A Concise History of Bulgaria

by R. J. Crampton

Dragan Tsankov September 1883–June 1884

  Petko Karavelov June 1884–August 1886

  Metropolitan Kliment (provisonal government) 9–12 August 1886

  Petko Karavelov (provisional government) 12–16 August 1886

  Vasil Radoslavov August 1886–June 1887

  Konstantin Stoilov June–August 1887

  Stefan Stambolov August 1887–May 1894

  Konstantin Stoilov May 1894–January 1899

  Dimitûr Grekov January–October 1899

  Todor Ivanchov October 1899-January 1901

  Racho Petrov January–February 1901

  Petko Karavelov February–December 1901

  Stoyan Danev December 1901–May 1903

  Racho Petrov May 1903–October 1906

  Dimitûr Petkov October 1906–February 1907

  Dimitri Stanciov February–March 1907

  Petûr Gudev March 1907–January 1908

  Aleksandûr Malinov January 1908–March 1911

  Ivan Geshov March 1911–June 1913

  Stoyan Danev June–July 1913

  Vasil Radoslavov July 1913–June 1918

  Aleksandûr Malinov June–November 1918

  Teodor Teodorov November 1918–October 1919

  Aleksandûr Stamboliiski October 1919–June 1923

  Aleksandûr Tsankov June 1923–January 1926

  Andrei Lyapchev January 1926–June 1931

  Aleksandûr Malinov June–October 1931

  Nikola Mushanov October 1931–May 1934

  Kimon Georgiev May 1934–January 1935

  Pencho Zlatev January–April 1935

  Andrei Toshev April–November 1935

  Georgi Kioseivanov November 1935–February 1940

  Bogdan Filov February 1940–September 1943

  Dobri Bozhilov September 1943–June 1944

  Ivan Bagryanov June–September 1944

  Konstantin Muraviev 2–9 September 1944

  Kimon Georgiev September 1944–November 1946

  Georgi Dimitrov November 1946–July 1949

  Vasil Kolarov July 1949–January 1950

  Vûlko Chervenkov January 1950–April 1956

  Anton Yugov April 1956–November 1962

  Todor Zhivkov November 1962–July 1971

  Stanko Todorov July 1971–June 1981

  Grisha Filipov June 1981–March 1986

  Georgi Atanasov March 1986–February 1990

  Andrei Lukanov February–November 1990

  Dimitûr Popov December 1990–November 1991

  Filip Dimitrov November 1991–December 1992

  Liuben Berov December 1992–September 1994

  Reneta Indjova October 1994–January 1995

  Zhan Videnov January 1995–December 1996

  Nikolai Dobrev January–February 1997

  Stefan Sofiyanski February–April 1997

  Ivan Kostov April 1997–June 2001

  Simeon Saxecoburggotski July 2001–

  * * *

  Suggestions for Further Reading

  Adanir, Fikret. Die Makedonische Frage: Ihre Entstehung und Entwicklung bis 1908 (Wiesbaden, 1979)

  Bar-Zohar, Michael. Beyond Hitler’s Grasp: the Heroic Rescue of Bulgaria’s Jews (Holbrook, MA, 1998)

  Barker, Elizabeth. Macedonia: Its Place in Balkan Power Politics (London, 1950)

  Beaman, A. Hulme. Stambuloff (London, 1895)

  Bell, John D. Peasants in Power: Alexandûr Stamboliski and the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union, 1899–1923 (Princeton, NJ, 1977)

  Bell, John D. The Communist Party of Bulgaria from Blagoev to Zhivkov (Stanford, CA, 1986)

  Black, C. E. The Establishment of Constitutional Government in Bulgaria (Princeton Studies in History, I, Princeton, NJ, 1943)

  Boll, Michael M. (ed.). The American Military Mission in the Allied Control Commission for Bulgaria, 1944–1947: History and Transcripts (Boulder, CO, and New York, 1985)

  Boll, Michael M. The Cold War in the Balkans: American Foreign Policy and the Emergence of Communist Bulgaria, 1943–1947 (Lexington, KY, 1984)

  Brailsford, H. N. Macedonia, its Races and their Future (London, 1906)

