THE April Uprising of 1876 marks the apogee of the Bulgarian National Revival and the struggle against Ottoman rule. This uprising ended without success, as it did not manage to turn into a mass revolution across Bulgaria, as was planned. However, the effect of the uprising on public opinion in Bulgaria and especially abroad was so strong that very soon it led to liberation in 1878.

Foreign newspaper reporters wrote of the atrocities of the Ottoman authorities against the rebelling Bulgarians and the innocent population. The world empires of that period were scandalised by the inhumane way that the High Gate (the popular name for the Ottoman Empire) dealt with the uprising.

For Bulgarians, the April Uprising became an inspiration - to fight for their freedom. And after liberation was achieved two years later with the help of Russia, the April Uprising and its heroes remained a symbol of the Bulgarian soul and Bulgaria's struggle to become a nation.

The death of Vassil Levski in 1873, who was the driving force behind the liberation movement in Bulgaria, caused many problems when the members of the different committees turned out to be highly disorganised.

Nevertheless, the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee still existed. By 1875, a group of young revolutionaries - Hristo Botev, Stefan Stambolov, Nikola Obretenov and others, was ready to play an important role in the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee. They attempted and partly succeeded in restoring the internal revolutionary committees network.

Taking advantage of the deep crisis of the Ottoman empire (in 1875 Turkey was adjudged bankrupt, while Bosnia and Herzegovina were shaken up by uprisings), the young revolutionaries speeded up the preparation for an armed uprising, which broke out in the spring of 1876.

On April 12, 1876 at Oborishte on Sredna Gora Mountain delegates were summoned from all revolutionary districts. They discussed important issues and chose the date for the uprising - May 1, 1876.

The April Uprising broke out on April 20, 1876 because of a betrayal. The Turkish police uncovered some committees and were about to destroy the entire organisation. The apostles decided to act immediately and it was in the town of Koprivshtitsa that the first shot was fired. Rapidly the population in the districts of Plovdiv and Turnovo rose up.

Those Bulgarians were really happy on that day, and they walked around kissing each other. On the uniforms of the rebels was written "Freedom Or Death". Everybody was eager to die for the liberation of their beloved homeland.

Unfortunately the organisation in the districts of Sliven and Vratsa was not very good and people there refused to fight. This fact made the crushing of the uprising much easier for the Turks. In spite of the great heroism shown by the revolutionaries, they were defeated.

The uprising did not spread all over Bulgaria. Only the towns and villages, nestling among the mountain hills surrounding Plovdiv, rose against the Turks. In the other regions only guerrilla detachments had been set up. After several days of heroic fighting, it was crushed with cruelty unheard of in human history.

The Turkish atrocities were unprecedented. The troops massacred the population both in rebellious and non-rebellious settlements. In some places the inhabitants were killed to the last person regardless of age or sex.

The April Uprising was the best-organised mass armed popular action against an oppressor in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, after the Paris Commune. At this time in Western Europe the process of the creation of national states and the extension of the democratic rights within them had, generally speaking, come to a close. On the one side stood the independent countries and, on the other, colonies and semi-dependent regions.

In this intervening period, resulting from objective circumstances, the world revolutionary movement gradually moved from Western Europe to the East. It was from here that the great significance of the Bulgarian national liberation movement of the 1870s and its peak - the April Uprising - derives.

One nation daringly appeared on the European political scene with the motto "Freedom Or Death", challenging the rest of the world, and putting to the test all adherents of liberalism and the opponents of increasing conservatism among the ruling circles of the European political class.

And the impact was really surprising: over 3000 publications in the European press voiced support for the insurgent Bulgarians. In this situation the governments of the Great Powers were in no position to overtly maintain the status quo as regards 'the sick man of Europe' - the Ottoman Empire. This created a congenial political situation and made possible a more decisive intervention on the part of Russia.

Among the greatest heroes of the April Uprising, the people that will always live in the hearts of Bulgarians are Georgi Benkovski, a very talented commander who led an entire squad of horsemen, called the Flying Detachment; Panayot Volov - the mind behind the uprising, and the man who, seeing the genius of Benkovski, left him to lead the fight; Todor Kableshkov; Stefan Stambolov - the organiser of the uprising in the region of Veliko Turnovo, and later prime minister of Bulgaria at the end of the nineteenth century, and many others.