Христо Ботев: Болгар ақыны және революционері

Bulgarian poet and revolutionary

Hristo Botev (, ), born Hristo Botyov Petkov (Христо Ботьов Петков; – 1 June 1876 [O. S. 20 May 1876]), was a Bulgarian revolutionary and poet. Botev is considered by Bulgarians to be a symbolic historical figure and national hero. His poetry is a prime example of the literature of the Bulgarian National Revival, though he is considered to be ahead of his contemporaries in his political, philosophical, and aesthetic views. Botev was born in Kalofer, Bulgaria, to Botyo Petkov and Ivanka Boteva. His father was a teacher in Odessa and a significant figure of the late period of the Bulgarian National Revival. Botev attended the local three class school and later attended a high school in Odessa. He left high school in 1865 and spent two years teaching in Odessa and Bessarabia. Botev tried to send his son to study in the Russian Empire with the help of Nayden Gerov, but was only allowed to attend the Second Grammar School as a volunteer. He found it difficult to fit in and was often absent from lessons and treated teachers with arrogance. In 1864, he left the boarding school and began living independently in various lodgings. Botev spent time in libraries, particularly the Bulgarian library Yuriy Venelin, where he read mainly Russian authors and became acquainted with philologist Victor Grigorovich. He worked on his poem "To My Mother" in the summer of 1864 and sent it to Petko Slaveykov in Constantinople. When it became apparent that Botev was failing the gymnasium's third grade and was expelled for "carelessness," his scholarship was cancelled and he was given a lump sum to travel back to Bulgaria. Botev was sent by his father to Odessa to resume his education. He decided to go to Romania instead, arriving in Giurgiu in September 1867. He met with Bulgarian émigrés and met Vasil Levski, the leader of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee. Botev worked as a teacher in Bessarabia and became editor of the revolutionary emigrant newspaper "Word of the Bulgarian Emigrants". He was imprisoned for months due to his collaboration with Russian revolutionaries. The Bulgarian revolutionary movement faced danger after the capture of Vasil Levski by Ottoman authorities in 1872. The BCRC split into two factions: Botev and his supporters supported immediate uprising preparations, while moderate revolutionaries, led by Lyuben Karavelov, believed it was too early. In 1876, Bulgarian revolutionary émigrés in Romania believed a general armed uprising against Ottoman occupation was imminent and decided to organize an armed company to cross the Danube. Botev took overall command of the company, which later became the main reason for the Russian Turkish war and Bulgaria's Liberation from the Ottoman Empire. Military expertise was provided by Nikola Voinovski, a graduate of the Nicholas General Staff Academy. Botev devised a plan to cross into Ottoman territory without immediately alerting Romanian or Ottoman authorities. The rebels boarded the Austro Hungarian passenger steamship Radetzky and seized control. The Ottoman military machine, including regular army garrisons and irregular bashi bazouks, was mobilized and patrolled the area. On 20 May 1876, a single bullet hit Botev in the chest, killing him instantly. The cheta suffered a drop in morale and began to disperse, with most members captured, imprisoned, or executed. In total, 130 cheta members were killed, with most evading capture or death. The incident is traditionally commemorated on 2 June.

Botev was born on in Kalofer. The birthplace is disputed by several historians, stating that he was born in Karlovo (according to the letter of Nayden Gerov) or the small village of Osen. His father was Botyo Petkov and his mother was Ivanka Boteva. His mother was born in a modest Kalofer family. Botev was not the only child in the family, he was together with his eight siblings, which were Ana, Petko, Stefan, Kiril, Tota, Genko, Genko and Boyan. According to some sources, Hristo Botev was born in a room of the Kalofer school where his parents lived. A little later, a new school was built in Kalofer and the family rented a house from Genko Filov, where Botev spent the first years of his life. This house was destroyed during the 1877 1878 Russo Turkish War, but in the 1940s it was rebuilt and turned into the Hristo Botev National Museum.

