Russian epics Ilya Muromets and Kalin Tsar. Ilya Muromets and Kalin Tsar

See this "boot" inscribed in Arabic script? Second half of the 14th century. Soon almost all of Europe will be under this boot. This is an autograph of a person who can easily be called a barbarian, vandal, monster, but hardly a rogue or an illiterate nomad. Regrettably for the peoples enslaved by this conqueror, Orhan is considered the second of the three founders of the Ottoman Empire, under him a small Turkic tribe finally turned into a strong state with a modern army.
If someone today doubts that Bulgaria did not give a worthy rebuff to the occupier, they are greatly mistaken. This figure was highly educated, well-read, intelligent and, as befits a traditionally far-sighted, cunning politician of the eastern temper - a wise villain. That's who conquered Bulgaria. It is not possible to accuse the then Bulgarian rulers and people of negligence and weakness, in such a balance of power and historical unfavorable circumstances, to accuse them of frivolously falling under the yoke. History does not have a subjunctive mood, so what happened, happened.

Here is a rough timeline of events
Sultan Orhan (1324 - 1359) became the ruler of the entire northwestern part of Anatolia: from the Aegean Sea and the Dardanelles to the Black Sea and the Bosporus. He managed to gain a foothold in continental Europe. In 1352, the Turks crossed the Dardanelles and took the fortress of Tsimpe, and in 1354 captured the entire Gallipoli Peninsula. In 1359, the Ottomans made an unsuccessful attempt to storm Constantinople.
In 1359, the son of Orkhan, Murad I (1359–1389), came to power in the Ottoman state, who, having strengthened his dominance in Asia Minor, set about conquering Europe.
In 1362, the Turks defeated the Byzantines on the outskirts of Andrianople and captured the city. Murad I moved the capital of the resulting Ottoman state to Andrianopol in 1365, renaming it Edirne.
In 1362, the rich Bulgarian city of Plovdiv (Philippopol) came under the rule of the Turks, and two years later the Bulgarian Tsar Shishman was forced to recognize himself as a tributary of the Sultan and give his sister to his harem. After these victories, a stream of Turkic immigrants poured from Asia to Europe.
Byzantium turned into a city-state cut off from the outside world without any dependent territories, besides having lost its former sources of income and food. In 1373, the Byzantine emperor John V recognized himself as a vassal of Murad I. The emperor was forced to sign a humiliating treaty with the Turks, according to which he refused to make up for the losses suffered in Thrace and to assist the Serbs and Bulgarians in resisting the Ottoman conquest, he was also obliged to provide the Ottomans support in the fight against their rivals in Asia Minor.
Continuing their expansion in the Balkans, the Turks attacked Serbia in 1382 and took the fortress of Tsatelitsa, in 1385 they conquered the Bulgarian city of Serdika (Sofia).
In 1389, the Turkish army under the command of Murad I and his son Bayezid defeated a coalition of Serbian and Bosnian rulers in the Battle of Kosovo. Before the battle on the Kosovo field, Murad I was mortally wounded by the Serbian prince and soon died, power in the Ottoman state passed to his son Bayazid I (1389-1402). After the victory over the Serbian army, many Serbian military leaders were killed in Kosovo in front of the dying Murad I.
In 1393, the Ottomans captured Macedonia, then the Bulgarian capital of Tarnovo. In 1395, Bulgaria was completely conquered by the Ottomans and became part of the Ottoman state. Bulgaria became a transit interest for the Ottomans. Next in line was Constantinople, the citadel of the Byzantine Empire. That's the whole story of how Bulgaria fell under the Turkish-Ottoman yoke. The yoke that existed before the liberation of Bulgaria by the Russian Tsar Alexander II.

