Hristo Silyanov (1880 in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

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 ...

– 1939 in

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 ...

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 ...

) () was a Bulgarian

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

,Die Jungtürken und die Mazedonische Frage (1890-1918)
Mehmet Hacısalihoğlu, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2003, , p. 20.

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and

memoirist A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) ...

. He was among the activists of the

Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees In the earliest dated samples of statutes and regulations of the clandestine Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) discovered so far, it is called Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Committees (BMARC)., T ...

and in his memoirs uniquely described the history of the organization in its early period. Silyanov was born in a rich family in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. His father was a Bulgarian from

Ohrid Ohrid ( ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording a population of over 42,000 inhabitants as of ...

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

, and his mother was

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

. He studied in Istanbul and

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, but graduated from the Bulgarian school in

Bitola Bitola (; ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki border crossing ...

. Later Silyanov worked as the

Bulgarian Exarchate The Bulgarian Exarchate (; ) was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953. The Exarchate (a de facto autocephaly) ...

's teacher in various towns in Ottoman Macedonia. After his participation in 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 ...

(IMARO), he joined the cheta led by Marko Lerinski. As result of a severe illness in 1902, Silyanov moved to Sofia for treatment and from there criticized sharply the decision made by IMARO's Central Committee in Thessaloniki concerning the

Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising (), consisting of the Ilinden Uprising (; ) and Preobrazhenie Uprising,Keith Brown (2013). Loyal Unto Death Trust and Terror in Revolutionary Macedonia. Indiana University Press. pp. 15-18. . was an organi ...

. However, in 1903 he was elected secretary of the Preobrazhenie Uprising committee in a session near

Malko Tarnovo Malko Tarnovo ( , "Little Tarnovo"; as opposed to Veliko Tarnovo) is a town in Burgas Province, southeastern Bulgaria, 5 km from the Turkish border. It is the only town in the interior of the Bulgarian Strandzha Mountains and lies in Stra ...

. During the Uprising he was a member of

Mihail Gerdzhikov } Mihail Gerdzhikov (; 1877–1947) was a Bulgarians, Bulgarian revolutionary and Anarchy, anarchist. Biography He was born in Plovdiv, then in the Ottoman Empire, in 1877. He studied at the French College in Plovdiv, where he received the ...

's cheta and participated in the battles in

Strandzha Strandzha (, also transliterated as ''Strandja'', ; , or ) is a mountain massif in southeastern Bulgaria and East Thrace, the European part of Turkey. It is in the southeastern part of the Balkans between the plains of Thrace to the west, th ...

for the taking of Vasiliko and

Ahtopol Ahtopol ( , ) is a town and seaside resort on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. Geography Location It is located on a headland in the southeastern part of Burgas Province and is close to the border with European Turkey. It is the south ...

. After the Uprising, he graduated in history from

Sofia University Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" () is a public university, public research university in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Bulgaria. Founded on 1 October 1888, the edifice of the university was constr ...

and afterwards specialized in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. In 1908 Siljanov was elected to the leading body of IMARO and made unsuccessful attempts to save the unity of the organization. During the Balkan Wars he was the leader of a cheta in Southern Macedonia and supported the Greek and later the Bulgarian Army during their invasions. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he was imprisoned in Sofia as a

Russophile Russophilia is the identification or solidarity with, appreciation of, or support for the country, people, language, and history of Russia. One who espouses Russophilia is called a russophile. Its antonym is Russophobia. In the 19th century, ...

, when Bulgaria was fighting against Russia. After the wars he settled in Sofia and worked there as a writer, publicist and journalist. Later he also became a politician and a member of the

Macedonian Scientific Institute The Macedonian Scientific Institute (MSI; ) is a Bulgarian scientific organization, which studies the region of Macedonia and mostly the Macedonian Bulgarians. The Institute issues the journal "Macedonian Review". Establishment and activity It wa ...

. His son Evgeny Silyanov was a prominent Bulgarian diplomat.

Silyanov Peak Silyanov Peak (, ) is the sharp peak in Ellsworth Mountains, Antarctica rising to 2235 m Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

is named after Hristo Silyanov.

References

Sources

Освободителните борби на Македония, том I, София, 1933

* ttp://www.promacedonia.org/hs/index.html Писма и изповеди на един четник - Спомени от Странджа - От Витоша до Грамос
"Към историята на Гръцката Терористическа Пропаганда в Македония"
Hristo Silyanov on the history of the Greek terrorist propaganda in Macedonia. Published in Istanbul in 1909 (In Bulgarian). {{DEFAULTSORT:Silyanov, Hristo 1880 births 1939 deaths Politicians from Istanbul Bulgarians in Istanbul Bulgarian educators 20th-century Bulgarian historians Sofia University alumni Bulgarian military personnel of the Balkan Wars Members of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization Members of the Macedonian Scientific Institute Bulgarian revolutionaries Macedonian Bulgarians Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Bulgaria