  Bristow, J. A. The Bulgarian Economy in Transition (Cheltenham, 1996)

  Brown, J. F. Bulgaria under Communist Rule (London, 1970)

  Browning, Robert. Byzantium and Bulgaria: A Comparative Study across the Early Medieval Frontier (London, 1975)

  Chary, Frederick B. The Bulgarian Jews and the Final Solution, 1940–1944 (Pittsburgh, 1972)

  Clarke, James F. Bible Societies, American Missionaries and the National Revival of Bulgaria (New York, 1971, reprint of Harvard Ph.D., 1937)

  Constant, Stephen. Foxy Ferdinand, Tsar of Bulgaria (London, 1979)

  Corti, Egon. Alexander of Bulgaria (London, 1954)

  Crampton, Richard J. Bulgaria 1878–1918: A History (Boulder, CO, and New York, 1983)

  Crampton, Richard J.‘Bulgarian Society in the Early Nineteenth Century’, in Richard Clogg (ed.), Balkan Society in the Age of Greek Independence (London, 1981)

  Crampton, Richard J. A Short History of Modern Bulgaria (Cambridge, 1987)

  Crampton, Richard J. The Balkans since the Second World War (London, 2002)

  Dimitroff, Pashanko. Boris III of Bulgaria (1894–1943): Toiler, Citizen, King (Lewes, Sussex, 1986)

  Dimitrov, Vesselin. Bulgaria: the Uneven Transition (London, 2001)

  Dimitrova, Ekaterina. The Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander (London, 1994)

  Feiwel, George R. Growth and Reforms in Centrally Planned Economies: The Lessons of the Bulgarian Experience (New York, 1977)

  Friedrich, Wolfgang-Uwe. Bulgarien und die Mächte 1913–1915 (Stuttgart, 1985)

  Genchev, Nikolai. The Bulgarian National Revival Period (Sofia, 1977)

  Giatzidis, Emil. An Introduction to Post-Communist Bulgaria (Manchester, 2002)

  Groueff, Stephane. Crown of Thorns: the Reign of King Boris III of Bulgaria, 1918–1943 (Lanham, Maryland, New York, and London, 1987)

  Hatschikjan, Magarditsch A. Tradition und Neuorientierung in der bulgarischen Aussenpolitik, 1944–1948 (Munich, 1988)

  Hoddinott, R. F. Bulgaria in Antiquity; An Archaeological Introduction (London and Tonbridge, 1975)

  Hoppe, Hans-Joachim. Bulgarien-Hitlers eigenwillilger Verbündeter (Stuttgart, 1979)

  Hupchik, Dennis P. The Bulgarians in the Seventeenth Century: Slavic Orthodox Society and Culture under Ottoman Rule (Jefferson, NC, and London, 1993)

  Hupchik, Dennis P. (ed.). The Pen and the Sword: Studies in Bulgarian History by James F Clarke (Boulder, CO, and New York, 1988)

  Isusov, Mito (ed.). Problems of Transition from Capitalism to Socialism (Sofia, 1975)

  Jelavich, Charles. Russian Policy in Bulgaria and Serbia, 1881–1897 (Berkeley, CA, 1950)

  Jelavich, Charles. Tsarist Russia and Balkan Nationalism: Russian Influence in the Internal Affairs of Bulgaria and Serbia, 1876–1886 (Berkeley, CA, 1958)

  Karpat, K. H. (ed.). The Turks of Bulgaria: The History, Culture and Political Fate of a Minority (Istanbul, 1990)

  Kiel, Machiel. Art and Society of Bulgaria in the Turkish Period (Maastricht, 1985)

  Kostov, Vladimir. The Bulgarian Umbrella: The Soviet Direction and Operation of the Bulgarian Secret Service in Europe (London and New York, 1988)

  Kuhne, Victor. Bulgaria Self-Revealed (London, 1919)

  Lampe, John R. The Bulgarian Economy in the Twentieth Century (London, 1986)

  Lang, David Marshall. The Bulgarians from Pagan Times to the Ottoman Conquest (London, 1976)

  Lory, Bernard. Le Sort de l’Héritage Ottoman en Bulgarie: L’Exemple des Villes Bulgares 1878–1900 (Istanbul, 1985)