JANUARY 5 - LIBERATION OF THE CAPITAL OF BULGARIA FROM THE TURKS
Notice, by chance, on the eve of Easter?
At the end of November 1877, the victory of the Russian army in the battle of Plevna marked the beginning of the liberation of Bulgaria. A month later, in the brutal winter of 1878, Russian troops under the command of General Iosif Vladimirovich Gurko made a difficult transition through the snow-covered Balkan Mountains. Later, historians compared this campaign of the Russian army with the campaigns of Hannibal and Suvorov, while some added that it was easier for Hannibal, because he did not have artillery.
During bloody battles with the Turkish units of Shukri Pasha, Russian troops liberated Sofia. On January 4, Kuban Cossacks from hundreds of Yasaul Tishchenko threw down the Turkish banner from the council. On January 5, all of Sofia was occupied, and the Turkish troops remaining there hastily retreated to the south. As historians write, Russian troops were greeted by the local population on the outskirts of the city with music and flowers. Prince Alexander Dondukov-Korsukov reported to Emperor Alexander II: "The genuine feelings of the Bulgarians towards Russia, the Russian troops are touching."
And General Gurko noted in the order for the troops: “The capture of Sofia ended the brilliant period of the current war - the transition through the Balkans, in which you don’t know what to be more surprised at: whether your courage, heroism in battles with the enemy or endurance and patience with which you endured difficult adversity in the fight against the mountains, cold and deep snow ... Years will pass, and our descendants, who will visit these harsh mountains, will solemnly and proudly say: the Russian army passed here, resurrecting the glory of the Suvorov and Rumyantsev miracle heroes.
Then the townspeople decided that this January day would become an annual national holiday. Over the years, the decision was forgotten, but in 2005 the Sofia City Hall decided to revive the old tradition in connection with the 125th anniversary of the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman yoke.

Ottoman yoke
The Ottoman yoke lasted almost five hundred years. As a result of the successful Russian-Turkish wars and the uprising of the Bulgarian people, this dominion was overthrown in 1878. A yoke a yoke, but still the country did not freeze, lived, developed, but of course not as much as a sovereign state lives and develops.
However, was there, in fact, a yoke, or was it a natural movement of history? From the point of view of faith, perhaps, it was precisely the yoke, however, even under the Turks, monasteries existed in Bulgaria. Of course, they did not dominate culturally, but the rulers of Istanbul did not completely prohibit Christianity, although Christians were still oppressed. For example, every fifth male child in a Bulgarian family became a soldier and became a Janissary.
Also, Ottoman rule put an end to the development of Christian temple architecture. Few churches were built, and the few temples erected in the country during this period were small and unimpressive. But all over the country, luxurious mosques were built, mainly in the traditional Ottoman style, a characteristic feature of which is a large dome over the prayer hall and an elegant pointed minaret. In parallel, there was a campaign of rejection of fertile lands in favor of Turkish colonists and the Islamization of the population.
On the other hand, Bulgaria, as the “rear” of the Ottoman Empire, lived quite calmly. Despite the religious and economic pressure, Slavs, Greeks and Armenians coexisted quite harmoniously there. Over time, the Turks associated themselves less and less with the Turks, and more and more with the Ottomans. As, however, and national minorities. More or less, some kind of comparative stability in occupied Bulgaria reigned in the 17th-18th centuries.
During the period of Ottoman rule, Bulgarian cities acquired "eastern" features: in addition to mosques, Turkish baths and shopping arcades appeared in them. Ottoman architecture also influenced the appearance of residential buildings. So, thanks to her, an attic, an open veranda and a “minder” wooden elevation - a bench on the veranda, so characteristic of Bulgarian residential buildings, appeared.
Since ancient times, Bulgaria and Russia have been linked by a common Slavic origins, a single religion and script, as well as many other factors. And it is not surprising that the eyes of the Bulgarians, who for centuries dreamed of liberation from Turkish domination, were turned to fraternal Orthodox Russia. Moreover, the Sultan established a political balance with the West, and there were constant frictions only with Russia. In addition, the Ottoman Empire was noticeably weakening, and in 1810 Russian troops appeared in Bulgaria for the first time. In 1828-1829 they went further and stayed longer. The era of five centuries of shame of slavery was ending.
Here are three historical figures of these events:

