Ivan Roussev
Papers of BAS. Humanities and Social Sciences
Vol. 9, 2022, No. 1
When modern Europe rediscovered the Bulgarians.
The reflections of the Crimean War (1853-1856) in Bulgarian history
Ivan Roussev
Abstract. The article presents the Crimean War (1853-1856) as the event that became the reason for the increased interest of modern Europe in the Bulgarians in the 19th century. It discusses the topics of whether the war caused an economic crisis, how the Bulgarians treat the allies of the Ottoman army (the French and the British) and how the French perceive the Bulgarians. It was over the period of their presence in the eastern Bulgarian lands during the Crimean War that the Western Europeans rediscovered the Bulgarians, became closely acquainted with their way of life and culture, and described them in their memories of the war, published after its end. A conclusion might be drawn that the expansion of scientific knowledge about Bulgarian history must necessarily go through the attraction of new sources, yet unused though, including and above all through the study of foreign archival documents and literature.
Keywords: Crimean War (1853-1856), France, Europe, Bulgarian history, modernization
Papers of BAS, Humanities and Social Sciences
Vol. 3, No 1, 2016
ECONOMICS
OLD GLORY RETURNS: THE PORT OF VARNA AND THE TRADE IN BULGARIAN LANDS DURING THE THIRD QUARTER OF THE 19TH CENTURY
Ivan Roussev
Abstract: In this article a review and an analysis is made of the movement of goods (import and export) and ships (number, tonnage, crews) through port Varna in the 1850s - 1870s on the basis of the reports of the brothers Adolphe-Salvator and Emmanuel-Marius Tedeschi, who exercised the functions of Austrian, French and Belgian consuls in Varna. In the third quarter of the 19th century the port in Varna turns to a débouché of the central and northeastern Bulgarian lands, of one big part of today’s Northern and Eastern Bulgaria, which was known to the Europeans from this epoch with the collective name Bulgaria. The good recognition of the traffic through port Varna in the 1850s-1870s gives a good and precise idea of the trade in the main part of the Bulgarian lands in general. This period is significant because of the raised trade interests of Europe in the Balkan provinces of the Ottoman Empire, which increased sensibly after the removal of the monopoly on grain and the conclusion of the trade conventions in 1838–1846 between the Ottoman Empire and 13 countries in Europe.
Key words: port of Varna, trade, Ottoman Empire, consul, consul report, import, export, goods, ship