BULGARIANS IN THE GREEK REVOLUTION

 

Even though Bulgarians have traditionally been considered enemies of Greece, from Byzantine times when they stood among the principal antagonists of Constantinople, through the rival national aspirations of the nineteenth century, the Balkan Wars and culminating in the harsh Bulgarian occupation of parts of northern Greece during the Second World War, this was not always the case. There existed a moment, prior to the consolidation of national categories, in which the distinction between Greek and Bulgarian had not yet acquired its later rigidity, and in which shared faith, shared subjection and shared expectation permitted forms of alignment that subsequent history would obscure. The Greek War of Independence belongs to that moment. It unfolded within a Balkan world still governed by the logic of the Orthodox oikoumene, within which participation preceded definition and allegiance was not yet confined within the limits of the nation. Within this framework, the ecclesiastical and cultural life of the Bulgarian lands remained deeply embedded in the Greek-speaking Orthodox world, with hierarchs drawn largely from the Phanariot milieu and Greek communities dispersed throughout the region, sustaining networks of language, education and political communication that facilitated the circulation of revolutionary ideas.

The presence of Bulgarians within the ranks of the Revolution is neither incidental nor marginal. Estimates place their number at approximately three thousand to four thousand, a figure that situates them among the most substantial non-Greek contingents in the war. They derived from Bulgarian settlements in Macedonia and Thrace, but also from the regions in modern day Bulgaria and came from all walks of life: peasants, haiduts, local chieftains and soldiers. Some had received Greek education. Others had served within Ottoman or Egyptian forces and brought with them the discipline of cavalry and infantry warfare. Their movement into the Greek struggle emerged from a convergence of Orthodox solidarity, anti-Ottoman resentment, personal ambition and the perception that the weakening of imperial authority in one region might herald its collapse in others.

The intellectual precondition for such convergence may be located in the revolutionary thought of Rigas Pheraios, in whose political imagination liberation transcended ethnic boundaries, extending across the Balkan peninsula to encompass a commonwealth of Christian peoples united in a civic order that would supplant Ottoman sovereignty. Within that imagined polity, the Bulgarian did not stand apart from the Greek. Bulgarian propensity for collaboration was also sharpened during the rebellions of the Pasha of Vidin, Osman Pazvantoğlu. Pazvantoğlu’s court functioned as a point of convergence for dissident actors across the Balkans, and his documented association with Rigas Pheraios, whom he assisted, inserted the Bulgarian lands into the same circuit of revolutionary anticipation that would later find expression in the events of 1821. The memory of resistance, the experience of fractured sovereignty and the presence of networks that transcended locality predisposed segments of the Bulgarian population to perceive the Greek Revolution as neither distant nor alien, but as the continuation of a process already underway. It comes as no surprise then, given this climate that many Bulgarians joined the Filiki Etaireia.

The northern theatre of the Revolution provides one of the earliest indications of Bulgarian participation. Stoyan Indzhe Voyvoda, born near Sliven, joined the campaign of Alexander Ypsilantis in the Danubian Principalities. A hajduk leader of considerable reputation, he commanded a body of approximately one thousand Balkan volunteers. Fighting at the battle of Sculeni in June 1821, he killed after refusing to withdraw. His presence situates Bulgarian participation at the very inception of the uprising, within a theatre that sought to ignite a general Balkan revolt.

Within the Macedonian and Thracian regions, attempts were made to extend the insurrection northwards. Spyridon Dzherov, from Achrida, associated with the Filiki Eteria, led an uprising near Monastiri in cooperation with local Greek elements and with initial ecclesiastical support. His effort was betrayed and he was captured and executed in the bazaar of the city in 1822. Sotir Damyanovich, from Monastiri, led a Bulgarian-speaking detachment during the uprising of 1822, fighting at Olympus and Chalkidiki, and participating in the defence of Kassandra. After the suppression of these movements he moved southwards and continued the struggle under Greek commanders, including Georgios Karaiskakis, later serving under Kapodistrias.

The integration of Bulgarian fighters into the main theatres of the Revolution becomes more evident in the Peloponnese and Central Greece. Hadji Hristo Bulgarin stands at the centre of this process. Originally from Sliven, prior to joining the Revolution he had served in the cavalry of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, acquiring experience within the Ottoman military system. In 1821 he defected and entered the service of Theodoros Kolokotronis. Leading a corps of Bulgarian volunteers during the siege of Tripolitsa, he contributed to the fall of a city whose capture marked a decisive moment in the war. Later, he distinguished himself at Dervenakia in July 1822, where the Ottoman army suffered a devastating defeat. His campaigns extended into Central Greece, including Thermopylae and Boeotia. In May 1824 he was promoted to general and became the first commander of Greek cavalry. Captured at Navarino in 1827, he was later released following Allied intervention. Bulgarin’s career situates a Bulgarian officer within the highest levels of the revolutionary military hierarchy and demonstrates that authority within the insurgent army followed competence rather than origin. Another four Bulgarian participants in the Greek Revolution would be elevated to the rank of general.

