WEBVTT

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I want you to picture a map, not the digital

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kind you have on your phone, but one of those

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really old hand -drawn maps from the 19th century.

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Oh, right, like the ones with the thick parchment

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and the heavy ink lines. Exactly, thick parchment.

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Imagine a group of men in suits and military

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uniforms, and they're sitting in a really gilded,

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fancy room in Berlin. They've got a ruler and

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a red pen. A very dangerous combination. Yeah,

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right. So they lay the ruler down, they draw

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this perfectly straight line right through the

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middle of a country, and they just say, there,

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done. And just like that, you have millions of

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people who... Who genuinely thought they were

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free suddenly being told, actually, no, you're

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back under the empire. It's wild to think about

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because, OK, it's August 29, 1878. We are in

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Veliko Tarnovo, which is this old medieval capital

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of Bulgaria. Right. And it's hot. It's dusty.

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And the air is just it's absolutely electric

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with tension because that little red line on

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the map, it just cut families completely in half.

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Separated the north from the south just like

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that. Exactly. And right in the middle of this

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massive shock, there's a group of patriots who

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decide they're absolutely not going to accept

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it. They refuse. Right. So they form an organization

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and they give it this deceptively boring name,

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the Unity Committee, or in Bulgarian. I mean,

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it really sounds like a homeowners association,

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doesn't it? The Unity Committee. It really does.

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But make no mistake, this was a revolutionary

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cell. This was a literal conspiracy to undo the

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work of the most powerful empires on Earth at

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the time. Which is exactly why today we are doing

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a deep dive into the Unity Committee of 1878.

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We are going to unpack how poets, revolutionaries

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and future prime ministers tried to rewrite history

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while the ink on that treaty was. practically

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still wet it's such an incredible story and to

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do this we're looking through a really solid

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stack of historical records some pretty deep

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cuts regarding the modern history of bulgaria

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encyclopedic entries yeah especially those focusing

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on the macedonian question right Exactly. And

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our mission today is to figure out the actual

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mechanics of resistance. Like when the whole

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world says you don't exist, how do you organize

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to prove them wrong? Right. And for you listening,

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you might be wondering, why should you care about

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some committee in the Balkans from 150 years

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ago? Fair question. But because this is the ultimate

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underdog story. It's a classic case study of

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what happens when massive geopolitical treaties

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just completely... crash into the real lives

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of people on the ground. It's about that exact

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moment people stop waiting for a savior and decide

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to just save themselves. Exactly. So to understand

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the unity committee, though, we really have to

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understand the trauma that created it in the

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first place. We do. We have to talk about what

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I like to call the tale of two treaties. Oh,

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right. The whole good cop, bad cop situation

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of 1878. So we start with the Treaty of San Stefano.

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This is the good cop for the Bulgarians. Oh,

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absolutely. So context here. It's March 1878.

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The Russo -Turkish War ends. Russia wins. And

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they basically dictate a treaty that creates

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what is known as San Stefano, Bulgaria. And it

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was massive. How massive are we talking? Huge.

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It covered the Danube Plain, the Thracian Valley,

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and almost the entirety of Macedonia. I mean,

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it was literally the dream of national unification

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realized on paper. So the champagne bottles were

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popping. Oh, everywhere. People really thought

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the 500 -year struggle against Ottoman rule was

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finally over. 500 years. That's generations of

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waiting. Exactly. They thought they were finally

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free for about three months. Three months. Wow.

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And then here comes the bad cop, the Congress

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of Berlin. Right. So Britain and Austria -Hungary,

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they look at this big map of San Stefano, Bulgaria,

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and they absolutely panic. Because it's too big.

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Because they see this giant Russian puppet state

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nominating the Balkans. And strategically, they

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just cannot let that stand. So they convene in

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Berlin and they essentially perform surgery on

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the map. I mean, surgery is a very polite way

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to put it based on the sources. It sounds a lot

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more like a like an amputation. It effectively

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was an amputation. They took the country and

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sliced it into three parts. Okay. Break that

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down for us. So the north becomes the principality

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of Bulgaria. That's mostly free, but they're

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still paying tribute. All right. Then the middle

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section becomes Eastern Rumelia. That's an autonomous

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province, but it is still under the direct control

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of the sultan. Right. And then the south, which

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is Macedonia and Thrace. That is given straight

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back to the Ottoman Empire. No autonomy, no special

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privileges. just given back. And that right there,

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that is the wretched condition that our source

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materials keep talking about. Yes, exactly. I

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really want to dig into that specific phrase

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because the records from the Unity Committee

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explicitly state their goal was, and I'm quoting

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here, helping to improve the wretched condition

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of Bulgarians remaining outside the bounds of

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Danube, Bulgaria. That is just incredibly heavy.

