Galery

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     The Greek War of Independence involved Bulgarians from the southern Bulgarian lands who secretly harboured hope for their own freedom. Meanwhile, the Bulgarians who had participated in the battles of Wallachia and Moldavia transferred to Greece too. In the following year, 1822, when the Greeks fought one of the most crucial battles at Dervenaki, the number of Bulgarian participants grew and they were able to inflict a major defeat on the Turkish forces invading from the south. In the coming years, the liberation struggle of Greece continually involved an increasing number of Bulgarians who had arrived in Greece in various ways. A large number of Bulgarian volunteers came from Egypt, where they were in connection with their commercial activities, or as deserters from the armed forces of Mehmed Ali Pasha. They all participated in the battles against the Ottoman forces that took place in different parts of continental Greece, the Peloponnese and Crete. Bulgarian scientist Nikolai Todorov examines the majority of the battles for the liberation of Greece in his book "Balkan dimension of the Greek uprising of 1821. Bulgaria's contribution" and concludes that "every crucial battle in the period 1821-1829 involved Bulgarians".
    It is a little known fact that some of the Bulgarian volunteers became famous for their boldness in dozens of battles and later became generals in both Bulgaria and Greece. The same happened to Hadji Christo, who was one of the most famous Bulgarian participants in the Greek liberation movement. When the Greek rebellion broke out in 1821, the 38-year-old soldier from Vodensko was a member of the forces of Mehmed Ali Pasha of Egypt, en route by sea to stop the Greek insurgents. However, the fearless Bulgarian sided with the Greeks and Theodore Kolokotronis appointed him head of a cavalry of Bulgarians, Greeks and Serbs. Hadji Christo consistently participated in many severe battles, including the Battle of Dervenaki. Along with Kocho the Bulgarian he founded the first Greek irregular cavalry, which later contributed to the liberation of Greece, and became the first head of the Greek cavalry.
    For his major contributions to the Greek warfare, he was promoted to the rank of "general" in 1824. Hadji Christo was one of the first men awarded in early 1834 with the highest medal "for the bravery that he showed in all battles and especially in the battle of Dervenaki as a head of a detachment of Bulgarians under his command." After the liberation of Greece Hadji Christo put much effort into the establishment of the new state and in 1843 was elected to the Greek Parliament as a representative of "Thracian-Bulgarians and Serbs".
    In 1866 Greek historian Charilaos Dimopoulos wrote about the Bulgarians involved in the Greek liberation struggle, "The Bulgarians who were involved in Filiki Eteria and the Bulgarians who rose at the call of faith and motherland did not lay down their guns and set off to the small country, where the uprising was localized, to fight there against the Turks, and although they have failed to improve the fate of their country, they have praised the Bulgarian name, winning the gratitude of their brothers-in-arms and showing that each enslaved man has the will and the strength to defeat the Ottomans."