National Holiday of Bulgaria
March 4th, 2007
On March 3, the Bulgarian people show their respect to the heroism of the Russian soldiers and the Bulgarian volunteers, who fought in the Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878, that put an end to the five century foreign rule.
On this day Bulgaria celebrates the Liberation of the Ottoman yoke. The liberation of Bulgaria came as a result of the victory of Russia in the war declared on 12 April 1877. During the war, 12 battalions of more than 12000 Bulgarians joined the Russian army and fought against the forces of Ottoman Empire. On March 3, 1878 a preliminary peace treaty was signed in San Stefano, near Constantinople. It included the establishment of an independent state of Bulgaria, and this way regained its independence from the Ottoman Empire.
