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Bulgaria in British Foreign Policy 1943 -1949

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Bulgaria in British Foreign Policy 1943 -1949 Bulgaria in British Foreign Policy 1943 -1949 Marietta Stankova Thesis Submitted for the Degree o f Doctor of Philosophy London School of Economics and Political Science September 1999 UMI Number: U120848 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U120848 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ^Heses , FT 3 5 8 S . British Library of Di;'tticsl and Econon^'c. Sc!e*':-e W S 6 % 5 Abstract The thesis analyses Britain’s political involvement in Bulgaria during 1943 - 1949. It explores Britain’s motives for seeking increased influence in the country and traces the most significant British attempts to shape Bulgarian politics. It examines British strategic decisions and diplomatic activities in Bulgaria against the background of the evolving domestic political situation and of Soviet objectives in the Balkans. Evidence from British archives is tested against recently released Bulgarian and Russian sources. The study clarifies problems central to the interpretation of post-war Bulgarian developments and addresses the question of British attitudes to the whole of Eastern Europe. Bulgaria’s marginal place in British political and military thinking is found to be at odds with the country’s recognised strategic importance. Towards the end of the Second World War, Bulgaria attracted the attention of the British Government occasionally, mostly in the context of broader regional issues such as that of the Balkan Federation. Although the realisation of limited capabilities to influence Bulgarian developments coloured Britain’s wartime approach, never did British policy makers disavow interest in Bulgarian affairs. The research establishes that in the armistice period British policy towards Bulgaria was overwhelmingly governed by traditional geopolitical factors. These focused around Bulgaria’s potential military threat of British imperial positions in the Eastern Mediterranean and overshadowed any proclaimed British commitment to democracy. Britain’s priorities were complicated by the emerging Cold War as a Soviet-dominated Bulgaria was perceived as a springboard for Communist penetration of Europe. Ironically, British unwillingness to challenge Soviet influence in the northern Balkans exacerbated the very dangers Britain was striving to alleviate. Wavering British support for the Bulgarian anti-Communist Opposition only served to expose Britain’s weaknesses and further antagonise the Soviet Union. This engendered continuous restraint and gradually led to the isolation of Britain from Bulgarian politics after British recognition of the Bulgarian Communist Government in 1947. 2 Contents Acknowledgements 5 List of abbreviations 6 Introduction 8 Part One: ‘What Will Be the Place of Bulgaria at the Judgement Seat? * Chapter One: Bulgaria In British Post-war Planning 22 Chapter Two: Getting Bulgaria out of the War 56 Part Two: Britain Has to Be A Little More than A Spectator ’ Chapter Three: The Principles of British Post-war Policy towards Bulgaria 113 Chapter Four: Observing the Establishment of Communist Rule in Bulgaria 153 Chapter Five: Recognising the Bulgarian Communist Regime 199 Part Three: ‘We Are Supporting Certain Principles * Chapter Six: British Acceptance of Communist Rule in Bulgaria 250 Conclusion 310 Bibliography 323 Ha pOffHTGJIHTG MH Acknowledgements During the time I have worked on this thesis many people have given me generously of their knowledge, time and kindness. Any effort to explain here exactly what they have done and how valuable it has been for me would be inadequate. I wish to thank them all and in particular Dr.Anita Prazmowska, Dr.Maria Dowling, Dr.Edmund Green, Malcolm Mackintosh, Dianko Sotirov, F.L.Simpson, Lord Denis Greenhill, Boyka Purvanova, Irina Ognyanova, Olga Khavanova, Sergei Listikov, my family. I am also thankful to the staff of the archives and libraries where I carried out my research: the Public Record Office in Kew, the British Library of Political and Economic Science and the Library of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London, the Bodleian Library in Oxford, the General Department of Archives, the Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the St.Cyril and Methodius National Library in Sofia, the Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Federation and the Russian Centre for Preservation and Study of Modem History Documents in Moscow. I gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance of the London School of Economic and Political Science, the Central Research Grant Fund and the British Federation of Women Graduates. 5 List o f abbreviations AFHQ Allied Forces Headquarters AMVnR Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sofia AMVR Archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Sofia AVPRF Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Federation, Moscow BAN Bulgarian Academy of Sciences BANU Bulgarian Agrarian National Union BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BCP Bulgarian Communist Party BLO British Liaison Officer BMM British Military Mission BoT Board of Trade CC Central Committee [of the Bulgarian Communist Party] COS Chiefs of Staff EAM National Liberation Front, Greece ELAS National Popular Liberation Army, Greece FF Fatherland Front FO Foreign Office Force 133 SOE section dealing with the Balkans FORD Foreign Office Research Department HMG His Majesty’s Government JIS Joint Intelligence Sub-committee 6 KKE Communist Party of Greece MEW Ministry of Economic Warfare NC National Council [of the Fatherland Front] NKID People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, Moscow NKVD People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, Moscow OSS Office of Strategic Services OVERLORD Allied cross-Channel invasion PID Political Intelligence Department PRB Press Reading Bureau PWE Political Warfare Executive RAN Russian Academy of Sciences RTsHIDNI Centre for Preservation and Study of Modem History Documents, Moscow SIS Secret Intelligence Service SOE Special Operations Executive TOLSTOY Moscow Conference, October 1944 TsDIA Central State Historical Archive, Sofia TsPA Central [Communist] Party Archive, Sofia UNO United Nations Organisation UNSCOB United Nations Special Commission on the Balkans VKP(B) All-Soviet Communist Party (Bolsheviks) WCO War Cabinet Office 7 Introduction Modem Bulgaria’s development has continuously been influenced by the changing balance of power in Europe: Bulgaria’s very emergence as a separate nation-state in 1878 was as much the outcome of Great Power negotiations as of the national struggle for independence. Starting with the somewhat misleadingly labelled Russophiles and Russopho_bes just after Bulgaria’s liberation from the Ottoman Empire, right through to pro- and anti-Western proclivities in post-Communist Bulgaria, foreign policy orientation has been a major constituting force in Bulgarian politics. The influence of a succession of Great Powers in the Balkans affected not only the country’s place in international affairs but also the configuration of the internal political forces. This reflected largely the fact that in the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century, the Bulgarian political elite sought external support for Bulgaria’s territorial ambitions. Bulgaria’s central situation in the Balkans attracted the attention of all European powers bidding for influence on the Peninsula. The country’s proximity to the Mediterranean Straits made it a suitable stepping-stone for extending control over the Eastern Mediterranean and for the penetration of the Middle East. However important it was, Bulgaria’s strategic position was often exaggerated in both Bulgarian popular perceptions and foreign policy doctrine. For the Great Powers, dominance over the country was rarely so pivotal as Bulgarian political wishful thinking would have it. The discrepancy became evident on a number of occasions, most notably when in the early 1900s Russia - universally seen as Bulgaria’s protector - embraced the cause of Serbia in preference to that of Bulgaria. The question of Bulgaria’s historic significance is related to the struggle among the major European states for leadership in world affairs. In later modem times Russia and Great Britain showed consistent interest in the Balkans. The former used its cultural and historic links with the South Slavs in order to secure its expansion towards warm-water seas; the latter relied on influence in the Mediterranean countries to protect routes to its overseas imperial possessions. The resulting controversy crystallised in the so-called ‘Eastern Question’ of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century when European affairs were dominated by rivalries over the territorial legacy of the declining Ottoman Empire. This in turn intensified attention to Bulgaria which could be used as an outpost for pressure on, or a stronghold for the defence of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Straits. In the inter-war years France and Germany were active in the Balkans using the region as a political and economic base for their conflict over the post-First World War status
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