Vasil Levski founded the Internal Revolutionary Organisation, and sought to foment a nationwide uprising through a network of secret regional committees.
32 Facts About Vasil Levski
2.
In Romania, Vasil Levski helped institute the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee, composed of Bulgarian expatriates.
3.
Vasil Levski looked beyond the act of liberation and envisioned a Bulgarian republic of ethnic and religious equality, largely reflecting the liberal ideas of the French Revolution and contemporary Western society.
4.
Vasil Levski is commemorated with monuments in Bulgaria and Serbia, and numerous national institutions bear his name.
5.
Vasil Levski was the namesake of his maternal uncle, Archimandrite Vasil.
6.
Vasil Levski had two younger brothers, Hristo and Petar, and an older sister, Yana; another sister, Maria, died during childhood.
7.
Vasil Levski added that Levski abstained from smoking and drinking.
8.
Hitov's memories of Vasil Levski's appearance are supported by Vasil Levski's contemporaries, revolutionary and writer Lyuben Karavelov and teacher Ivan Furnadzhiev.
9.
The only differences are that Karavelov claimed Vasil Levski was tall rather than of medium height, while Furnadzhiev noted that his moustache was light brown and his eyes appeared hazel.
10.
Vasil Levski began his education at a school in Karlovo, studying homespun tailoring as a local craftsman's apprentice.
11.
Vasil Levski's activity caused suspicion among the Ottoman authorities, and he was forced to move.
12.
Vasil Levski was a prominent member of the Legion, but between February and April 1868 he suffered from a gastric condition that required surgery.
13.
For various reasons, including his stomach problems and strategic differences, Vasil Levski did not participate.
14.
On 11 December 1868, he travelled by steamship from Turnu Magurele to Istanbul, the starting point of a trek that lasted until 24 February 1869, when Vasil Levski returned to Romania.
15.
Vasil Levski travelled to Nikopol, Pleven, Karlovo, Plovdiv, Pazardzhik, Perushtitsa, Stara Zagora, Chirpan, Sliven, Lovech, Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Sevlievo and Tryavna.
16.
From late August 1869 to May the following year, Vasil Levski was active in the Romanian capital Bucharest.
17.
Vasil Levski was in contact with revolutionary writer and journalist Lyuben Karavelov, whose participation in the foundation of the Bulgarian Literary Society Levski approved in writing.
18.
In disagreement over planning, Vasil Levski departed from Bucharest in the spring of 1870 and began to put into action his concept of an internal revolutionary network.
19.
The political and organisational experience that Vasil Levski amassed is evident in his correspondence dating from 1871 to 1872; at the time, his views on the revolution had clearly matured.
20.
Vasil Levski stayed at the nearby village inn in Kakrina, where he was surprised and arrested on the morning of 27 December 1872.
21.
The location of Vasil Levski's grave is uncertain, but in the 1980s, writer Nikolay Haytov campaigned for the Church of St Petka of the Saddlers as Vasil Levski's burial place, which the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences concluded as possible yet unverifiable.
22.
Vasil Levski's death intensified the crisis in the Bulgarian revolutionary movement, and most IRO committees soon disintegrated.
23.
Vasil Levski's theory resulted from the repeated failures to implement Rakovski's ideas effectively, such as the use of foreign-based armed detachments to provoke a general revolt.
24.
Vasil Levski envisioned Bulgaria as a democratic republic, occasionally finding common ground with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and largely reflecting the liberal ideas of the French Revolution and contemporary Western society.
25.
Vasil Levski advocated "strict and regular accounting" in his revolutionary organisation, and did not tolerate corruption.
26.
Three museums dedicated to Vasil Levski have been organised: one in Karlovo, one in Lovech and one in Kakrina.
27.
The life of Vasil Levski has been widely featured in Bulgarian literature and popular culture.
28.
Eponymously titled "Vasil Levski", it was published as part of the cycle Epic of the Forgotten.
29.
Vasil Levski has inspired works by writers Hristo Smirnenski and Nikolay Haytov, among others.
30.
Songs devoted to Vasil Levski can be found in the folklore tradition of Macedonia as well.
31.
Vasil Levski's hanging is observed annually across Bulgaria on 19 February instead of 18 February, due to the erroneous calculation of 19th-century Julian calendar dates after Bulgaria adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1916.
32.
Vasil Levski is referenced by the video game Star Citizen, in which future society "The People's Alliance of Levski" adopt an ideology based upon his views.