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118-666: Born in western Bulgaria, Dimitrov worked as a printer and trade unionist during his youth. He was elected to the Bulgarian parliament as a socialist during the First World War and campaigned against his country's involvement in the conflict, which led to his brief imprisonment for sedition . In 1919, he helped found the Bulgarian Communist Party . Two years later, he moved to the Soviet Union and

236-693: A federation of Southern Slavs , which led to the 1947 Bled accord . The plan ultimately fell apart over differences regarding the future of the joint country as well as the Macedonian question, and was completely abandoned following the fallout between Stalin and Tito . Dimitrov died after a short illness in 1949 in Barvikha near Moscow. His embalmed body was housed in the Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum in Sofia until its removal in 1990;

354-535: A hemicycle of twelve rows, all facing the 7-seat speaker's bench. In front of the Speaker, also facing the chamber, is the pulpit containing a stenographer's desk at the center and two sections reserved for the Cabinet, each with 13 seats, at the sides. The new plenary hall, which is located under a glass roof, is larger than the old one and can be easily remodeled to fit the 400-member Grand National Assembly . It

472-569: A people's republic . Later that year, he succeeded Kimon Georgiev as Prime Minister , though Dimitrov had already been the most powerful man in the country since the monarchy was abolished two months earlier. He retained his Soviet citizenship. One of Dimitrov's first acts as Prime Minister was to negotiate with Josip Broz Tito on the creation of a Federation of the Southern Slavs . The Bulgarian and Yugoslav Communist leaderships had been discussing this matter since November 1944. The idea

590-530: A Greek unit to enter the city of Serres . The Bulgarian unit that entered Thessaloniki turned out to be an 18,000-strong division instead of the battalion, which caused concern among the Greeks, who viewed it as a Bulgarian attempt to establish a condominium over the city. In the event, due to the urgently needed reinforcements in the Thracian front, Bulgarian Headquarters was soon forced to remove its troops from

708-582: A change in the Bulgarian party line , Dimitrov accepted the Comintern's authority. In September 1923, he and Kolarov led the failed uprising against the regime of Aleksandar Tsankov , which cost the lives of possibly five thousand communist supporters during the fighting and the reprisals which followed. Despite its failure, the attempt was approved by the Comintern, and secured the positions of Kolarov and Dimitrov – who escaped via Yugoslavia to Vienna – as

826-403: A compromise with Greece, despite several attempts made by Greek Prime Minister Venizelos , and Serbian insistence to keep all conquered territory paved the way to another conflict. On 1 May 1913, Greece and Serbia settled their differences and signed a military alliance directed against Bulgaria. On the night of 29 June 1913, the Bulgarian army made an ill-advised attempt to gain an advantage in

944-557: A few kilometers away and also rushed to the battle. The Bulgarian attack was halted. The Greek army was also successful. It retreated according to plan for two days while Thessaloniki was cleared of the remaining Bulgarian regiment. Then, the Greek army counterattacked and defeated the Bulgarians at Kilkis (Kukush), after which the mostly Bulgarian town was plundered and burnt and part of its mostly Bulgarian population massacred by

1062-606: A first-class railway carriage, Dimitrov was charged with incitement to mutiny, stripped of his parliamentary immunity, and imprisoned on 29 August 1918. Released in 1919, he went underground and made two failed attempts to visit Russia, finally reaching Moscow in February 1921. He returned to Bulgaria later in 1921, but then travelled again to Moscow and was elected in December 1922 to the Executive Bureau of Profintern ,

1180-461: A future communist leader, Valko Chervenkov . Dimitrov was sent to Sunday school by his mother, who wanted him to be a pastor, but he was expelled at age 12. He then trained as a compositor , and became active in the labor movement in the Bulgarian capital. By age 15, he was an active trade union member. By age 18 in 1900, he was secretary of the Sofia branch of the printers' union. Dimitrov joined

1298-705: A monument of culture for its historic significance. Situated in downtown Sofia , it was designed in the Neo-Renaissance style by Konstantin Jovanović . Due to insufficient space in the main building at Parliament Square, the National Assembly is now housed by the former headquarters of the Bulgarian Communist Party , located at the Largo - the so-called Party House. Initially, only administrative offices have been relocated, but proposals to convert

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1416-715: A series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War , the four Balkan states of Greece , Serbia , Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defeated it, in the process stripping the Ottomans of their European provinces, leaving only Eastern Thrace under Ottoman control. In the Second Balkan War , Bulgaria fought against

1534-639: Is a Bulgarian." Among those impressed with Dimitrov was the noted U.S. attorney Arthur Garfield Hays , co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union . Hays attended the Leipzig Trial and devoted a chapter to it in his 1942 autobiography. In an oft-quoted passage, Hays wrote of Dimitrov: I have never seen such a magnificent exhibition of moral courage. The man was not only brave but reckless, and selflessly so. Whenever he got to his feet, he would by force of his personality place

1652-663: Is a part of me, each phrase is the expression of my deep indignation against the unjust accusation, against the putting of this anti-Communist crime, the burning of the Reichstag, to the account of the Communists. Dimitrov's calm conduct of his defence, and the accusations he directed at his prosecutors, won him world renown. In Europe, a popular saying spread across the Continent: "There is only one brave man in Germany, and he

1770-409: Is frank and open. I am used to calling a spade a spade. I am no lawyer appearing before this court in the mere way of his profession. I am defending myself, an accused Communist. I am defending my political honor, my honor as a revolutionary. I am defending my Communist ideology, my ideals. I am defending the content and significance of my whole life. For these reasons every word which I say in this court

1888-557: Is sometimes described as Protestant. The family moved to Radomir and then to Sofia . Several of Georgi's siblings engaged in leftist political activities. His brother Nikola moved to Russia and joined the Bolsheviks in Odessa. In 1908, Nikola was arrested and exiled to Siberia where he died in 1916. Georgi's brother Konstantin became a trade union leader but was killed in the First Balkan War in 1912. One of his sisters, Lena, married

