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186-575: Bulgarian defeat Bulgaria cedes: The Second Balkan War was a conflict that broke out when Bulgaria , dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War , attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece , on 16 ( O.S. ) / 29 (N.S.) June 1913. Serbian and Greek armies repulsed the Bulgarian offensive and counterattacked, entering Bulgaria. With Bulgaria also having previously engaged in territorial disputes with Romania and

372-657: A Slavic nation, also considered Macedonian Slavs as belonging to the Serbian nation. Thus began a three-sided struggle for control of these areas which lasted until World War I . In 1903 there was a Bulgarian insurrection in Ottoman Macedonia. In 1908 Ferdinand used the struggles among the Great Powers to declare Bulgaria an independent kingdom with himself as Tsar. He did this on 5 October (though celebrated on 22 September, as Bulgaria remained officially on

558-416: A bilateral alliance treaty. Preliminary discussions quickly bore fruit, and on 5 May Koromilas and the Serbian ambassador to Athens signed the first protocol, where both sides pledged mutual support against Bulgaria should the latter refuse to acknowledge the territorial status quo. The protocol also included a 50-year commercial agreement which allowed the use of Thessaloniki by Serbian companies. This protocol

744-695: A cavalry brigade (117,861 men) with 176 artillery guns in a line extending from the Gulf of Orphanos to the Gevgelija area. Since the Greek headquarters did not know where the Bulgarian attack would occur, the Bulgarians would have temporary local superiority in the location chosen for the attack. On 26 June, the Bulgarian army received orders to destroy the opposing Greek forces and to advance towards Thessaloniki. The Greeks stopped them, and by 29 June, an order for

930-532: A clear warning in changing its policy towards Sofia in December 1912). The plan was for a concentrated attack against the Serbian army across the Vardar plain to neutralize it and to capture northern Macedonia, together with a less concentrated one against the Greek military near Thessaloniki, which had approximately half the size of the Serbian army, to capture the city and south Macedonia. The Bulgarian high command

1116-678: A common Greek border with Serbia. When Bulgarian delegates in London bluntly warned the Serbs that they must not expect Bulgarian support on their Adriatic claims, the Serbs angrily replied that that was a blatant withdrawal from the prewar agreement of mutual understanding according to the Kriva Palanka-Adriatic line of expansion. The Bulgarians insisted that the Vardar Macedonian part of the agreement remained active, and

1302-620: A confederation that had been dormant since the war, reorganized the Bulgarian right. In 1922, its leaders were imprisoned by Stamboliyski's Orange Guard , temporarily stifling its activities. Meanwhile, in late 1922 and early 1923, Macedonian nationalists seized Kyustendil on the Yugoslav border. They assaulted government officials in protest against the reconciliation with Yugoslavia and the Kingdom of Greece . Stamboliyski responded with mass arrests, an intensified campaign against IMRO terrorism,

1488-643: A detailed analysis concerning his units contradicted him. Ivanov's 2nd army consisted of the 3rd division minus one brigade with four regiments of four battalions (a total of 16 battalions plus the divisional artillery), the I/X brigade with the 16th and 25th regiments (total of eight battalions plus artillery), the Drama Brigade with the 69th, 75th and 7th regiments (total of 12 battalions), the Seres Brigade with 67th and 68th regiments (total of 8 battalions),

1674-479: A favourable concession from Serbia in the former Sanjak of Novi Pazar . They did it, later confirming it in a treaty signed at Belgrade on 7 November. In August, Ottoman forces established a provisional government of Western Thrace at Komotini to pressure Bulgaria to make peace. Bulgaria sent a three-member delegation—General Mihail Savov and the diplomats Andrei Toshev and Grigor Nachovich —to Constantinople to negotiate peace on 6 September. The Ottoman delegation

1860-651: A favourable neutrality and conduct a partial mobilization (40,000 men for Greece and 50,000 for Serbia). The signature of the Greek–Serbian alliance marked the demise of the Balkan League . On 30 June, Bulgarian troops attacked the Greek and Serbian lines, beginning the Second Balkan War . The alliance played an important role in World War I , when Serbia was attacked by Austria . Venizelos mobilized

2046-665: A few days at war with both Germany and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union occupied the north-eastern part of Bulgaria along with the key port cities of Varna and Burgas by the next day. By order of the government, the Bulgarian Army offered no resistance. On September 16, the Red Army entered Sofia. During the same day, a pro-Axis government-in-exile was established in Vienna under Aleksandar Tsankov and while it

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2232-414: A general counterattack was issued. At Kilkis, the Bulgarians had constructed strong defences, including captured Ottoman guns which dominated the plain below. The Greek 4th , 2nd , and 5th divisions attacked across the plain in rushes supported by artillery. The Greek Army suffered heavy casualties but carried the trenches by the next day. On the Bulgarian left, the Greek 7th Division captured Serres and

2418-526: A large Yugoslav confederation. However, he encountered difficulties due to the militant faction of IMRO back home. Many Macedonian leaders had relocated to Sofia after the failed 1903 revolt against the Ottoman Empire, and they were now joined by others fleeing the Yugoslav government, which officially claimed Macedonians as ethnic Serbs. Bulgaria, having been compelled to reduce its armed forces after World War I, saw IMRO leaders gain control over much of

2604-637: A line from Dojran Lake southeast to Kilkis, Lachanas , Serres and then across the Pangaion Hills to the Aegean Sea. The army had been in place since May and was considered a veteran force, having fought at the siege of Edirne in the First Balkan War. Though General Ivanov, possibly to avoid any responsibility for his crushing defeat, claimed after the war that his army consisted of only 36,000 men and that many of his units were weakened,

2790-423: A long-term impact on Russo-Bulgarian relations. The uncompromising Bulgarian position to review the prewar agreement with Serbia during a second Russian initiative for arbitration finally led Russia to cancel its alliance with Bulgaria. Both acts made conflict with Romania and Serbia inevitable. In 1912, Bulgaria's national aspirations, as expressed by Tsar Ferdinand and the military leadership around him, exceeded

2976-549: A mandatory subject in high school. In comparison to economics, Bulgaria's educational system was more successful, and less than half the population was illiterate. Eight years of schooling were required and over 80% of children attended . For the few special students who went past elementary school, the high schools were based on the German gymnasium . Competitive examinations were used to judge college applicants, and Bulgaria had several technical and specialized schools in addition to

3162-512: A military alliance, and on 28 June, officially warned Bulgaria that it would not remain neutral in a new Balkan war. As skirmishing continued in Macedonia, mainly between Serbian and Bulgarian troops, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia tried to stop the upcoming conflict since Russia did not wish to lose either of its Slavic allies in the Balkans. On 8 June, he sent an identical personal message to

3348-466: A new 10th division was formed using two brigades from the 1st and 6th divisions, and an additional three independent brigades were formed from recruits. Nevertheless, the heavy structure generally remained. By contrast, the Greek Army of Macedonia also had nine divisions, but the total number of men under arms was only 118,000. Another decisive factor affecting the real strength of the divisions between

3534-517: A new alliance, against Bulgaria. The Serbian Prime Minister, Nikola Pasic , told Greece it could have Thrace if Greece helped Serbia keep Bulgaria out of the Serbian part of Macedonia, and the Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos agreed. Seeing this as a violation of the pre-war agreements, and discreetly encouraged by Germany and Austria-Hungary , Tsar Ferdinand declared war on Serbia and Greece and

3720-456: A new war against Serbia and Greece, certain personalities in Sofia threatened to overthrow him. In any case, on 16 June, the Bulgarian high command, under the direct control of Tsar Ferdinand and without notifying the government, ordered Bulgarian troops to start a surprise attack simultaneously against both the Serbian and Greek positions without declaring war and to dismiss any orders contradicting

3906-501: A protective alliance in the event of a war. The first daily radio broadcasts appeared in 1930. There were many radio broadcasters such as Radio Sofia (now Radio Bulgaria). The Agrarians reorganized and won elections in 1931 under the leadership of Nikola Mushanov . Just when political stability had been restored, the full effects of the Great Depression hit Bulgaria, and social tensions rose again. In May 1934 there

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4092-666: A purge of his own fractured and notoriously corrupt party, and called for new parliamentary elections. These measures united diverse opponents of the Agrarians—including IMRO, the National Alliance, army factions, and social democrats—into a coalition led by Aleksandar Tsankov . The Communists remained outside this coalition. Bulgaria's Western creditors, disenchanted with a government that had rejected their reparations policy, refrained from intervening. In June 1923, IMRO agents brutally assassinated Stamboliyski, paving

4278-420: A soaring trade deficit of over 87 million levs by 1914. Before the war, grain had been a leading Bulgarian export commodity with the most productive area being Dobruja. The state took special care for the development of the region; it built railways to carry grain and other exports to the port of Varna , whose facilities had been developed at great cost. In 1912, it handled more goods than Salonika . By 1938,

4464-557: A structure that had cost Russia much blood, money and diplomatic capital during the last 35 years. Russia's Foreign Minister Sazonov 's exact words to Bulgaria's new Prime Minister Stoyan Danev were "Do not expect anything from us, and forget the existence of any of our agreements from 1902 until the present." Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was already angry with Bulgaria because the latter refused to honour its recently signed agreement with Romania over Silistra, which resulted from Russian arbitration. Then Serbia and Greece proposed that each of

