim ...

, a revolutionary, poet and editor of the ''Zname'' (''Flag'') newspaper. In August 1875, the faction around Botev organised a third general meeting of the organisation which took a decision on a general uprising in Bulgaria in September the same year. The time for preparation of the insurrection was, however, insufficient and only the regional committee in

Stara Zagora Stara Zagora (, ) is a city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of Stara Zagora Province. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain, near the cities of Kazanlak, Plovdiv, and Sliven. Its population is 121,582 making it the sixth largest c ...

managed to organise a small-scale rebellion, quickly crushed by the Ottoman police. The failure of the uprising and the accusations of misappropriations of money which ensued forced Botev to resign. The organisation disbanded itself shortly afterwards, to assemble again in November 1875 in the town of

Giurgiu Giurgiu (; ; ) is a city in southern Romania. The seat of Giurgiu County, it lies in the historical region of Muntenia. It is situated amongst mud-flats and marshes on the left bank of the Danube facing the Bulgarian city of Ruse on the op ...

where a decision on another general uprising was taken (see also

April Uprising The April Uprising () was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876. The rebellion was suppressed by irregular Ottoman bashi-bazouk units that engaged in indiscriminate slaughter of both rebels ...

See also

References

Further reading