2006-761: The Adriatic , while a second Army captured Kosovo and linked with the Montenegrin forces. Greece's main forces attacked from Thessaly into Macedonia through the Sarantaporo strait. On 7 November, in response to an Ottoman initiative, they entered into negotiations for the surrender of Thessaloniki . With the Greeks already there, and the Bulgarian 7th Rila Division moving swiftly from the north towards Thessaloniki, Hassan Tahsin Pasha considered his position to be hopeless. The Greeks offered more attractive terms than

2124-754: The Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party in 1902. The following year he allied himself with Dimitar Blagoev and the faction that formed the Social Democratic Labour Party of Bulgaria ("The Narrow Party", or tesniaks ). In 1919, this party became the Bulgarian Communist Party when it affiliated with Bolshevism and the Comintern . From 1904 to 1923, Dimitrov was Secretary of the General Trade Unions Federation, which

2242-939: The Chairperson of the National Assembly of Bulgaria . The Assembly administers the publication of the State Gazette , Bulgaria's gazette of record. By the Constitution, the National Assembly is inaugurated by the eldest elected member of Parliament. On the first day of sitting, they preside over the election of the Speaker (Chairperson) and two deputies. Once elected, the Speakers retain their party allegiances, which means that they remain as MPs and are allowed to take part in debates and voting. 121 MPs must be present in order for any session to commence, and 50%+1 of those present must vote "for" any point of order or bill to be approved. Ministers may be chosen from among

2360-604: The Cominform and the other Eastern Bloc countries. In December 1947, Enver Hoxha and an Albanian delegation were invited to a high-level meeting in Bulgaria. Dimitrov was aware of the subversive activity of Koçi Xoxe and other pro-Yugoslav Albanian officials. He told Enver Hoxha during the meeting: "Look here, Comrade Enver, keep the Party pure! Let it be revolutionary, proletarian and everything will go well with you!" After

2478-592: The First World War . By the early 20th century, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia had achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large elements of their ethnic populations remained under Ottoman rule. In 1912, these countries formed the Balkan League . The First Balkan War began on 8 October 1912, when the League member states attacked the Ottoman Empire, and ended eight months later with

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2596-619: The Novi Pazar area. The rest of the Allies, after giving a common ultimatum, declared war a week later. Bulgaria attacked towards Eastern Thrace, being stopped only at the outskirts of Constantinople at the Çatalca line and the isthmus of the Gallipoli peninsula , while secondary forces captured Western Thrace and Eastern Macedonia. Serbia attacked south towards Skopje and Monastir and then turned west to present-day Albania , reaching

2714-627: The Reich Supreme Court in Leipzig , it is often referred to as the Leipzig Trial. Dimitrov decided to refuse counsel and defend himself against his Nazi accusers, most famously Hermann Göring . Dimitrov used the trial as an opportunity to defend the Communist ideology. Explaining why he chose to speak in his own defense, Dimitrov said: I admit that my tone is hard and grim. The struggle of my life has always been hard and grim. My tone

2832-691: The Treaty of London on 30(17) May 1913. After pressure from the Great Powers towards Greece and Serbia, who had postponed signing in order to fortify their defensive positions, the signing of the Treaty of London took place on 30 May 1913. With this treaty, the war between the Balkan Allies and the Ottoman Empire came to an end. From now on, the Great Powers had the right of decision on the territorial adjustments that had to be made, which even led to

2950-472: The 1933 Reichstag fire trial. Accused of plotting the arson, he refused counsel and mounted an eloquent defence against his Nazi accusers, in particular Hermann Göring , ultimately winning acquittal. After the trial he relocated to Moscow and was elected head of Comintern. In 1946, Dimitrov returned to Bulgaria after 22 years in exile and was elected prime minister of the newly founded People's Republic of Bulgaria. He negotiated with Josip Broz Tito to create

3068-566: The 1980s. National Assembly (Bulgaria) The National Assembly ( Народно събрание ) is the unicameral parliament and legislative body of the Republic of Bulgaria . The first National Assembly was established in 1879 with the Tarnovo Constitution . 42°41′40″N 23°19′58″E  /  42.694456°N 23.332893°E  / 42.694456; 23.332893 During the communist period between 1946 and 1989,

3186-588: The 1990s Yugoslav Wars . The background to the wars lies in the incomplete emergence of nation-states on the European territory of the Ottoman Empire during the second half of the 19th century. Serbia had gained substantial territory during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) , while Greece acquired Thessaly in 1881 (although it lost a small area back to the Ottoman Empire in 1897) and Bulgaria (an autonomous principality since 1878) incorporated

3304-519: The Assembly. Bulgaria has a multi-party system. The Assembly is responsible for enactment of laws, approval of the budget, scheduling of presidential elections, selection and dismissal of the Prime Minister and other ministers, declaration of war, concluding peace and deployment of troops outside Bulgaria, and ratification of international treaties and agreements. It is headed and presided by

3422-613: The Blagoevgrad Region should claim а Macedonian identity. However, differences soon emerged between Dimitrov and Tito with regard to both the future joint country and the Macedonian question. Whereas Dimitrov envisaged a state where Yugoslavia and Bulgaria would be placed on an equal footing and Macedonia would be more or less attached to Bulgaria, Tito saw Bulgaria as a seventh republic in an enlarged Yugoslavia tightly ruled from Belgrade. Their differences also extended to

3540-489: The Bulgarian 2nd and 1st Armies, newly arrived from the Serbian front, that had already taken defensive positions there following the Bulgarian victory at Kalimanci . By 30 July, the Greek army was outnumbered by the counter-attacking Bulgarian army, which attempted to encircle the Greeks in a Cannae -type battle, by applying pressure on their flanks. The Greek army was exhausted and faced logistical difficulties. The battle