4650-546: A total of 599,878 men (366,209 in the Active Army; 53,927 in the supplementing units; 53,983 in the National Militia; 94,526 from the 1912 and 1913 levies; 14,204 volunteers; 14,424 in the border guards). The non-recoverable casualties during the First Balkan War were 33,000 men (14,000 killed and 19,000 died of disease). To replace these casualties, Bulgaria conscripted 60,000 men between the two wars, mainly from

4836-423: A unique organization among those of Europe since each infantry division had three brigades of two regiments, composed of four battalions of six heavy companies of 250 men each, plus an independent battalion, two large artillery regiments and one cavalry regiment, giving a total of 25 very heavy infantry battalions and 16 cavalry companies per division, which was more than the equivalent of two nine-battalion divisions,

5022-845: Is ours." In the end, none of the battlefields were retained in the Treaty of Constantinople of 30 September. In October, Bulgarian forces finally returned south of the Rhodopes . The Radoslavov government continued negotiating with the Ottomans in the hopes of forming an alliance. These talks finally bore fruit in the Secret Bulgarian–Ottoman Treaty of August 1914. As part of the Treaty of Constantinople, 46,764 Orthodox Bulgarians from Ottoman Thrace were exchanged for 48,570 Muslims (Turks, Pomaks , and Roma ) from Bulgarian Thrace. After

5208-621: The 1st and 6th divisions captured Lachanas. The defeat of the 2nd army by the Greeks was the most serious military disaster suffered by the Bulgarians in the Second Balkan War. Bulgarian sources give 6,971 casualties, over 6,000 prisoners, and over 130 artillery pieces captured by the Greeks, who suffered 8,700 casualties. On 28 June, the retreating Bulgarian army and irregulars burned down the major city of Serres (a predominantly Greek town surrounded by both Bulgarian – to

5394-657: The 4th Army under General Stiliyan Kovachev in the Kočani – Radoviš area. The 2nd Army under general Nikola Ivanov was detailed against the Greek army. The army of the Kingdom of Serbia accounted for 348,000 men (out of which 252,000 were combatants) divided into three armies with ten divisions. Its main force was deployed on the Macedonian front along the Vardar River and near Skopje . Its nominal commander-in-chief

5580-554: The 5th Corps under General Ioan Culcer invaded Dobruja, occupying a front from Tutrakan to Balchik. The corps cavalry occupied the port city of Varna until it was clear that there would be no Bulgarian resistance. On the night of 14–15 July, the Danube Army under Prince Ferdinand crossed into Bulgaria at Oryahovo , Gigen and Nikopol . The initial occupation completed, Romanian forces were divided into two groups: one advanced westward, towards Ferdinand (now Montana ), and

5766-456: The Aegean port of Dedeagach (today Alexandroupoli ). Bulgaria also gained a slice of Macedonia, north and east of Thessaloniki , but only some small areas along her western borders. Bulgaria sustained the heaviest casualties of any of the allies, and on this basis felt entitled to the largest share of the spoils. The Serbs, in particular, did not see things this way and refused to vacate any of

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5952-570: The Empire of Japan , and the Kingdom of Italy . German troops entered the country in preparation for the German invasions of the Kingdom of Greece and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . When Yugoslavia and Greece were defeated, Bulgaria was allowed to occupy all of Greek Thrace and most of Macedonia. Bulgaria declared war on Britain and the United States but resisted German pressure to declare war on

6138-846: The First World War . Following the First World War the Bulgarian army was disbanded and forbidden to exist by the Allied Powers , and all plans for national unification of the Bulgarian lands failed. Less than two decades later Bulgaria entered the Second World War on the side of the Axis Powers and once again found itself on the losing side, until it switched sides to the Allies in September 1944. In 1946,

6324-825: The Julian Calendar until 1916) in the St Forty Martyrs Church in Veliko Tarnovo . Even before then, however, Bulgaria had only acknowledged the overlordship of the sultan formally. Since 1878, Bulgaria had had its own constitution, flag, and anthem, and conducted a separate foreign policy. Ferdinand took the Bulgarian title "Tsar" in honor of the rulers of the First and Second Bulgarian Empires. However, while previous Bulgarian "tsars" were reckoned as emperors, Ferdinand and his successors were called "kings" outside Bulgaria. The Tarnovo Constitution

6510-685: The London Conference of 1912–13 was forced by the Great Powers to cede its conquests in Albania in favour of the newly created Albanian Principality , opposed Bulgarian claims and insisted on an uti possidetis division of territory. On 9 March 1913, the Greek Foreign Minister Lambros Koromilas instructed the Greek ambassador to Belgrade to sound out the Serbian government with a view to

6696-653: The Ottoman Empire and in May 1912 a similar treaty was signed with Greece. Montenegro was also brought into the pact. The treaties provided for the partition of Macedonia and Thrace between the allies, although the lines of partition were left dangerously vague. After the Ottomans refused to implement reforms in the disputed areas, the First Balkan War broke out in October 1912. The allies had astonishing success. The Bulgarian army inflicted several crushing defeats on

6882-495: The Ottoman Empire in the Treaty of Berlin ). He and his successors were reckoned as kings internationally. The state was almost constantly at war throughout its existence, lending to its nickname as "the Balkan Prussia ". For several years Bulgaria mobilized an army of more than 1 million people from its population of about 5 million, and in the 1910s it engaged in three wars – the First and Second Balkan Wars , and

7068-480: The Soviet Union , fearful of pro-Russian sentiment in the country. In August 1943 Tsar Boris died suddenly after returning from Germany from heart failure, but also rumoured to be poisoned. He was later succeeded by his six-year-old son Simeon II . Power was held by a council of regents headed by the young Tsar's uncle, Prince Kiril , Bogdan Filov and Nikola Mihov . The new prime minister, Dobri Bozhilov ,

7254-691: The Treaty of Bucharest and divided Macedonia in three: Vardar Macedonia went to Serbia; the smallest part, Pirin Macedonia , to Bulgaria; and the coastal and largest part, Aegean Macedonia , to Greece. Bulgaria thus enlarged its territory by 16 percent compared to what it was before the First Balkan War, increasing its population from 4.3 to 4.7 million people. Romania enlarged its territory by 5 percent and Montenegro by 62 percent. Greece increased her population from 2.7 to 4.4 million and her territory by 68 percent. Serbia almost doubled her territory, enlarging her population from 2.9 to 4.5 million. The Montenegrins at Bucharest were primarily interested in obtaining

7440-492: The Treaty of Constantinople , it lost Adrianople to the Ottomans. The political developments and military preparations for the Second Balkan War attracted an estimated 200 to 300 war correspondents from around the world. During the First Balkan War , which began in October 1912, the Balkan League ( Bulgaria , Serbia , Montenegro and Greece ) succeeded in driving out the Ottoman Empire from its European provinces ( Albania , Macedonia , Sandžak and Thrace ), leaving

7626-575: The University of Sofia . Many Bulgarian students also went abroad, primarily to Germany and Austria after educational ties with Russia ended in 1917. Overall, education reached more of the lower classes than anywhere else in Eastern Europe , but on the downside all too many students obtained degrees in the liberal arts and other abstract subjects and could not find work anywhere except in the government bureaucracy. Many of them gravitated towards

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7812-532: The former regents and hundreds of other officials of the old regime who were arrested on charges of war crimes were executed on 1 February 1945. In September 1946, the monarchy was abolished by plebiscite . This referendum violated the Tarnovo Constitution, which stated that any change in the form of the state could only take place if a Grand National Assembly was convened by the Tsar (in practice,

7998-482: The 11th division with the 55th, 56th and 57th regiments (total of 12 battalions plus the divisional artillery), the 5th Border Battalion, the 10th Independent Battalion and the 10th Cavalry Regiment of seven mounted and seven infantry companies. In total, Ivanov's force comprised 232 companies in 58 infantry battalions, a cavalry regiment (14 companies) with 175 artillery guns, numbering between 80,000 (official Bulgarian source) and 108,000 (official Greek source according to

8184-509: The 1360s and had served as the first European capital of the Empire before the capture of Constantinople in 1453. Minister of War Enver Pasha called himself the "Second Conqueror of Edirne," although the conquering forces had met no resistance on the way to Edirne. The Ottoman armies did not stop at the old border but crossed into Bulgarian territory. A cavalry unit advanced on Yambol and captured it on 25 July. The Ottoman invasion, more than

8370-732: The Balkan Wars, Bulgaria remained neutral during the first year of World War I . When Germany pledged to restore the boundaries of the Treaty of San Stefano, Bulgaria, boasting the largest army in the Balkans, declared war on Serbia in October 1915. Subsequently, the UK, France, Italy, and Russia declared war on Bulgaria. Bulgaria, allied with Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottomans, achieved military victories against Serbia and Romania. They captured much of Macedonia (including Skopje in October), advanced into Greek Macedonia, and seized Dobruja from

8556-612: The Bulgarian Communist Party. The Bulgarian state at the turn of the 20th century was rural, agrarian, relatively unindustrialised and economically backward nation, in which the economical development hampered by wars and territorial loses. Around 37.8% of the population of about 4.3 million were rural peasants; in 1910, urban dwellers accounted for 19.1% of the total population, a figure that had remained relatively unchanged since Bulgaria had gained independence from Ottoman rule almost 30 years earlier. The literacy rate

