THE HISTORY OF BULGARIA IN 100 INDIVIDUALS

Mario Mishev and Ivan Kanchev, the creators of the website “Bulgarian History” are among the authors of the book “The History of Bulgaria in 100 Individuals”. For the BNT morning programme “The Day Begins” they explained that the selection of the personalities presented in the book was subject to lengthy debates.

The initial list included 300 names, but later the authors and the publishers decided to reduce it to 100. According to Mario Mishev, it is difficult to say whether this is the right selection of names, because Bulgaria has a rich history. Mario noted that the book included the most significant and interesting figures in the Bulgarian history as seen from the authors’ perspective. Ivan Kanchev added that there might be some controversial personalities.

“The richness of the book lies in the lack of experience in professional writing”, says the publisher “because the young authors present the personalities in their own way”.

Ivan Kanchev said he never thought that at the age of 20- 21, which is the authors’ age, they would engage with such a project, but the publisher encouraged them to write the way they wrote on the website: by using easy to understand language to make the book interesting for children and people who do not have special interest in history.

“Among the characters of the book is Lui Ayer. He is a Swiss, who came to Bulgaria after the Liberation and was the founder of Bulgarian sports. He died in the battle of Dojran. The story of his life is impressive and a very few Bulgarians are aware of him”, Mario Mishev explained. The authors included his name in the list of 100, together with Bulgarian national heroes like Vasil Levski and Hristo Botev.

Ivan Kanchev mentioned another individual - Mihail Savov, which has generated controversy and arguments between the authors, because some historians describe him as the person mainly responsible for the outburst of the Second Balkan War.

Kanchev added that him and his colleagues eventually decided to include Mihail Savov in the book, because after a more profound research they found that Savov, if it could be said so, was “the father” of the Bulgarian army and thanks to him the army achieved considerable success during the Balkan War, said the young historian.

“We have tried to trace personalities from VII century to present days, including Todor Zhivkov, although we may be too young to write about him”, remarked Mario Mishev. “Georgi Dimitrov is also included in the list of 100“, added Ivan Kanchev. “At the end of the day these are people who cannot be overlooked and forgotten”, he said.