Filip Totyu
Encyclopedia
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n revolutionary of the Bulgarian National Revival
Bulgarian National Revival
The Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...
period and the voivode of an armed band of volunteers.
Totyu was born in the hamlet of Gartsite, today part of the village of Voneshta Voda, near Kilifarevo
Kilifarevo
Kilifarevo is a small town in central northern Bulgaria, administratively part of Veliko Tarnovo municipality, Veliko Tarnovo Province. Previously a village, it was proclaimed a town in 1973....
, Veliko Tarnovo Province
Veliko Tarnovo Province
Veliko Tarnovo is a province in the middle of the northern part of Bulgaria. Its capital city, Veliko Tarnovo, is of historical significance as it is known as the capital of Medieval Bulgaria...
, to the family of a cattle dealer. He studied in Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred to as the "City of the Tsars", Veliko Tarnovo is located on the Yantra River and is famous as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, attracting many tourists...
in 1840 and engaged in trade after 1842. Around 1850, he had a conflict with the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
authorities which forced him to flee into the Balkan Mountains
Balkan Mountains
The Balkan mountain range is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Balkan range runs 560 km from the Vrashka Chuka Peak on the border between Bulgaria and eastern Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea...
with a group of friends and become a hajduk
Hajduk
Hajduk is a term most commonly referring to outlaws, highwaymen or freedom fighters in the Balkans, Central- and Eastern Europe....
. His band's area of operation were the regions of Tarnovo, Elena
Elena, Bulgaria
Elena is a Bulgarian town in the central Stara Planina mountain in Veliko Tarnovo Province, located 42 km away to southeast from the city of Veliko Tarnovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Elena Municipality. The area is a popular mountain resort also known for the typical...
and later also Nova Zagora
Nova Zagora
Nova Zagora is a town located in the southeastern plains of Bulgaria in Sliven Province. It is the administrative centre of Nova Zagora Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 23,625 inhabitants , while the entire municipality has a population of 45,111. The first traces...
. Although he was captured and interned in the Tarnovo and Sliven
Sliven
Sliven is the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality. It is a relatively large town with 89,848 inhabitants, as of February 2011....
prisons several times, he managed to escape and return to his hajduk activities, leading to the Ottomans announcing a big reward for his head
Headhunting
Headhunting is the practice of taking a person's head after killing them. Headhunting was practised in historic times in parts of China, India, Nigeria, Nuristan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Borneo, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Micronesia, Melanesia, New Zealand, and the Amazon Basin, as...
. After escaping the Sliven prison in 1863, Totyu moved to Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
, where he actually adopted that name to cover his tracks.
In Wallachia, he got to know Georgi Rakovski and came to realize the need for an organized struggle against the Ottoman rule. On 17 May 1867 he crossed the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
at Svishtov
Svishtov
Svishtov is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svishtov Municipality...
with a band of 35, with the intention reach the Balkan Mountains and join forces with Panayot Hitov
Panayot Hitov
Panayot Ivanov Hitov was a Bulgarian hajduk, national revolutionary and band leader .Born in 1830 in Sliven, he became a hajduk in Georgi Trankin's band in 1858. Two years later, after the death of Trankin, Hitov succeeded him as voivode of the band, which became one of the most active in...
's band which had moved into Bulgaria on 29 April. In Svishtov, the band was joined by several other volunteers and proceeded to move southward. In a forest at Varbovka, near Sevlievo
Sevlievo
Sevlievo is a town in north-central Bulgaria, part of Gabrovo Province. Sevlievo is known as one of the wealthiest towns in Bulgaria owing to the well developed local economy, high employment rate and major foreign investments, such as the American Standard Companies factory...
, however, Totyu's detachment was surrounded by Ottoman military units and bashi-bazouk
Bashi-bazouk
A bashi-bazouk or bashibazouk was an irregular soldier of the Ottoman army...
s, with one volunteer reportedly facing 60 Turks. During the night, the survivors fled into the mountains, where, near what is today Botev Peak
Botev Peak
Botev Peak is, at 2,376 m above sea level, the highest peak of the Balkan Mountains. It is located close to the geographic centre of Bulgaria, and is part of the Central Balkan National Park....
, Totyu and four of his men managed to meet Hitov's remaining forces and head to Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, where they participated in the Second Bulgarian Legion
Bulgarian Legion
The Bulgarian Legion was the name of two military bands formed by Bulgarian volunteers and revolutionary workers in the Serbian capital of Belgrade in the second part of the 19th century...
. Afterwards Totyu lived in Romania, constantly persecuted and arrested and forced to move to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, where he lived for longer and received a state pension. In 1875, at the time of the Herzegovinian rebellion
Herzegovinian rebellion
The Herzegovina Uprising of 1875-1878 was an uprising led by Christians, firstly in Herzegovina and then in Bosnia. It is the most significant of the rebellions against Ottoman rule in Herzegovina...
, Hristo Botev
Hristo Botev
Hristo Botev , born Hristo Botyov Petkov , was a Bulgarian poet and national revolutionary. Botev is widely considered by Bulgarians to be a symbolic historical figure and national hero.-Early years:...
was sent to Southern Russia by the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee
Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee
The Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee or BRCK was a Bulgarian revolutionary organisation founded in 1869 among the Bulgarian emigrant circles in Romania. The decisive influence for the establishment of the committee was exerted by the Svoboda newspaper which Lyuben Karavelov began to...
to collect funds and recruit Bulgarian emigres and Filip Totyu in particular. He agreed to participate in a Bulgarian uprising and left for Romania, but the suppression of the Stara Zagora Uprising meant his idea to aid the revolutionaries with a band was thwarted. In 1876 he aided the Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
in the Serbo-Turkish conflict and invaded northwestern Bulgaria with his detachment, but he was repulsed and returned to Russia, only to participate in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, which led to the Liberation of Bulgaria
Liberation of Bulgaria
In Bulgarian historiography, the term Liberation of Bulgaria is used to denote the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that led to the re-establishment of Bulgarian state with the Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878, after the complete conquest of the Second Bulgarian Empire, which...
.
After the Liberation, Totyu lived in the village of Dve Mogili
Dve Mogili
Dve Mogili is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Ruse Province. It is the administrative centre of Dve Mogili Municipality, which lies in the western part of the area. Dve Mogili is located 32 kilometres away from the provincial capital of Ruse...
, Rousse Province, where he engaged in agriculture and received a small military pension. He died on 23 March 1907.