8742-399: The Bulgarian army attacked on June 29. The Serbian and the Greek forces were initially on the retreat on the western border, but they soon took the upper hand and forced Bulgaria into retreat. The fighting was very harsh, with many casualties, especially during the key Battle of Bregalnica . Soon Romania entered the war and attacked Bulgaria from the north. The Ottoman Empire also attacked from

8928-413: The Bulgarian army continued advancing, especially in the south. However, after three days of fighting at the sectors of Pehchevo and Mahomia, the Greek forces retained their positions. Romania mobilized its army on 5 July 1913, intending to seize Southern Dobruja, and declared war on Bulgaria on 10 July. In a diplomatic circular that said, "Romania does not intend either to subjugate the polity nor defeat

9114-483: The Bulgarian army downscaled its attacks, having to repulse Greek counterattacks on both sides. On the eastern flank, the Greek army launched a counterattack towards Mehomia through the Predela pass. The offensive was stopped by the Bulgarians on the eastern side of the pass and fighting ground to a stalemate. On the western flank, an offensive was launched against Tsarevo Selo to reach the Serbian lines. This failed, and

9300-469: The Bulgarian army had been severely defeated. On the north, the Bulgarians started to advance towards the Serbian border town of Pirot and forced Serbian Command to send reinforcements to the 2nd army defending Pirot and Niš . This enabled Bulgarians to stop the Serbian offensive in Macedonia at Kalimanci on 18 July. On 13 July 1913, General Mihail Savov assumed control of the 4th and 5th Bulgarian armies. The Bulgarians dug into strong positions around

9486-567: The Bulgarian army occupied Constantinople they would attack it, they continued their attempts to take the city. Although the Bulgarian army succeeded in capturing Edirne , Tsar Ferdinand's ambition in crowning himself Emperor in Constantinople also proved unrealistic when the Bulgarian army failed to capture the city in the First Battle of Çatalca . Even worse, the concentration on capturing Thrace and Constantinople ultimately caused

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9672-607: The Bulgarian authorities and sent to extermination camps in German-occupied Poland. The deportation of the 48,000 Jews from Bulgaria proper was subsequently initiated but halted following widespread protests. Upon becoming aware of the impending plans members of parliament led by Dimitar Peshev pressured the interior minister to revoke the initial deportation order, while public protests and interventions by prominent figures, notably Bulgarian Orthodox Church bishops Stefan of Sofia and Kiril of Plovdiv , persuaded

9858-533: The Bulgarians) had been designated as a "disputed zone" under Russian arbitration, with the area to the south of this line assigned to Bulgaria. During the war, the Serbs succeeded in capturing an area far south of the agreed border, down to the Bitola – Gevgelija line (both in Serbian hands). At the same time, the Greeks advanced north, occupying Thessaloniki shortly before the Bulgarians arrived and establishing

10044-472: The Enos–Midia line and on 20 July 1913 crossed the line and invaded Bulgaria. The entire Ottoman invasion force contained between 200,000 and 250,000 men under the command of Ahmed Izzet Pasha . The 1st Army was stationed at the eastern (Midia) end of the line. From east to west it was followed by the 2nd Army , 3rd Army and 4th Army , which was stationed at Gelibolu. In the face of the advancing Ottomans,

10230-486: The First Balkan War, Bulgaria's foreign minister offered instead some minor border changes, which excluded Silistra, and assurances for the rights of the Kutzovlachs in Macedonia. Romania threatened to occupy Bulgarian territory by force, but a Russian proposal for arbitration prevented hostilities. In the resulting Protocol of St. Petersburg of 9 May 1913 , Bulgaria agreed to give up Silistra. The resulting agreement

10416-512: The GNP-PPP per capita had risen to $ 420, putting Bulgaria ahead of Yugoslavia , Romania , Poland , Portugal , and civil war Spain on this measure. Real GDP per capita in 1939, equated to a 2011 dollar value, was $ 2,649, the third lowest in Europe after Yugoslavia and Romania. By 1939, 73.5% of manufacturing revenue came from agriculture, and 26.5% from industry and construction. Over 82% of

10602-586: The Golden Age of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom. It lasted nearly five years, governed by prime minister Georgi Kyoseivanov . Kyoseivanov's Premiership oversaw the trials of the instigators of the 1934 military coup and also concluded pacts with Yugoslavia and Greece as Nazi Germany undertook a policy of economic isolation of the Balkans. His government also oversaw a policy of rearmament after a treaty concluded with Ioannis Metaxas overturned

10788-564: The Great Powers interfered to end the hostilities. To provide the necessary superiority in arms, the entire Bulgarian army was committed to these operations. No provisions were made in case of an (officially declared) Romanian intervention or an Ottoman counterattack, strangely assuming that Russia would assure that no attack would come from those directions, even though on 9 June Russia had angrily repudiated its Bulgarian alliance and shifted its diplomacy towards Romania (Russia already had named Romania's King Carol an honorary Russian field marshal, as

10974-406: The Greek army, but met with the refusal of the Germanophile King Constantine I to enter the war on the side of the Entente Powers . In an attempt to force the king's hand, in mid-1915 Venizelos allowed a British-French force to land in Thessaloniki in order to aid the Serbs, establishing the Salonica front . The crisis between Prime Minister and King over the issue of the country's participation in

11160-436: The Greeks came in contact with the Serbs and then pushed up the Struma River . Meanwhile, the Greek forces, with the support of their navy, landed in Kavala and then penetrated inland to western Thrace. On 19 July, the Greeks captured Nevrokop , and on 25 July, in another amphibious operation, entered Dedeagac (today Alexandroupoli) , thus cutting off the Bulgarians completely from the Aegean sea. The 4th Bulgarian army held

11346-434: The Interwar period, no change in boundaries happened, but there was an incident at Petrich , which was the only conflict it fought internationally during this period. After pro-German prime ministers elected into office, Bulgaria entered World War II on the side of the Axis powers . After the Invasion of Yugoslavia and also of Greece , Bulgaria once again obtained a coastline to the Aegean and Macedonia with Pirot . After

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11532-462: The Kings of Bulgaria and Serbia, offering to act as arbitrator according to the provisions of the 1912 Serbo-Bulgarian treaty. Serbia was asking for a revision of the original treaty since it had already lost north Albania due to the Great Powers' decision to establish the state of Albania, which had been recognized as Serbian territory under the prewar Serbo-Bulgarian treaty, in exchange for Bulgarian expansion in northern Macedonia. The Bulgarian reply to

11718-466: The League of Nations. In 1926, Bulgaria returned the favour by forcing Greek invading troops to leave southern Bulgaria during the Incident at Petrich . The Macedonian independence movement split over the ultimate goal of its activities in the late 1920s. The supremacist faction sought the incorporation of all Macedonian territory into Bulgaria. The federalist faction (including the IMRO) sought an autonomous Macedonia that could join Bulgaria or Yugoslavia in

11904-418: The Macedonian front. The Kingdom of Romania had the largest army in the Balkans, although it had not seen action since the Romanian War of Independence against the Ottomans in 1878. Its peacetime strength was 6,149 officers and 94,170 men, and it was well equipped by Balkan standards, possessing 126 field batteries, fifteen howitzer and three mountain batteries made primarily by Krupp . Upon mobilizing,

12090-412: The Nazi Germany-allied government of Tsar Boris III and prime minister Bogdan Filov . The persecution began in 1941 with the passing of anti-Jewish legislation and culminated in March 1943 with the arrest and deportation of almost all  – 11,343 – of the Jews living in Bulgarian-occupied regions of Northern Greece , Yugoslav Macedonia and Pirot . These were deported by

12276-507: The Ottoman forces and advanced threateningly against Constantinople , while the Serbs and the Greeks took control of Macedonia. The Ottomans sued for peace in December. Negotiations broke down, and fighting resumed in February 1913. The Ottomans lost Adrianople to a Bulgarian task force. A second armistice followed in March, with the Ottomans losing all their European possessions west of the Midia-Enos line, not far from Istanbul. Bulgaria gained possession of most of Thrace, including Adrianople and

12462-417: The Ottomans were wounded. The sacrifice of these Armenians was praised greatly in Turkish papers. To help Bulgaria repulse the rapid Ottoman advance in Thrace, Russia threatened to attack the Ottoman Empire through the Caucasus and send its Black Sea Fleet to Constantinople; this caused Britain to intervene. The Bulgarian command began to transfer troops to Thrace and on 20 July, with increasing resistance,

12648-422: The Ottomans with only East Thrace . The Treaty of London , signed on 30 May 1913, which ended the war, acknowledged the Balkan states' gains west of the Enos–Midia line, drawn from Midia ( Kıyıköy ) on the Black Sea coast to Enos ( Enez ) on the Aegean Sea coast, on an uti possidetis basis, and created an independent Albania . However, the relations between the victorious Balkan allies quickly soured over

12834-414: The Romanian army mustered 417,720 men allocated to five army corps. Some 80,000 were assembled to occupy the Southern Dobruja , while an army of 250,000 was assembled to carry the main offensive into Bulgaria. The primary Bulgarian attack was planned against the Serbs with their 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th Armies, while the 2nd army was tasked with an attack toward Greek positions around Thessaloniki. However, in

