This is a solid summary, but it needs one more layer of perspective.
One of my country’s most revered revolutionaries and freedom fighters, Vasil Levski, said this shortly before he was captured and executed by the Ottomans:
“Whoever liberates us will later enslave us.”
(rough translation from Bulgarian)
The context matters. After nearly 500 years of Ottoman rule, Bulgarians repeatedly tried and failed to free themselves by their own means. Exhausted by the long struggle, many began to pin their hopes on Russia, seen as a brother nation that might one day wage war against the Ottoman Empire and liberate us.
Levski warned that this would be a double-edged sword. He pushed instead for a self-organized national uprising, independent of foreign saviors. The revolutionary network was impressively disciplined and secretive, but when the moment came, much of the population failed to answer the call to arms. The uprising was crushed brutally. Entire villages were erased. Tens of thousands were slaughtered, including women and children.
That bloodshed provided the justification Russia needed to enter the war.
Two years later, the Third Bulgarian Kingdom was established - nearly five centuries after the fall of the Second. People celebrated. Russian soldiers were hailed as heroes. The Russian tsar was crowned “The Liberator.” To this day, large parts of central Sofia are named after Russians.
And yet Levski’s warning proved painfully accurate.
Bulgaria remained under Russian occupation for a time, and the post-liberation state was heavily shaped by Russian interests. Later, the Soviets took over outright, turning Bulgaria into a de facto satellite of the USSR. Even the collapse of the Soviet Union didn’t free us from that influence.
So the lesson is simple and uncomfortable: be very careful who packs your parachute. The alternative may look attractive, even righteous, for a while - until it quietly turns into the same thing you were supposed to be escaping from.
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