Dimitar Obshti ( bg, Димитър Общи) was a 19th-century Bulgarian revolutionary, who fought for the liberation of Bulgaria, Serbia and Crete from the Ottoman Empire, as well as for the '' Risorgimento'' of Italy.

Biography

Obshti was born around 1835 in Gjakova,

Sanjak of Peć Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ) * Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province") * Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region") * el, Διοίκησις (''dioikēsis'', meaning "province") ...

, Ottoman Empire. He joined the first Bulgarian Legion organised in exile, in Serbia's capital

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, in 1862. There he received military training and met Vasil Levski who became his lifetime comrade in arms. They fought together against the invading Ottomans in Serbia. In April 1868 the Serbian authorities disbanded the Bulgarian legion and expelled its participants from the country. Obshti subsequently joined the forces of the Italian revolutionary

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...

and later took part in the 1866–1869 Cretan uprising. In 1869 he became one of the founders of the

Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee The Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee ( bg, Български революционен централен комитет, ''Balgarski revolyutsionen tsentralen komitet'') or BRCC was a Bulgarian revolutionary organisation founded in 186 ...

(BRCC) in Bucharest, Romania. In June 1871 Obshti was sent to Ottoman Bulgaria to serve as Levski's first deputy but compromised his superior's efforts by his adventurous endeavours. He led an

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

attempt against deacon Paisius, vicar to the bishop of Lovech, who was suspected of

collaboration Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...

and treason. Against the opinion of Levski, in September 1872 Obshti organized the robbery of the Ottoman postal convoy in the Arabakonak Pass in order to fund the BRCC activities. The Ottoman authorities reacted harshly and managed to arrest a number of BRCC militants, including Obshti and Levski. Obshti grasped at the chance to publicize the BRCC activities in order to arouse the

Great Powers A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power in ...

' interest in liberating Bulgaria. He made some revealing statements in court which led to a great number of arrests and the effective ruin of the clandestine network. He was sentenced to death and hanged in Sofia on January 10, 1873. A month later, the same fate fell on Levski.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obshti, Dimitar 1835 births 1873 deaths 19th-century Bulgarian people Bulgarian revolutionaries Executed revolutionaries Military personnel from Gjakova Executed Bulgarian people People executed by the Ottoman Empire by hanging 19th-century executions by the Ottoman Empire People from Kosovo vilayet