3658-518: The Bulgarian civilian population. The Greek army then divided its forces and advanced in two directions. Part proceeded east and occupied Western Thrace . The rest of the Greek army advanced up to the Struma River valley, defeating the Bulgarian army in the battles of Doiran and Mt. Beles, and continued its advance to the north towards Sofia . In the Kresna straits , the Greeks were ambushed by

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3776-401: The Bulgarian communist regime. The BCP controlled nomination and election processes at every level in its political system, allowing it to stamp out any opposition. The National Assembly consists of 240 members elected for a four-year term, elected by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies . Political parties must garner a minimum of 4% of the national vote in order to enter

3894-480: The Bulgarian counterpart, "As long as we are not allied with you, our influence over the Croats and Slovens will be insignificant". On the other side, Bulgaria wanted the autonomy of Macedonia region under the influence of the two countries. The then Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs General Stefan Paprikov stated in 1909 that, "It will be clear that if not today then tomorrow, the most important issue will again be

4012-481: The Bulgarian government and without an official declaration of war. During the night of 30(17) June 1913, they attacked the Serbian army at Bregalnica river and then the Greek army in Nigrita . The Serbian army resisted the sudden night attack, while most of the soldiers did not even know who they were fighting with, as Bulgarian camps were located next to Serbs and were considered allies. Montenegro's forces were just

4130-628: The Bulgarians did. On 8 November, Tahsin Pasha agreed to terms and 26,000 Ottoman troops passed over into Greek captivity. Before the Greeks entered the city, a German warship whisked the former sultan Abdul Hamid II out of Thessaloniki to continue his exile, across the Bosporus from Constantinople. With their army in Thessaloniki, the Greeks took new positions to the east and northeast, including Nigrita . On 12 November (on 26 October 1912, O.S. ) Greece expanded its occupied area and teamed up with

4248-728: The Congress were transcribed and published in a September 1935 pamphlet, The United Front Against Fascism , which went through numerous editions over the ensuing years. During the Great Purge in the Soviet Union, Dimitrov knew about the mass arrests, but did almost nothing. In November 1937, he was told by Stalin to lure the German communist Willi Münzenberg to the USSR so that he could be arrested. Dimitrov did not object and did as he

4366-922: The Constitution, e.g. those related with the basic civil rights; 3) Changes in the territory (gain or loss) of the Republic, etc. Before the World War II the Grand National Assembly was also competent in electing the Regency of the Bulgarian Kingdom if the tzar had not come to age. The First and the Third Grand National Assemblies also elected the first two Bulgarian monarchs after the liberation from Ottoman rule – Prince (Knjaz) Alexander Battenberg and Prince (Knjaz) Ferdinand Saxe Coburg-Gotha. As an organ,

4484-693: The Empire. It forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II to re-adopt the defunct Ottoman constitution of 1876 and parliament . Hopes were raised among the Balkan ethnicities of reforms and autonomy. Elections were held to form a representative, multi-ethnic, Ottoman parliament. However, following the Sultan's failed counter-coup of 1909 , the liberal element of the Young Turks was sidelined and the nationalist element became dominant. In October 1908, Austria-Hungary seized

4602-492: The First Balkan War, Serbia and Greece, while Montenegro and the Ottoman Empire intervened later against Bulgaria, with Romania attacking Bulgaria from the north in violation of a peace treaty. When the Greek army had entered Thessaloniki in the First Balkan War ahead of the Bulgarian 7th division by only a day, they were asked to allow a Bulgarian battalion to enter the city. Greece accepted in exchange for allowing

4720-516: The Grand National Assembly was introduced with the Tarnovo Constitution of 1879, abolished in 1947 and reintroduced with the 1991 constitution. In different constitutional provisions, it was constituted by a different number of representatives. According to the 1991 Constitution, it consists of 400 deputies (as opposed to 240 in the ordinary one). The 1991 Constitution was adopted by the Seventh Grand National Assembly and

4838-486: The Great Powers prevented the latter action from taking practical effect. Serbia was frustrated in the north by Austria-Hungary's incorporation of Bosnia. In March 1909, Serbia was forced to accept the annexation and restrain anti-Habsburg agitation by Serbian nationalists. Instead, the Serbian government (PM: Nikola Pašić ) looked to formerly Serb territories in the south, notably "Old Serbia" (the Sanjak of Novi Pazar and

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4956-493: The Greek army. Following the capture of Kilkis, the Greek army's pace was not quick enough to prevent the retaliatory destruction of Nigrita , Serres , and Doxato and massacres of non-combatant Greek inhabitants at Sidirokastro and Doxato by the Bulgarian army. The Greek committed further war crimes against the Bulgarian population during it advance - in total about 160 Bulgarian villages were destroyed and most of their population expelled. with multiple additional massacres of

5074-683: The Greeks had a military advantage on the eve of the war because their armies confronted comparatively weak Ottoman forces in the First Balkan War and suffered relatively light casualties, while the Bulgarians were involved in heavy fighting in Thrace. The Serbs and Greeks had time to fortify their positions in Macedonia. The Bulgarians also held some advantages, controlling internal communication and supply lines. On 29(16) June 1913, General Savov, under direct orders of Tsar Ferdinand I , issued attack orders against both Greece and Serbia without consulting

5192-412: The Greeks received international recognition on their claim of Thessaloniki. Similarly, in modern North Macedonia , the tension between Serbia and Bulgaria due to the latter's aspirations over Vardar Macedonia generated many incidents between their respective armies, prompting Serbia to keep its army mobilized. Serbia and Greece proposed that each of the three countries reduce its army by a quarter, as

5310-408: The MPs or they may be experts outside Parliament. All MPs picked to be Cabinet ministers lose their MP status, and other members from their party are called up to Parliament to fill the seats they vacate. Parliament sits Wednesday to Friday, and sessions begin at 9 am. Parliamentary committees sit in the afternoons. In 2020-2021, the old Parliament House was only used for special occasions, such as

