In the early 18th century the decay of the Turkish military and feudal system was substantially exacerbated. The military defeats of the Empire in a sequence of wars against Russia, Austria and the European coalitions shook the foundations of the Ottoman state vigorously. This served as an impetus for the development of the industry and the urban economy in the Bulgarian lands. The Bulgarian bourgeoisie, which was the vehicle of the economic progress in the epoch of the Revival, was the first to grasp the historical need for new ideas that would promote the national upsurge of the Bulgarians.

The formation of the Bulgarian nation and the development of Bulgarian education started in the beginning of the 18th century. One impetus for this was the work of the monk Paissiy of Hilendar “History of Slavs and Bulgarians”, written in 1762. This remarkable work served its historical purpose, to become the first national programme for political and spiritual emancipation of the Bulgarians.

A powerful manifestation of the Bulgarian nation in the 19th century was the struggle for ecclesiastic independence from the Greek Patriarchate. This struggle is considered as the second integral part of the national liberation movement. The ideas of national freedom led to the establishing of an autonomous Bulgarian national Church and to the flourishing of education and culture. Some of the key figures during the Bulgarian National Revival were Zachary Zograph, Nikolay Pavlovich, Stanislav Dospevski , and many others. That period marked also the beginning of the first amateur theatre performances.

In the middle of the 19th century the Bulgarian nation had already acquired political and economic self-confidence. It could not stand the constraints of a foreign state power, which despite the halfway reforms, was heading for destruction.

revolutionary movement for liberation from Ottoman domination is associated with the work of Georgi Sava Rakovski /1821-1867/ , a prominent writer and journalist, freedom fighter, founder and ideologist of the national liberal liberation movement.

This period of armed struggle was a natural preparation for the new stage in the course of the national revolution through creation of a revolutionary organisation. The activity of this organisation was most directly associated with the colossi of the political and armed struggle at the time of Bulgarian National Revival, Lyuben Karavelov /1834-1879/ , writer and journalist, leader and ideologist of the movement, Vasil Levski /1837–1873/, strategist and ideologist of the movement and national hero, and Hristo Botev /1848-1876/, poet and journalist, revolutionary, democrat and national hero.

The highest period in the armed struggle against Ottoman Empire was the April uprising of 1876, the first significant and organised attempt at liberation from Ottoman domination. Ill prepared and organised, the April Uprising was predestined to fail. Despite that it was the culmination of the Bulgarian National revolution, aimed not only at the political liberation of the Bulgarian nation, but at its social and economic emancipation as well. The uprising was brutally crushed and drowned in blood, but it drew the attention of the European countries to the Bulgarian national issues.

The Liberation came as a result of the victory of Russia over Turkey in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. On the 3rd of March 1878 a preliminary peace treaty was signed between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the Constantinople suburb of San Stefano. The Bulgarian State was restored, but national unity was not achieved. Bulgaria reacquired its own position on the political map of Europe, but still some of the territories, inhabited by Bulgarians remained under Turks or within the borders of the neighbouring countries. The former Bulgarian territories were divided into three: the Principality of Bulgaria was proclaimed, with Prince Alexander Battenberg at its head, Eastern Rumelia, with a Christian Governor appointed by the Sultan, while Thrace and Macedonia remained under the domination of the Ottoman Empire.