Vuzrazhdane (Revival) Square in the central part of Sofia commemorates one of the most active and important periods in Bulgarian history - the Bulgarian National Revival.

The chronological boundaries of the Revival stretch from the beginning of the 18th century to the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. These boundaries enclose an entire epoch, which is essentially a transition to modern times, and a formation of national self-consciousness. This was marked by a spiritual differentiation from medieval times.

In many ways, the Bulgarian National Revival echoed French Revolution ideas, including the large-scale, all-democratic phenomena and processes which were unfolding in Western Europe at that time. The ideas of the Enlightenment and democratic renovation penetrated the Balkans, creating a natural leaning towards profound economic and spiritual changes as well as political liberation.

In addition to being a part of the events in Europe, the Revival was also influenced by the concrete conditions in the Balkans at that time. In the middle of the 17th century, the feudal Ottoman Empire, under whose control the Bulgarian territories were at the time, plunged into serious decline. It was falling significantly behind Christian Europe in technological aspects. Moreover, in 1683, Ottoman troops were brought to utter catastrophe at Vienna by the troops of the Holy League - a combined effort of Venice, Austria, Poland and Russia. Gradually, the European possessions of the Ottoman Empire shrank more and more.

Incapable of reforming itself in the spirit of the new times, the decrepit empire sank into a deep economic and social crisis which it never overcame. The decline of the Ottoman-Turkish state was one of the strongest incentives for the economic upsurge of the Bulgarian people.

Exempted from participation in the imperial armies, the Bulgarians did not suffer the monstrous losses, incurred during the post-17th century wars which reduced the number of the Turkish population in the Bulgarian lands dramatically. Despite its losses in previous centuries, the Bulgarian Christian population considerably outnumbered the Muslim portion throughout the 18th century. Slowly but steadily, craft manufacture - the foundation of all manufacturing industry in the Bulgarian lands - passed into the hands of the emerging Bulgarian bourgeois class.

Bulgarian merchants, who had accumulated capital to invest in the expansion and modernization of new enterprises, chiefly carried out international trade. The peasants started buying their land back from the Ottoman authorities and got down to organizing prosperous private farms. Big farms called chifliks occupied themselves with wholesale food production.

All Bulgarians and especially the Bulgarian bourgeoisie, were interested in restoring independence and building up a modern Bulgarian state. This transition from feudalism to capitalism naturally led to the maturing, preparation and implementation of the Bulgarian national movement for liberation.

The idea for unified national liberation was also urged by fast development and a flourishing of education and culture. The movement for Bulgarian education and an independent Bulgarian church engaged generations of national enlighteners, some of whom fell prey to the persecution and slander of the Patriarchy and the Ottoman rule. In 1870, the Porte (the government of the Ottoman Empire) officially recognized the independent Bulgarian church and hence the Bulgarians as an independent nationality. Prior to this, Bulgarians were categorized either as Christians or Greeks.

The third quarter of the century was characterized by the rapid development of Bulgarian culture which, permeated by Renaissance, Enlightenment and humanistic ideas, adapted modern bourgeois conceptions of social life to regional conditions and tasks. Most of the writers and revolutionaries of the Bulgarian National Revival were educated in Russia, in the atmosphere and spirit of the Russian populist intelligentsia, who fought against the autocracy for a republic and a representative popular government.

The preparations for the national liberation revolution began in the early 1860s, under the guidance of Georgi Sava Rakovski (1821 - 1867). The revolutionary actions of the time, however, did not meet the support of the local population. The well-to-do Bulgarians were still reserved and hesitant. Relatively better prospects for the Bulgarian national liberation movement opened up only at the end of the 1860s and the early 1970s after the Austro-Prussian war (1866) and the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871). The Ottoman empire lost two of its most ardent patrons, Austria and France, and Russia rejected the restrictive clauses of the 1856 Treaty of Paris and regained its status as a great power.

It became apparent to Bulgarians that armed struggle was the only way out and that this course was inevitable. It was in this spirit that an entire generation of revolutionaries matured, whose humanism and uncompromising patriotism, respect for equality and freedom went hand in hand with the building of a revolutionary organization congenial to the conditions prevailing in Bulgaria.

Hristo Botev, Lyuben Karavelov, and Vassil Levski were only a small part of the revolutionaries who promoted and actually carried out the ideas for the liberation of Bulgaria. The most decisive event in the period was the April Uprising in 1876, whose atrocious suppression by the Ottoman army became known all over Europe, focusing the attention of the European powers on Bulgaria.