Revolutionary Mihail Vardev

Mihail Kostadinov Vardev was a Bulgarian revolutionary born in Petrich in 1881, when the town belonged to the Ottoman Empire; it is now in Bulgaria. He came from a craftsman's family that had actively participated in the national liberation struggles.

Vardev completed the graded school in his hometown, where he received inspiration and education from the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO) activists Toma Mitov and Aleksandar Unev. After leaving school, he worked as a tailor.

In 1901, Vardev joined IMARO, and in 1906 he was elected to the leadership of the revolutionary committee in Petrich. On 6 February 1908, he attended IMARO's district conference in Dolna Ribnitsa as a delegate.

Mihail Kostadinov Vardev's life ended tragically the day after the conference, when he died fighting Turkish troops alongside the voivode Manush Georgiev. Their lives and deaths symbolise the commitment and self-sacrifice of Bulgarian revolutionaries in the struggle to liberate their homeland from Ottoman rule.