Invader and liberator with his wife. Maria Alexandrovna is the wife of the Russian Emperor Alexander II. “Emperor Alexander II was a sensitive person, he knew and loved the Bulgarians, was interested in their past and present. But he was afraid of the Crimean syndrome, - said prof. Todev. Prince Gorchakov, Chancellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs, had great influence in determining Russian policy. He was for a peaceful solution, for conferences, for actions within the framework of the "European concert". But the queen, for example, was categorically “for” waging war”!!! First ladies are sometimes more decisive and far-sighted than their spouses. Can it be more correct to mention the Tsar-liberator and the Queen-liberator? That will be more honest!

Shipka
Wars in the history of mankind were, are and will be. War is like a book. There is a title, a prologue, a narrative, and an epilogue. But there are pages in these books, without which the essence of war, this bloodshed, becomes somehow irrational, lacking for understanding. These pages are about the climax of the war. All wars have their own pages about the main, decisive battle. There is such a page in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. This is the battle at the Shipka Pass.

The Thracians inhabited this place since ancient times. Many archaeological remains (tombs, weapons, armor, coins) of that period have been found in the vicinity of the cities of Shipka and Kazanlak. In the 1st century BC e. the city was conquered by the Romans. When the Turks captured Bulgaria in 1396, they created a garrison in the city of Shipka to guard and control the Shipka Pass. In the vicinity of Shipka and Sheinovo, some of the bloodiest battles were fought in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 (the defense of Shipka in the war for the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman yoke). The Freedom Monument on Mount Shipka (Stoletov Peak) is dedicated to the memory of the fallen. This is how a locality, existing for millennia, by the will of history, suddenly becomes not a locality, but a symbol of courage, spirit, determination. Unfortunately, such glory comes to the area only after it has absorbed the sea of ​​blood of a reasonable person. But as they say - "in war, as in war."

P.S.
Bulgaria is a small picturesque Balkan state with a population of under eight million and a tragic history. Bulgarians still dream of the ancient Bulgarian kingdom, which once reigned supreme over the Balkan Peninsula. Then there were almost two centuries of Byzantine slavery and five centuries of Turkish yoke. Bulgaria as a state disappeared from the world map for seven hundred years. Russia saved the Orthodox brothers from Muslim slavery at the cost of the lives of almost two hundred thousand of its soldiers. The Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 is carved in gold letters in history. “There is only one state to which the Bulgarians are indebted for all time, and this is Russia,” says the famous Bulgarian journalist and former Bulgarian ambassador to the Balkans, Velizar Enchev. This is now an unpopular opinion among our political elite, which does not want to admit that we should thank Russia for the rest of our lives for freeing us from the Turks. We were the last in the Balkans to gain freedom. If it were not for the Russian imperial army, we would now be like Kurds and would not even have the right to speak our native language. We have seen only goodness from you and we owe you for the grave of life.
“It was the most emotional war in the history of Europe,” says Andrey Pantev, professor of history at Sofia University. - The most honest war, romantic and noble. Russia did not gain anything good from our liberation. The Russians boarded their ships and left for home. All the Balkan countries, after being liberated from Turkish slavery, with the help of Russia, turned AGAINST Russia towards the West. It looks like a parable about a beautiful princess who was saved from a dragon by one knight and kissed by another. At the end of the 19th century, there was even an opinion in Russia: why the hell should we quarrel with the West because of these ungrateful Slavs?
Bulgaria has always suffered from the "sunflower syndrome", always looking for a strong patron and often making mistakes. In two world wars, Bulgaria took the side of Germany against Russia. “For the entire twentieth century, we were declared aggressors three times,” says historian Andrei Pantev. - First in 1913 (the so-called Inter-Allied Balkan War), then in 1919 and in 1945. In the First World War, Bulgaria somehow fought against three states that participated in the liberation war against the Turks: Russia, Romania and Serbia. This is a big mistake. What seems pragmatic at the current political moment often turns out to be simply disgusting in the court of history.
Despite past disagreements, Bulgaria is our closest cousin country. The tree of our friendship has repeatedly borne bitter fruit, but we have a common script, a common religion and culture, and a common Slavic blood. And blood, as you know, is not water. Due to deep reasons, classical memories and heroic legends, the Bulgarians will forever remain our brothers - the last brothers in Eastern Europe.