5428-497: The Macedonian Question. And this question, whatever happens, cannot be decided without more or less direct participation of the Balkan States". Last but not least, they noted down the divisions that should be made of the Ottoman territories after a victorious outcome of the war. Bulgaria would gain all the territories eastern of Rodopi Mountains and River Strimona, while Serbia would annex the territories northern and western of Mount Skardu. The alliance pact between Greece and Bulgaria

5546-414: The Macedonian question. The ideas of a Balkan Federation and a United Macedonia were abandoned, the Macedonian teachers were expelled and the teaching of Macedonian throughout the province was discontinued. At the 5th Congress of the Bulgarian Workers' Party (Communists), Dimitrov accused Tito of "nationalism" and hostility towards the internationalist communists, specifically the Soviet Union. Despite

5664-422: The Military League dissolved itself. Bulgaria, which had secured Ottoman recognition of her independence in April 1909 and enjoyed the friendship of Russia, also looked to annex districts of Ottoman Thrace and Macedonia. In August 1910, Montenegro followed Bulgaria's precedent by becoming a kingdom. Following the Italian victory in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, the severity of the Ottomanizing policy of

5782-546: The Narrows controlled. In 1911, he spent a month in prison for libeling an official of the rival Free Federation of Trade Unions, whom he accused of strike-breaking. In 1913, he was elected to the Bulgarian Parliament. He opposed government policies in the Balkan Wars and World War I . In 1915, he voted against awarding new war credits and denounced Bulgarian nationalism, for which he received short prison sentences. In summer 1917, after he intervened in defense of wounded soldiers who were being ordered by an officer to clear out of

5900-400: The National Assembly was the supreme organ of state power and the only branch of government in Bulgaria and, in accordance with the principle of unified power , all state organs were subservient to it. Most of the National Assembly's actions were characterized as a rubber stamp for the Bulgarian Communist Party (BKP) or as only being able to affect issues of low sensitivity and salience to

6018-429: The Ottoman Empire was fruitless, because of the doubts the Bulgarians held on the strength of the Greek Army. Later that year, in December 1911, Bulgaria and Serbia agreed to start negotiations in forming an alliance under the tight inspection of Russia. The treaty between Serbia and Bulgaria was signed on 29 of February/13 of March 1912. Serbia sought expansion to " Old Serbia " and as Milan Milovanovich noted in 1909 to

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6136-418: The Ottoman Empire was not possible. France wished to strengthen its position in the region, especially in the Levant (today's Lebanon, Syria, and Israel). Habsburg -ruled Austria-Hungary wished for a continuation of the existence of the Ottoman Empire, since both were troubled multinational entities and thus the collapse of the one might weaken the other. The Habsburgs also saw a strong Ottoman presence in

6254-401: The Ottoman Empire, after negotiations failed regarding the border status. On 30 of September/13 of October, the ambassadors of Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece delivered the common ultimatum to the Ottoman government, which was immediately rejected. The Empire withdrew its ambassadors from Sofia, Belgrade, and Athens, while the Bulgarian, Serbian and Greek diplomats left the Ottoman capital delivering

6372-400: The Ottoman army (the Struggle for Macedonia ). After the Young Turk revolution of July 1908, the situation changed drastically. The 1908 Young Turk Revolution saw the reinstatement of constitutional monarchy in the Ottoman Empire and the start of the Second Constitutional Era . When the revolt broke out, it was supported by intellectuals, the army, and almost all the ethnic minorities of

6490-433: The Ottomans, alarmed Greece, which decided to also keep its army mobilized. A month after the Second Balkan War started, the Bulgarian community of Thessaloniki no longer existed, as hundreds of long-time Bulgarian locals were arrested. Thirteen hundred Bulgarian soldiers and about five hundred komitadjis were also arrested and transferred to Greek prisons. In November 1913, the Bulgarians were forced to admit their defeat, as

6608-412: The Serbian army to the northwest, while its main forces turned east towards Kavala , reaching the Bulgarians. Another Greek army attacked into Epirus towards Ioannina . On the naval front, the Ottoman fleet twice exited the Dardanelles and was twice defeated by the Greek Navy , in the battles of Elli and Lemnos . Greek dominance on the Aegean Sea made it impossible for the Ottomans to transfer

6726-605: The Serbs of their much-coveted Adriatic port, they demanded not only the entire Contested Zone , but also all of the Uncontested one they had occupied. Bulgarian efforts to appeal to the Russian Emperor, quoting, for example, the clauses of the Treaty, the material difference between Serbian (29,698) and Bulgarian casualties (87,926) or the surrender of the Bulgarian City of Silistra to Romania as compensation for its continued neutrality proved futile. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov instead kept encouraging Bulgaria to accede to an ever-increasing list of Serbian demands. In

6844-438: The Treaty itself. This event led to the formation of two ‘de facto’ military occupation zones on Macedonian territory, as Greece and Serbia tried to create a common border. In turn, Bulgarians were furious about Serbia's refusal to honour its commitments under the 1912 Serbo-Bulgarian Treaty, which had split the geographic region of Macedonia into two zones, one contested between Serbia and Bulgaria, and another one, recognised by

6962-424: The Western HQ in Salonika, and the Vardar HQ in Skopje , against the Bulgarians, the Greeks and the Serbians respectively. Most of their available forces were allocated to these fronts. Smaller independent units were allocated elsewhere, mostly around heavily fortified cities. Montenegro was the first to declare war on 8 October (25 September O.S.). Its main thrust was towards Shkodra , with secondary operations in