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It's heartbreaking when you think about the human

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element. Imagine you're living in a village in

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Macedonia. In March, You're told you are finally

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free. The Ottoman troops pack up. They leave.

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You celebrate in the streets. You think your

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life has fundamentally changed. And then in July,

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the news comes down the mountain. Sorry, the

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great power has changed their minds. Yeah, the

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Ottoman army is coming back. The psychological

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whiplash there must have been completely insane.

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I mean, you go from being a citizen of a new

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free country back to being a subject of an empire

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in the blink of an eye. And it wasn't just about

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what flag was flying over the town hall. It was

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about physical safety. Right, because the source

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material really highlights the fear of reprisals,

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doesn't it? Exactly. These populations had just

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openly celebrated the empire's defeat. Now they

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were exposed. They were vulnerable and legally

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they were completely isolated from their brothers

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up in the north. That deep sinking feeling of

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being less behind. Yes. That feeling is the exact

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fuel that powers the unity committee. OK. So

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the Treaty of Berlin is signed in July 1878.

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The shockwave hits everyone. But before we get

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to Tarnovo and the committee itself, there's

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actually a sort of prequel scene in Sophia, isn't

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there? There is, and it's a really critical detail

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from the records because it shows the evolution

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of their strategy. Walk us through it. So, in

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the summer of 1878, right as the really bad news

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from Berlin is breaking, a group of leading Bulgarians

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from Macedonia gather in Sofia. And who are these

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people specifically? These are the refugees who

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had fled the fighting, the intellectuals, the

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community leaders, the people who had the most

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to lose. And initially... They aren't actually

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talking about guns or violence, are they? No,

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not at all. They're talking about diplomacy.

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They are drafting petitions. They're sitting

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in rooms thinking, surely if we just clearly

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explain to the great powers that this division

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is a terrible mistake, they'll fix it. They really

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wanted to secure a diplomatic revision of the

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Berlin Treaty through the proper channels. I

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feel like I know exactly how that went. About

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as well as you'd expect when dealing with 19th

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century empires. Yeah. The great powers had just

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spent months in grueling negotiations to cut

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this exact deal. They certainly weren't going

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to tear it up because of a few grassroots petitions

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from Sofia. And this right here is the aha moment

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for them. The group in Sofia realizes pretty

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quickly that diplomacy is a total dead end. It

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really is. Desperation has a way of clarifying

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things. Yeah. The sources actually note that

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they concluded it was necessary to, again, quoting

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here, organize a massive armed uprising, which

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is a huge pivot. It's a massive escalation. You

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don't just go from writing polite letters to

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planning a full -blown insurrection unless something

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fundamentally snaps. Well, they realized that

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nobody was coming to save them. If the map was

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going to change, they were going to have to change

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it themselves on the ground with physical force.

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And that specific idea, that spark? Travels from

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Sofia over to Veliko Tarnovo. Exactly. But why

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Tarnovo? I mean, why not just stay in Sofia and

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plan it there? A couple of reasons. Tarnovo has

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this immense symbolic weight. It's the ancient

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medieval capital. Oh, right. But maybe more practically,

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the Russian Provisional Administration was centered

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there at the time. So it was this massive hub

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of political and military activity. And crucially,

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it's where three... Very specific, very dangerous

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men happen to be at that exact moment. Yes. Let's

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talk about this lineup, the founding fathers

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of this committee. Our source stack lists Lubin

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Karvalov, Stefan Stambalov, and Hristo Ivanov,

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who is known as Galenya. These are not just random

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guys off the street. Oh, not at all. This is

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basically a revolutionary supergroup. Let's break

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them down. Start with Lubin Karavelov. So Karavelov

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is the older statesman of the revolution. He's

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a writer, a journalist. He had spent decades

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living in exile, constantly writing, trying to

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wake up the Bulgarian national consciousness.

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So he's really the soul of the operation. Exactly.

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He provides the intellectual foundation. But

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then you have Stambolov. And Stambolov is...

