Bulgarian Legion

two military units set up in Belgrade in the 1860’s with the consent of the Serbian government by Bulgarian émigrés to fight for the liberation of Bulgaria from the Turkish yoke. The first Bulgarian Legion was founded by G. S. Rakovski in spring 1861 and numbered more than 500 men. V. Levski, P. Khitov, S. Karadzha, Kh. Makedonski, Iliu-voevoda, and others took part in it. The legion was conceived as a nucleus for a future rebel army. It participated in the fight between Serbs and the Turkish garrison in Belgrade in June 1862. After the settlement of the Serbo-Turkish conflict in September 1862 the legion was disbanded. The second Bulgarian Legion was composed of 200 students attending the military school set up in 1867 in Belgrade by Bulgarian émigré organizations; the school trained cadres for future uprisings in Bulgaria. In April 1868 the legion was disbanded by the Serbian government, which was ceasing military preparations against Turkey.