N. Todorov. Балкански измерения на Гръцкото въстание от 1821 година. Приносът на българите. Sophia. Publishing house on the Fatherland Front. 1984. 287.
Studying the process of interaction between the Bulgarian and Greek national liberation movements is of great importance for understanding the laws and peculiarities of the struggle of the Balkan peoples against Ottoman feudalism in the era of the development of bourgeois relations and the awakening of national consciousness. It is no coincidence that the study of national liberation movements in the Balkan peninsula for a long time and especially in recent years in connection with the 100th anniversary of the liberation of the Balkan peoples from the Ottoman yoke has constantly attracted the attention of scientists .1 A special place in the
1 Конобеев В. Д. Българското националноосвободително движение. Ideology, program, and development. Sophia. 1972; Dostyan I. S. Russia and the Balkan Issue, Moscow, 1972. Russkaya obshchestvennaya mysl i balkanskie narody [Russian Social Thought and the Balkan Peoples], Moscow, 1980.-
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These scientific searches are concerned with the interaction of the national liberation struggle of the peoples of this region2 .
Bulgarian researchers have been working on this problem for a relatively long time. In 1940, N. Traikov published an article in the Greek historical journal about the joint struggle of the Philhellene Slavs and Greeks for the independence of Greece .3 However, a systematic study of the interaction between the Greek and Bulgarian national liberation movements began only in the mid-60s. This was primarily due to the discovery of new documents in the archives of the Soviet Union, the Balkan and Western European countries and the growing interest in the joint struggle of the Balkan peoples against the invaders. Each new book on this topic is not only another step towards developing this problem, identifying and studying new materials, but also represents a certain contribution to strengthening friendship between the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula.
The author of the reviewed monograph, Vice-President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR N. Todorov is known to Soviet and foreign historians for a number of monographic studies of socio - economic and political relations in the Balkans during the Middle Ages and Modern times. His major work "The Balkan City of the XV-XIX centuries" 4, published in Russian, English and French, was awarded the Dimitrov Prize.
The new book by Academician N. Todorov is a continuation of the research on the process of interaction between the Bulgarian and Greek national liberation movements5 . It was first published in Greek in 1982. The monograph is preceded by an introduction written by the famous Greek politician, historian and philosopher Panagiotis Kanellopoulos. Considering the history of the Greek and Bulgarian peoples in close connection, he notes: "Now that the official relations between the two countries are so friendly, it is time to consider what the relations between the Greek and Bulgarian peoples have been for centuries, and to explore not only what separated them, but above all what led them to the union and forced us to move together along the winding path of history." The retrospective analysis given by the author of the introduction objectively reflects the development of relations between the Bulgarian and Greek peoples, starting from the foundation of the Bulgarian state (681) and up to the Greek National Uprising (1821), the joint struggle of the two peoples against the Ottoman conquerors.
The monograph contains rich factual material and is based on the problem principle. Describing Filiki Eteria, the organizer of the general Balkan uprising, the author introduces the reader to the specific conditions of the development of national liberation movements on the eve of 1821. Speaking about the reasons for the spread of liberation ideas among representatives of various classes and social groups of Greek society, he highlights such moments as the awareness of the advanced representatives of the enslaved Balkan peoples of the aggravation of the internal crisis of the Ottoman Empire, the strengthening of the objectively progressive role of Russia in the Balkans and the Middle East, in which the conquered peoples
rapid movement in the Balkans. In: Balkan Studies. Issue 3. Moscow, 1973; Traikov V. Ideologicheskie treneniya i programmami v natsionalnoovoboditel'nite dvizheniya na Balkanite do 1878 [Ideological trends and programs in the National Liberation movement in the Balkans before 1878]. Sophia. 1978; 100 years of liberation of the Balkan peoples from the Ottoman yoke. Moscow, 1979; First Serbian Uprising of 1804-1813 and Russia. Collection of doc. In 2 volumes. M. 1980-1983; Osvobozhdeniyeto na Bulgaria. Sophia. 1982; and others.
2 Greek-Bulgarian Symposium. Institute of Balkan Peninsula Studies. Thessaloniki. 1980 (in Greek); Otetea A. Toudor Vladimirescu si miscarea eterista in Tarile Romanesti " 1821-1822. Bucuresti. 1945; Spiritual and political relations of the Greeks and Bulgarians from the middle of the XV - to the middle of the XIX century. Thessaloniki. 1980 (in Greek); Cooperation between Greeks and Serbs during the liberation struggle of 1804-1830. Thessaloniki. 1979 (in Greek).