  Macdermott, Mercia. The Apostle of Freedom: A Portrait of Vasil Levski against a Background of Nineteenth-Century Bulgaria (London, 1967)

  Macdermott, Mercia. Freedom or Death: The Life of Gotse Delchev (London, 1978)

  Markov, Georgi. The Truth that Killed (transl. Liliana Brisby with an introduction by Annabel Markov, Lond
on, 1983)

  McIntyre, Robert J. Bulgaria: Politics, Economics and Society (London and New York, 1988)

  Meininger, Thomas A. Ignatiev and the Establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate, 1864–1872: A Study in Personal Diplomacy (Madison, WI, 1970)

  Miller, Jeffrey B. and Derek C. Jones (eds.). The Bulgarian Economy: Lessons from Reform during Early Transition (Aldershot, 1997)

  Miller, Marshall Lee. Bulgaria during the Second World War (Stanford, CA, 1975)

  Mocsy, A. Pannonia and Upper Moesia (London, 1974)

  Moser, Charles A. Dimitrov of Bulgaria: A Political Biography of Dr Georgi D. Dimitrov (Ottawa, IL, 1979)

  Moser, Charles A. A History of Bulgarian Literature, 863–1844 (The Hague, 1972)

  Muir, Nadejda. Dmitri Stancioff: Patriot and Cosmopolitan, 1864–1940 (London, 1957)

  Nestorova, Tatyana. American Missionaries among the Bulgarians (1858–1912) (Boulder, CO, and New York, 1987)

  Neuburger, Mary. The Orient Within: Muslim Minorities and the Negotiation of Nationhood in Modern Bulgaria (Ithaca and London, 2004)

  Nicoloff, Assen. The Bulgarian Resurgence (Cleveland, OH, 1987)

  Obolensky, Dmitri. The Bogomils: A Study in Balkan Neo-Manichaeism (Cambridge, 1948; repr. New York, 1979)

  Obolensky, Dmitri. The Byzantine Commonwealth: Eastern Europe 500–1453 (London, 1971)

  Oren, Nisssan. Bulgarian Communism: The Road to Power, 1934–1944 (New York, 1971)

  Oren, Nisssan. Revolution Administered: Agrarianism and Communism in Bulgaria (Baltimore and London, 1973)

  Padev, Michael. Dimitroff Wastes No Bullets: the Inside Story of the Trial and Murder of Nikola Petkov (London, 1948)

  Perry, Duncan. The Politics of Terror: The Macedonian Revolutionary Movements, 1893–1903 (Durham, NC, and London, 1988)

  Perry, Duncan. Stefan Stambolov and the Emergence of Modern Bulgaria, 1870–1895 (Durham, NC, and London, 1993)

  Rachev, Stoyan. Anglo-Bulgarian Relations during the Second World War (1939–1944) (transl. Stefan Kostov, Sofia, 1981)

  Rothschild, Joseph. The Communist Party of Bulgaria: Origins and Development, 1883–1936 (New York, 1959)

  Runciman, Steven. A History of the First Bulgarian Empire (London, 1930)

  Sanders, Irwin T. Balkan Village (Lexington, KY, 1949)

  Simsir, Bilal N. The Turks of Bulgaria (1878–1985) (London, 1988)

  Slavov, Atanas. The ‘Thaw’ in Bulgarian Literature (Boulder, CO, and New York, 1981)

  Slavov, Atanas. With the Precision of Bats (Washington, DC, 1986)

  Stephenson, Paul. The Legend of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer (Cambridge, 2003)

  Stoyanoff, Zachary. Pages from the Autobiography of a Bulgarian Insurgent (transl. M. W. Potter, London, 1913)

  Sumner, B. H. Russia and the Balkans, 1870–1880 (Oxford, 1937)

  Swire, Joseph. Bulgarian Conspiracy (London, 1939)

  Thracian Treasures from Bulgaria: A Special Exhibition Held at the British Museum January–March 1976 (London, 1976)

  Todorov, Kosta. Balkan Firebrand: the Autobiography of a Rebel, Soldier and Statesman (Chicago, 1943)

