Krastju Balgarijata

Krastju Balgarijata

Krustyu Nikolov Georgiev ( Bulgarian Кръстьо Николов Георгиев ) known as Krustyu Balgarijata (Bulgarian Кръстьо Българията * 1874 in Vratsa , † May 1913 - Death unknown) a Bulgarian was revolutionary , freedom fighter, Voivode of BMARK ( Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrian Opeler Revolutionary Committees / Български Македоно -Одрински революционни комитети , a forerunner organization of the IMRO ) in Macedonia and Thrace , and one of the military leaders of the Ilinden-Preobraschenie uprising . As a result, he was also called Krastju Wojwoda (Bulgarian Кръстю Войвода).

Life

Krastju was born in poor conditions in the town of Wraza in the Balkan Mountains. He could not go to school without financial support. That is why he joined the newly founded Bulgarian army at a very young age . As a sergeant he resigned from the army in 1897 in order to work with the Cheetas ( company ) of the Central Committee for the Liberation of Macedonia (see BMARK ). First he was a Chetnik in the Cheta of Michail Apostolow - Popeto, from 1900 he led his own Cheta in the region around Tikveš in Central Macedonia as Vojvode of the BMARK .

In November 1902 he was ordered by Mikhail Gerdschikow for the purposes of organization to Eastern Thrace . In early 1903 it becomes Vojwoda again of a Cheta in the " Malko Tarnovo Revolutionary Region " (Bulgarian Малкотърновски революционен район). Here he organized the supply of weapons from Bulgaria and the military preparation of the population. In February 1903 he took part in the assassination attempt on the Constantinople - Edirne Railway near Çatalca with Michail Gerdschikow's Tscheta .

The Cheta of Balgarijata (1903)

Krastju Balgarijata participates as a delegate of the Malko Tarnowo revolutionary region in the congress of the Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees in the Petrova Niwa area. Before and after the congress, Cheta, led by Krastju Balgarijata, was responsible for the security of the delegates. At the congress, which met from July 11 to 13, 1903, it was decided to carry out and coordinate an uprising against the Turkish-Ottoman rulers. Krastju Balgarijata became the highest military leader of the "II. Tschoken Revolutionary Region “ (Bulgar. II. Чокенски революционен район) appointed. The Ilinden Preobraschenie uprising broke out in Eastern Thrace with the proclamation of the Strandscha Republic on August 5th ^July. / August 18, 1903 ^greg. off, on the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord . In a short time the Turkish border, police and military posts were overwhelmed by the insurgents. In the first days of the uprising, the rebels managed to advance from the Bulgarian border in the north to Lozengrad in the south and thus liberate a large area from Ottoman rule.

the actions of the insurgents led by Krastju Balgarijata led to the liberation of several villages near the provincial capital Edirne, which caused panic among the Ottoman population. The uprising and the free Strandscha Republic only lasted 20 days, however, until the Turkish government sent out 350,000 Turkish soldiers with artillery , cavalry and an unspecified number of militants ( Başı Bozuk ) against the approximately 26,000 insurgents . In Macedonia and Thrace there were also 5,000 to 15,000 civilians among the fatalities, 200 villages were razed to the ground, 12,000 houses burned down, 70,000 people were made homeless, tens of thousands fled to neighboring countries, etc. a. 30,000 to Bulgaria. The largest refugee city was Burgas on the Black Sea. Nevertheless, there were repeated guerrilla actions in the following years.

After the bloody suppression of the uprising, Mikhail Gerdschikow first secured the refugee convoys to Bulgaria. Later he settled again in Macedonia in the area around Kočani , where he again led a Cheta against Serbian and Turkish forces as a voivode. Because of his experience, the BMARK asked him to prepare and organize a congress. On January 2, 1905, the Congress of the Skopje Revolutionary Region of the BMARK takes place near the present-day village of Kneževo near Kratovo . Krastju Balgarijata was elected to lead the organization in the Skopje region alongside Dame Gruew , Efrem Tschutschkow , Mische Razwigorow and Atanas Babata .

During the Balkan Wars he took part as a volunteer in the Macedonia-Adrianople Volunteer Corps . He was involved in battles in Thrace and Macedonia against Turks and Serbs. Because of his merits, he was made a lieutenant in 1913 . After the war he fell ill with cholera and died in May 1913.