On 5 September [O.S. 24 August] 1877, there was a major battle of the Russo-Turkish war of 1877–78 at Katselovo. The Ottoman forces commanded by Mehmed Ali Pasha and Sabit Pasha defeated an army of Russian troops commanded by Crown Prince Alexander Alexandrovich, Major-General Alexei Timofeev, and other commanders. After retreating from Katselovo to Gorsko Ablanovo, another battle occurred, which once again ended in an Ottoman victory.[5]
Eventually the area was liberated from Ottoman control which led to the Treaty of Berlin, which in turn was instrumental in creating the Principality of Bulgaria which, in 1908, officially declared independence and formed the Kingdom of Bulgaria after 512 years of Ottoman rule.
Today the area around Gorsko Ablanovo is a mixture of forests and farmland, the climate is temperate, with cold snowy winters and hot dry summers.[6]
