One of the first graduate of the General Staff Military Academy of St Petersburg, he fought as a volunteer during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878).

During the First Balkan War, Ivanov lead the Bulgarian Second Army throughout the successful Siege of Adrianople.

On 4 July his army was defeated at the Battle of Kilkis–Lachanas during the Second Balkan War, a month later his troops succeeded in halting the oncoming Greek army at the Battle of Kresna Gorge as the catastrophic Second Balkan War came to an end.

He studied in the Aprilov National High School in Gabrovo and then in the Imperial lyceum Galasaray in Istanbul (1875–1877).

After the war he stayed for a short time in Plovdiv before going to the Military School in Sofia in 1878 which he graduated in the next year.

In the same year he was appointed in the Eastern Rumelia militia as a junior officer and served in 1st and 2nd Plovdiv Company.

After the war in 1886 he was appointed as Fligel Adjutant of Knyaz Alexander Batenberg and after that as Chief of the Building-Inspection department on the Ministry of Defense.