Pleven in the context of "Lovech"

Northern Bulgaria (Bulgarian: Северна България, romanized: Severna Bylgarija), also called Moesia (Bulgarian: Мизия, Mizija) is the northern half of Bulgaria, located to the north of the main ridge of the Balkan Mountains which conventionally separates the country into a northern and a southern part. Besides the Balkan Mountains, Northern Bulgaria borders the Timok River and Serbia to the west, the Danube River and Romania to the north, and the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast to the east.

Geographically, the region's terrain is relatively uniform, dominated by the hilly Danubian Plain, with some low plateaus to the east. Northern Bulgaria covers an area of 48,596 square kilometres and has a population of 2,674,347 according to the 2011 census (36% of Bulgaria's entire population), with a population density of 55 people per km². The three largest cities are Varna, Rousse and Pleven.

43°25′N 24°40′E / 43.417°N 24.667°E / 43.417; 24.667

Pleven Province (Bulgarian: Област Плевен or Плевенска Област) is a province located in central northern Bulgaria, bordering the Danube river, Romania and the Bulgarian provinces of Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo and Lovech. It is divided into 11 subdivisions, called municipalities, that embrace a territory of 4,653.32 km (1,796.66 sq mi) with a population, as of February 2011, of 269 752 inhabitants. The province's capital is the city of Pleven.

The siege of Plevna or Pleven, was a major battle of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, fought by the joint army of the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Romania against the Ottoman Empire. After the Russian army crossed the Danube at Svishtov, it began advancing towards the centre of modern Bulgaria, with the aim of crossing the Balkan Mountains to Constantinople, avoiding the fortified Turkish fortresses on the Black Sea coast. The Ottoman army led by Osman Pasha, returning from Serbia after a conflict with that country, was massed in the fortified city of Pleven, a city surrounded by numerous redoubts, located at an important road intersection.

After two unsuccessful assaults, in which he lost valuable troops, the commander of the Russian troops on the Balkan front, Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia insisted by telegram on the help of his Romanian ally King Carol I. King Carol I crossed the Danube with the Romanian Army and was placed in command of the Russian-Romanian troops. He decided not to make any more assaults, but to besiege the city, cutting off the food and ammunition supply routes.

The Romanians in Bulgaria (Romanian: români or rumâni; Bulgarian: румънци, rumŭntsi, or власи, vlasi), are a small ethnic minority in Bulgaria. In the country, Romanians live in several northern regions, mostly along the Danube. This includes a region between the city of Vidin and the Timok river; these Romanians form a continuous community with the Romanian community in the Timok Valley of Serbia. Another region with a high density of Romanians is located between the towns of Oryahovo and Svishtov. Another goes from Tutrakan to the Bulgaria–Romania border at Northern Dobruja. There also are scattered groups of Romanians within the interior of Bulgaria, such as in Pleven or around Vratsa. The Romanians in Bulgaria are not recognized as a national minority, and they lack minority rights such as schools or churches in their own Romanian language. Many are subject to assimilation.

In Bulgaria, the local Romanians are commonly referred to as "Vlachs". This term is also applied to the Aromanians of the country, as well as to Romanian-speaking Boyash Gypsies. The German linguist Gustav Weigand dealt in the most detailed and concrete way with the Vlach population south of the Danube. In 1905 he undertook a special trip through Bulgaria to establish where the Vlach settlements are located and to characterize their language. According to Weigand, the largest group of Vlach population moved to the Bulgarian lands in the 1830s, when the so-called Organic statute (1831), was introduced in Walachia, by virtue of which men were subject to mandatory military service. Using the data from the population census in the Principality of Bulgaria in 1900, he pointed out that, at the end of the 19th century, 86,000 Vlachs were registered in Bulgaria, of which 11,708 (about 15%) were born north of the river, which means that they moved south of the Danube in the second half of the 19th century.

Osman Nuri Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: عثمان نوری پاشا‎; 1832, Tokat, Ottoman Empire – 4 to 5 April 1900, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire), also known as Gazi Osman Pasha (Turkish: Gazi Osman Paşa), was an Ottoman Turkish field marshal. Being one of the most respected and decorated Ottoman pashas of all time, many songs have been written for him, and many places named after him. This is mainly because he held the Bulgarian town of Plevna for five months against superior Russo-Romanian forces in 1877 during the Russo-Turkish War, though the city eventually fell.

Pleven Municipality (Bulgarian: Община Плевен) is a municipality (obshtina) in Pleven Province, Northern Bulgaria. It is named after its administrative centre - the city of Pleven which is also the capital of the Province.

The municipality embraces a territory of 812.10 km (313.55 sq mi) with a population, as of December 2009, of 138,095 inhabitants.