Lonely Planet Romania & Bulgaria

by Lonely Planet

  The Nascent State

  On 16 April 1879, Bulgaria's new national assembly adopted its first constitution in Veliko Târnovo. On 26 June, Germany's Prince Alexander Battenberg was elected head of state. On 6 September 1885 the Bulgarian Principality and Eastern Rumelia were reunified after a bloodless coup. Central European powers were angered by this contravention of the Berlin Treaty, and Turkish troops massed for war.

  The Austro-Hungarian Empire incited Serbia to fight Bulgaria, but Serbian troops were quickly repelled; the Bulgarian army advanced deep into Serbia, prompting Austria to call for a ceasefire. The Great Powers finally recognised the reunified Bulgaria.

  See www.parliament.bg and www.government.bg for English-language information on the workings of government in Bulgaria.

  War and its Discontents

  Alexander's forced abdication in 1886 brought Prince (later King) Ferdinand Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to power. Prime minister Stefan Stambolov helped accelerate economic development, while two important political parties were founded: the Social Democrats (the communist forerunners) and the pro-peasant Agrarian Union. In 1908, King Ferdinand I took advantage of the Young Turks revolt to declare complete independence from Turkey.

  After a decade of guerrilla warfare against the Turks in Macedonia and Greece, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia united in 1912. In this, the First Balkan War, Serbian troops easily swept down through Macedonia, and Greek naval power denied Turkey reinforcements. However, Bulgaria's invaluable infantry bore the brunt of the Turkish counter-attack; this, and the Bulgarian obsession with Macedonia, caused a disgruntled Bulgaria to attack its allies (the Second Balkan War) in 1913. Quickly defeated, Bulgaria lost hard-won territory; Turkey grabbed back Adrianople (today's Edirne), too.

  Unsurprisingly, a bad-tempered Bulgaria joined the Central Powers (ironically, allying it with Turkey) in 1915. Bulgarian soldiers spent the next years staring down Allied troops at the 'Salonika Front' (today's Macedonia–Greece border). However, by 1918 Ferdinand's pro-German policies forced his abdication. His son, Boris III, took over.

  The 1919 Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine awarded Aegean Thrace to Greece and southern Dobrudzha to Romania. Bulgaria was also humiliated by war reparations, inciting political and social unrest. The 'radical' ruling Agrarian Party renounced claims to Macedonia (now divided between Greece and the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes). A right-wing military coup followed in 1923. Two years later, at Sofia’s Sveta Nedelya Cathedral, communist terrorists failed to assassinate Boris III, killing around 150 bystanders instead. In 1934 the right-wing Zveno group's military coup gave Tsar Boris dictatorial powers.

  Voices from the Gulag: Life and Death in Communist Bulgaria, edited by Tzvetan Todorov, is a collection of firsthand accounts from inmates, guards and bureaucrats of the communist system's horrors.

  World War II

  Bulgaria declared neutrality when WWII began. However, German troops advancing toward Greece menacingly massed along the Danube, and Hitler offered up Macedonia to entice Bulgaria, which, once again, joined the (losing) Germanic side.

  Allowing the Nazis free passage, Bulgaria declared war on Britain and France, but not Russia. Bulgarian soldiers occupied Macedonia and northern Greece and deported 13,000 Greek and Macedonian Jews to Nazi death camps, in order to delay doing the same with their own Jews, due to public opposition.

  On 28 August 1943, one week after meeting Hitler, Tsar Boris III died. Boris’ infant son, Tsar Simeon II, succeeded him. Allied air raids in winter 1943–44 damaged Sofia and other towns. A coalition government sought peace, but failed, leading Russia to invade. On 9 September 1944 the part-communist resistance coalition, the 'Fatherland Front', took power. Even before war's end, ‘people’s courts’ saw thousands of ‘monarch-fascist’ supporters imprisoned or executed.

  Bulgaria's former tsar and later prime minister, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, is distantly related to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

  Red Bulgaria

  The Fatherland Front won November 1945 elections, with communists controlling the new national assembly. Leader Georgi Dimitrov's Soviet-styled constitution declared the People’s Republic of Bulgaria on 15 September 1946. The royal family were exiled. The Stalinist regime held show trials for 'traitors', collectivised agriculture and undertook industrialisation and modernisation programs. Dimitrov’s successor, Vâlko Chervenkov, was dubbed ‘Little Stalin’ for his unquestioning loyalty.

