Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1923
Prime Minister Aleksander Stambolyiski is assassinated by right-wing military sup-
porters of Macedonian revolutionaries. A communist uprising is brutally repressed and
the communist party banned.
1940
Southern Dobrudzha, occupied by Romania since 1913, is returned to Bulgaria for a
nominal fee; Bulgarian troops triumphantly enter Balchik and other towns.
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.
1958
The government initiates a mass agricultural collectivisation programme - the 'Great
Leap Forward' - promising a five-year modernisation plan in just three years.
1978
In one of the most infamous Cold War espionage events, Bulgarian dissident 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 ex-
odus of Turks, though many return after communism ends.
1989-90