3 Traikov N. Slavs-Philhellenes, fighters for the independence of Greece. - Nea Estia, 1940, N 321 (in Greek).
4 Todorov N. Balkanskiyat grad XV-XIX vek. Sophia. 1972; Moscow, 1976.
5 Тодоров Н. Филики Етерия и българите. Sophia. 1965; same name. Българо- гръцките отношения през XVIII в., отразени в паисиевата история. In: Paisii Hilendarski and negovata yepoha (1765 - 1792). Sophia. 1962; Тодоров Н., Трайков В. Българи-участници в борбите за освобождението на Гърция София. 1971; Todorov N. Balkan national movements and politics of European Powers. In: The Uprising of 1821. Scientific symposium. 1981. Athens. 1982 (in Greek).
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ideas of the French bourgeois Revolution of the late XVIII century.
N. Todorov defines a number of stages of the joint national liberation struggle of the Balkan peoples: the activities of the democrat-revolutionary Rigas Fereos (Velestinlis), an ardent supporter of the unity of the Balkan peoples; the first Serbian uprising of 1804-1813, which became for the majority of the oppressed peoples of the region an example of a joint struggle against Ottoman tyranny; the Russo-Turkish war of 1806-1812., which contributed to the unification of Bulgarians and Greeks in military and organizational terms (the creation of Bulgarian and Greek zemstvo troops); the formation of the revolutionary-democratic organization "Filiki Eteria"; the uprising in Wallachia in 1821 under the leadership of T. Vladimirescu and the movement of A. Ypsilanti in the Danubian principalities.
The author provides a lot of factual material about the participation of Bulgarians in the organization "Filiki Eteria". He highlights the activities of well-known Bulgarian political and public figures N. Picolo, V. Aprilov, A. Bogoridi, P. Beron and many others, and emphasizes that Picolo and Bogoridi "occupy a special place in the history of the Greek Renaissance and the defense of the Greek Uprising against European governments" (p. 74). The book examines the uprisings in the Danubian Principalities in the context of the interaction between the Bulgarian and Greek national liberation movements.
Using Soviet archival materials, N. Todorov studied in detail the social and national composition of the insurgents, which makes it possible to draw a conclusion about the wide national and social spectrum of participants in the national liberation struggle. From the documents cited in the book, it follows that a conscious program of national liberation was put forward by those Bulgarian and Greek classes and social strata who were particularly acutely aware of national oppression, which prevented the further consolidation and development of their economic and socio-political situation. It is no accident that representatives of the small and middle bourgeoisie, artisans, clergy, and the nascent intelligentsia played a major role in the Bulgarian national liberation movement. In the Greek national liberation movement, the leading role was played by the commercial bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia. The role of the nobility was also important (A. Ypsilanti). However, according to the documents cited by N. Todorov, "only the poorer classes" were most determined (p. 73).
A wide range of issues is considered by the author in connection with the characteristics of the uprisings in the Danubian principalities and in Greece: based on archival materials, the social and national composition of the Bulgarians who participated in the 1821 uprising, their political orientation, and the progressive role of Russia in the Balkans at that time are revealed. Of particular interest are materials about the attitude of various strata of Russian society to the uprising, who sought to provide material and moral assistance to the liberation movement of the oppressed Balkan peoples. Characteristic in this regard was the attitude of the Bessarabian authorities to the actions of the emissaries of Filiki Eteria. Despite Alexander I's disavowal of the Ypsilanti movement, the Russian authorities in the south of Russia turned a blind eye to how Bulgarian and Greek volunteers-residents of the region-were sent to the troops of A. Ypsilanti. It seems that when covering this issue, it would be appropriate to dwell in more detail on the reaction of various social strata and groups of Russian society to the national liberation movement in Bulgaria and Greece .6
The appendix to the monograph-a document from the Odessa State Archive-gives a general idea of the scope and social composition of the participants in the uprising in the Danubian principalities.
The publication of a comprehensive study of the Bulgarian and Greek national liberation movements is an important event in Balkan studies. It provides a deeper insight into a number of issues related to the history of the national liberation movement in Serbia and the Danubian Principalities.
6 See, for example: Arsh G. L. Eterist movement in Russia, Moscow 1970; Hakobyan M. N. Liberation of Greece and Armenian Social Thought. In: Tsentralnaya i Yugo-Vostochnaya Evropa v novoe vremya, Moscow, 1974.
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