{"id":1025,"date":"2010-01-01T08:21:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-01T06:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/?p=1025"},"modified":"2026-07-16T19:33:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T17:33:16","slug":"on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/","title":{"rendered":"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 21"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every day in Bulgarian history holds a story worth remembering. In this recurring series, <strong>On This Day in Bulgaria<\/strong>, we look back at notable events, decisions, and milestones that happened on this date across the country&#8217;s history.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>August 21, 1877 &#8212; The Battle of Shipka Pass: Peak Fighting<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Ottoman forces under Suleiman Pasha launched their most concentrated assault on the Shipka Pass, opening the climactic phase of the battle that would become central to Bulgaria&#8217;s national story. Bulgarian volunteers and Russian troops &#8212; massively outnumbered &#8212; fought off wave after wave of attacks on the mountain summit. The defenders held on through extraordinary courage, and the pass never fell to the Ottomans. The Shipka Monument, raised on the peak in 1934, still commemorates their sacrifice.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>August 21, 1991 &#8212; Bulgaria Responds to the Soviet Coup<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>As a coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapsed in Moscow, Bulgaria&#8217;s government and president Zhelyu Zhelev welcomed the failure of the hardliners. Bulgaria&#8217;s democratic transition, which had been progressing carefully since 1989, was given a decisive boost by the coup&#8217;s defeat &#8212; removing the last serious prospect of a reversal of reform in the Soviet bloc.<\/p>\n<p>Explore more of Bulgaria&#8217;s story on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/\">Bronicable<\/a><\/strong>, including our <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/category\/from-above\/\">Bulgaria From Above<\/a><\/strong> series and our guides to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/category\/bulgaria\/\">the best of Bulgaria<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On this day in Bulgarian history: the climactic Battle of Shipka Pass raged in 1877, and Bulgaria welcomed the failure of the Moscow coup attempt in 1991.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":914,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-this-day-in-bulgaria","latest_post"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>On This Day in Bulgaria: August 21 History<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On this day in Bulgaria, August 21: the climactic Battle of Shipka Pass in 1877, and Bulgaria welcomed the failure of the Moscow coup in 1991.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 21 History\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On this day in Bulgaria, August 21: the climactic Battle of Shipka Pass in 1877, and Bulgaria welcomed the failure of the Moscow coup in 1991.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BRONICABLE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-01T06:21:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-16T17:33:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/tsarevets-fortress-veliko-tarnovo-cc-by-sa.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"4318\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1840\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"bronic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"bronic\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"bronic\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/67e3ae78e8122c37cbfd42a4258de1be\"},\"headline\":\"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 21\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-01T06:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-16T17:33:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":213,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/tsarevets-fortress-veliko-tarnovo-cc-by-sa.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"On This Day in Bulgaria\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\\\/\",\"name\":\"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 21 History\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/tsarevets-fortress-veliko-tarnovo-cc-by-sa.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-01T06:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-16T17:33:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"On this day in Bulgaria, August 21: the climactic Battle of Shipka Pass in 1877, and Bulgaria welcomed the failure of the Moscow coup in 1991.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/tsarevets-fortress-veliko-tarnovo-cc-by-sa.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/tsarevets-fortress-veliko-tarnovo-cc-by-sa.jpg\",\"width\":4318,\"height\":1840,\"caption\":\"Tsarevets Fortress, Veliko Tarnovo. Photo: Infobgv, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\\\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 21\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"BRONICABLE\",\"description\":\"Discover Bulgaria &amp; Beyond\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"BRONICABLE\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/cropped-Color-logo-no-background.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/cropped-Color-logo-no-background.png\",\"width\":3181,\"height\":1291,\"caption\":\"BRONICABLE\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/67e3ae78e8122c37cbfd42a4258de1be\",\"name\":\"bronic\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/25ff1fede0383d75d30524398c544fe9b3d552bf220106f6c6dcbf4381ee2070?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/25ff1fede0383d75d30524398c544fe9b3d552bf220106f6c6dcbf4381ee2070?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/25ff1fede0383d75d30524398c544fe9b3d552bf220106f6c6dcbf4381ee2070?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"bronic\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bronicable.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/bronic\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 21 History","description":"On this day in Bulgaria, August 21: the climactic Battle of Shipka Pass in 1877, and Bulgaria welcomed the failure of the Moscow coup in 1991.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 21 History","og_description":"On this day in Bulgaria, August 21: the climactic Battle of Shipka Pass in 1877, and Bulgaria welcomed the failure of the Moscow coup in 1991.","og_url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/","og_site_name":"BRONICABLE","article_published_time":"2010-01-01T06:21:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-16T17:33:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":4318,"height":1840,"url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/tsarevets-fortress-veliko-tarnovo-cc-by-sa.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"bronic","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"bronic","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/"},"author":{"name":"bronic","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/67e3ae78e8122c37cbfd42a4258de1be"},"headline":"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 21","datePublished":"2010-01-01T06:21:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-16T17:33:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/"},"wordCount":213,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/tsarevets-fortress-veliko-tarnovo-cc-by-sa.jpg","articleSection":["On This Day in Bulgaria"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/","url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/","name":"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 21 History","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/tsarevets-fortress-veliko-tarnovo-cc-by-sa.jpg","datePublished":"2010-01-01T06:21:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-16T17:33:16+00:00","description":"On this day in Bulgaria, August 21: the climactic Battle of Shipka Pass in 1877, and Bulgaria welcomed the failure of the Moscow coup in 1991.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/tsarevets-fortress-veliko-tarnovo-cc-by-sa.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/tsarevets-fortress-veliko-tarnovo-cc-by-sa.jpg","width":4318,"height":1840,"caption":"Tsarevets Fortress, Veliko Tarnovo. Photo: Infobgv, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-august-21\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"On This Day in Bulgaria: August 21"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/","name":"BRONICABLE","description":"Discover Bulgaria &amp; Beyond","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#organization","name":"BRONICABLE","url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-Color-logo-no-background.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-Color-logo-no-background.png","width":3181,"height":1291,"caption":"BRONICABLE"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/67e3ae78e8122c37cbfd42a4258de1be","name":"bronic","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25ff1fede0383d75d30524398c544fe9b3d552bf220106f6c6dcbf4381ee2070?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25ff1fede0383d75d30524398c544fe9b3d552bf220106f6c6dcbf4381ee2070?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25ff1fede0383d75d30524398c544fe9b3d552bf220106f6c6dcbf4381ee2070?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"bronic"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en"],"url":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/author\/bronic\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1026,"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions\/1026"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}