7080-445: The Western-Thracian front, Bulgarian forces, with the help of the Serbian Army, managed to conquer Adrianople , while Greek forces managed to take Ioannina after defeating the Ottomans in the Battle of Bizani . In the joint Serbian-Montenegrin theater of operation, the Montenegrin army besieged and captured the Shkodra , ending the Ottoman presence in Europe west of the Çatalca line after nearly 500 years. The war ended officially with

7198-425: The Young Turkish regime and a series of three revolts in Ottoman held Albania, the Young Turks fell from power after a coup. The Christian Balkan countries were forced to take action and saw this as an opportunity to promote their national agenda by expanding in the territories of the falling empire and liberating their enslaved co-patriots. In order to achieve that, a wide net of treaties was constructed and an alliance

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7316-426: The all-important opening round of the war. After the defeat of the Ottoman fleet, the Greek Navy was also free to occupy the islands of the Aegean. General Nikola Ivanov identified the activity of the Greek Navy as the chief factor in the general success of the allies. In January, after a successful coup by young army officers, the Ottoman Empire decided to continue the war. After a failed Ottoman counter-attack in

7434-439: The area as a counterweight to the Serbian nationalistic call to their own Serb subjects in Bosnia , Vojvodina and other parts of the empire. Italy 's primary aim at the time seems to have been the denial of access to the Adriatic Sea to another major sea power. The German Empire , in turn, under the " Drang nach Osten " policy, aspired to turn the Ottoman Empire into its own de facto colony, and thus supported its integrity. In

7552-440: The attack. Living under pseudonyms , he remained in the Soviet Union until 1929, when he was ousted from his Bulgarian CP leadership role by a faction of younger, more left-wing activists. Dimitrov then relocated to Germany where he was given charge of the Central European section of the Comintern. In 1932, he was appointed Secretary General of the World Committee Against War and Fascism , replacing Willi Münzenberg . Dimitrov

7670-447: The city (while the Greeks agreed by mutual treaty to remove their units based in Serres ) and transport them to Dedeağaç (modern Alexandroupolis ), but it left behind a battalion that started fortifying its positions. Greece had also allowed the Bulgarians to control the stretch of the Thessaloniki-Constantinople railroad that lay in Greek-occupied territory since Bulgaria controlled the largest part of this railroad towards Thrace. After

7788-491: The common cause to fight the Ottoman Empire. In April 1912 Montenegro and Bulgaria reached an agreement including financial aid to Montenegro in case of war with the Ottoman Empire. A gentlemen's agreement with Greece was reached soon after, as mentioned before. By the end of September a political and military alliance between Montenegro and Serbia was achieved. By the end of September 1912, Bulgaria had formal-written alliances with Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro. A formal alliance

7906-445: The communist trade union international. In June 1923, when Bulgarian Prime Minister Aleksandar Stamboliyski was deposed through a coup d'état , Dimitrov and Khristo Kabakchiev , the leading communists in Bulgaria at the time, resolved not to take sides, a decision condemned by the Comintern as a "political capitulation" brought on by the party's "dogmatic-doctrinaire approach". After Vasil Kolarov had been sent from Moscow to impose

8024-637: The conflict, had intact armies to strike with and invaded Bulgaria from the north in violation of a peace treaty between the two states. The Ottoman Empire also attacked Bulgaria and advanced in Thrace , regaining Adrianople . In the resulting Treaty of Bucharest , Bulgaria managed to regain most of the territories it had gained in the First Balkan War. However, it was forced to cede the ex-Ottoman south part of Dobruja province to Romania. The Balkan Wars were marked by ethnic cleansing , with all parties being responsible for grave atrocities against civilians, and inspired later atrocities including war crimes during

8142-445: The court, the prosecutors, the German audience, and the Nazis on the defensive. This striking characterization was cited in multiple American newspaper reviews of Hays' book and helped introduce Dimitrov's name throughout the U.S. On 23 December 1933, the verdicts were read. While Van der Lubbe was found guilty and sentenced to death, the judge acquitted Dimitrov, Tanev, and Popov because of insufficient evidence to connect them to what

8260-423: The creation of an independent Albania. Every Aegean island belonging to the Ottoman Empire, with the exception of Imbros and Tenedos , was handed over to the Greeks, including the island of Crete . Furthermore, all European territory of the Ottoman Empire west of the Enos-Midiya ( Enez - Kıyıköy ) line, was ceded to the Balkan League , but the division of the territory among the League was not to be decided by

8378-417: The danger of encirclement, Constantine realized that his army could no longer continue hostilities. Thus, he agreed to Eleftherios Venizelos ' proposal and accepted the Bulgarian request for an armistice as had been communicated through Romania. Romania had raised an army and declared war on Bulgaria on 10 July (27 June) as it had from 28 (15) June officially warned Bulgaria that it would not remain neutral in

8496-421: The end of the operations in Thrace, and confirming Greek concerns, Bulgaria was not satisfied with the territory it controlled in Macedonia and immediately asked Greece to relinquish its control over Thessaloniki and the land north of Pieria , effectively handing over all of Greek Macedonia. These demands, with the Bulgarian refusal to demobilize its army after the Treaty of London had ended the common war against

8614-762: The end, Bulgaria's overreliance on the Russian Empire , a power which had anathemised the Unification of Bulgaria , invited the Ottoman Sultan to reconquer Eastern Rumelia and organised a coup against the Bulgarian Prince only three decades prior and which had watched Ferdinand 's charge towards Istanbul with ill-disguised alarm due to its own long-standing aspirations towards the Turkish Straits, Bulgaria's unwillingness to reach

8732-559: The fallout, Yugoslavia did not reverse its position on renouncing Bulgarian war reparations, as defined in the 1947 Bled accord . In 1906, Dimitrov married his first wife, Serbian emigrant milliner, writer and socialist Ljubica Ivošević , with whom he lived until her death in 1933. While in the Soviet Union, Dimitrov married his second wife, the Czech -born Roza Yulievna Fleishmann (1896–1958), who gave birth to his only son, Mitya, in 1936. The boy died at age seven of diphtheria . While Mitya

