Dimitar Obshti ( bg, Димитър Общи) was a 19th-century

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

n revolutionary, who fought for the

liberation of Bulgaria The Liberation of Bulgaria is the historical process as a result of the Bulgarian Revival. In Bulgarian historiography, the liberation of Bulgaria refers to those events of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) that led to the re-establishme ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

and

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, as well as for the ''

Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

'' of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Biography

Obshti was born around 1835 in

Gjakova Gjakova, ) and Đakovica ( sr-Cyrl, Ђаковица, ) is the seventh largest city of Kosovo and seat of Gjakova Municipality and Gjakova District. The city has 40,827 inhabitants, while the municipality has 94,556 inhabitants. Geographicall ...

, Sanjak of Peć,

. He joined the first

Bulgarian Legion ) , war= National awakening of Bulgaria , image= , caption=The standard of the Bulgarian Legion , active=1862–1868 , ideology= Bulgarian nationalism , leaders= Georgi Sava Rakovski , groups= , headquarters= Belgrade, Serbia , area= , size= , parto ...

organised in exile, in

's capital Belgrade, in 1862. There he received military training and met

Vasil Levski Vasil Levski ( bg, Васил Левски, spelled in old Bulgarian orthography as , ), born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev (; 18 July 1837 – 18 February 1873), was a Bulgarian revolutionary who is, today, a national hero of Bulgaria. Dubbed t ...

who became his lifetime comrade in arms. They fought together against the invading Ottomans in Serbia. In April 1868 the Serbian authorities disbanded the Bulgarian legion and expelled its participants from the country. Obshti subsequently joined the forces of the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi and later took part in the 1866–1869

Cretan uprising Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

. In 1869 he became one of the founders of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee (BRCC) in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. In June 1871 Obshti was sent to Ottoman Bulgaria to serve as Levski's first deputy but compromised his superior's efforts by his adventurous endeavours. He led an assassination attempt against deacon Paisius, vicar to the bishop of

Lovech Lovech ( bg, Ловеч, Lovech, ) is a city in north-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The city is located about northeast from the capital city of Sofia. Near ...

, who was suspected of collaboration and

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

. Against the opinion of Levski, in September 1872 Obshti organized the robbery of the Ottoman postal convoy in the

Arabakonak Arabakonak ( bg, Арабаконак) or Botevgrad Pass is a mountain pass through the Balkan Mountains connecting Sofia with Botevgrad and Northern Bulgaria. It has been the site of several important events of the history of Bulgaria. On 22 Se ...

Pass in order to fund the BRCC activities. The Ottoman authorities reacted harshly and managed to arrest a number of BRCC militants, including Obshti and Levski. Obshti grasped at the chance to publicize the BRCC activities in order to arouse the Great Powers' interest in liberating Bulgaria. He made some revealing statements in court which led to a great number of arrests and the effective ruin of the clandestine network. He was sentenced to death and hanged in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

on January 10, 1873. A month later, the same fate fell on Levski.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obshti, Dimitar 1835 births 1873 deaths 19th-century Bulgarian people Bulgarian revolutionaries Executed revolutionaries Military personnel from Gjakova Executed Bulgarian people People executed by the Ottoman Empire by hanging 19th-century executions by the Ottoman Empire People from Kosovo vilayet