13020-428: The Romanian invasion convinced the Ottomans to invade the territories just ceded to Bulgaria. The main object of the invasion was the recovery of Edirne (Adrianople), which was held by Major General Vulko Velchev with a mere 4,000 troops. Most Bulgarian forces occupying East Thrace had been withdrawn to face the Serbo-Greek attack earlier in the year. On 12 July, Ottoman troops garrisoning Çatalca and Gelibolu reached

13206-478: The Romanian, incited panic among the peasantry, many of whom fled to the mountains. Among the leadership, it was recognized as a complete reversal of fortune. In the words of historian Richard Hall, "[t]he battlefields of eastern Thrace, where so many Bulgarian soldiers had died to win the First Balkan War, were again under Ottoman control." Like the Romanians, the Ottomans suffered no combat casualties but lost 4,000 soldiers to cholera. Some 8000 Armenians fighting for

13392-753: The Romanians in September 1916. However, the war quickly became unpopular among the majority of Bulgarians, who endured severe economic hardship and resented fighting alongside their fellow Orthodox Christians while allied with the Muslim Ottomans. Aleksandar Stamboliyski , leader of the Agrarian Party, was imprisoned for his opposition to the war. The Russian Revolution of February 1917 significantly impacted Bulgaria, spreading antiwar and anti-monarchist sentiments among troops and in cities. In June, Radoslavov's government resigned, mutinies erupted in

13578-535: The Russian invitation contained so many conditions that it amounted to an ultimatum , leading Russian diplomats to realize that the Bulgarians had already decided to go to war with Serbia. That caused Russia to cancel the arbitration initiative and angrily repudiate its 1902 treaty of alliance with Bulgaria. Bulgaria was shattering the Balkan League, Russia's best defence against Austrian–Hungarian expansionism,

13764-535: The Serbian front and had taken defensive positions there. By 21 July, the Greek army was outnumbered by the now counterattacking Bulgarians, and the Bulgarian General Staff, attempting to encircle the Greeks in a Cannae -type battle, was applying pressure on their flanks. However, after bitter fighting, the Greek side managed to break through the Kresna pass and captured Simitli on 26 July, while at

13950-473: The Serbo-Bulgarian alliance and made a future war between the two countries inevitable. Soon, minor clashes broke out along the borders of the occupation zones with the Bulgarians against the Serbs and the Greeks. Responding to the perceived Bulgarian threat, Serbia started negotiations with Greece, which also had reasons to be concerned about Bulgarian intentions. On 19 May/1 June 1913, two days after

14136-504: The Serbo-Greek rapprochement, Bulgarian Prime Minister Geshov signed a protocol with Greece on 21 May, agreeing on a permanent boundary between their respective forces, effectively accepting Greek control over southern Macedonia. However, his later dismissal ended the diplomatic targeting of Serbia. Another point of friction arose: Bulgaria's refusal to cede the fortress of Silistra to Romania. When Romania demanded its cession after

14322-465: The Serbs and Belasica – Eleftheres Gulf for the Greeks), committed them to seek international mediation, and to meet Bulgarian armed aggression towards either signatory with all available forces. The attendant military convention obliged each country to come to the other's aid with all available forces should either be attacked by a third power, or, if one of the signatories declared war first, to maintain

14508-538: The Serbs were still obliged to surrender the area as agreed. The Serbs responded by accusing the Bulgarians of maximalism, pointing out that if they lost both northern Albania and Vardar Macedonia, their participation in the common war would have been virtually for nothing. When Bulgaria called upon Serbia to honour the prewar agreement over northern Macedonia, the Serbs, displeased at the Great Powers' requiring them to give up their gains in north Albania, adamantly refused to evacuate any more territory. The developments ended

14694-474: The Soviet invasion of Bulgaria in 1944, the Bulgarians obtained Southern Dobruja. Since the population was 85% ethnic Bulgarian, there was relatively little social strife aside from the conflict between the haves and have-nots. Most inhabitants of Sofia maintained close ties to the countryside, but this did not prevent a rift between the peasants and urban class (i.e. Sofia versus everyone else), although some were

14880-402: The Tsar acting on the advice of the government). The republic was formally proclaimed a week later, and the young Tsar Simeon was forced into exile. The Communists now openly took power, with Vasil Kolarov becoming president and Dimitrov becoming prime minister. Free elections promised for 1946 were blatantly rigged and were boycotted by the opposition. The Agrarians refused to co-operate with

15066-656: The Tsar and other right-wing elements of the Tsardom after the AP controlled 87% of Parliament in the elections that year. The Bulgarian government could only muster a handful of troops to resist and even worse was a peasant mob with no guns rallied by Stamboliyski. Despite this, the streets of Sofia erupted in chaos and the hapless prime minister was lynched in addition to attacks on unarmed peasants. The whole affair seriously tar brushed Bulgaria's international image. A right-wing government under Aleksandar Tsankov took power, backed by

15252-553: The Tsar first to stop the deportation temporarily in March 1943, and two months later to postpone it indefinitely. The Jews whose deportation from Bulgaria was halted, including all Sofia's 25,743 Jews, were instead internally deported to the countryside and had their property confiscated, and Jewish males between the ages of 20 and 46 were conscripted into the Labour Corps until September 1944. The events that prevented

15438-566: The Tsar, the army, and the VMRO. The September Uprising began in 1923, after the 9 June coup d'état, when Alexander Stamboliyski was planning to capture Pazardzhik with his sympathizers to restore his power, which was quickly disrupted by the Bulgarian Army. He was then captured and relocated to Slavovitsa , his birthplace, where he was tortured and killed by IMRO agents. Tsankov's government arrested over 2000 alleged communists in which uprisings began. Vasil Kolarov and Georgi Dimitrov , who were

15624-645: The Turkish advance was halted. According to the 1918 book Destruction of the Thracian Bulgarians in 1913 , Ottoman forces perpetrated atrocities against the Bulgarians in Eastern Thrace during the invasion and aftermath. As the Romanian army closed in on Sofia, Bulgaria asked Russia to mediate. On 13 July, Prime Minister Stoyan Danev resigned in the face of Russian inactivity. On 17 July,

15810-532: The Western Outlands. The 1879 constitution did not clearly delineate the powers of the king and Parliament, a common issue in constitutional monarchies. While the framers of the 1879 constitution intended to vest most of the power in Parliament, a sufficiently cunning monarch could still potentially seize control of the government machinery. This proved to be the case with Tsar Ferdinand, who, however,

15996-449: The actual number of casualties, including wounded and adding the newly conscripted men produces no less than 576,878 men. The army was experiencing shortages of war materials and had only 378,998 rifles at its disposal. The 1st and 3rd armies (under generals Vasil Kutinchev and Radko Dimitriev respectively) were deployed along the old Serbian-Bulgarian borders, with the 5th Army under general Stefan Toshev around Kyustendil , and

16182-473: The agricultural labor force was unemployed, and winter employment dropped to 30%. Deflation and increased taxes to stop foreign debt caused the total income of the rural population to drop down half of it between 1929 and 1933. The industrial sector is weak and does not play a significant role in the economy. Between 1895 and 1928 a number of measures were taken to stimulate industry, such as duty-free imports of machinery, tax exemptions and low freight rates. In

16368-457: The army of Bulgaria," the Romanian government endeavoured to allay international concerns about its motives and about increased bloodshed. According to Richard Hall, "[t]he entrance of Romania into the conflict made the Bulgarian situation untenable [and t]he Romanian thrust across the Danube was the decisive military act of the Second Balkan War." On the day of Romania's declaration, 80,000 men of

16554-518: The army was disbanded. Under the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine (November 1919), Bulgaria lost its Aegean coastline ( Western Thrace ) to Greece, parts of its Macedonian territory and the Western Outlands to the new Kingdom of Yugoslavia , and Southern Dobruja was returned to the Kingdom of Romania . The country was required to reduce its army to no more than 20,000 men and pay reparations exceeding $ 100 million. Bulgarians generally refer to

16740-484: The army, Stamboliyski was released, and a republic was proclaimed. In September 1918, the French, Serbs, British, Italians, and Greeks broke through on the Macedonian front, compelling Tsar Ferdinand to seek peace. Stamboliyski advocated for democratic reforms rather than a revolution. To preempt the revolutionaries, he persuaded Ferdinand to abdicate in favor of his son, Boris III . The revolutionaries were suppressed, and

16926-513: The attack order. The next day the government pressured the General Staff to order the army to cease hostilities, which caused confusion and loss of initiative and failed to remedy the state of undeclared war. In response to the government pressure, Tsar Ferdinand dismissed General Savov and replaced him with General Dimitriev as commander-in-chief. Bulgaria intended to defeat the Serbs and Greeks and to occupy areas as large as possible before

17112-434: The average area of arable land fell from 0.5 to 0.4 hectares per farm. By 1945 there were 1.2 million farms in the country, almost all of them small and unable to support themselves. Only large farms increased in area over the same period, but they held only 2% of the arable land. The fragmentation of land was due to family inheritance patterns and the need to provide land for the growing rural population. In 1930, nearly 50% of