  Todorov, Nikolai. The Balkan Town, 15th–19th Centuries (Seattle, Washington, 1983)

  Troebst, Stefan. Mussolini, Makedonien und die Mächte 1922–1930 (Cologne and Vienna, 1987)

  Vazov, Ivan. Under the Yoke: A Novel (transl. Marguerite Alexieva and Theodora Atanassova, Sofia, 1976)

  Velkov, A. Cities in Thrace and Dacia in Late Antiquity (Amsterdam, 1977)

  Velkov A. (ed.). Roman Cities in Bulgaria: Collected Studies (Amsterdam, 1980)

  Todor Zhivkov: Statesman and Builder of the New Bulgaria (Oxford, 1982). In the second edition (Oxford, 1985) references to the Turkish minority and its rights have been excised.

  Ludmila Zhivkova, Her Many Worlds (Oxford, 1982).

  Index

  aba 55, 56, 65

  Academy of Sciences 151

  ACC (Allied Control Commission) 180, 181

  Adrianople (Edirne) 24, 27, 53, 55, 83, 106, 114, 128, 133, 135

  Adriatic 16, 22, 25, 262

  Aegean coast 26, 83, 135, 169

  Aegean Sea 4, 16, 25, 135

  Aegean Sea, Bulgarian access to 144, 164, 166

  Afghanistan 253, 261

  agrarians 145–147, 156, 161, 162, 174, 175, 179, 182–183, 212, 214, 215

  see also BANU; BANU–NP

  AICs (Agro-Industrial Complexes) 197–198

  Albania (Albanians) 11, 20, 22, 71, 131, 133, 241

  Aleksandûr Nevski cathedral 220

  Alexander II, Tsar of Russia 90

  Alexander III, Tsar of Russia 90, 101, 110

  Alexander of Battenberg, Prince of Bulgaria 89–93, 94, 97, 97–99, 100–101, 102, 105, 108, 119, 121, 265

  Alexander the Great 4

  Alexandroupolis 230, 262

  alphabet (Cyrillic and Bulgarian) 15, 15–16, 96, 151

  Anhialo (Pomorie) 126

  animal rearing 55, 56

  ANS (Alliance for National Salvation) 235

  Antim, Exarch 74, 87

  anti-semitism 166

  April uprising 78–81, 267

  Aprilov, Vasil 60, 65

  Armenians in Ottoman empire 36, 110, 126

  army 88, 90, 92, 96, 97, 98–99, 100, 101, 102, 105, 108, 112, 114, 119, 125, 129, 133, 137, 139–140, 142, 143, 144, 145, 147, 152, 158, 159, 160–161, 166, 168–171, 175, 179, 189, 190, 193, 214, 215, 219, 241, 253, 265

  and communists 180, 183

  Asenov, Hadji Dimitûr 76

  Asia Minor 10, 11, 20, 56

  Asparukh, Khan 8

  Atanasov, Georgi 239

  Athens 73, 75, 157, 161

  Athos, Mount 39, 45

  Austria-Hungary 17, 83, 126, 127, 128, 130, 131

  see also Habsburg monarchy

  ayans 51, 52, 53, 55

  Bagryanov, Ivan 176–177

  Balchik 133

  Balkan alliance 73, 131–132

  entente 157, 165, 235

  federation 76, 77, 125, 126, 190

  mountains 4, 9, 13, 53, 72, 77, 83, 99, 113, 115

  peacekeeping force 241

  Balkan war, first 132–133

  second 134–135, 158, 266

  banks and banking 118, 122, 148, 159, 186, 227, 232, 233, 234, 252

  see also BNB

  banks, German 122, 137

  BANU (Bulgarian Agrarian National Union) 123–125, 145–153

  see also agrarians

  BANU (coalitionist) 187

  BANU–NP (Bulgarian Agrarian National Union – Nikola Petkov) 183, 212, 230

  bashibazouks 80–81, 84

  Batak 80

  BBB (Bulgarian Business Bloc) 229, 236

  BCP (Bulgarian Communist Party) 145, 153, 172, 180, 187, 189–190, 194, 199, 207–209, 212–213, 214

