Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Western Europe was outraged; Russia cited
the massacre in declaring war on Turkey in
1877. Some 200,000 Russian soldiers died for
Bulgarian freedom, as the Russian army (and
its Bulgarian volunteers) crushed the Turks.
With Russian forces only 50km from Istanbul,
the Ottomans capitulated. In the Treaty of San
Stefano signed on 3 March 1878, Turkey ceded Bulgaria 60% of the Balkans.
However, Russophobic Western European powers reversed this with the Treaty of Ber-
lin signed on 13 July 1878. It awarded the area between the Stara Planina ranges and the
Danube, plus Sofia, to an independent Bulgarian principality. The Thracian Plain and
Rodopi Mountains became Ottoman 'Eastern Rumelia'. Macedonia, renamed 'Western
Rumelia', also remained Ottoman, as did Aegean Thrace. This ill-conceived treaty infuri-
ated every Balkan nation, sparking decades of war: between 1878 and WWII, Balkan
countries (including Bulgaria) fought six wars over border issues.
The Shortest History of Bulgaria
, by Nikolay
Ovcharov, runs quickly through the high points of
Bulgaria's past, cramming a lot of interesting facts
into just 70 brightly illustrated pages.
The Nascent State
On 16 April 1879, Bulgaria's new national assembly adopted its first constitution. 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.
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 de-
velopment, while two important political parties were founded: the Social Democrats (the
communist forerunners), and the pro-peasant Agrarian Union. On 22 September 1908,
King Ferdinand I took advantage of the Young Turks revolt to declare complete independ-
ence from Turkey.