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Well, he's a completely different breed. Stambalov

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is pure energy. He is young. He's incredibly

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ambitious. And frankly, he's ruthless. I mean,

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later in history, he actually becomes known as

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the Bulgarian Bismarck, right? He does. But at

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this point in 1878, he is just this firebrand

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revolutionary who believes in action above absolutely

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everything else. If Karavelov is the soul, Stambalov

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is the muscle and the brain combined. And then

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the third guy, Christo Ivanov. Yeah. Known as

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The Big. Yes, Galimia. The Big, he is your veteran

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conspirator. What does that mean in practice?

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It means he's the guy who actually knows how

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to hide weapons. He knows how to move people

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across borders in the dead of night. He knows

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how to survive entirely underground. So you have

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the writer, the politician, and the operator.

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Right. Honestly. That sounds like the cast of

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a heist movie. It really plays out like one.

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So these three, they meet on August 29th, 1878.

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They draft what they call the Constitutive Protocol,

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and they actively choose that name. At Instavo,

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unity. Which we joked earlier sounds super bureaucratic.

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But let's really unpack the subtext there. Why

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the word unity specifically? Because the Treaty

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of Berlin preached division. The treaty literally

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dictated you are now three separate entities.

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So by calling themselves unity, they were committing

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this profoundly linguistic act of rebellion.

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They were telling the great powers, we reject

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your borders. We are one. It's a direct, undeniable

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challenge to the international order of the day.

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It's saying, look. Your paper says we are divided,

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but our daily reality says we are united. Precisely.

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And if you look at the stated objective in their

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founding document, unity of all Bulgarians and

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their wellness today, it wasn't just abstract

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philosophy. Right, because wellness today meant

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something very specific. It meant immediate humanitarian

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aid for the thousands of refugees pouring over

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the new borders. But quietly, it also meant preparing

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the ground for the fight. OK, so they have the

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name, they have the leaders, they have the motivation.

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But a committee sitting in a room in Tarnovo

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doesn't actually change a map. How do they scale

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this up? Because the sources talk about a whole

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network. This is where Stambolov's absolute genius

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for organization shines through. They realized

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immediately they didn't want a single local club.

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They wanted a franchise. A franchise. Yes. They

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created this blueprint for Edenspo committees

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and they sent emissaries out to every single

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major town in North Bulgaria. So it's almost

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like a revolutionary pyramid scheme. In a way,

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yes. The pitch was basically start a committee

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in your town. Recruit five trusted patriots and

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start sending money and supplies back to the

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center. That's incredibly effective. It was.

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But then they did something even riskier. They

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didn't just stay in the safe zone. They actively

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expanded the network south into eastern Rumelia,

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that semi -autonomous zone. And then, crucially,

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they pushed operatives deep into Macedonia. Let's

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talk about the physical logistics of that. We're

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talking about crossing directly back into the

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Ottoman Empire. This isn't an open, friendly

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border. No, this is a highly militarized, hostile

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border. We really have to visualize what this

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took. They are smuggling heavy wooden crates

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of rifles. They are smuggling black powder. Just

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slipping past the guards. Exactly. And they are

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sending volunteers, many of whom are battle -hardened

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veterans from the recent war. They're dressing

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them up as pezzers or traveling merchants and

00:12:26.549 --> 00:12:28.710
having them slip through these treacherous mountain

00:12:28.710 --> 00:12:32.029
passes into Macedonia just to set up local s***.

00:12:31.980 --> 00:12:34.059
sleeper cells. It's essentially a shadow government

00:12:34.059 --> 00:12:36.500
operating in plain sight. That is exactly what

00:12:36.500 --> 00:12:39.200
it was. The unity committee became a state within

00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:41.820
a state. Up in the north, they were throwing

00:12:41.820 --> 00:12:44.279
banquets and raising money completely openly.

00:12:44.659 --> 00:12:47.620
But down in the south, they were a clandestine

00:12:47.620 --> 00:12:50.799
paramilitary organization. Bridging the exact

00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:53.279
gap that the Berlin Treaty tried to create. Yes.

00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:55.759
But the goal of all this fundraising and smuggling

00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:57.340
wasn't just to have more committee meetings.

00:12:57.500 --> 00:13:01.110
The ultimate goal was physical violence. Organized

00:13:01.110 --> 00:13:03.629
strategic violence, yes. The source material

00:13:03.629 --> 00:13:06.269
is very blunt about this fact. The formation

00:13:06.269 --> 00:13:08.669
of the committee in Tarnovo led directly to the

00:13:08.669 --> 00:13:10.690
organization of the Kresna -Raslog uprising.

