Wikipedia's History of Bulgaria • First Bulgarian Empire in 681 dominated most of the Balkans in the 9th-10th centuries and functioned as a Slavic cultural hub. • After a period of Byzantine rule (1018- 1185), the Second Bulgarian Empire emerged and lasted until 1396 • This was followed by 500 years of Ottoman Rule aka “Turkish yoke” Read: Under the Yoke by Ivan Vazov • A national rebellion (April Uprising) fails in 1876 , but Russians succeed in Russo-Turkish War freeing Bulgaria 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War) • The Treaty of San Stefano was signed on March 3, 1878, setting up an de jure autonomous Bulgarian principality on the territories of the Second Bulgarian Empire (see previous slide). • The Great Powers immediately rejected the treaty out of fear that such a large country in the Balkans might threaten their interests. The subsequent Treaty of Berlin (July 13, • 1878) split Bulgaria in two. Map of Treaty of Berlin: • This played a significant role in Bulgaria is split in two – forming Bulgaria's militaristic Bulgaria and Eastern approach to foreign affairs during the first half of the 20th century. Roumelia • Treaty of San Stefano March 3, 1878 (black out-line) • Treaty of San Stefano March 3, 1878 • Congress of Berlin (July 13, 1878) split Bulgaria in two Eastern Rumelia • After a bloodless revolution on 6 September 1885, Eastern Rumelia was annexed by the Principality of Bulgaria, which was de jure a tributary state but de facto functioned as independent nation. • After the Bulgarian victory in the subsequent Serbo- Bulgarian War, the status quo was recognized by the Tophane Agreement on 24 March 1886. • The province was nominally under Ottoman power until Bulgaria became de jure independent in 1908. 6 September, Unification Day, is a national holiday in Bulgaria Bulgarian unification and Serbo-Bulgarian War (1885). Serbo-Bulgarian War, Two Balkan Wars, and World War I • Serbo-Bulgarian War: between Serbia and Bulgaria in14 November 1885 lasted until the 28th. As a result of the war, European powers acknowledged the act of Unification of Bulgaria which happened on 6 September 1885. A final peace treaty was signed on 19 February 1886 in Bucharest, as Bulgaria incorporated the semi-autonomous Ottoman territory of Eastern Rumelia- but not fully until 1908. • Bulgaria proclaimed itself an independent state on 22 September 1908. • Between 1912 and 1918, Bulgaria became involved in three consecutive conflicts—two Balkan Wars (1912 and 1913) and World War I (1914–1918) • Read “THE BALKAN WARS: 1912-1913” BY JACOB GOULD SCHURMAN 1st Balkan War: 1912 • Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia ally to become the Balkan League. • Large parts of their ethnic populations remained under Ottoman sovereignty. • The Balkan League succeeds in, terminating the Ottoman Empire’s five-century rule in the Balkans in a seven month campaign, resulting in the Treaty of London. Treaty of London (1913) • The combatants were the victorious Balkan League (Serbia, Greece, Kingdom of Bulgaria, and Montenegro) and the defeated Ottoman Empire. • Representing the Great Powers were Britain, Germany, Russia, Austria- Hungary, and Italy. • However, the division of the territories ceded to the Balkan League was not addressed in the Treaty, and Serbia refused to carry out the division agreed with Bulgaria in their treaty of March 1912. • As a result of Bulgarian dissatisfaction with the de facto military division of Macedonia, the Second Balkan War broke out between the combatants in June 1913. A final peace was agreed at the Treaty of Bucharest on 12 August 1913. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_London_(1913) • The territorial gains of the Balkan states after the First Balkan War and the line of expansion according to the prewar secret agreement between Serbia and Bulgaria Second Balkan War • The Second Balkan War broke out on 16 June 1913 when Bulgaria, dissatisfied over the division of the spoils in Macedonia after the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece. Initial Bulgarian plan of operations • Bulgaria lost most of the territories gained in the First Balkan War. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Balkan_War *Treaties of Bucharest Treaty of Bucharest may refer to the following treaties signed in Bucharest: Treaty of Bucharest (1812), between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire ending the 1806–1812 Russo-Turkish war Treaty of Bucharest (1886), between Serbia and Bulgaria ending the Serbo-Bulgarian War Treaty of Bucharest (1913), between Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece ending of the Second Balkan War Treaty of Bucharest (1916), a treaty of alliance between Romania and the Entente powers (France, Britain, Italy, and Russia) Treaty of Bucharest (1918), between Romania and the Central Powers Map showing the final (Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany and the Ottoman Empire), subsequently nullified due to the defeat of the Central Powers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Bucharest territorial gains of the Balkan countries after the Balkan Wars Treaty of Bucharest (1913) • Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its