8850-727: The federation included the incorporation of the Blagoevgrad Region ("Pirin Macedonia") into the People's Republic of Macedonia and the return of the Western Outlands from Serbia to Bulgaria . In anticipation of this, Bulgaria accepted teachers from Yugoslavia who started to teach the newly codified Macedonian language in the schools in Pirin Macedonia, and also issued an order that the Bulgarians of

8968-444: The first step towards a peaceful solution, but Bulgaria rejected it. Seeing the omens, Greece and Serbia started a series of negotiations and signed a treaty on 1 June(19 May) 1913. With this treaty, a mutual border was agreed between the two countries, together with an agreement for mutual military and diplomatic support in case of a Bulgarian or/and Austro-Hungarian attack. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia , being well informed, tried to stop

9086-487: The formerly distinct province of Eastern Rumelia (1885). All three countries, as well as Montenegro , sought additional territories within the large Ottoman-ruled region known as Rumelia , comprising Eastern Rumelia, Albania , Macedonia, and Thrace . The First Balkan War had some main causes, which included: Throughout the 19th century, the Great Powers shared different aims over the " Eastern Question " and

9204-413: The house. To the speaker's right, also facing the chamber, is a section with 17 seats reserved for the Cabinet, any of whom may or may not be present at any time during a parliamentary session. Any of them may, however, be called up by Parliament at any time if needed. Located in the former Bulgarian Communist Party headquarters building in the Largo , The Chamber is made up of 270 seats arranged in

9322-477: The initial rupture, Stalin invited Dimitrov and Tito to Moscow regarding the recent incident. Dimitrov accepted the invitation, but Tito refused, and sent his close associate Edvard Kardelj instead. The resulting rift between Stalin and Tito in 1948 gave the Bulgarian Government an eagerly-awaited opportunity of denouncing Yugoslav policy in Macedonia as expansionistic, and of revising its policy on

9440-538: The integrity of the Ottoman Empire. Russia wanted access to the "warm waters" of the Mediterranean from the Black Sea; so, it pursued a pan-Slavic foreign policy and therefore supported Bulgaria and Serbia. Britain wished to deny Russia access to the "warm waters" and supported the integrity of the Ottoman Empire, although it also supported a limited expansion of Greece as a backup plan in case integrity of

9558-1075: The into an interior space for the plenary chamber have been made since 1996, with the relocation taking place in 2020. After the April 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary election , the National Assembly moved again to the old Parliament House because ITN , Democratic Bulgaria , ISMV , and DPS viewed the Party House building as a symbol of Bulgaria's communist past . Balkan Wars First Balkan War: Second Balkan War: [REDACTED] 437,000+ [REDACTED] 450,000+ [REDACTED] 230,000 [REDACTED] 125,000 [REDACTED] 44,500 Total: 850,000 men [REDACTED] 348,000 [REDACTED] 330,000 [REDACTED] 255,000 [REDACTED] 148,000 [REDACTED] 12,800 [REDACTED] 632,000–1,500,000 Ottoman Muslim civilian deaths [REDACTED] 400,000–813,000 Ottoman Muslim refugees Serbian and Montenegrin front Greek front The Balkan Wars were

9676-579: The joint leaders of the Bulgarian CP. The political struggle in Bulgaria intensified in 1925. Dimitrov's only surviving brother, Todor, was arrested and killed that year by royal police. After the April 1925 St Nedelya Church assault , which was a terrorist bomb attack carried out by members of the Bulgarian CP, Dimitrov was tried in absentia in May 1926 and sentenced to death, although he had not approved

9794-464: The judge was convinced was a conspiracy to burn down the Reichstag. The three Bulgarians were expelled from Germany and sent to the USSR. When Dimitrov arrived in Moscow on 28 February 1934, he was encouraged by Joseph Stalin to end the practice of denouncing Social Democrats as 'social fascists', practically indistinguishable from actual fascists, and to instead promote " united front " tactics against

9912-430: The late 19th and early 20th century, Bulgaria and Greece contended for Ottoman Macedonia and Thrace. Ethnic Greeks sought the forced "Hellenization" of ethnic Bulgars, who sought "Bulgarization" of Greeks ( Rise of nationalism ). Both nations sent armed irregulars into Ottoman territory to protect and assist their ethnic kindred. From 1904, there was low-intensity warfare in Macedonia between the Greek and Bulgarian bands and

10030-460: The matter for which it was elected, the Grand National Assembly is dissolved ex lege and the President of the Republic shall appoint elections for an ordinary National Assembly. A total of seven Grand National Assemblies have been in operation in Bulgaria, the last one from 10 July 1990 to 12 July 1991 adopting the current constitution. The National Assembly's main building has been proclaimed

10148-460: The mausoleum was demolished in 1999. The first of eight children, Dimitrov was born in Kovachevtsi , in present-day Pernik Province , to refugee parents from Ottoman Macedonia (a mother from Bansko and a father from Razlog ). His father was a rural craftsman, forced by industrialisation to become a factory worker. His mother, Parashkeva Doseva, was a Protestant Christian , and his family

10266-550: The national character of the Macedonians ; whereas Dimitrov considered them to be an offshoot of the Bulgarians , Tito regarded them as an independent nation of people who had nothing whatsoever to do with the Bulgarians. The initial tolerance for the Macedonization of Pirin Macedonia gradually grew into outright alarm. By January 1948, Tito's plans to annex Bulgaria and Albania had become an obstacle to policy of

10384-435: The negotiations by pushing out Serbian and Greek forces out of several disputed territories without a battle plan or declaration of war, naively thinking that this would be regarded as a mere altercation. Instead, the action gave Serbia and Greece casus belli and kicked off the Second Balkan War . Though the Balkan allies had fought together against the common enemy, that was not enough to overcome their mutual rivalries. In