00:13:10.970 --> 00:13:12.529
Okay, let's connect those dots for the listener.

00:13:12.690 --> 00:13:16.250
The committee forms in late August 1878. When

00:13:16.250 --> 00:13:19.820
does the uprising actually trigger? October 1878.

00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:22.340
Wait, October. That is incredibly fast. It is

00:13:22.340 --> 00:13:24.639
remarkably fast. That's barely two months from

00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:27.100
let's sit down and form a committee to let's

00:13:27.100 --> 00:13:29.320
start a shooting war against an empire. It really

00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:31.779
speaks to the sheer amount of pent up anger we

00:13:31.779 --> 00:13:34.019
talked about earlier. The Odinstvo committee

00:13:34.019 --> 00:13:36.620
provided the high level leadership, the strategy

00:13:36.620 --> 00:13:39.480
and the physical supplies. But the local populations

00:13:39.480 --> 00:13:42.580
provided the manpower. They were already primed

00:13:42.580 --> 00:13:44.720
and ready to fight. So tell us about the uprising

00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:48.000
itself. The Kresna -Raslog uprising. What was

00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:51.220
the tactical plan? The plan was to ignite a fierce

00:13:51.220 --> 00:13:53.779
rebellion right in the Struma Valley down in

00:13:53.779 --> 00:13:56.539
Macedonia. And the hope was that it would be

00:13:56.539 --> 00:13:59.340
so successful or at the very least so loud and

00:13:59.340 --> 00:14:02.240
disruptive. that the great powers would be forced

00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:04.659
to actually look at the map again. Right. They

00:14:04.659 --> 00:14:06.799
wanted to prove to London and Vienna that the

00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:09.259
Berlin Treaty was fundamentally unenforceable

00:14:09.259 --> 00:14:11.340
on the ground. So it was essentially a violently

00:14:11.340 --> 00:14:13.620
loud cry for international attention. Exactly,

00:14:13.740 --> 00:14:15.759
a violent cry for attention. The Unity Committee

00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:18.279
sent armed detachments of volunteers down from

00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:20.720
the free areas of Bulgaria to physically join

00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:23.100
up with the local insurgents. And they went to

00:14:23.100 --> 00:14:25.879
work. They attacked Ottoman military garrisons.

00:14:26.139 --> 00:14:28.220
And did they actually win any ground? For a brief

00:14:28.220 --> 00:14:31.500
moment, yes. managed to liberate several villages

00:14:31.500 --> 00:14:34.440
in the region. But the odds, I mean, just looking

00:14:34.440 --> 00:14:36.700
at the geopolitical map, the Ottoman Empire is

00:14:36.700 --> 00:14:39.799
still a giant professional military machine.

00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:43.799
And this is a grassroots network armed with smuggled

00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:46.700
rifles and righteous anger. The odds were terrible,

00:14:46.820 --> 00:14:49.620
just objectively terrible. And frankly, the leaders

00:14:49.620 --> 00:14:51.720
of the unity committee knew that going in. They

00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:53.799
had to know. But they were operating on this

00:14:53.799 --> 00:14:58.429
pure logic of liberty or death. They firmly believe

00:14:58.429 --> 00:15:01.190
that even a failed uprising was better for the

00:15:01.190 --> 00:15:04.330
national soul than just silently accepting the

00:15:04.330 --> 00:15:06.169
division. It's interesting, too, because the

00:15:06.169 --> 00:15:08.250
source material mentions the uprising covering

00:15:08.250 --> 00:15:11.970
the timeline of 1878 to 1879. So this wasn't

00:15:11.970 --> 00:15:14.289
just a quick weekend skirmish that got put down

00:15:14.289 --> 00:15:16.850
immediately. No, they held out. It dragged on

00:15:16.850 --> 00:15:18.789
through the winter, which, if you know anything

00:15:18.789 --> 00:15:21.049
about the Balkan Mountains, is an absolute logistical

00:15:21.049 --> 00:15:23.809
nightmare. Freezing cold, no supply lines. Exactly.

