The Сeremony of Awarding the Samara Banner to the Bulgarian Militia on May 6, 1877

Abstract

Based on a significant body of published sources, the article recreates the ceremony of awarding the Samara Banner to the 3rd squadron of the Bulgarian militia on May 6, 1877 in Ploiesti. The errors and inaccuracies of the previous historiography in the coverage of this event from the standpoint of a new research paradigm are indicated and explained, the significance of this event is definitely determined. In the early 1950s, Soviet and many Bulgarian historians, mentioning the fact of the presentation of the Samara banner, ignored the ceremony itself. When the report of E. T. Kozhevnikov and P. V. Alabin, dated May 25, 1877, was published in the collection of documents “Liberation of Bulgaria from the Turkish Yoke” (Moscow, 1964), the text about the delegates’ stay in Moscow was cut out, as well as episodes about the reception of the Samara envoys by the Commander-in-Chief, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (the Elder). The silence in the literature about the participation of the Commander-in-Chief in this celebration or its passing mention, as well as the silence about the reverent veneration of the Emperor and his family to the banner that lay on the relics of St. Alexis in the Chudov Monastery, reduced the status of the ritual itself, lowering it to the level of an ordinary regimental event. It was not the head of the Bulgarian militia, Major General N. G. Stoletov, but the commander-in-chief, the brother of the Emperor of Russia, who led the ceremony, which gave it a special solemnity, significance and scale, elevating it to the rank of an international event – the recognition of the Bulgarian militia, the core of the future army of the future Bulgarian state.

Received: 27.05.2024.
Revised: 11.06.2024.
Accepted: 24.09.2024.

Citation
Frolova M. M. The Ceremony of Awarding the Samara Banner to the Bulgarian Militia on May 6, 1877 // Slavic Almanac. 2024. No 3–4. P. 352–375 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31168/2073-5731.2024.3-4.19