LIUBEN KARAVELOV: BULGARIAN APOSTLE OF BALKAN FEDERATION (PAN-SLAVISM, JOURNALISM, RUSSIAN AIMS).

Abstract

Liuben Stoicho Karavelov was a Bulgarian intellectual, who called for political, social and cultural reforms. He was a firm convert to eighteenth century western socio-political philosophies of representative government, as well as to individual and national freedoms--a devotee of liberte, egalite, fraternite--who became the clarion voice of the south Slav and Bulgarian liberation movements on the Balkan peninsula during the latter half of the nineteenth century (1867-1879). Although little is known about him in the western, especially the English-speaking world, this Russian-educated Bulgarian journalist, publicist, revolutionary and literary figure, occupies a special place in the annals of modern Bulgaria. This dissertation examines the role of Liuben Karavelov in the final phase of the Bulgarian and south Slav liberation from the Ottoman empire, as a persistent proponent of unity among the south Slavs and their federation with the neighboring Christian nations on the peninsula. Native Bulgarian, Russian and Serbian sources are used. A brief historiographic and bibliographic essay introduces a study of Liuben Karavelov's background and educational preparation (1834-1866), his political and literary reform efforts in Serbia (1867-1868), his revolutionary propaganda contributions as the fiery editor of Svoboda Freedom and Nezavisimost Independence , Bulgarian language newspapers published in Bucharest, Romania (1869-1874), and his international efforts as foreign correspondent (1867-1868) and as war correspondent of the Russian newspapers Golos The Voice , Moskovskie Vedomosti Moscow Register , and Odesskii Vestnik Odessa Journal during the Serbo-Turkish war of 1876 and the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878.