00:15:26.509 --> 00:15:29.009
to funnel supplies down through the snow, but

00:15:29.009 --> 00:15:31.850
eventually the sheer geopolitical reality just

00:15:31.850 --> 00:15:35.029
crushed them. Russia refused to intervene. They

00:15:35.029 --> 00:15:37.990
didn't want to start another war. Exactly. Britain

00:15:37.990 --> 00:15:40.690
and Austria -Hungary didn't budge an inch. And

00:15:40.690 --> 00:15:43.690
so the Ottoman army moved in and suppressed the

00:15:43.690 --> 00:15:47.129
rebellion brutally. So on paper, if we're just

00:15:47.129 --> 00:15:49.370
looking at the immediate results, they failed.

00:15:49.490 --> 00:15:51.889
The borders didn't change at all. Macedonia remained

00:15:51.889 --> 00:15:54.580
under Ottoman control. In the strict immediate

00:15:54.580 --> 00:15:57.600
sense, yes, it was a military failure. The political

00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:00.600
unity they wanted simply wasn't achieved. But

00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:03.000
history isn't just about immediate wins and losses

00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:05.120
on a ledger. I mean, we are sitting here talking

00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:08.019
about this nearly 150 years later. So what was

00:16:08.019 --> 00:16:11.279
the actual lasting legacy of the Unity Committee?

00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:14.159
The legacy is the creation of the Macedonian

00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:16.840
question itself. Expand on that. Well, before

00:16:16.840 --> 00:16:19.039
this committee, before the Kresna -Raslog uprising,

00:16:19.299 --> 00:16:21.179
there was a lot of chaotic anger and confusion.

00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:24.039
But the unity committee crystallized the struggle.

00:16:24.179 --> 00:16:25.899
They took that anger and gave it a structure.

00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:28.899
They essentially established the exact organizational

00:16:28.899 --> 00:16:31.820
model for the next 50 years of Balkan history.

00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:34.059
They wrote the playbook. They absolutely did.

00:16:34.139 --> 00:16:37.039
If you look at all the later... much more famous

00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:39.960
revolutionary organizations in the balkans like

00:16:39.960 --> 00:16:43.879
the vmro for example they are the direct spiritual

00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:46.399
descendants of edinstbo using the exact same

00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:48.860
methods exactly local secret committees underground

00:16:48.860 --> 00:16:52.059
communication networks cross -border paramilitary

00:16:52.059 --> 00:16:55.820
raids stambalov and karabalov proved beyond a

00:16:55.820 --> 00:16:58.360
doubt that you could organize a nation even when

00:16:58.360 --> 00:17:00.360
that nation is legally divided by international

00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:03.039
borders. It also seems like it really cemented

00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:05.579
the role of the free Bulgarian state as the permanent

00:17:05.579 --> 00:17:08.200
base of operations. This whole idea that if you

00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:11.119
were a Bulgarian trapped in Macedonia, your eyes

00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:13.819
automatically turn north to Sofia or Tarnovo

00:17:13.819 --> 00:17:15.799
for salvation. You hit the nail on the head.

00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:18.740
It created a permanent, unbreakable link. It

00:17:18.740 --> 00:17:21.440
made the fate of Macedonia a central, unavoidable

00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:24.019
pillar of Bulgarian domestic politics. You couldn't

00:17:24.019 --> 00:17:26.539
ignore it. No, you literally couldn't be a politician

00:17:26.539 --> 00:17:29.420
in Bulgaria for the next entire century without

00:17:29.420 --> 00:17:31.779
having a very clear stance on the national question.

00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:34.619
And that intense national obsession, it all starts

00:17:34.619 --> 00:17:37.099
right there in that dusty room in Tarnovo in

00:17:37.099 --> 00:17:40.480
August 1878. It is just fascinating how three

00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:44.329
men sitting in a room. can set a definitive trajectory

00:17:44.329 --> 00:17:47.970
for a century of conflict. It really is. And

00:17:47.970 --> 00:17:50.029
it brings us all the way back to that one word,

00:17:50.230 --> 00:17:54.130
id inspo, unity. It's such a powerful and honestly

00:17:54.130 --> 00:17:57.410
such a dangerous concept to empires. Right. When

00:17:57.410 --> 00:17:59.450
you tell people they inherently belong together,

00:17:59.569 --> 00:18:01.869
but the international law artificially keeps

00:18:01.869 --> 00:18:05.710
them apart, you are just building a massive pressure