  leading role of 187–188, 194, 213, 214

  Beckerle, Adolf-Heinz 171, 188–190

  Belassitsa 20

  Belene 199, 204

  Belgrade 10, 55, 75, 76, 77, 99, 104, 127, 151, 235

  Benkovski, Georgi 78, 80

  Berlin 237, 267

  Berlin, treaty of (1878) 83–84, 92, 94, 95, 96, 105, 112, 114, 265, 267

  Beron, Petûr (zoologist) 215, 218

  Beron, Petûr 61

  Berov, Liuben 224–225, 228–229, 230

  Bitola 83, 106, 139

  Black Sea 10, 25, 51, 166, 168, 261

  Blagoev, Dimitûr 142

  BNB (Bulgarian National Bank) 92, 94, 97, 227, 229, 231, 232, 233, 234, 237

  Bobov Dol mines 137

  bogomilism 18–19, 21, 22, 24, 196, 266

  Bogoridi, Stefan 67

  Bogorov, Ivan 62, 63

  bombing, by Bulgaria 133

  of Bulgaria by allies 174, 175, 267

  Boris I (Khan and King of Bulgaria) 11, 110–111

  Boris III (King of the Bulgarians, 1918–43) 108, 143, 153, 154, 160, 164, 168–171, 172, 173, 175, 200, 266

  Bosnia and Hercegovina 78
, 130, 131

  Botev, Hristo 64, 76, 78, 80

  Boyana church frescoes 25

  Bozhilov, Dobri 174–176

  Bozveli, Neofit 60, 67

  Braila 54, 63, 64, 75

  Brasov 54, 61

  Bratsigovo 80

  Brezhnev, Leonid 195, 206

  brigandage 90, 114

  broad socialists 125

  see also SDP

  BSP (Bulgarian Socialist Party) 214, 215, 218, 224, 225, 227, 229, 234, 235, 236, 246, 249, 251, 262

  BTK (state telecommunications concern) 251

  Bucharest 54, 62, 63, 67, 76, 78, 243

  treaty of (1886) 99, 122

  treaty of (1913) 135

  treaty of (1918) 143

  Budapest 48, 54

  Bulgaria, and Austria-Hungary 99, 105, 140–142, 143, 260

  and Belgium 105, 117

  and France 105, 137, 160, 195, 255, 260

  and Germany 105, 115, 137–138, 140–142, 143, 165, 166–167, 168–174, 176–177, 195, 255, 260, 266

  and Great Britain 101, 105, 115, 154, 160

  and Greece 99, 132, 133, 134–135, 139, 154, 164, 191, 221–223, 230, 266

  and Israel 190, 217

  and Italy 105, 159, 164, 165–167

  and League of Nations 150

  and Libya 195

  and North Africa 261

  and Ottoman empire 106, 111

  and Republic of Macedonia 221–223, 241, 266

  and Romania 133, 135, 241–243

  and Russia 124, 131, 230, 231, 236, 237, 245, 246, 251, 260–261, 262, 267

  and Serbia 99, 129, 131, 132, 134–135, 154, 266

  and South Africa 217

  and Switzerland 105

  and third world 195

  and Turkey 201, 210, 220–221

  and USA 167, 186, 190, 191, 201, 210, 226, 240, 255, 261

  and USSR 150, 160, 164, 165–167, 169, 171, 175–179, 181–183, 188, 189–190, 191–192, 193, 195, 196, 198, 200, 203, 204, 206, 209, 210, 216, 267

  and Vatican 195

  and west 260, 261, 263

  and western allies, second world war 175, 180, 183–185

  and Yugoslavia 150–151, 156, 160, 164, 190, 191, 199

  Bulgarian Academy of Sciences 64

  Bulgarian church 14, 16, 17, 21–22, 24, 25, 38, 46, 58, 64–75, 84, 88, 106, 125, 219–220, 223, 269

  and state 106–107, 108, 151, 168, 172, 185, 188–189

  Patriarchate 14, 21–22, 25, 28, 38, 40, 46, 65, 168, 189, 219–220, 224

  Bulgarian diaspora 54, 63–64

  Bulgarian language 11, 15, 16, 21, 35, 37–38, 39, 40, 46, 48, 60, 61–62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 74, 122, 269