Bulgarian Revolt Against the Ottoman Empire.

The Turkish conquest of Bulgaria in 1396 resulted in nearly five hundred years of virtually complete Ottoman domination of Bulgaria. However, some elements of the Bulgarian population, through the activity of the Eastern Orthodox Church and traditions of village culture, managed to keep alive the cultural life of the country. By the late eighteenth century, Turkish power was seriously weakening, and a movement of national revival and autonomy was growing among the Bulgarians.