Hatzi Stefanos Bulgaris, identified as Bulgarian, served as a captain under Kolokotronis and commanded a cavalry unit of one hundred volunteers. He fought in Central Greece, including Thermopylae and Livadeia, and later participated in the expedition to Lebanon under Hatzichristos Dalianis in the mid-1820s, leading a contingent of Bulgarian horsemen beyond the immediate geography of the Revolution. The presence of such figures indicates that Bulgarian participation was not confined to isolated engagements. It extended across multiple theatres and into operations that exceeded the territorial limits of the Greek mainland.

At the level of unit commanders and rank and file fighters, the density of Bulgarian participation becomes even more apparent. Anastas, or Atanas Bulgarin, from Maleshevo served as a chiliarch under Hadji Hristo in the Peloponnese. He survived the fall of Neokastro at Methoni, escaping as one of the first from a position that collapsed under pressure, and later fought at the siege of Nafplio and at Sphacteria, where his detachment was almost entirely destroyed. Dimo Nikolov Bulgarin, from Drama, began as an infantryman under Hadji Hristo and later commanded a group of twenty-five men. He fought throughout the war in the Peloponnese, was wounded, and later testified that he had followed his commander into every battle. Nikolaos Voulgaris, from Serres, fought under Nikitaras at Nafplio, Corinth and Dervenakia, later under Hadji Hristo, and subsequently under Georgios Karaiskakis in Athens and Piraeus, where his brother was killed. After the war he remained in Greece.

Nikola Atanas Bulgarin, from Edessa, joined the Revolution with his family and maintained at his own expense a detachment of six soldiers. He fought at Missolonghi, at Trikeri and in multiple engagements in the Peloponnese, including Tripolitsa and Argos. At Kastelli he lost his left eye. Stavros Ioannou Bulgarin, from Achrida, left his homeland in 1821 and fought under Nikitaras, Odysseas Androutsos and Gennaios Kolokotronis. He took part in engagements at Stilida, Agia Marina, Ipati, Levadia and Dervenakia, was wounded fighting the forces of Dramali, later fihting at Karystos and Haidari. By the mid-nineteenth century he described himself as an aged veteran and former centurion. Stoyan Marko Bulgarin, served under Angel Gatzo, first as a standard bearer and then as a commander. He fought in the uprising at Drama, survived its fall, and later took part in the battle of Plaka against Omer Vrioni and at Dervenakia. In 1823 he led men at Trikeri and participated in naval engagements near Skiathos. Philip Bulgarin, who joined the struggle in 1822, fought at Aspropotamos and Dragamesto, later participated in campaigns in Crete and Carystos, and was present in battles around Athens and Nafpaktos. After the war he settled in Patras and petitioned for recognition as a veteran.

Taken together, these biographies disclose a pattern of sustained and widespread engagement. Bulgarians appear across the principal theatres of the war, under the command of leading Greek figures, participating in decisive battles, enduring wounds, and, in many cases, entering a post-war existence marked by poverty and neglect. Their presence cannot be reduced to a symbolic gesture of solidarity. It constitutes a material contribution to the conduct of the Revolution.

The subsequent history of Greek and Bulgarian relations, shaped by competing national projects and territorial conflicts, has obscured this earlier moment of alignment. The same regions from which these men came would later become zones of contestation. The same populations that once participated in a shared insurrection would be reconfigured within opposing national narratives. Yet the archival record preserves a different memory. It records the presence of Bulgarians at Tripolitsa, at Dervenakia, at Nafplio, and at Messolongi, under key leaders such as Kolokotronis, Karaiskakis and Androutsos.

The recovery of these figures restores to the history of the Greek Revolution a dimension that has long remained in the margins. Rather than altering the Revolution’s significance as the foundation of the modern Greek state, it situates that event within a broader Balkan context and reveals a moment in which the boundaries that would later divide were still permeable. In that moment, Bulgarians marched and fought alongside Greeks, united by a common faith and a shared expectation that the empire of oppression under which they lived might give way. The later memory of antagonism cannot efface that earlier convergence. It remains inscribed within the record, awaiting recognition within a more complete account of the past.

DEAN KALIMNIOU

kalymnios@hotmail.com

First published in NKEE on Saturday 4 April 2026