Bulgaria liberated itself from the Ottoman Empire in 1878 and, although it remained de jure autonomous until the proclamation of full independence in 1908, it acted as a de facto independent country. From 1879, stamps were issued in Bulgarian Cyrillic script and some of the stamps - such as those issued in 1901 - commemorated the 25th anniversary of the April Uprising against the Turks and, in 1902, celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Shipka.[1] Bulgaria become a de jure independent state in 1908, even though early stamps issued in the 1910s still depicted Tsar Ferdinand and Tsar Boris III.