Heroic Weakness: Bulgarian man facing the death of the national ideal

Abstract

Is it possible to conceive of the masculinity of war veterans as manifesting characteristics usually associated with women rather than men? Questioning the classical notion of war heroism and taking as a starting point an obituary published in 1899, this article traces the commemorative practices of honouring participants in the Bulgarian national movement of the nineteenth century. It demonstrates how the identity of the veterans was based on a complex mixture of the memory of heroic deeds during the war and the physically weakened condition of the soldiers in post-war Bulgaria. Highly praised and endowed with privileges in the first years after the Russian–Ottoman war (1877–78), by the end of the century, the ex-volunteers and ex-revolutionaries were perceived as grotesque public figures. The discourse in the veterans' journals emphasised the heroic weakness of the veterans in post-war Bulgaria as they struggled to survive with old war wounds and poor living conditions. The journals called for state assistance to look after them. Thus, the feminised image of weak survivors seeking protection was attached to the patriotic vision of the manly strength and courage of the soldier on the battlefield.

Notes

Stoyan Zaimov (1853–1932), a famous participant in the national revolutionary movement and a well-known memoirist, wrote about ‘a group of personalities, who are the glory of the Bulgarian nation … and people, without whom the present politically independent Bulgaria would be turned into a historical ash-heap (scene of a fire)’. S. Zaimov (1983) The Past (Sofia: Iztatelstvo na BZNS), pp. 9–10.

1880 Law on improving the situation of poor poborniks, who had taken part in different political movements for national liberation. See Durzhaven vestnik [State journal], 7 July 1880, p. 1, Issue 50.

For example, a veteran applying for a pension was required to ‘submit a written certificate issued by the detachment of which he has been a member’, or a ‘document issued by the hospital, where he has received treatment’ (1880 Law, Article 9, Durzhaven vestnik [State journal], 7 July 1880, p. 1, Issue 50). It was a common practice for the parliament to discuss in detail the property status and the state of health of the applicants. See Journal of the 8th National Assembly (1896), vol. 3, p. 753, p. 891.

The Bulgarian volunteers who took part in the Russian–Ottoman war were called opalchentsi. They fought crucial battles against the Ottoman army at Tarnovo, Shipka and Stara Zagora.

Younak, 20 March 1899, p. 2, Issue 1.

Younak, 20 March 1899, pp. 1–3, Issue 2–3.

Leader of a guerrilla detachment in the national liberation movement in Bulgaria (18th–19th century) The perception of voivodes with their haidouks' (from Turkish word haydùt: brigand) bands was comparable to that of Robin Hood and his men. In the 1850s they remained ready to fight in Serbia, Romania, Greece and Russia and/or joined different organised groups within the armed national movement. The most famous of them were Capitan Petko Voivoda, Illio Voivoda, Philip Totiu, Panaiot Hitov, Stefan Karadzha and Hadzhi Dimitar.

Hristo Botev (1950) Selected Works, vol. 3 (Sofia: Nauchen Institut Hristo Botev), p. 28.

Younak, 31 August 1899, Issue 23–24, p. 1.

Ibid., p. 1.

See Younak, 2 August 1898, Issue 30, p. 2.

According to Bulgarian nationalist writing, Georgi Rakovski was one of the first ideologists of the armed resistance against the ‘Turkish yoke’. (See, for example, A Short Historical Guide. Bulgaria [Sofia: Darjavno izdatelstvo, 1983], vol. 3, pp. 358–360).

Liuben Karavelov was a celebrated Bulgarian writer, liberal and revolutionary.

Zahari Stoyanov was a revolutionary, a prominent Bulgarian writer, journalist and politician, who became famous through his book Zapiski po bulgarskite vastania [Memoirs of the Bulgarian uprisings], published between 1884 and 1892.

The newspaper Svoboda (1887–89), edited by Zahari Stoyanov, was an organ of the ruling People's Liberal Party, whose leader, Stefan Stambolov (1854–95), was a famous revolutionary and participant in the National Liberation Movement.

An extract from Nikola Genadiev's speech on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of Hadzhi Dimitar's death (delivered at Buzludja). See Younak, 12 August 1898, Issue 30, p. 4.

R. W. Connell (1995) Masculinities: knowledge, power and social change (Berkeley: University of California Press), p. 39, p. 72.

See: Durzhaven vestnik [State journal], 7 July 1880, Issue 50.

Todor Ikonomov (1835–92), a well-known Bulgarian politician, entitled one of his books Samohvalstavata na patriotite i istinskoto plojenie na Bulgaria [The boasting of the patriots and the real situation in Bulgaria]. (Rousse, 1888).

Nov Otziv, 9 October 1899, Issue 252, p. 3.

Hristo Botev, 18 July 1899, Issue 5, p. 3. Bashibozuks, or irregular troops used by the Ottoman authorities for crushing Christian rebellions, were famous for their cruelty towards the civilian population.

Balgarski Targovski Vestnik, 25 November 1899, Issue 258, p. 2.

See Journal of the 9th National Assembly (1897), vol. 1, p. 159.

See Journal of the 8th National Assembly (1896), vol. 3, p. 616.

‘You have remained limping, blind and crippled! What a ridicule over living remains!’ (Younak, 31 September, 1899, Issue 27–28, p. 4).

About some shadows of ghosts, Pobornik-Opalchenec (1899), 5 (1), p. 2.

See, for example, the letter, signed by Maria Georgieva Petrova in Pobornik-Oplachenec (1899), 3(1), p. 8.

Lubomir Bobesvkiy (1913) Karvavi istorii za Osvoboditelnata voina na Balkanite [Bloody stories about the Balkan War] (Sofia).

Lubomir Bobesvkiy (1934) Sinat na geroia invalid [The son of the veteran-invalid] (Sofia).

Nancy M. Wingfich & Maria Bucur (Eds) (2006) Gender and War in Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press), p. 10.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Galina Goncharova

Galina Goncharova is Assistant Professor at the Department of History and Theory of Culture, Sofia University, Bulgaria. She teaches courses in modern Bulgarian history. Her current research examines the political uses of time in the discourse of the Bulgarian patriotic organisations in the period between 1878 and 1944.