gains in the First Balkan War, and especially with Greek and Serbian gains in Macedonia, launched an attack on its former allies in June 1913. • The attacks were driven back, and the Greek and Serbian armies invaded Bulgarian-held territory in return. • At the same time, the Ottomans advanced into Eastern Thrace and retook Adrianople, while Romania used the opportunity to invade Bulgaria from the north and advance against little opposition to within a short distance of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. • Isolated and surrounded by a more powerful coalition of opponents, Bulgaria was forced to agree to a truce and to peace negotiations to be held in the Romanian capital, Bucharest. • Wikipedia: Treaty of Bucharest 1913 • In the aftermath of the Balkan wars Bulgaria found itself isolated on the international Bulgaria in World War I scene, surrounded by hostile neighbors and deprived of the support of the Great Powers. Anti-Bulgarian sentiments were especially strong in France and Russia, whose political circles blamed the country for the dissolution of the Balkan League. • In the aftermath of the Balkan Wars Bulgarian opinion turned against Russia and the Western powers, whom the Bulgarians felt had done nothing to help them. The government of Vasil Radoslavov aligned Bulgaria with the German Empire and Austria-Hungary, even though this meant becoming an ally of the Ottomans, Bulgaria's traditional enemy. But Bulgaria now had no claims against the Ottomans, whereas Serbia, The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine required Bulgaria to cede various Greece and Romania (allies of Britain and territories, after Bulgaria had been one of the Central Powers France) held lands perceived in Bulgaria as defeated in World War I. The treaty was signed on 27 November 1919 at Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Bulgarian. In Literature an Film: The story ¨Kradetzat na praskovi¨ (English: “The Peach Thief ") depicts the love story between a Bulgarian colonel's wife and a Serbian prisoner of war. Written by Emilian Stanev in 1948, and turned into a film in 1964 http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsWa30Z-M38 Bulgaria sat out the first year of World War I recuperating from the Balkan Wars.[67] Germany and Austria realized they needed Bulgaria's help in order to Bulgaria's Entry into WWI defeat Serbia militarily, and thereby open supply lines from Germany to Turkey, and bolster the Eastern Front against Russia. The Kingdom of Bulgaria participated in World War I on the side of the Central Powers from 15 October 1915, when the country declared war on Serbia. However, the war soon became unpopular with most Bulgarians, who suffered great economic hardship and also disliked fighting their fellow Orthodox Christians in alliance with the Muslim Ottomans. The Russian Revolution of February 1917 had a great effect in Bulgaria, spreading anti-war and anti-monarchist sentiment among the troops and in the cities. The Armistice with Bulgaria (also known as the Armistice of Thessalonica) 30 September 1918, effectively ended Bulgaria’s participation in WWI. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria_during_World_War_I Interwar Period • Aleksandar Stamboliyski opposed involvement in WWI and was a member of the Agrarian Union which won Just when political stability had been restored, the full effects national elections in March 20, 1920 and confirmed of the Great Depression hit Bulgaria, and social tensions rose Stamboliyski as prime minister. again. • Faced with this array of enemies, allied himself with the In May 1934 there was another coup, the Agrarians were again Bulgarian Communist Party and opened relations with the suppressed, and an authoritarian regime headed by Kimon Soviet Union. Georgiev established with the backing of Tsar Boris. • In March 1923, Stamboliyski signed an agreement with In April 1935 Boris took power himself, ruling through puppet Yugoslavia recognizing the new border and agreeing to Prime Ministers Georgi Kyoseivanov (1935-40) and Bogdan suppress Macedonian succession from the Ottomans. Filov (1940-43). This triggered a nationalist reaction, and on 9 June there was a coup after which Stamboliykski was The Tsar's regime banned all opposition parties and took assassinated (beheaded). Bulgaria into alliance with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. • A right wing government under Aleksandar Tsankov took Although the signing of the Balkan Pact of 1938 restored good power, backed by the Tsar, the army and the VMRO, who relations with Yugoslavia and Greece, the territorial issue waged a White terror against the Agrarians and the continued to simmer. Communists. The Communist leader Georgi Dimitrov fled to the Soviet Union. Wikipedia: Interwar Period World War II and Communism • Bulgaria drifted into World War II, faced by an Invasion and bribed by the return of southern Dobruja from Romania, on the orders of Hitler (see Vienna Award), in September 1940. • In March 1941 Bulgaria formally signed the Tripartite Pact, becoming a German ally, and German troops entered the country in preparation for the German invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia.