BULGARIA : HISTORY
The Thracians lived in what is now known as Bulgaria from about 3500
B.C. They were incorporated into the Roman Empire by the first century
A.D. At the decline of the empire, the Goths, Huns, Bulgars, and Avars
invaded. The Bulgars took control of the region and merged with the
local Slavic populaton and possibly remnants of the Thracian population
to form the first Bulgarian state in 681 AD. Although the country bears
the name of the Bulgars, the Bulgar language and culture died out,
replaced by a Slavic language, writing, and religion
The Bulgarian empire was a significant European power in the 9th and the
10th century, while fighting with the Byzantine Empire for the control
of the Balkans. The Bulgarian state was crushed by an assault by the Rus
in 969 and completely subdued by a determined Byzantine assault under
Basil II in 1018.The Bulgars twice conquered most of the Balkan
peninsula between 893 and 1280
But in 1396 the Bulgar territory was invaded by the Ottoman Empire,
which made it a Turkish province until 1878. Ottoman rule was harsh and
inescapable, given Bulgaria's proximity to its oppressor. The Ottoman
Turks ruled Bulgaria for 500 years, until 1878.
In that year, Russia forced Turkey to give Bulgaria its independence
after the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), but the European powers,
fearing Russia's and Bulgaria's dominance in the Balkans, intervened at
the Congress of Berlin (1878), limited Bulgaria's territory, and
fashioned it into a small principality ruled by Alexander of Battenburg,
the nephew of the Russian czar. Alexander was succeeded in 1887 by
Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who declared a kingdom
independent of the Ottoman empire on Oct. 5, 1908
A fully independent Bulgarian kingdom, proclaimed September 22, 1908,
participated in an anti-Ottoman coalition that defeated the Ottoman
Empire in the First Balkan War (1912). The coalition soon dissolved over
territorial disputes, however, and Bulgaria was isolated and defeated
quickly in the Second Balkan War (1913) by Greece, Serbia, Montenegro,
Romania, and Turkey. It later allied itself with Germany in World Wars I
and II and suffered defeats twice more.
Bulgaria fell within the Soviet sphere of influence after World War II .
A Soviet-style People's Republic was established in 1947 and Bulgaria
acquired the reputation of being the most slavishly loyal to Moscow of
all the East European Communist countries. The general secretary of the
Bulgarian Communist Party, Todor Zhikov, resigned in 1989 after 35 years
in power.Communist domination ended in 1990, when Bulgaria again held
multiparty elections.
Bulgaria joined NATO on 29 March 2004 and is set to join the European
Union on 1 January 2007 after signing the Treaty of Accession on 25
April 2005.
(Pictures copyright
Nicola
Gruev : Bulgaria)
