Bulgaria

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BULGARIA

The so-called national awakening of Bulgaria is often traced to the appearance in 1762 of Slavic-Bulgarian History (1762), written by Father Paisii Hilendarski (1722–c. 1773). Bulgarian cultural nationalism focusing on language and ecclesiastical issues developed throughout the nineteenth century. Bulgarians, however, lagged behind other Balkan peoples, such as the Serbs and Romanians, in the application of a political context to national self-awareness. Only in the second half of the nineteenth century did Bulgarians begin to develop active opposition to Ottoman rule. This culminated in the April Uprising of 1876. Russian sympathies for the Bulgarian cause, inflamed by reports of Ottoman massacres of Bulgarian civilians, led to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878.

The Treaty of San Stefano, signed on 3 March (19 February, old style) 1878 outside of Constantinople after a series of Russian victories, ended the Russo-Turkish War. It also restored a Bulgarian state, after a period of almost five hundred years of Ottoman Turkish domination. Bulgaria's new borders included Bulgaria proper, Macedonia, and Thrace, and satisfied the demands of most Bulgarian nationalists. Austro-Hungarian and British objections to the establishment of a Russian client so close to Constantinople and the Straits forced a revision of the treaty. The Congress of Berlin, meeting at the behest of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, considerably revised the parameters of Bulgaria. As a result of the Treaty of Berlin, signed on 13 July (1 July, old style) 1878, the Great Powers divided San Stefano Bulgaria into three parts, a Bulgarian principality under the nominal sovereignty of the Ottoman sultan; a southern Bulgarian province, Eastern Rumelia, under a Christian governor but remaining under Ottoman rule; and Macedonia and Thrace, which returned to direct Ottoman control. Subsequently the Bulgarian government directed much of its energy during the period of 1878 to 1914 to the establishment of a Bulgaria with at least the San Stefano frontiers.

A Grand National Assembly met in the medieval capital of Turnovo in 1879 to determine the political basis for Bulgaria. The assembly adopted the so-called Turnovo Constitution, which established Bulgaria as a constitutional monarchy with a unicameral assembly. The assembly also elected Prince Alexander of Battenberg (1857–1893) as the first prince of Bulgaria. Alexander, a German prince related to the Russian royal family, was a veteran of the Russo-Turkish War. He soon chaffed under the limitations of the Turnovo Constitution, and at the same time alienated his Russian cousin, Tsar Alexander III, by his disinclination to follow Russian directives. Prince Alexander attempted to improve his position by supporting the union of Eastern Rumelia with Bulgaria in 1885 and leading the Bulgarian army in the subsequent Serbo-Bulgarian War (1885–1886). An enlarged Bulgarian principality emerged victorious in the war, but Prince Alexander's position was no longer viable because of Russian opposition. Under pressure, he abdicated his throne and left Bulgaria in 1886.

A leading politician, Stefan Stambolov (1854–1895), engineered the election of the Austro-German Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1861–1948) as Bulgaria's next prince in 1887. Ferdinand and Stambolov soon clashed over authority issues. In 1894 Stambolov resigned as prime minister, and the next year he fell victim to assassins. Ferdinand then restored good relations with Russia, in part through the baptism into the Bulgarian Orthodox Church of his son and heir, Boris (1894–1943).

Land reform after the emigration of most Ottoman landlords after 1878 left Bulgaria a largely egalitarian peasant society. Few large landholdings existed. Major crops included wheat, tobacco, and fruit. What little industry existed involved agricultural product processing. Trade was largely with western Europe and with the traditional markets of the Ottoman Empire. After the end of Ottoman rule, the country made significant strides in education. By 1900, 36 percent of Bulgarian males and 11 percent of Bulgarian females were literate. These percentages were the highest in southeastern Europe. Even after 1878 Bulgaria retained a significant Turkish minority, especially in the southern and northeastern parts of the country. Jewish, Armenian, Greek, and Roma minorities also resided in Bulgaria.

The chief foreign policy objective of Bulgaria remained unification with Macedonia and Thrace. To this end the Bulgarian state devoted much of its energies and revenues toward establishing a capable diplomacy and a strong army. The diplomatic turmoil caused by the Young Turk coup of 1908 afforded Prince Ferdinand an opportunity to abandon all ties to the Ottoman Empire, and to adopt the title tsar, held by Bulgaria's medieval rulers. The threat of the revitalization of the Ottoman Empire posed by the Young Turks also provided impetus for Bulgaria to combine with its Balkan neighbors to realize nationalist claims and to expel the Ottomans from Europe. The result in 1912 was a loose Balkan League supported by Russia. The Balkan League went to war against the Ottoman Empire in October 1912 in the first of the two Balkan Wars. The Bulgarians and their Balkan allies achieved outstanding successes against the Ottomans. By November 1912, Ottoman forces had suffered defeat throughout the Balkan Peninsula. A preliminary peace signed in London on 30 May 1913 ended the fighting between the Balkan allies and the Ottomans. The next month fighting began among the allies over the disposition of the Ottoman spoils, especially Macedonia. The resulting Second Balkan War proved disastrous for Bulgaria. Bulgaria's erstwhile allies Greece and Serbia, joined by the Ottomans and the Romanians, soon over-whelmed the Bulgarian army. Macedonia and much of Thrace were again lost. The Treaties of Bucharest, with Greece, Romania, and Serbia in August 1913 and Constantinople with the Ottoman Empire in September confirmed these and other losses. The loss of the national goal, as well as the sacrifice of 176,000 casualties, devastated Bulgaria. The Russian cause in Bulgaria suffered a severe setback because of Russia's failure to support Bulgarian claims against the Balkan allies. In the aftermath of the catastrophe of the Second Balkan War, anti-Russian politicians assumed control of the National Assembly and the government. Together with Tsar Ferdinand, they led Bulgaria into World War I on the side of the Central Powers in 1915.