17298-706: The border area with Yugoslavia. Under the leadership of a large Macedonian group in Sofia, the remaining strong nationalist elements in Bulgaria found the new pacifist policy alarming. The urban working class, which did not benefit from the agrarian reforms, gravitated towards the Communists or the Socialist Workers. Inflation and industrial exploitation continued unabated. Many of Stamboliyski's subordinates exacerbated social tensions by adopting rigid positions in favor of peasant rights. The National Alliance,

17484-472: The bulk of Bulgarian forces engaged in the south, the prospect of an easy victory incited Romanian intervention against Bulgaria. The Ottoman Empire also took advantage of the situation to regain some lost territories from the previous war. When Romanian troops approached the capital Sofia , Bulgaria asked for an armistice, resulting in the Treaty of Bucharest , in which Bulgaria had to cede portions of its First Balkan War gains to Serbia, Greece and Romania. In

17670-441: The capital city of Sofia. Constantine wanted a decisive victory despite objections by his Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos , who realized that the Serbs, having won their territorial objectives, now adopted a passive stance and shifted the weight of carrying the rest of the war to the Greeks. In the pass of Kresna ( Battle of Kresna Gorge ), the Greeks were ambushed by the Bulgarian 2nd and 4th armies, which had newly arrived from

17856-483: The centre of workers' political activity. Under the Macedonian prime minister, the IMRO also had much more freedom. This meant that political assassinations and acts of terrorism could continue unabated. IMRO raids into Yugoslavia ended Bulgaria's rapprochement with that country. The Macedonians demanded preferential economic treatment under Liapchev. the late 1920s brought relative political stability to Bulgaria compared with

18042-651: The city, while one division and independent units (24,416 men) were left in Epirus . With the eruption of hostilities, the 8th Infantry Division (stationed in Epirus) was transferred to the front, and with the arrival of recruits, the army's strength in the Macedonian theatre increased eventually to some 145,000 men with 176 guns. King Constantine I assumed command of the Greek forces, with Lt. General Viktor Dousmanis as his chief of staff. The Kingdom of Montenegro sent one division of 12,000 men under General Janko Vukotić to

18228-552: The communist "Red International." He traveled to Eastern European capitals promoting his vision of a peasant alliance. However, trouble arose when he attempted to spread this movement into Yugoslavia, a country with conditions very similar to Bulgaria—little industry and a significant communist presence. Stamboliyski was well-liked in Belgrade due to his support for a peaceful resolution to the Macedonia issue. He also advocated for uniting all Slavic-speaking nations in Eastern Europe into

18414-477: The cornerstone of Greek–Serbian relations for a decade, remaining in force through World War I until 1924. During the First Balkan War , both Greek and Serbian armies concluded their operations in Macedonia by late 1912, while the Bulgarian army was directed mainly towards Thrace . As a result, the former succeeded in taking control of most of Macedonia, including its largest city, Thessaloniki , which

18600-464: The course of the war before deciding where their sympathies lay. Under the government of Vasil Radoslavov , Bulgaria aligned itself with Germany and Austria-Hungary, despite this entailing becoming an ally of the Ottomans, Bulgaria's traditional adversary. However, Bulgaria had relinquished its claims against the Ottomans, while Serbia, Greece, and Romania (allies of the UK and France) held territories perceived as Bulgarian by Bulgaria. Recuperating from

18786-438: The crucial opening days of the war, only the 4th Army and 2nd Army were ordered to advance. This allowed the Serbs to concentrate their forces against the attacking Bulgarians and hold their advance. The Bulgarians were outnumbered on the Greek front, and the low-level fighting soon turned into a Greek attack all along the line on 19 June. The Bulgarian forces were forced to withdraw from their positions north of Thessaloniki (except

18972-663: The delegations took a train from Niš to Bucharest on 24 July. When the delegations met in Bucharest on 30 July, the Serbs were led by Pašić, the Montenegrins by Vukotić, the Greeks by Venizelos, the Romanians by Titu Maiorescu and the Bulgarians by Finance Minister Dimitur Tonchev . They agreed to a five-day armistice to come into effect on 31 July. Romania refused to allow the Ottomans to participate, forcing Bulgaria to negotiate with them separately. Bulgaria had agreed to cede Southern Dobruja to Romania as early as 19 July. At

19158-600: The deportation to extermination camps of about 48,000 Jews in spring 1943 are termed the "Rescue of the Bulgarian Jews". The survival rate of the Jewish population in Bulgaria as a result was one of the highest in Axis Europe. The Fatherland Front took office in Sofia following a coup d'état , setting up a broad coalition under the former ruler Kimon Georgiev . Under the terms of the peace settlement Bulgaria

19344-472: The division of the spoils, specifically in Macedonia. During the prewar negotiations that resulted in the Balkan League's establishment, a secret agreement on 13 March 1912 was signed by Serbia and Bulgaria, which determined their future boundaries, effectively sharing northern Macedonia. In case of a postwar disagreement, the area to the north of the Kriva Palanka – Ohrid line (with both cities going to

19530-417: The education with the law by Stoyan Omarchevski. Basic education institutes were established, courses in high-school were divided into lower and upper courses. After the 1923 coup d'état , education was largely changed, including that the transition from primary to secondary was to be decided by entrance examinations, which was also introduced for graduates of incomplete secondary education. Religion also became

19716-444: The end of the war, but it hoped for bloodless territorial gains to recover the territories lost in the Second Balkan War and World War I, as well as gain other lands with a significant Bulgarian population occupied by neighboring countries. However, it was clear that the central geopolitical position of Bulgaria in the Balkans would inevitably lead to strong external pressure from both World War II factions. On 15 February 1940, following

19902-665: The exchange, according to the 1914 Ottoman census , there remained 14,908 Bulgarians belonging to the Bulgarian Exarchate in Ottoman Empire. Kingdom of Bulgaria Ferdinand , founder of the royal family , was crowned as tsar at the Declaration of Independence, mainly because of his military plans and for seeking options for unification of all lands in the Balkans region with an ethnic Bulgarian majority (lands that had been seized from Bulgaria and given to

20088-428: The heights of Matsikovo. Consequentially, the Bulgarian line of retreat through Dojran was threatened, and Ivanov's army began a desperate retreat, threatening at times to become a rout. Reinforcements from the 14th division came too late, joining the retreat towards Strumica and the Bulgarian border. The Greeks captured Dojran on 5 July but were unable to cut off the Bulgarian retreat through Struma Pass . On 11 July,

20274-580: The important city of Vidin . The Bulgarian rear was entirely exposed, no resistance had been offered, the capital was open to the invader, and the country's northwestern corner was cut off and surrounded. During the invasion, the fledgling Romanian Air Corps performed photoreconnaissance and propaganda leaflet drops. Sofia became the first capital city in the world to be overflown by enemy aircraft. Romania did not count any combat casualties during its brief war. Its forces were struck by an outbreak of cholera , which cut down 1,600 men. The lack of resistance to

20460-430: The industry was owned by foreign companies in contrast to the nearly 80% of Romanian industry. Agricultural productivity was very low. Plots were small and almost exclusively under 20 hectares (50 acres), but they were worked intensively and even the tiniest 2-hectare (5-acre) farms often produced crops for market sale. As elsewhere in Eastern Europe, Bulgarian peasants traditionally grew grains for their landowners. After

20646-499: The isolated battalion stationed in the city itself, which was quickly overrun) to defensive positions between Kilkis and Struma river. The plan to rapidly destroy the Serbian army in central Macedonia by concentrated attack turned out to be unrealistic, with the Bulgarian army starting to retreat even before Romanian intervention, and the Greek advance necessitated the disengagement of forces to defend Sofia. The Bulgarian 2nd army in southern Macedonia, commanded by General Ivanov, held

20832-608: The largest possible hinterland. If Adrianople is in the possession of the Turks, they shall get it too." Resigned to losing Edirne, the Bulgarians played for Kırk Kilise (Lozengrad in Bulgarian). Both sides made competing declarations: Savov that "Bulgaria, who defeated the Turks on all fronts, cannot end this glorious campaign with the signing of an agreement which retains none of the battlefields on which so much Bulgarian blood has been shed," and Mahmud Pasha that "[w]hat we have taken

21018-425: The leading European industrial countries. 42°42′N 23°19′E  /  42.700°N 23.317°E  / 42.700; 23.317 Greek-Serbian Alliance of 1913 The Greek–Serbian Alliance of 1913 was signed at Thessaloniki on 1 June 1913, in the aftermath of the First Balkan War , when both countries wanted to preserve their gains in Macedonia from Bulgarian expansionism. The treaty formed

21204-461: The living standards of landless and poor peasants. In foreign policy, Stamboliyski officially renounced Bulgaria's territorial claims, which he associated with a standing army, monarchy, and large government expenditures—phenomena that peasants considered outdated. With no major power available to protect Bulgarian interests in the Balkans post-war, the traditional foreign policy approach was abandoned in favor of reconciliation with all European powers ,

21390-401: The loss of most of Macedonia, including Thessaloniki, and that could not be accepted, leading the Bulgarian military leadership around Tsar Ferdinand to decide upon a war against its former allies. However, with the Ottomans unwilling to accept the loss of Thrace in the east, and an enraged Romania (in the north), the decision to open war against both Greece (to the south) and Serbia (to the west)

