Kavarna massacre

27 July] 1877) defence of the Black Sea town of Kavarna by its citizens and some 10,000 refugees from nearby villages against a band of 3,000 Circassian paramilitaries.

[1][2][3] Even though Kavarna's defence was ultimately unsuccessful, with some 1,000 civilian casualties and half the town burned to the ground, the uprising is famous for both its fierce, implacable resistance and the sheer number of different ethnicities that took part in it: Bulgarians, Gagauzes, Greeks, Armenians and even the local Muslim Turkish population.

A large number of the refugees ran off to hide into the nearby vineyards and caves, while the battle for the upper part of Kavarna went on for days.

The town was saved from full annihilation by the Ottoman Armenian telegraphist in Balchik, Eranos Eranosyan, who, in violation of his marching orders, contacted the foreign consulates and alerted them of what was going on.

[7][6] Thanks to the foreign consulates, relief finally came at the end of July in the form of two Ottoman battleships with a detachment of Arab dragoons, which took many of the survivors to Balchik.