Colonel Boris Drangov (1872–1917)

There are personalities in Bulgarian history of whom enough can never be written or said. Colonel Boris Stoyanov Drangov occupies a distinguished place among them. He was an eminent Bulgarian soldier and educator, war theorist, teacher and researcher, psychologist, writer and publicist. He was also an activist of the Macedonian and Hadrianople liberation movement who perished for the freedom of Macedonia and the unification of the Fatherland. 

 Boris Drangov was born on 3 March 1872 (15 March New Style) at Skopje in the patriotic family of local Bulgarian notable Stoyan Drangov and his wife Gyurgya. The father’s occupation as wine and timber merchant offered him opportunities to travel often and meet diverse people, each with their own attitudes and views, which allowed him to broaden his outlook constantly. This undoubtedly reflected on young Boris. 

But the public environment, alongside the family one, also played an important role in shaping the youth’s character and views. His soul echoed the strongly formative Bulgarian historical events to which he was witness: the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation of 1877–78, the restoration of Bulgarian statehood, the 1885 Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia, and the Servian-Bulgarian War which followed it that same year.