21576-470: The main leaders of the uprisings, chose Montana as the centre. Many uprisings began in the Northwestern parts of Bulgaria, which were quickly overpowered by the army. The Communist leader Georgi Dimitrov fled to the Soviet Union. There was savage repression in 1925 following the second of two failed attempts on the Tsar's life in the bomb attack on Sofia Cathedral (the first attempt took place in

21762-506: The main parts of the Rhodope Mountains , which included settlements such as Smolyan , Kardzhali etc. After the war, Bulgaria gained the most territory in total area, as it included the eastern parts of Macedonia, Greek Thrace and Adrianople. Due to its eagerness in Macedonia, in where they didn't obtain the rest of it, began the Second Balkan War which resulted in a harsh Bulgarian defeat. It had lost all its previous gains from

21948-555: The main task of the Ministry of Education was restoring the normal functions of schools in this country, laying aside all other activities. The lower secondary school was converted into a junior one by the law, with a three-year course of study and was served to be succeeded by primary schools and basis of secondary schools. Compulsory education became mandatory for children aged 7–14, but only applied to primary school students. High schools were established. Significant changes were made in

22134-504: The mercantile monopoly on grain and replaced it with a state syndicate, dismantled large urban and rural estates and sold the surplus to the poor, introduced compulsory labor laws to alleviate post-war unemployment, implemented a progressive income tax, and made secondary education mandatory. All aspects of this radical reform policy were designed to eliminate "noxious" classes such as lawyers, usurers, and merchants, distribute wealth and responsibilities more equitably across society, and improve

22320-499: The military clauses of the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine and the Treaty of Lausanne. Although the signing of the Salonika Agreement of 1938 restored good relations with Yugoslavia and Greece, the territorial issue continued to simmer. The government of the Kingdom of Bulgaria under Prime Minister Georgi Kyoseivanov declared a position of neutrality upon the outbreak of World War II. Bulgaria was determined to observe it until

22506-646: The monarchy was abolished, its final tsar was sent into exile, and the tsardom was replaced by the People's Republic of Bulgaria . Despite the establishment of the Principality of Bulgaria (subject to Ottoman suzerainty) in 1878, and the subsequent Bulgarian control over Eastern Rumelia after 1885, there was still a substantial Bulgarian population in the Balkans living under Ottoman rule, particularly in Macedonia . To complicate matters, Serbia and Greece too made claims over parts of Macedonia, while Serbia, as

22692-543: The most important position in the attempted conquest of Serbian Macedonia. The fighting began on 29–30 June 1913, between the 4th Bulgarian army and the 1st and 3rd Serbian armies, first along the Zletovska and then after a Bulgarian retreat, along the Bregalnica. Internal confusion led to heavy Bulgarian losses in 1–3 July. The Serbs captured the whole 7th Division of the 4th Bulgarian Army, without any fight. By 8 July,

22878-450: The mountain pass of Arabakonak). But in 1926, Boris persuaded Tsankov to resign in favour of a more moderate government under Andrey Lyapchev . An amnesty was proclaimed, although the Communists remained banned. Lyapchev was considered to be more lenient towards the political opposition than Tsankov. The Communists re-emerged in 1927 under the guide of the political party Bulgarian Workers' Party . An independent workers' trade union became

23064-583: The new government of Kemal Ataturk in Turkey , membership in the League of Nations , and friendship with the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia). Bulgaria's support for Atatürk's Turkish Republic in 1920 significantly improved relations with Turkey. Reconciling with Yugoslavia was crucial for Stamboliyski's vision of establishing a multiethnic Balkan Peasants' Federation. Better relations with Yugoslavia depended on suppressing

23250-562: The new regime, and in June 1947 their leader Nikola Petkov was arrested. Despite strong international protests, he was executed in September. This marked the Dimitrov Constitution to be introduced and also an establishment of a Communist regime in Bulgaria . Bulgaria had its fair share of significant changes to its boundaries throughout independence to communism. Before the First Balkan War , Bulgaria didn't have control over

23436-517: The new subranie by pro-government representatives justified his non-party system, although the People's Constitutional Bloc seated over sixty delegates. Elections in the next two years were strictly limited in order to maintain Boris's control over his parliament. With the rise of the "King's government" in 1935, Bulgaria entered an era of prosperity and astounding growth, which deservedly qualifies it as

23622-471: The newly occupied areas, using 21,000 of them to form the Seres , Drama and Odrin (Edirne) independent brigades. It is known that there were no demobilized men. According to the Bulgarian command, the army had 7,693 officers and 492,528 soldiers in its ranks on 16 June (including the three brigades mentioned above). This gives a difference of 99,657 men in strength between the two wars. In comparison, subtracting

23808-495: The night of 27–28 July, the Bulgarian forces were pushed north to Gorna Dzhumaya ( Blagoevgrad ), 76 km south of Sofia . Meanwhile, the Greek forces continued their march inland into western Thrace, on 26 July, they entered Xanthi and the next day Komotini . On 28 July, the Bulgarian army, under heavy pressure, was forced to abandon Gorna Dzhumaya. The Greek army was exhausted and faced logistical difficulties, but resisted strenuously and launched local counterattacks. By 30 July,

23994-437: The north and west – and Greek – to the east and south – villages), and the towns of Nigrita , Doxato and Demir Hisar , ostensibly as a retaliation for the burning of the Bulgarian town of Kilkis by the Greeks, which had taken place after the named battle, as well as the destruction of many Bulgarian villages in the region. On the Bulgarian right, Greek Evzones captured Gevgelija and

24180-507: The official Bulgarian history of the war before 1932). All modern historians agree that Ivanov underestimated the number of his soldiers, but the Greek army still had a numerical superiority. The Greek Headquarters also estimated the numbers of their opponents from 80,000 to 105,000 men. A large part of Ivanov's forces, and especially the Drama Brigade and the Seres Brigade, were composed of completely untrained local recruits. The Greek army, commanded by King Constantine I, had eight divisions and

24366-399: The opposing armies was the distribution of artillery. The nine-division-strong Greek Army had 176 guns, and the ten-division-strong Serbian army had 230. The Bulgarians had 1,116, a ratio of 6:1 against the Greeks and 5:1 against the Serbian army. There is a dispute over the strength of the Bulgarian army during the Second Balkan War. At the outbreak of the First Balkan War, Bulgaria mobilized

24552-428: The other advanced southwestward, towards Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, everywhere preceded by a wide fan of cavalry troops in reconnaissance. On 18 July, Romania took Ferdinand, and on 20 July, they occupied Vratsa , 116 km north of Sofia. On 23 July, advanced cavalry forces had entered Vrazhdebna , a suburb only 7 miles (11 km) from Sofia. The Romanians and Serbs linked up at Belogradchik on 25 July, isolating

24738-399: The outnumbered Bulgarian forces retreated to the prewar border. Edirne was abandoned on 19 July, but, since the Ottomans did not occupy it immediately, the Bulgarians re-occupied it the next day (20 July). Since it was apparent that the Ottomans were not stopping, it was abandoned a second time on 21 July and occupied by the Ottomans on 23 July. Edirne had been conquered by Sultan Murad I in

24924-525: The peace talks in Bucharest, the Romanians, having obtained their primary objective, were a voice for moderation. The Bulgarians hoped to keep the Vardar River as the boundary between their share of Macedonia and Serbia's. The latter preferred to retain all of Macedonia as far as the Struma . Austro-Hungarian and Russian pressure forced Serbia to be satisfied with most of northern Macedonia, conceding only

25110-416: The peasantry. While most lower-class Bulgarians supported Macedonia's annexation, they were dismayed by the heavy casualties suffered in two unsuccessful wars to reclaim it. Stamboliyski himself spent the war years in jail for vehemently criticizing these wars. On the other hand, the Bulgarian Communist Party drew support mainly from the intelligentsia and urban professionals, with its primary base consisting of

25296-470: The period between World War I and the Great Depression, especially between 1926 and 1929, industrial output doubled. The increase was mainly in textiles, pottery, and electricity; almost all other industries, including milling and food processing, leather, woodworking and metalworking were weakened. In the 1930s many of the incentive measures were withdrawn, and the establishment of new enterprises

25482-475: The poorest peasants and minorities. In contrast, the Agrarian Party represented wealthier peasants. In this climate, Stamboliyski swiftly enacted a 1920 land reform aimed at breaking up state properties, church lands, and holdings of wealthy peasants. Predictably, this garnered widespread support and pushed the Bulgarian Communist Party into an alliance with the Agrarian Party to gain parliamentary representation. Stamboliyski faced significant social problems in what

25668-490: The powerful Macedonian extremist movement. Therefore, in 1921, Stamboliyski initiated a two-year period of severe repression against the IMRO; by 1923, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia agreed at the Nis Convention to collaborate in combating extremism. Stamboliyski was a staunch anti-communist and aimed to create an international movement to counter Marxism . This effort was known as his "Green International," in opposition to

25854-554: The previous war, and had lost its Southern Dobruja to the Kingdom of Romania . It still kept Western Thrace and the Western Outlands . During World War I, Bulgaria joined in 1915 on the side of the Central Powers and gained a large amount of land from the Kingdom of Serbia , which included Macedonia and the sheer extensiveness around Niš . After losing, Bulgaria lost its Aegean coast, and its earned land in Serbia. During