10502-471: The opening and closing of the legislative session or the inauguration of a new president. Following the April 2021 parliamentary elections , the legislature returned to the old parliament building. The Chamber is made up of 286 seats, all facing the 5-seat speaker's bench in a 26 x 11 arrangement. In front of the Speaker, also facing the chamber, is the pulpit, in front of which is the stenographers' desk. Parties sit in parliamentary groups, loosely following

10620-455: The opportunity of the Ottoman political upheaval to annex the de jure Ottoman province of Bosnia and Herzegovina , which it had occupied since 1878 (see Bosnian Crisis ). Bulgaria declared independence as it had done in 1878, but this time the independence was internationally recognized. The Greeks of the autonomous Cretan State proclaimed unification with Greece, though the opposition of

10738-501: The original document for the Balkans league, Serbia promised Bulgaria most of Macedonia. But before the first war had come to an end, Serbia (in violation of the previous agreement) and Greece revealed their plan to keep possession of the territories that their forces had occupied. This act prompted the tsar of Bulgaria to invade his allies. The Second Balkan War broke out on 29 (16) June 1913, when Bulgaria attacked its erstwhile allies in

10856-572: The other four original combatants of the first war. It also faced an attack from Romania from the north. The Ottoman Empire lost the bulk of its territory in Europe. Although not involved as a combatant, Austria-Hungary became relatively weaker as a much enlarged Serbia pushed for union of the South Slavic peoples. The war set the stage for the July crisis of 1914 and thus served as a prelude to

10974-658: The planned troops from the Middle East to the Thracian (against the Bulgarian) and to the Macedonian (against the Greeks and Serbians) fronts. According to E.J. Erickson the Greek Navy also played a crucial, albeit indirect role, in the Thracian campaign by neutralizing no less than three Thracian Corps (see First Balkan War , the Bulgarian theater of operations), a significant portion of the Ottoman Army there, in

11092-553: The poisoning theory claim that Stalin did not like the "Balkan Federation" idea of Dimitrov and his closeness with Tito. After the funeral, Dimitrov's body was embalmed and placed on display in Sofia's Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum . After the end of Communist rule in Bulgaria , his body was buried in Sofia's central cemetery in 1990. His mausoleum was demolished in 1999. The Sandinista government of Nicaragua renamed one of Managua 's central neighbourhoods "Barrio Jorge Dimitrov" to commemorate him during that country's revolution in

11210-564: The position since 1923. Finally, in 1934, Stalin chose Dimitrov to head the international organization. At this point, Tzvetan Todorov writes, Dimitrov "became part of the Soviet leader's inner circle." From 25 July to 20 August 1935, the 7th World Congress of the Communist International met in Moscow. Dimitrov was the dominant presence; he was elected the Comintern's General Secretary. His impassioned anti-fascist speeches at

11328-540: The province of Kosovo ). On 15 August 1909, the Military League , a group of Greek officers, launched a coup. The Military League sought the creation of a new political system and thus summoned the Cretan politician Eleftherios Venizelos to Athens as its political advisor. Venizelos persuaded King George I to revise the constitution and asked the League to disband in favor of a National Assembly. In March 1910,

11446-411: The rule that the political left sits to the Speaker's left and the political right to his right. Generally, the largest parties choose the chamber's left, right or centre wings, with smaller blocks accommodating themselves wherever convenient. Individual MPs will sometimes sit entirely outside their block or stand, and, since compulsory electronic registration was implemented, may even vote from any seat in

11564-421: The signing of the Treaty of London on 30 May 1913. The Second Balkan War began on 16 June 1913, when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its loss of Macedonia , attacked its former Balkan League allies. The combined forces of Serbian and Greek armies, with their superior numbers repelled the Bulgarian offensive and counter-attacked Bulgaria by invading it from the west and the south. Romania , having taken no part in

11682-529: The threat of European fascism . In April, as Dimitrov's fame grew in the wake of the Leipzig Trial, he was appointed a member of the Executive of Comintern and of its political secretariat, in charge of the Anglo-American and Central European sections. He was being groomed to take control of the Comintern from two of the so-called " Old Bolsheviks ", Iosif Pyatnitsky and Wilhelm Knorin , who had held

11800-515: The two countries as Bulgarian by rights. Before the war, Serbia had relinquished its claim to the territory east of the Ohrid - Kriva Palanka line in favour of Bulgaria (the ‘Uncontested Zone’ ), while the future of some 11,000 square km of territory, forming the northwestern corner of geographic region of Macedonia (the ‘Contested Zone’ ), was to be decided by the Russian Emperor , who

11918-499: The upcoming conflict on 8 June, by sending an identical personal message to the Kings of Bulgaria and Serbia, offering to act as arbitrator according to the provisions of the 1912 Serbo-Bulgarian treaty. But Bulgaria, by making the acceptance of Russian arbitration conditional, in effect denied any discussion, causing Russia to repudiate its alliance with Bulgaria (see Russo-Bulgarian military convention signed 31 May 1902). The Serbs and

12036-422: The war declaration on 4/17 of October 1912. The three Slavic allies (Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro) had laid out extensive plans to coordinate their war efforts, in continuation of their secret prewar settlements and under close Russian supervision (Greece was not included). Serbia and Montenegro would attack in the theater of Sanjak, Bulgaria, and Serbia in Macedonia and Thrace. The Ottoman Empire's situation

12154-480: Was Senior Arbitrary and Guarantor of the alliance. Assured by the clauses of the Treaty that it would receive what it considered its fair share of Macedonia , Bulgaria sent almost all of its troops to the Thracian front, which was expected to, and eventually did indeed, decide the outcome of the war. At the same time, Serbia pushed into Kosovo and northern Macedonia. As the establishment of an independent Albanian state, brokered by Italy and Austria-Hungary, deprived

