Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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 Hadrianople (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 frozen '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 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 mil-
itary coup followed in 1923. Two years later, at
Sofia's Sveta Nedelya Cathedral, communist terrorists failed to assassinate Boris III,
killing 123 innocent bystanders instead. In 1934 the right-wing Zveno group's military
coup gave Tsar Boris dictatorial powers.
Commmunist leader Georgi Dimitriov first became
famous when he was accused, along with three oth-
ers, of starting the infamous Reichstag fire in Berlin
in 1933. Stalin later secured his release.
Dictator Todor Zhivkov sought advice from an eld-
erly Bulgarian mystic, Baba Vanga, who became
famous for her predictions - allegedly including the
date of Stalin's death, the break-up of the USSR
and the 9/11 attacks. And she also revealed that
earthly society is already infiltrated by space aliens.
World War II
Bulgaria declared neutrality when WWII began. However, German troops advancing to-
wards 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 Macedo-
nia and northern Greece. In one of the more
difficult episodes in modern Bulgarian history,
Voices from the Gulag: Life and Death in Commun-
ist Bulgaria
, edited by Tzvetan Todorov, is a collec-