  Dictator Todor Zhivkov's long rule as head of state (1954–89) saw prosperity under Soviet protection. Bulgaria received cheap oil and electricity, plus exporting and contracts with Eastern Bloc and Non-Aligned Movement states. However, the secret police became an instrument of Zhivkov's totalitarianism, dealing ruthlessly with dissidents and diaspora critics. The service was rumoured to have masterminded the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II by a Turkish gunman. (However, Bulgaria has always denied this and conflicting theories exist). As the Soviet bloc weakened in the 1980s, and Bulgaria's economy, too, nationalism surged, targeting Turks, Pomaks and Roma, who were pressured to adopt Bulgarian names. A Turkish exodus ensued, though many returned and prospered later.

  The ancient Thracians favoured quick-fire war tactics: they rushed their foes down hillsides, rained down spears and made repeated attacks to tire their enemies.

  The Transition to the West

  By 1989 perestroika had reached Bulgaria. On 10 November, an internal Communist Party coup dismissed Zhivkov, and the party allowed elections, renaming itself the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). A broad opposition coalition, the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), failed to unseat the BSP in the June 1990 parliamentary elections – making Bulgaria the first ex-Soviet state to resurrect communists.

  While the incompetence of both blocs caused frequent changes in government, elections were generally irrelevant in transition-era Bulgaria, as power and wealth consolidated around overnight millionaires, bodyguards, former spies and other adventurers in the new 'capitalism'. Throughout the 1990s, an impoverished public held protests over government failures. In 1997, prime minister Ivan Kostov pledged to fight crime and corruption while attracting investment. However, doing this while making painful NATO- and EU-mandated reforms was difficult.

  In 2001 Bulgarians elected their once-exiled king as prime minister. Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha had formed the National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) only two months earlier. His coalition included the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), the ethnic Turkish party of wealthy businessman Ahmed Dogan, and promised economic prosperity, plus NATO and EU membership. Although Simeon's popularity did not endure, those goals were reached – Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 and the EU in 2007.

  Subsequent years brought further political turmoil with a banking crisis and vehement political protest. Loss of trust in prime minister Plamen Oresharski brought down his government in July 2014, after nearly a year of fierce protests. This made way for boomerang politician Boyko Borisov, who had resigned his government in February 2013, only to return for a second time as part of a coalition government in November 2014. Meanwhile, a trickle of EU funding allowed for the rejuvenation of some of Bulgaria's historic sights, and in 2015 Plovdiv was formally approved by the EU Council as the European Capital of Culture for 2019, giving some reason for young Bulgarians to be optimistic about their country's future and its place on the European stage.

  Boyko Borisov, elected Bulgaria's prime minister in 2009, holds a black belt in karate and has served as chairman of the Bulgarian Karate Federation.

  The Thracian Getae tribe would send 'messengers' to their god, Zalmoxis, by hurling them onto a row of upturned spears.

  Thracian Historical Sights

  Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari (Razgrad Province)

  Valley of Thracian Kings (Shipka)

  Thracian Tomb of Kazanlâk (Kazanlâk)

  Archaeological Museum (Sofia)

  Revolutionary Sights

  Shipka Pass (Stara Planina)

 
Koprivshtitsa

  Blue Rocks (Sliven)

  Sveti Arhangeli Mihael Church (Perushtitsa)

  National Museum of Military History (Sofia)

  Timeline

  6000–5000 BC

  Bulgaria’s earliest neolithic settlers occupy caves, abandoning them around 5000 BC for mud huts. Farming develops.

  4000–1000 BC

  Thracian tribes dominate modern-day Bulgaria; around 3000 BC, settlements include coastal Mesembria; around 2000 BC they expand into Greece and Anatolia.

  611 BC

  Greek settlers from the Anatolian city-state of Miletus establish Apollonia Pontica (Sozopol) on the Black Sea coast – the first classical democracy on Bulgarian territory.

  335 BC

  Macedonian king Alexander the Great extends the Thracian holdings of his father Philip II by marching to the Danube, the northernmost border of his massive empire.