Continuous wars with Byzantium and Serbia weakened the political and military power of the second Bulgarian kingdom, whose unity in reality became fictitious. At the end of its existence, independent owners ruled over its separate areas: in North-Eastern Bulgaria, in Voshchina, in the Rhodopes. This fragmentation of the state helped the Turks, who penetrated the Balkans at the beginning of the 14th century, to seize all the territories of the country. After the siege of the city of Tarnovo (the capital of Bulgaria) fell in 1393, Tsar Ivan Shishman was captured in Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv) and executed there in 1395. In 1394 the Turks occupied the northeastern part of Bulgaria, and in 1396 the Vidin kingdom. Thus ended the 210-year history of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. Many Bulgarians fled to the Russian principalities, Romania and Serbia. Some of them, such as Konstantin the Philosopher (Konstantin Kostenecsky) and Gregory Tsamblak in Serbia, became famous educators. From that moment on, for almost five centuries, Bulgaria became a province of the Ottoman Empire.

The Turkish yoke (1396-1878) is the darkest period in Bulgarian history. Political enslavement was combined with religious pressure: the Bulgarian Patriarchy was destroyed, the remaining churches were forced to submit to Greek rule, monasteries and cultural monuments were destroyed. Greek priests occupied all the highest church posts and began to implement the Hellenization program for the Bulgarians. The Bulgarian clergy were deprived of parishes, services began to be held according to the canons of the Greek Church; monasteries and schools became centers of Greek education; libraries where Bulgarian books were kept were looted, including the library of the Tarnovo Patriarchate and the cathedral; it was forbidden to use Cyrillic and Bulgarian. Instead, the Greek language was officially introduced. Only the monks of the Athos (Aton) monastery conducted divine services in Bulgarian.

Driven out of strategic centers and fertile plains, the Bulgarians retreated to the mountains. Many of them were forced to convert to Islam. And those who defended their Christian religion were subjected to cruel exploitation in the form of heavy taxes and various duties. "Paradise" (as the Turks called enslaved Christians) were forced to pay the so-called "blood tax", i.e. send little boys to Turkish barracks for training. After accepting Islam, they turned into Janissaries, who became the elite part of the Turkish army.

The Bulgarian population repeatedly tried to free itself from the Ottoman oppression. Uprisings broke out in 1402-1403, in 1598 and in 1686 in Tarnovo, in 1688 in Chiprovtsy, etc. Since the beginning of the 17th century, the so-called Haidush movement (in the form of peculiar partisan detachments) became popular.

In the 18th century, a period of national revival began. Since 1735, schools outside the monasteries were spread, where teaching was in Bulgarian. Paisius of Hilendarsky, a monk of the Aton Monastery, I wrote the Slavic-Bulgarian History (1762). In many cities and large villages, “reading rooms” appeared - houses in which one could read books, hold evenings of national traditions, and stage plays. Reading places have become centers for the development of national identity and the dissemination of newly created cultural folk values. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1828, the Bulgarian national liberation movement was born. Despite the fact that popular uprisings were mercilessly suppressed, detachments of partisans (gaiduks) operated throughout the country, who took revenge on the Turks. The movement was led by church leaders and educated people with the support of wealthy peasants (Chorbajiev), merchants and artisans (esnafi). Significant assistance from abroad was provided by Bulgarian emigrants living in Russia and Western countries. The Turkish authorities were forced to allow the opening of Bulgarian schools (1835); by 1845 the number of elementary schools had reached 21 (two in cities and 19 in villages). Finally, the Bulgarian Church achieved independence from the Greek Patriarchate in Constantinople. The Sultan's farm (decree) of 1870 legally decreed this independence and in fact recognized the originality of the Bulgarian nation.