How Much Did You Know About Bulgaria And How Much An American Had To Do With That Country's Liberation
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Could an American from Ohio Have Been Among the Liberators of Bulgaria?
If you drive on state route 37 through the town of New Lexington in Ohio you will see a sign saying "New Lexington - Near birthplace of Januarius MacGahan - Liberator of Bulgaria". Well America claims to have a lot to do with liberation of many places in the world. But a lot of the stories are from relatively recent history. At least from WWII on, as far as I was educated. Especially places where America (US) had some influence far from it's borders. Also most of the liberation missions were major wars and the success is not easily attributed to one person. Not one person from countryside Ohio.
So it is really surprising for a native Bulgarian to read a sign like that in the middle of Ohio countryside. Well the name (MacGahan) should be know to a Bulgarian who have not skipped history classes or who has some recollection of city street names and town square names in Bulgaria. I have heard the name but obviously was having a sick day when we covered that name in history classes. And would be a little bit surprised if I drove through Ohio and saw that sign. Actually probably many Bulgarians feel that way. You have heard the name, may be studied in history classes, but there is so much emphasis on many other players in the Liberation of Bulgaria, actual countries taking part in the war, generals in the Russian military, insurgents etc. that MacGahan might not be remembered that well.
I am not going to expand much on the whole story in this article but I rather want to offer a reference list to web resources where it says much about the man and his story. A story of how а man who was not even in the military palyed a critical role in the Liberation of a nation with a 12 centuries (then) history.
Web Resources
Januarius MacGahan on Wikipedia
TheViewNow.com and BG-Atlanta.com on the movie Liberators of Bulgaria.
Plament Petkov in Wilkipedia in Bulgarian
Liberators of Bulgaria - Synopsis
http://www.bg-atlanta.com/article106.html
The MacGahan American Bulgarian Foundation
Bulgarian National Radio on The book “American Witness” – Journalist MacGahan’s coverage of Bulgaria
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Angela_1973 says:
4 months ago
That is very interesting hub, you are probably right that most Bulgarians have not heard about MacGahan,I must have had a sick day in my history class too, now that I think about it, was there a street called after him in Sofia?
How I miss the good coffee! :)