  AD 46

  Rome annexes the eastern Balkans, and modern-day Bulgaria is divided into provinces: Thrace (south), Moesia (north) and Ulpia Serdica (today's Sofia) as the capital of Inner Dacia.

  293

  Roman emperor Diocletian establishes the ‘Tetrarchy’ (rule of four), reorganising imperial administration. Regional ‘capitals’ are established, including Serdica (Sofia), which becomes important.

  443–47

  Forces of Attila the Hun cross the Danube, sweeping into Roman territory and sacking Serdica and Philipopolis (Plovdiv), forcing Rome to pay tribute in gold.

  681

  After Turkic Bulgar tribes sweep down from the Black Sea steppes, Khan Asparuh establishes the First Bulgarian Empire at Pliska. Centuries of chronic fighting with Byzantium ensue.

  814

  Khan Krum dies unexpectedly while preparing to besiege Constantinople; the Bulgars make peace two years later.

  855

  Byzantine monks Kiril and Metodii undertake a mission to the Moravian Slavs; their monk-disciples later spread the Cyrillic alphabet in Ohrid, in Bulgarian-controlled Macedonia.

  863

  Byzantine Orthodox prelates baptise Knyaz Boris and his court; Constantinople's dramatic competition with the Pope only ends in 870, when Bulgaria wins national-church status.

  917

  Boris’ third son, Tsar Simeon (r 893–927) expands borders from Romania and Bosnia to the Peloponnese, becoming Europe's strongest power.

  972

  Byzantines capture and burn the Bulgarian capital, Preslav; the leadership relocates to Ohrid, their capital until the Byzantine reconquest in 1018.

  1014

  Byzantine forces win decisively at the Battle of Kleidion/Belasitsa in southwestern Bulgaria, auguring the Bulgarian Empire's demise four years later.

  1185–1396

  Aristocrat brothers Asen and Petâr rebel against a weakening Byzantium, establishing the Second Bulgarian Empire, with Veliko Târnovo the capital. Tsar Ivan Asen II (1218–41) expands Bulgaria’s borders.

  1396

  Bulgaria’s last native king, Tsar Ivan Shishman (1371–96), is defeated and Bulgaria is annexed by the Ottoman Empire, beginning 500 years of harsh Islamic rule.

  1444

  A Hungarian-led Crusade against the Turks ends disastrously at the Battle of Varna.

  1598

  The First Târnovo Uprising against Turkish rule briefly liberates Veliko Târnovo. A new tsar is crowned, but the revolt is brutally crushed. Thousands of Bulgarians flee to Wallachia.

  1686

  Austrian victories against the Turks inspire revolts in northern Bulgaria, but the so-called Second Târnovo Uprising is squashed.

  1762–1878

  The National Revival era; monk Paisii Hilendarski’s groundbreaking Slav-Bulgarian History captivates Bulgarians. Bulgarian-language education is allowed and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is established.

  1853–56

  The Crimean War brings British and French troops to Bulgaria, with Varna an important garrison; Turkey is compelled to open up Bulgaria to international trade.

  1876

  Koprivshtitsa's April Uprising is suppressed; civilian massacres cause international outrage. The Ottomans reject Bulgarian autonomy at the November Constantinople Conference.

  1877–78

  Russo-Turkish War; Tsar Alexander II's army invades Bulgaria and destroys the Ottoman forces. The resulting Treaty of San Stefano envisages the Turks ceding 60% of the Balkan Peninsula to Bulgaria.

  1885

  A bloodless coup sees Bulgaria reunited with the Ottoman-controlled southlands. Turkish armies mobilise, while a Serbian invasion is defeated. Bulgaria's new borders are internationally recognised.

  1908

  Amid internal Turkish political chaos, Prince Ferdinand declares full independence from Turkey and becomes tsar of the new Bulgarian kingdom.

  1912–13

  Bulgaria and neighbouring states fight the Ottomans in the First Balkan War (1912), reclaiming territory. Dissatisfied with its share, Bulgaria attacks allies Greece and Serbia in the Second Balkan War (1913).

  1915–19

  Bulgaria joins the Germans in WWI; defeated, the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine punishes Bulgaria by awarding land to its neighbours, while the government faces crippling reparations.

