{{more citations needed, date=February 2023
''The Volunteers at Shipka''According to the translation by Peter Tempest. ( bg, Опълченците на Шипка, Opalchentsite na Shipka, also known as "''Oh, Shipka!''") is an
ode
An ode (from grc, ᾠδή, ōdḗ) is a type of lyric poetry. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structured in three majo ...
by the classic
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 writer
Ivan Vazov
Ivan Minchov Vazov ( bg, Иван Минчов Вазов; – 22 September 1921) was a Bulgarian poet, novelist and playwright, often referred to as "the Patriarch of Bulgarian literature". He was born in Sopot, a town in the Rose Valley ...
, a part of the cycle ''
Epic of the Forgotten
''Epic of the Forgotten'' ( bg, Епопея на забравените; ''Epopeya na zabravenite'') is a cycle of 12 odes composed by Bulgarian writer Ivan Vazov between 1881 and 1884. The poems deal with people and events connected with Bulgar ...
''.
The ode is dedicated to the participation of the
Bulgarian Volunteer Corps )
, war=the Serbian-Turkish Wars (1876-1878) and the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878
, image=
, caption=The standard of the Bulgarian Opaltchentsi
, active=1877-1878
, ideology= Bulgarian nationalism
, leaders= Collective leadership
, groups=
, ...
(the ''opalchentsi'') in the
Battle of Shipka Pass
The Battle of Shipka Pass consisted of four battles that were fought between the Russian Empire, aided by Bulgarian volunteers known as opalchentsi, and the Ottoman Empire for control over the vital Shipka Pass during the Russo-Turkish War (18 ...
Ottoman rule
Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to:
Governments and dynasties
* Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924
* Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...
. The subtitle of the work is "11 August 1877". This adds historicity and the documentary nature of the subject.
Historical figures and events mentioned in the poem are:
* Battle of Kleidion (1014, mentioned as "old Belasitsa")
*
Batak massacre
The Batak massacre was a massacre of Bulgarians in Batak by Ottoman irregular cavalry troops in 1876 at the beginning of the April Uprising. The estimate for the number of victims ranges from 1,200 to 8,000, depending on the source.
Uprising ...
(1876, during the
April Uprising
The April Uprising ( bg, Априлско въстание, Aprilsko vastanie) was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876. The regular Ottoman Army and irregular bashi-bazouk units brutally su ...
Nikolai Stoletov
Nikolai Grigorevich Stoletov (russian: Столетов, Николай Григорьевич; – ) was a general in the Imperial Russian Army. He was the brother of noted physicist Aleksandr Stoletov.
Stoletov was born in Vladimir and atten ...
* Fyodor Radetzky
"The Volunteers at Shipka" is one of the most popular Bulgarian poems. For decades it has been studied in detail in primary and secondary school by Bulgarian children, who learn parts or the whole text by heart.