In 1854, Botyo Petkov failed to reach an agreement with the Kalofer municipality about his salary and moved to Karlovo. There the family lived in his mother's house in Tabashka Mahala, and Hristo Botev went to school with his father as his teacher. In 1858, Botyo Petkov accused the administration of the Karlovo municipality of embezzling money that had been bequeathed to the school and then returned to Kalofer. The municipality tried unsuccessfully to accommodate him in a house belonging to the merchant Hristo Tupchilestov, who lived in Constantinople, whereupon the family moved into the house of Hadzhi Nestor. After returning to Kalofer, Hristo Botev attended the local three class school, where his father was a teacher. In 1863, after completing his primary school education in Kalofer, Botev was sent by his father to a high school in Odessa. There he was deeply impressed by the works of the liberal Russian poets of his time. He left high school in 1865 and spent the next two years teaching in Odessa and Bessarabia. In the meantime, he began creating his first poetic works and also established strong connections with the Russian and Polish revolutionary movement. His political views soon started to take shape. As early as 1857, Botyo Petkov tried to send his son to study in the Russian Empire with the help of Nayden Gerov, an acquaintance from Odessa who had become a well known pedagogue and Russian vice consul in Plovdiv. This was only possible in Autumn 1863, when Hristo Botev received a scholarship from the Russian government and travelled via Plovdiv and Constantinople to Odessa, where he arrived on 14 November. In Odessa, Hristo Botev turned to the Bulgarian Board of Trustees of Odessa, to whom he was able to present a letter of recommendation from Naiden Gerov, and to its member Nikola Toshkovich, a wealthy merchant born in Kalofer, who was an acquaintance of his father. He entered the Second Grammar School as a "volunteer", as he was not well enough prepared to be a regular student, and was placed in the boarding school, where there were ten other Bulgarian students at the time. From the moment he entered high school, Botev found it difficult to fit in he constantly complained about the strict discipline, which included corporal punishment, but at the same time he was often absent from lessons, got into fights with classmates and treated most of his teachers with arrogance. In 1864, he left the boarding school and began to live independently in various lodgings. Despite his father's insistent letters and Nikola Toshkov's attempts to influence him, he neglected school and alienated the Bulgarians in Odessa with his eccentric behaviour, many of whose representatives restricted their contacts with him. Although he did not attend school often, Botev spent a lot of time in various libraries, especially in the Bulgarian library Yuriy Venelin, which was located in Toshkov's house. He read mainly Russian authors and was particularly impressed by Nikolay Chernyshevsky and Ivan Turgenev. He became acquainted with the philologist Victor Grigorovich, whom he assisted in translating Bulgarian folk tunes into Russian. According to his classmate Kiro Tuleshkov, Botev was already working on his poem "Mother" in the summer of 1864, consulting Grigorovich, and sent it to Petko Slaveykov in Constantinople even then. The reliability of this information is not clear, as the poem was not published by Slaveykov until several years later. When it became apparent in September 1865 that Botev was failing the gymnasium's third grade and was expelled for "carelessness," his scholarship was cancelled, and he was given a lump sum to travel back to Bulgaria. Still, he stayed in Odessa, earning a living through private instruction and keeping in touch with the city's Polish population. Botev even registered as a "volunteer" at the Historical and Philological Faculty of the Imperial Novorossiya University with the help of Grigorovich.

Following his arrival in Kalofer, Botev took over for his ill dad by attending some of his lessons. At that time, on April 15, Hristo Botev's poem "To My Mother" was published for the first time in the journal "Gaida" which was published in Constantinople and was edited by Petko Slaveykov. The poem was published without a recognised author. During the May 11 observance of the Day of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, Botev delivered an impromptu speech criticising the national movement's moderation, which at the time was primarily focused on the creation of an independent church. Police threats were raised by the speech, but none materialised. Botev frequently visited Parashkeva Shushulova, a teacher at the nearby girls' school, during his time in Kalofer. She is said to be the most likely prototype for the beloved in some of his poetry.