The volunteers at Shipka
"The Militants of Shipka"(also known as "Oh, Shipka!") Is an ode of the classic Bulgarian writer Ivan Vazov.
The work is part of a poetry book "Epic of the Forgotten", dedicated to the heroes of the national liberation struggles and The Revival of Bulgaria in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The ode "The Militants of Shipka" is dedicated to the participation of Bulgarian militants in the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878). It describes the battles at Shipka in August 1877. 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)
- Batak massacre (1876)
- Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC)
- Suleiman Pasha
- Xerxes
- Nikolai Stoletov
- Fyodor Radetzky
"The Resistance of 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.