26040-494: The previous years. Lyapchev was the leader of a conservative majority in the Sabranie. The press was relatively free, and the institutions of education and the judiciary were functioning independently. Output in industry and agriculture was finally above pre-war levels, and foreign investment was on the rise. But even after being substantially reduced, Bulgaria's reparations payments in 1928 amounted to 20 per cent of its budget, and

26226-431: The provisions of the 1878 Treaty of San Stefano , considered even then as maximalistic , since it included both Eastern and Western Thrace and all Macedonia with Thessaloniki, Edirne and Constantinople . Early evidence of the lack of realistic thinking in Bulgarian leadership was that although Russia had sent clear warnings expressed for the first time on 5 November 1912 (well before the First Battle of Çatalca ) that if

26412-518: The regime began to look for a way out. On 1 June 1944 Filov sacked Bozhilov, in the hope of placating internal opposition and the Allies. Filov had reluctantly decided the alliance with Germany should end. His successor Ivan Bagryanov tried to arrange negotiations with the western Allies. Meanwhile, the capital Sofia was bombed by Allied aircraft in 1941 until 1944. But it was the Red Army which

26598-552: The resignation of Georgi Kyoseivanov, a pro-German Bogdan Filov was appointed Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bulgaria. On 7 September 1940 Bulgaria succeeded in negotiating the recovery of Southern Dobruja in the Axis-sponsored Treaty of Craiova . Bulgaria also had a non-aggression pact with Turkey. On 1 March 1941 Bulgaria formally signed the Tripartite Pact , becoming an ally of Nazi Germany ,

26784-425: The result of deliberate manipulation by politicians seeking to take advantage of traditional peasant distrust of the "effeminate city slicker". Mostly, however, it was due to a quarrel between the rulers and the ruled. Around 14% of the population were Muslims, mostly Turks (i.e. the remnant of the landowning class), but also a handful of so-called " Pomaks " (ethnic Bulgarians who practiced Islam). The Muslim population

26970-455: The return to the Gold standard in that year weakened the economy a year before the Great Depression began. In foreign policy, Lyapchev tried unsuccessfully to improve the terms of British and French reparations from the First World War and to bring Bulgaria out of its post-war diplomatic isolation. The country had already improved its international image through its enthusiastic participation in

27156-445: The role of victors and will take care of our interests only." Although Austria-Hungary and Russia supported Bulgaria, the influential alliance of Germany—whose Kaiser Wilhelm II was brother-in-law to the Greek king—and France secured Kavala for Greece. Bulgaria retained the underdeveloped port of Dedeagac (Alexandroupoli). The last day of negotiations was 8 August. On 10 August, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia signed

27342-505: The seats. The remaining seats were held by the Bulgarian Communist Party , the country's second-largest political party and the only other significant one (several minor parties had no representation in Parliament or real significance). The Agrarian Party primarily represented disgruntled peasants, particularly those dissatisfied with the government in Sofia during Ferdinand's corrupt reign, which exploited and stole from

27528-640: The signatories' territorial possessions, concluded a defensive alliance and precluded each government from unilaterally concluding a peace treaty. Article 2 pledged the two states to a common front in the negotiating table against Bulgaria. Article 3 delineated the Greek–Serbian border (presently the border of Greece and the Republic of North Macedonia ) based on the demarcation line between the respective armies. Articles 4 and 5 stated each country's territorial claims on Bulgarian-controlled territory (the line Gevgelija – Vardar River – Bregalnica – Osogovska Planina for

27714-542: The significantly reduced but still influential army. Another formidable adversary was the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO), which advocated for war to regain independence for Macedonia. Faced with this array of enemies, Stamboliyski allied himself with the Bulgarian Communist Party and established relations with the Soviet Union . Stamboliyski immediately embarked on drastic economic reforms. He abolished

27900-536: The signing of the Treaty of London and just 28 days before the Bulgarian attack, Greece and Serbia signed a secret defensive alliance , confirming the current demarcation line between the two occupation zones as their mutual border and concluding an alliance in case of an attack from Bulgaria or from Austria-Hungary . With this agreement, Serbia succeeded in making Greece a part of its dispute over northern Macedonia, since Greece had guaranteed Serbia's current (and disputed) occupation zone in Macedonia. In an attempt to halt

28086-500: The southeast. The war was now lost for Bulgaria, which had to abandon most of her claims of Macedonia to Serbia and Greece, while the revived Ottomans retook Adrianople. Romania took possession of southern Dobruja . In the aftermath of the Balkan Wars, Bulgarian opinion turned against Russia and the Western powers, whom Bulgarians felt had done nothing to assist them. Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece initially remained neutral, observing

28272-442: The standard divisional structure in most armies, as was also the case with the Greek and Serbian militaries in 1913. Consequently, although the Bulgarian army had 599,878 men mobilized at the beginning of the First Balkan War, there were only nine organizational divisions, giving a divisional strength closer to an Army Corps than to a Division. Tactical necessities during and after the First Balkan War modified this original structure:

28458-469: The successes to the north of the 1st and 3rd armies, protected western Bulgaria from a Serbian invasion. Although this boosted the Bulgarians, the situation was critical in the south, with the Greek Army . The Serbian front had become static. Seeing that the Bulgarian Army in front of him had already been defeated, King Constantine ordered the Greek Army to march further into Bulgarian territory and take

28644-495: The territories they had seized in northern Macedonia (that is, the territory roughly corresponding to the modern Republic of North Macedonia ), stating that the Bulgarian army had failed to accomplish its pre-war goals at Adrianople (i.e., failing to capture it without Serbian help) and that the pre-war agreements on the division of Macedonia had to be revised. Some circles in Bulgaria inclined toward going to war with Serbia and Greece on this issue. In June 1913 Serbia and Greece formed

28830-401: The three countries reduce its army by one-fourth as a first step to facilitate a peaceful solution, but Bulgaria rejected it. Bulgaria was already on the track to war since a new cabinet had been formed in Bulgaria where the pacifist Geshov was replaced by the hardliner and head of a Russophile party, Danev, as premier. There is some evidence that to overcome Tsar Ferdinand's reservations over

29016-667: The town of Štip to the Bulgarians, in Pašić's words, "in honour of General Fichev," who had brought Bulgarian arms to the door of Constantinople in the first war. Ivan Fichev was chief of the Bulgarian general staff and a member of the delegation in Bucharest at the time. When Fichev explained why Bulgaria deserved Kavala , a port on the Aegean occupied by the Greeks, Venizelos is said to have responded, "General, we are not responsible. Before [29] June, we were afraid of you and offered you Serres and Drama and Kavala, but now when we see you, we assume

29202-482: The traditional political supremacy of the Sabranie and write a new constitution. In 1936 a broad coalition, the People's Constitutional Bloc, brought together nearly all leftist and centrist factions in a nominal opposition that had the blessing of the tsar. Boris delayed holding a national election until 1938. At that time, only individual candidates were allowed in a carefully controlled election procedure that excluded party candidate lists. Boris claimed that domination of

29388-441: The traditional practice of a peasant dividing his land equally among all surviving sons). And all agricultural exports were harmed by the onset of the Great Depression . Still, the country avoided a large food crisis. Thousands of peasant workers engaged in agricultural activities became casualties during the wars. The number of available horses, sheep, cattle and livestock was between 20% and 40% lower. The single most damaging event

29574-545: The treaty's outcomes as the "Second National Catastrophe." In elections held in March 1920 , the Agrarians secured a substantial majority, and Stamboliyski formed Bulgaria's first genuinely democratic government. After World War I, Bulgaria had already lost a significant amount of territory, including its coast to the Aegean Sea with Dede Agach (Alexandroupoli), which was crucial for the Bulgarian economy, as well as

29760-656: The tsar appointed Vasil Radoslavov to head a pro-German and Russophobic government. On 20 July, via Saint Petersburg, the Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić invited a Bulgarian delegation to treat with the allies directly at Niš in Serbia. The Serbs and Greeks, both now on the offensive, were in no rush to conclude a peace. On 22 July, Tsar Ferdinand sent a message to King Carol via the Italian ambassador in Bucharest. The Romanian armies halted before Sofia. Romania proposed that talks be moved to Bucharest, and

29946-425: The unification of Bulgaria into an Integral Yugoslavia. In April 1935 Boris III staged a counter-coup with the help of monarchist Zveno member General Pencho Zlatev and took power himself. The political process was controlled by the Tsar, but a form of parliamentary rule was re-introduced. However, political parties remained banned, and uncharismatic prime ministers were appointed by the monarch. He didn't restore

30132-408: The view of Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos that an Austro-Serbian war would soon draw the other Great Powers into the fray, it agreed. The final Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Mutual Protection was signed at Thessaloniki on 1 June 1913, by the Greek ambassador to Belgrade, Ioannis Alexandropoulos , and the Serbian ambassador to Athens, Mateja Bošković . Article 1 gave a mutual guarantee of