  1940

  Southern Dobrudzha, occupied by Romania since 1913, is returned to Bulgaria for a nominal fee; a population exchange follows.

  1941

  After first declaring neutrality, Bulgaria joins the Axis powers after German troops are stationed along the Danube, and declares war on Britain and France, but not on the Soviet Union.

  1945–46

  After winning 1945 elections, the communists under Georgi Dimitrov declare the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, with Soviet backing.

  1949

  After a show trial, the Bulgarian Supreme Court sentences deputy prime minister Traicho Kostov to death on grounds of encouraging anti-Soviet feeling. Similar staged trials of prominent communists.

  1978

  In one of the most infamous Cold War espionage events, Bulgarian dissident writer Georgi Markov is assassinated in London with a poisoned umbrella tip by a Bulgarian secret agent.

  1984

  A nationalistic campaign to assimilate the ethnic Turkish population causes a mass exodus of Turks, though many return after communism ends.

  1989–90

  Democratic revolutions see Todor Zhivkov’s communist regime collapse; Zhelyu Zhelev becomes Bulgaria's first non-communist head of state.

  1991–2000

  Transition times; massive inflation, corruption and plummeting wages make Bulgaria Europe's poorest country. Successive governments fail, while organised crime flourishes.

  2001

  Bulgaria’s formerly exiled child-king, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, becomes prime minister.

  2004

  Bulgaria, along with other former Warsaw Pact nations, joins NATO.

  2007

  Despite European misgivings over stalled reforms, Bulgaria joins the EU, becoming its first 'Cyrillic' country. Brussels pressures the government to tackle organised crime and environmental problems.

  2014

  Year-long protests against the Plamen Oresharski government, and loss of faith in its ability to tackle Bulgaria's banking crisis, causes it to topple on 23 July. Boyko Borisov's coalition steps in on 7 November.

  Outdoor Activities & Wildlife

  Bulgaria is a true adventure playground. Hiking, biking and rock climbing are popular, with numerous trails in the spellbinding Stara Planina and in national parks such as Pirin. The Black Sea coast draws snorkellers and windsurfers, while skiers and snowboarders flock to Borovets and Bansko each winter.

  Activities

  Hiking

  Hiking has long been enormously popular in Bulgaria; it was even encouraged as a patriotic activity during communist times. Today it's the sheer joy of Bulgaria's 37,000km of marked trails that brings walkers.

  The trans-European hiking trails E3, E
4 and E8 all cross through the country, while the E3 trail, which begins in Spain, follows the crest of the Stara Planina range from Belogradchik eastward to the coast at Cape Ermine, and is signposted along the way. The Bulgarian stretch is roughly 720km in length; if you want to go the whole way, count on taking at least 25 days. The E4 and E8 trails both pass through Rila National Park and offer varied scenery and difficulty.

  Walkers are well supported, with numerous hizhas (mountain huts) along the more popular tracks, as well as in real wilderness areas. While some are very basic affairs, intended only as no-frills overnight shelter, others are more comfortable, sometimes with attached cafes. It’s one of the more positive legacies of the old communist regime, which believed that hiking was a healthy and productive proletarian pastime.

  The Rila Mountains are a rugged, rocky, heavily forested range with plunging glacial valleys and rich plant life. One of the most attractive and accessible walking routes heads into the Malîovitsa range, south of the small town of the same name and based around soaring Mt Malîovitsa (2729m).

  Another relatively easy and very pleasant walk runs along the Rilska River toward Rila Monastery, before reaching Kiril Meadow.

  The Pirins offer some of the very finest walking country in Bulgaria. It’s an alpine landscape of glacial valleys and lakes, and the climate is blessed with a moderating Mediterranean influence.

  The Sredna Gora is the highest, most visited section of the Stara Planina, with hundreds of marked tracks and the largest number of hizhas. The Stara Planina is noted for its sudden weather changes, and some of Bulgaria’s highest rainfalls and strongest winds have been recorded here, so be prepared.

  Guides are invaluable when hiking in Bulgaria, both because of remote and tricky terrain and for the insights they can give into the landscape's geology and myths; find a guide via Hiking Guide Bulgaria (www.bulguides.com) from around 120 lv per day. For organised hiking tours, contact Odysseia-In in Sofia.