00:18:05.710 --> 00:18:08.849
cooker. The Unity Committee was simply the safety

00:18:08.849 --> 00:18:10.930
valve blowing off. I really want to zoom out

00:18:10.930 --> 00:18:13.190
for a second here at the end. We started this

00:18:13.190 --> 00:18:15.769
whole deep dive by picturing a map, the great

00:18:15.769 --> 00:18:18.210
powers sitting in Berlin, drawing their neat

00:18:18.210 --> 00:18:21.289
little lines, and the Unity Committee doing everything

00:18:21.289 --> 00:18:24.180
in their power power to erase them. What do you

00:18:24.180 --> 00:18:26.480
think this whole story tells us about the fundamental

00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:28.900
nature of borders? I think it tells us that borders

00:18:28.900 --> 00:18:32.039
are entirely artificial constructs. We have this

00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:34.440
tendency today to treat them as permanent facts

00:18:34.440 --> 00:18:36.519
of nature, you know, like they're rivers or mountain

00:18:36.519 --> 00:18:38.099
ranges. Right, like they've always been there.

00:18:38.220 --> 00:18:40.599
Exactly. But the Unity Committee reminds us that

00:18:40.599 --> 00:18:42.519
borders are really just temporary agreements

00:18:42.519 --> 00:18:45.160
between powerful people. And when those political

00:18:45.160 --> 00:18:47.779
agreements completely ignore the actual reality

00:18:47.779 --> 00:18:50.400
of the people living on the ground, their culture,

00:18:51.099 --> 00:18:53.559
their family ties their deep sense of identity

00:18:53.559 --> 00:18:57.799
those borders will always always be unstable

00:18:57.799 --> 00:19:00.359
the match is not the territory perfectly said

00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:03.440
the map in berlin said ottoman empire but the

00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:06.049
people living in the territory said Bulgaria.

00:19:06.430 --> 00:19:09.289
And the unity committee was the physical fighting

00:19:09.289 --> 00:19:12.609
bridge between those two completely incompatible

00:19:12.609 --> 00:19:14.509
realities. It really makes you think about other

00:19:14.509 --> 00:19:16.710
places in the world, even right now today. Whenever

00:19:16.710 --> 00:19:19.190
a line is drawn by a distant government that

00:19:19.190 --> 00:19:21.349
arbitrarily cuts through a living community,

00:19:21.529 --> 00:19:24.490
do we see a unity committee inevitably pop up?

00:19:24.589 --> 00:19:26.730
Almost always. Maybe it has a completely different

00:19:26.730 --> 00:19:28.490
name. Maybe they're speaking a different language.

00:19:28.690 --> 00:19:31.349
But the underlying human mechanism is exactly

00:19:31.349 --> 00:19:35.440
the same. It is a universal human reaction. As

00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:37.839
long as political geography decides to ignore

00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:40.700
human geography, you are going to have unity

00:19:40.700 --> 00:19:42.960
committees. You will always have people smuggling

00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:45.259
notes, holding secret meetings in basements,

00:19:45.299 --> 00:19:48.359
and flat out refusing to accept the ink on the

00:19:48.359 --> 00:19:50.839
paper. So for everyone listening, the next time

00:19:50.839 --> 00:19:53.160
you look at a globe and you see all those neat,

00:19:53.259 --> 00:19:55.279
tidy, colorful lines separating the countries,

00:19:55.420 --> 00:19:59.200
I want you to remember the Lico Tarnovo. Remember

00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:02.740
Stambalov, Karavalov, and Ivanov. And remember

00:20:02.740 --> 00:20:05.000
that behind pretty much every stable border on

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:07.660
Earth, there is usually a very messy history

00:20:07.660 --> 00:20:10.119
of people who fought desperately to move it.

00:20:10.200 --> 00:20:12.480
And sometimes all that fighting starts with something

00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:14.759
as simple and boring as a committee meeting.

00:20:14.920 --> 00:20:17.140
A committee meeting with a very boring name and

00:20:17.140 --> 00:20:20.440
a very, very revolutionary purpose. Well, that's

00:20:20.440 --> 00:20:22.339
all the time we have for this deep dive into

00:20:22.339 --> 00:20:25.140
the Unity Committee of 1878. thanks so much for

00:20:25.140 --> 00:20:27.059
listening it was a real pleasure to be here keep

00:20:27.059 --> 00:20:28.839
questioning the map we'll catch you on the next

00:20:28.839 --> 00:20:29.000
one