30318-552: The village of Kalimantsi , at the Bregalnica river in the northeastern Macedonia region. On 18 July, the Serbian 3rd army attacked, closing in on Bulgarian positions. The Bulgarians held firm, and the artillery successfully broke up the Serb attacks. If the Serbs had broken through the Bulgarian defences, they might have doomed the 2nd Bulgarian Army and driven the Bulgarians entirely out of Macedonia. The defensive victory, along with

30504-525: The war, they could not be effectively marketed due to competition from the United States and Western Europe. However, they were able to switch with little difficulty to garden crops and tobacco in contrast to other countries where the peasantry suffered harder due to continued reliance on maize and wheat . By the end of the 1930s, Bulgaria was producing on average twice as much per hectare as developed European countries, including those with worse climatic or soil conditions than Bulgaria. Between 1934 and 1945,

30690-450: The way for the conspirators to seize control of the entire country. Despite scattered and ineffective peasant resistance, they consolidated their grip on power. In March 1923 Stamboliyski signed an agreement with Yugoslavia recognizing the new border and agreeing to suppress IMRO. This triggered a nationalist reaction, and on 9 June there was a coup organized by the armed forces under General Ivan Valkov 's Military Union with support from

30876-449: The workforce in 1924 was in agriculture, and this percentage remained almost unchanged until 1945. The unstable political situation and internal conflicts caused the Kingdom of Bulgaria to be the poorest, or among the poorest countries in Europe. While more successful than the rest of Eastern Europe, Bulgarian agriculture still suffered from the handicaps of backward technology and especially rural overpopulation and scattered plots (due to

31062-404: Was King Peter I , with Radomir Putnik as his chief of staff and effective field commander. By early June, the army of the Kingdom of Greece had some 142,000 armed men with nine infantry divisions and one cavalry brigade. The bulk of the army with eight divisions and a cavalry brigade (117,861 men) was gathered in Macedonia, positioned in an arc covering Thessaloniki to the north and northeast of

31248-512: Was a compromise between the Romanian demands for the city, two triangles at the Bulgaria–Romania border and Balchik and the land between it and Romania and the Bulgarian refusal to accept any cession of its territory. However, the fact that Russia failed to protect the territorial integrity of Bulgaria made the Bulgarians uncertain of the reliability of the expected Russian arbitration of the dispute with Serbia. The Bulgarian behaviour also had

31434-499: Was a rather adventurous one, since in May the Ottoman Empire had urgently requested a German mission to reorganize the Ottoman army. By mid-June, Bulgaria became aware of the agreement between Serbia and Greece in case of a Bulgarian attack. On 27 June, Montenegro announced that it would side with Serbia in the event of a Serbian-Bulgarian war. On 5 February, Romania settled her differences over Transylvania with Austria-Hungary, signing

31620-533: Was able to muster a 600-strong Bulgarian SS regiment of Bulgarian anti-communist volunteers already in Germany under a German commander, they had little success. The Holocaust in Bulgaria was the persecution of Jews between 1941 and 1944 in the Kingdom of Bulgaria and their deportation and annihilation in the Bulgarian-occupied regions of Yugoslavia and Greece during World War II , arranged by

31806-520: Was alienated from the dominant Orthodox Christians both due to religious and historical reasons. In 1909, a year after Bulgarian independence, a law was adopted to change the structure of the education system, maintained with different minor changes past several decades. In the post-war years, 1919–1923, there was stagnation in comparative education activities. All conditions of education functioning were extremely worsened. The postwar governments brought about an unstable political and social situation. Third,

31992-468: Was allowed to keep Southern Dobruja , but formally renounced all claims to Greek and Yugoslav territory. 150,000 Bulgarians were expelled from Greek Thrace . The Communists deliberately took a minor role in the new government at first, but the Soviet representatives were the real power in the country. A Communist-controlled People's Militia was set up, which harassed and intimidated non-Communist parties. The new realities of power in Bulgaria were shown when

32178-452: Was another coup by the military organization Zveno , an authoritarian regime headed by Colonel Kimon Georgiev was established. They dissolved all parties and trade unions and suppressed the IMRO. Their government introduced a corporatist economy, similar to that of Benito Mussolini's Italy. After participating in the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934, Zveno supporters declared their intention to immediately form an alliance with France and to seek

32364-534: Was compelled to abdicate after successive defeats in the Balkan Wars and World War I. His son, Boris, then ascended to the throne, but the young king could not replicate the political influence his father had amassed over three decades of intrigue. Furthermore, Boris did not command the same level of moral authority that his father had established. Parliament came to dominate after Boris appointed Aleksandar Stamboliyski as prime minister. Stamboliyski's Agrarian Party soon gained control of Parliament, holding over half of

32550-595: Was in most respects a German puppet. Resistance to the Germans and the Bulgarian regime was widespread by 1943, coordinated mainly by the communists. Together with the Agrarians, now led by Nikola Petkov , the Social Democrats, and even many army officers they founded the Fatherland Front . Partisans operated in the mountainous west and south. By 1944 it was obvious that Germany was losing the war and

32736-422: Was led by Foreign Minister Mehmed Talat Bey , assisted by future Naval Minister Çürüksulu Mahmud Pasha and Halil Bey . Although Russia tried to intervene throughout August to prevent Edirne from becoming Turkish again, Toshev told the Ottomans at Constantinople that "[t]he Russians consider Constantinople their natural inheritance. Their main concern is that when Constantinople falls into their hands it shall have

32922-415: Was low: in 1900 it was 58% in the capital Sofia, 40% in all other cities and 15% in rural areas. The agrarian character of Bulgarian society was reflected in Bulgarian industry, which was completely dominated by textile, food and beverage production: in 1911 these sectors accounted for almost 90% of total Bulgarian factory production. Moreover, Bulgarian industry was extremely inefficient: per capita production

33108-598: Was not sure whether their forces were enough to defeat the Greek army but believed them to be enough for defending the south front as a worst-case scenario until the arrival of reinforcements after defeating the Serbs to the north. According to the Military Law of 1903, the armed forces of Bulgaria were divided into two categories: the Active Army and the National Militia. The core of the Armed forces consisted of nine infantry and one cavalry division. The Bulgarian army had

33294-432: Was occupied by the Greek army in early November. Bulgaria nevertheless demanded most of Macedonia for herself, relying on the crucial role its army had played in facing the bulk of the Ottoman army in the First Balkan War, as well as on the pre-war agreements with Serbia regarding their mutual territorial claims in northern Macedonia. Both Greece, which had not signed any agreement on territorial partition, and Serbia, which in

33480-546: Was only 28.3 leva (the Bulgarian currency unit) compared to 1,128 per capita in the US; even Russian industry proved more efficient at about 150 leva per capita. Two years after independence, in 1910, the gross national product (GNP-PPP) per capita was $ 270, last in Europe and the Balkans. Due to the Balkan Wars, the financial cost against the Ottoman Empire alone was 1.3 billion francs . External trade fell drastically in 1913, with exports reduced by 40% and imports by 11%. This led to

33666-535: Was rapidly advancing towards Bulgaria. In August 1944 Bulgaria unilaterally announced its withdrawal from the war and asked the German troops to leave: Bulgarian troops were hastily withdrawn from Greece and Yugoslavia. In September, the Soviets crossed the northern border. The government, desperate to avoid a Soviet occupation, declared war on Germany, but the Soviets could not be put off, and on September 8, they declared war on Bulgaria – which thus found itself for

33852-540: Was retained, with the word "tsar" replacing the word "prince" or '' knyaz ''. In 1911 the Nationalist Prime Minister Ivan Geshov set about allying with Greece and Serbia, and the three allies agreed to put aside their rivalries to plan a joint attack on the Ottomans. In February 1912 a secret treaty was signed between Bulgaria and Serbia, which was firstly against Austria-Hungary , but also then redirected by Bulgaria to be against

34038-410: Was still a poor country, inhabited mostly by peasant smallholders. Bulgaria was burdened with substantial war reparations to Yugoslavia and Romania and had to contend with the issue of refugees, as pro-Bulgarian Macedonians were forced to leave Yugoslav Macedonia. Nevertheless, Stamboliyski was able to push through many social reforms, despite strong opposition from the Tsar, landlords, and the officers of

34224-410: Was the loss of Southern Dobruja: it had accounted for 20% of Bulgarian grain production before the wars and contained the largest and most developed Bulgarian farming communities. This, combined with bad weather, held the harvest of all crops to 79% of the pre-war level in 1914. On the other hand, an underdeveloped economy meant that Bulgaria had little trouble with debt and inflation. Just under half of

34410-461: Was then followed by a military convention signed on 13 May at Thessaloniki. The Serbian government however refused to ratify the latter, insisting that Greece take on itself the previous Bulgarian pledge to provide 200,000 troops in the case of an Austrian attack. The Greek government was reluctant to agree to this, but following the clashes between Greek and Bulgarian troops among the mutual demarcation line at Nigrita and Mount Pangaion , as well as

34596-414: Was virtually prohibited. Existing ones continued to be uncompetitive. By 1941, there were 3,467 private, 130 state-owned, and 275 cooperative enterprises in the kingdom, with an average of 26 workers. In that year, 41.3% of industry consisted of small-scale manufacturing and handicrafts, 54.6% of larger-scale manufacturing, and 4.1% represented construction activities. Internationally, Bulgaria lagged behind

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