So when in 1395 the Ottoman army crossed the Danube they succeded in subordinating the Wallachia ruler Mircho. This more or less scares Europe and Hungary above all, which feels itself immediately threatened. Under the pressure of public opinion and with the blessing of pope Bonifius the 9th the Hungarian king Sigizmund started a crusade against the Ottomans. Poland and some parts of the Roman Empire responded to his appeal and knights from many countries gathered. The 60-thousand fold army consisted of chivalrous Hungarian, Polish, English, French and German knights. The Byzantium emperor at that time Manuel II, who at that time driveed back the Turks from Constantinople, laid great hopes on the coming crusade. The same did the ruler of the Vidin kingdom Ivan Sratsimir. In an eventual victory Strasimir saw an opportunity not only to overthrow the Turkish oppressor but also to re-establish the Bulgarian state. In the spring of 1396 the crusaders started from Budapest and following the Danube reach the lands of the Vidin Kingdom. Shedding no blood king Sigismund entered Vidin with the help of Ivan Sratsimir. The Turks were exterminated to the last man and the knights, joined by Bulgarian and Wallachia armies, continued eastwards. The Turkish sultan, however, managed to mobilize all his other armed forces and challenged the Christian soldiers near the town of Nikopol. A major battle was held on September 25th 1396.
The Christians outnumber the Turks, but their actions were uncoordinated and the discipline is lacking. The battle ended in the total defeat of the Christians. King Sigismund fled and after a year returned to his motherland. Sultan Bayazid entered Vidin and captured the last Bulgarian tsar Ivan Sratsimir.

Having fallen under the power of Ottoman Turks, the Bulgarian people managed – despite their unbearable plight, despite massacres, enslavements, forcible converting to Islam – to preserve their own identity. The crippled and faded “historical memory” under the foreign yoke was nevertheless preserved, to be fully restored to life during the National Revival period (from mid 18th through 19th c.) thanks to the activity of hundreds of enlighteners and patriots, headed by Paisiy of Hilendar, the author of the famous “Slav-Bulgarian History”, written in 1763. The epoch of the National Revival was the time when the Bulgarian nation, after having lived for centuries under foreign domination, once again brought to the fore all the rights to independent existence and to free political, public and cultural life. The Bulgarian nation achieved all this through the War of Liberation (1877 - 1878) after which the independent Bulgarian state was reborn.

Written by Konstantin Sabchev
English version: Ivayla Bozhanova