Bulgaria

VI

History

The region now called Bulgaria was once part of the Roman Empire and comprised parts of the provinces of Thrace and Moesia. It was inhabited by the Thraco-Illyrians. Beginning in the 6th century ad Slavic peoples migrated into the region and either absorbed or drove out the original inhabitants. During the latter part of the 7th century Bulgars (people of Turkic stock) migrated from their domain on the east side of the Black Sea, crossed the lower reaches of the Danube, and subjugated Lower Moesia, then a province of the Byzantine Empire. Imperial armies failed repeatedly to dislodge the invaders during the 8th century. Fewer in number than the Slavic population of Lower Moesia, the Bulgars gradually became Slavicized during this period. By the end of the century they had annexed considerable additional territory and laid the foundations for a strong state under Khan Krum, who reigned from 803 to 814. The Krum armies inflicted a devastating defeat on an invading Byzantine force in 811 and, assuming the offensive, nearly succeeded in 813 in taking Constantinople. Bulgarian-Byzantine relations were thereafter relatively peaceful and continued to be so during the first half of the 9th century. The immediate successors of Krum enlarged their dominions, mainly in the region of Serbia and Macedonia. In 860, however, during the reign (852-889) of Boris I, Bulgaria suffered a severe military setback at the hands of the Serbs. Four years later Boris, responding to pressure from the Byzantine emperor Michael III, made Christianity the official religion of the khanate. Boris accepted the primacy of the papacy in 866, but in 870, following the refusal of Pope Adrian II to make Bulgaria an archbishopric, he shifted his allegiance to the Eastern Orthodox Church.

A

First Bulgarian Empire

In the late 9th and early 10th centuries, Bulgaria became the strongest nation of Eastern Europe during the reign of Boris’s son Simeon. A brilliant administrator and military leader, Simeon introduced Byzantine culture into his realm, encouraged education, obtained new territories, defeated the Magyars (Hungarians), and conducted a series of successful wars against the Byzantine Empire. In 925 Simeon proclaimed himself Emperor of the Greeks and Bulgars. He conquered Serbia in 926 and became the most powerful monarch in contemporary Eastern Europe. Simeon’s reign was marked by great cultural advances led by the followers of St Cyril and his brother St Methodius, the “apostles of the Slavs” (see Cyril (827-869) and Methodius (c. 826-884), SS). During this period Old Church Slavonic, the first written Slavic language, and the Cyrillic alphabet were adopted.

Weakened by domestic strife and successive Magyar raids, Bulgarian power declined steadily during the following half-century. In 969 invading Russians seized the capital and captured the royal family. The Byzantine emperor John I Tzimisces, alarmed over the Russian advance into south-eastern Europe, intervened (970) in the Russo-Bulgarian conflict. The Russians were compelled to withdraw from Bulgaria in 972, and the eastern part of the country was annexed to the Byzantine Empire. Samuel, the son of a Bulgarian provincial governor, became ruler of western Bulgaria in 976. Samuel’s armies were annihilated in 1014 by the Byzantine emperor Basil II, who incorporated the short-lived state into his empire in 1018.

B

Second Empire and Turkish Rule

Led by the nobles Ivan Asen and Peter Asen, the Bulgarians revolted against Byzantine rule in 1185 and established a second empire. It consisted initially of the region between the Balkan Mountains and the Danube; by the early 13th century it included extensive neighbouring territories, notably sections of Serbia and all of western Macedonia. In 1204, following the Latin occupation of Constantinople, Ivan and Peter’s brother, Kaloyan (reigned 1197-1207) temporarily broke with the Eastern Orthodox Church and accepted the primacy of the pope (renouncing it again in 1234). Ivan Asen II (reigned 1218-1241), the fifth ruler of the Asen dynasty, added western Thrace, the remainder of Macedonia, and part of Albania to the empire in 1230.

Feudal strife and involvement in foreign wars caused gradual disintegration of the empire after the death of Ivan Asen II. The Bulgarian armies were decisively defeated by the Serbs in 1330, and for the next quarter-century the second empire was little more than a dependency of Serbia. Shortly after 1360 the Ottoman Turks began to ravage the Maritsa Valley, completing the subjugation of Bulgaria in 1396. During the next five centuries the political and cultural existence of Bulgaria was almost obliterated. After a century of terrorism and persecution, Turkish administration improved, and the economic condition of the remaining Bulgarians rose to a level higher than it had been under the kingdom, although unsuccessful revolts against Turkish rule occurred from time to time.

With the revival of a Bulgarian literature glorifying the history of the country, in the latter half of the 18th century and the early part of the 19th century, Bulgarian nationalism became a powerful movement. In 1876 the Bulgarians revolted against the Turks, but were quelled; in reprisal, the Turks massacred some 15,000 Bulgarian men, women, and children. In 1877, prompted by the desire to expand towards the Mediterranean Sea and by Pan-Slavic sentiment, Russia declared war on Turkey. As a result of the Russo-Turkish War, in which Turkey was defeated, a part of Bulgaria became an autonomous principality; another part, Eastern Rumelia, was made an autonomous Turkish province.

C

Modern Bulgaria

Elected by a Bulgarian assembly in 1879, the first prince of the new Bulgaria was a German, Alexander of Battenberg, also a prince and a nephew of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. Eastern Rumelia revolted against Turkey in 1885 and was united with Bulgaria. Russia, however, considered the action inopportune and withdrew all officers who had been detailed to train the Bulgarian army. Thereupon, Serbia declared war on Bulgaria but was quickly defeated. In 1886 a group of Russian and Bulgarian conspirators abducted Prince Alexander and established a Russian-dominated government. Within a few days the government was overthrown by the Bulgarian statesman Stepan Stambolov, but the Russians compelled Prince Alexander to abdicate. The new ruler, chosen in 1887, was Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Taking advantage of a revolution in Turkey, in 1908 Ferdinand declared Bulgaria independent and assumed the title of King Ferdinand I; he reigned from 1908 to 1918.

C

1

Balkan Wars and World War I

In the First Balkan War (1912-1913) (see Balkan Wars), Bulgaria, allied with Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece, defeated Turkey. Division of the reconquered Balkan territories, however, resulted in the Second Balkan War, which Bulgaria lost to Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Turkey, and Romania; as a consequence, Bulgaria lost considerable territory. Bulgaria entered World War I in 1915 on the side of the Central Powers, but was forced to agree on an armistice with the Allies in September 1918. Tsar Ferdinand abdicated in October and was succeeded by his son, Boris III. By the Treaty of Neuilly on November 27, 1919, Bulgaria lost most of what it had gained in the Balkan Wars and all of its conquests from World War I. It was also required to abandon conscription, reduce armaments, and pay large reparations.