12272-494: Was alive, Dimitrov adopted Fani, a daughter of Wang Ming , the acting General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 1931. He and his wife adopted another child, Boiko Dimitrov, born 1941. Dimitrov died on 2 July 1949 in the Barvikha sanatorium near Moscow . The speculation that he had been poisoned has never been confirmed, although his health seemed to deteriorate quite abruptly. The supporters of

12390-519: Was also signed between Serbia and Montenegro, while Greco-Montenegrin and Greco-Serbian agreements were basically oral "gentlemen's agreements". All these completed the formation of the Balkan League. At that time, the Balkan states had been able to maintain armies that were both numerous, in relation to each country's population, and eager to act, being inspired by the idea that they would free enslaved parts of their homeland. The Bulgarian Army

12508-769: Was arrested based on the evidence of a waiter who claimed to have seen "three Russians" (in reality, Dimitrov and two other Bulgarians, Vasil Tanev , and Blagoy Popov , both of whom were members of the faction that had supplanted Dimitrov in the Bulgarian Communist Party) talking in a cafe with Van der Lubbe. Dimitrov would remain in Nazi detention until the following February. His diary entries during this period tended to be "dry and elliptical, and occasionally obscure" since he knew they would be subject to examination by his captors. The Reichstag fire trial lasted from September to December 1933. Because it occurred at

12626-482: Was based on the fact that Yugoslavia and Bulgaria were the only two homelands of the Southern Slavs , and were separated from the rest of the Slavic world. The idea eventually resulted in the 1947 Bled accord , signed by Dimitrov and Tito, which called for abandoning frontier travel barriers, arranging for a future customs union, and having Yugoslavia unilaterally forgive Bulgarian war reparations. The preliminary plan for

12744-671: Was composed of 200 members being elected by proportional representation and the other 200 under a first-past-the-post voting system. The Constitution provides that the elections for Grand National Assembly shall be conducted in the same manner as those for the Ordinary National Assembly. A qualified majority of 2/3 during three voting procedures on separate dates is required for a decision to be made. The Grand National Assembly can also serve as an ordinary National Assembly, taking care of regular legislative activities in urgent cases only. After it has concluded its work on

12862-516: Was continued for 11 days, between 29 July and 9 August over 20 km of a maze of forests and mountains with no conclusion. The Greek king, seeing that the units he fought were from the Serbian front, tried to convince the Serbs to renew their attack, as the front ahead of them was now thinner, but the Serbs declined. By then, news came of the Romanian advance toward Sofia and its imminent fall. Facing

12980-715: Was difficult. Its population of about 26 million people provided a massive pool of manpower, but three-quarters of the population lived in the Asian part of the Empire. Reinforcements had to come from Asia mainly by sea, which depended on the result of battles between the Turkish and Greek navies in the Aegean. With the outbreak of the war, the Ottoman Empire activated three Army HQs: the Thracian HQ in Constantinople ,

13098-400: Was elected to the executive committee of Profintern . In 1923, Dimitrov led a failed communist uprising against the government of Aleksandar Tsankov and was subsequently forced into exile. He lived in the Soviet Union until 1929, at which time he relocated to Germany and became head of the Comintern operations in central Europe. Dimitrov rose to international prominence in the aftermath of

13216-445: Was finally signed on 16/29 of May 1912, without stipulating any specific division of Ottoman territories. In summer 1912, Greece proceeded on making "gentlemen's agreements" with Serbia and Montenegro. Despite the fact that a draft of the alliance pact with Serbia was submitted on 22 of October, a formal pact was never signed due to the outbreak of the war. As a result, Greece did not have any territorial or other commitments, other than

13334-650: Was formed. The negotiation among the Balkan states' governments started in the latter part of 1911 and was all conducted in secret. The treaties and military conventions were published in French translations after the Balkan Wars on 24–26 of November in Le Matin, Paris, France In April 1911, Greek PM Eleutherios Venizelos ’ attempt to reach an agreement with the Bulgarian PM and form a defensive alliance against

13452-601: Was living in Berlin in early 1933 when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis took power. On the night of 27 February, the German parliament building, the Reichstag , was severely damaged in an arson attack. A Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe , was found near the scene of the crime and presumed to be the culprit. Hitler quickly blamed a Communist conspiracy for the arson, and the Nazis proceeded to make mass arrests. On 9 March, Dimitrov

13570-526: Was needed in the Balkan League for its navy and its capability to dominate the Aegean Sea , cutting off the Ottoman Armies from reinforcements. On 13 ( O.S. )/26 of September 1912, the Ottoman mobilization in Thrace forced Serbia and Bulgaria to act and order their own mobilization. On 17/30 of September Greece also ordered mobilization. On 25 of September/8 of October, Montenegro declared war on

13688-659: Was the leading army of the coalition. It was a well-trained and fully equipped army, capable of facing the Imperial Army. It was suggested that the bulk of the Bulgarian Army would be in the Thracian front, as it was expected that the front near the Ottoman Capital would be the most crucial one. The Serbian Army would act on the Macedonian front, as the Greek Army were thought to be powerless, but Greece

13806-509: Was told. He noted in his diary when Julian Leszczyński , Henryk Walecki , and several members of his staff were arrested, but again did nothing, though he did raise questions when the NKVD representative in Comintern, Mikhail Trilisser , was arrested. In 1946, Dimitrov returned to Bulgaria after 22 years in exile. After a referendum abolished the monarchy in September, Bulgaria was declared

13924-450: Was used briefly in 2020-2021 during the end of GERB 's third government. Following the April 2021 parliamentary elections , the legislature returned to the old parliament building . In addition to the ordinary National Assembly, a Grand National Assembly ( Велико народно събрание , Veliko narodno sabranie ) may be convened for matters of special jurisdiction, such as: 1) Adoption of a new Constitution; 2) Amendment of certain articles of

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