41 Facts About Hristo Botev

Hristo Botev is considered by Bulgarians to be a symbolic historical figure and national hero.

Hristo Botev's poetry is a prime example of the literature of the Bulgarian National Revival, though he is considered to be ahead of his contemporaries in his political, philosophical, and aesthetic views.

Hristo Botev's father was a teacher in Odessa and a significant figure of the late period of the Bulgarian National Revival.

Hristo Botev attended the local three-class school and later attended a high school in Odessa.

Hristo Botev left high school in 1865 and spent two years teaching in Odessa and Bessarabia.

Hristo Botev found it difficult to fit in and was often absent from lessons and treated teachers with arrogance.

Hristo Botev spent time in libraries, particularly the Bulgarian library Yuriy Venelin, where he read mainly Russian authors and became acquainted with philologist Victor Grigorovich.

Hristo Botev worked on his poem "To My Mother" in the summer of 1864 and sent it to Petko Slaveykov in Constantinople.

When it became apparent that Hristo Botev was failing the gymnasium's third grade and was expelled for "carelessness," his scholarship was cancelled and he was given a lump sum to travel back to Bulgaria.

Hristo Botev was sent by his father to Odessa to resume his education.

Hristo Botev decided to go to Romania instead, arriving in Giurgiu in September 1867.

Hristo Botev met with Bulgarian emigres and met Vasil Levski, the leader of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee.

Hristo Botev worked as a teacher in Bessarabia and became editor of the revolutionary emigrant newspaper "Word of the Bulgarian Emigrants".

Hristo Botev was imprisoned for months due to his collaboration with Russian revolutionaries.

Hristo Botev took overall command of the company, which later became the main reason for the Russian-Turkish war and Bulgaria's Liberation from the Ottoman Empire.

Hristo Botev devised a plan to cross into Ottoman territory without immediately alerting Romanian or Ottoman authorities.

Hristo Botev's father was Botyo Petkov and his mother was Ivanka Boteva.

Hristo Botev's father's backstory is that he was a teacher in Odessa and one of the most significant figures of the late period of the Bulgarian National Revival towards the end of the Ottoman occupation.

Hristo Botev's mother was born in a modest Kalofer family.

Hristo Botev was not the only child in the family, he was together with his eight siblings, which were Ana, Petko, Stefan, Kiril, Tota, Genko, Genko and Boyan.

In 1863, after completing his primary school education in Kalofer, Hristo Botev was sent by his father to a high school in Odessa.

In Odessa, Hristo Botev turned to the Bulgarian Board of Trustees of Odessa, to whom he was able to present a letter of recommendation from Naiden Gerov, and to its member Nikola Toshkovich, a wealthy merchant born in Kalofer, who was an acquaintance of his father.

Hristo Botev read mainly Russian authors and was particularly impressed by Nikolay Chernyshevsky and Ivan Turgenev.

Hristo Botev became acquainted with the philologist Victor Grigorovich, whom he assisted in translating Bulgarian folk tunes into Russian.

When it became apparent in September 1865 that Hristo Botev was failing the gymnasium's third grade and was expelled for "carelessness," his scholarship was cancelled, and he was given a lump sum to travel back to Bulgaria.

Hristo Botev even registered as a "volunteer" at the Historical and Philological Faculty of the Imperial Novorossiya University with the help of Grigorovich.

Hristo Botev frequently visited Parashkeva Shushulova, a teacher at the nearby girls' school, during his time in Kalofer.

Hristo Botev is said to be the most likely prototype for the beloved in some of his poetry.

Hristo Botev was sent by his father after getting better from the illness to Odessa to resume his education.

Hristo Botev arrived in Giurgiu, at the end of September 1867.

Hristo Botev resumed his trip to Odessa, which was then unfinished and stopped in Braila.

From 1869 to 1871 Hristo Botev worked again as a teacher in Bessarabia, keeping close relations with the Bulgarian revolutionary movement and its leaders.

Hristo Botev had established a network of revolutionary committees, supervised by the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee located in Romania, which was tasked with preparing the Bulgarian revolutionaries for a future general uprising against Ottoman rule.

Hristo Botev's death was a serious blow to the morale of the revolutionary movement.

Hristo Botev intended to start an uprising at the first possible moment, to take advantage of the international situation, and because the revolutionary network, established by Levski, was still relatively intact and could take an active part in the preparations.

Hristo Botev himself took overall command of the company, which later on became the main reason for the Russo-Turkish war and Bulgaria's liberation from the Ottoman Empire.

Hristo Botev devised an ingenious plan for crossing into Ottoman territory without immediately alerting either the Romanian or the Ottoman authorities.

In 1875 Hristo Botev published his poetic works in a book called "Songs and Poems", together with his close associate Bulgarian revolutionary poet and future politician and statesman, Stefan Stambolov.

Hristo Botev's poetry reflected the sentiments of the poor people, filled with revolutionary ideas, struggling for their freedom against both foreign and domestic tyrants.

Hristo Botev's poetry was influenced by the Russian revolutionary democrats and the figures of the Paris Commune.

Under this influence, Hristo Botev rose both as a poet and a revolutionary democrat.