In the preliminary peace of San Stefano (March 3, 1878; national holiday since 1988), a Greater Bulgarian state was created which, in addition to the heartland, should also include access to the Aegean Sea with most of Macedonia and Thrace. Under British and Austrian influence, the Berlin Congress reduced(July 1, 1878) this Russian dictation on the division of Bulgaria into an autonomous feudal principality Bulgaria, which is tributary to the sultan, consisting of Moesia and the Sanjak Sofia, as well as the province of Eastern Rumelia (southern Bulgaria; capital Plovdiv) and the areas remaining under Turkish rule (Macedonia, Thrace). Contrary to the wishes of the provisional Russian administration, on April 28, 1879, an assembly of notables in Tarnowo passed a liberal constitution; Sofia became the capital. Alexander I von Battenberg, elected by the National Assemblyended the party struggles between “conservatives” and “liberals” in 1881 by repealing the constitution and, after the overthrow of the East Rumelian Directory, united this province on September 18, 1885 with the Principality of Bulgaria (personal union). After the Serbian-Bulgarian War (Serbia, History), in the Treaty of Bucharest (March 3, 1886), de facto unification and the pre-war borders were recognized. Russia’s refusal to recognize Alexander as prince of united Bulgaria prompted a group of officers to force him to abdicate on August 9, 1886. Although a counter- action led by the President of Parliament S. Stambolow brought him back to the throne, he resigned on September 7, 1886 because of the personal reservations of Kaiser Alexander III from Russia.
The Wettin Ferdinand I, elected prince on July 19, 1887, who only received recognition of Turkey and the great powers in 1896 after the reconciliation with Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, led the with his Prime Minister Stambolow (1887-94) The construction and Europeanization of Bulgaria.
According to Abbreviationfinder, the pro-Bulgarian liberation movements active in Turkish Macedonia and S-Thrace were actively supported. Despite a slow economic upswing, the high national debt and frequently changing cabinets led to increased agitation by the small Social Democratic Party (founded in 1891, from 1894 the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers ‘Party), peasants’ unrest and popular uprisings. In response to the Young Turkish Revolution, Ferdinand I. on October 5, 1908 Bulgaria’s independence and accepted the title of king (Tsar). When the Russian government approved this step, Turkey and the great powers agreed in 1909. The growing contradictions between Turkey and the young Balkan states over the fate of the European areas with non-Turkish populations led to the Serbian-Bulgarian alliance (Balkan Federation) on March 13, 1912. In the First Balkan War (1912–13) Bulgaria bore the brunt of the fighting against Turkey and was able to occupy Thrace, parts of Macedonia and Adrianople. During the distribution of the territories agreed to by Turkey in the Peace of London (May 30, 1913), disputes arose between the previous partners. 6. 1913 led to the Second Balkan War. The attacker Bulgaria was defeated by Serbia, Greece, Turkey and Romania and lost in the Treaty of Bucharest (August 10, 1913) Vardar and Aegean Macedonia as well as South Dobruja and the Adrianople region. During the First World War (1914-18) Bulgaria initially remained neutral, but after the rejection of its territorial claims in Macedonia, it joined the Central Powers on October 14, 1915 and occupied the areas it claimed. In the Treaty of Bucharest (May 7, 1918;
On October 3rd, 1918 King (Tsar) Ferdinand I thanked his son Boris III. away. Prime Minister A. Stambolijski (since October 2, 1919), the leader of the revolutionary peasant party (founded in 1899 as the Bulgarian National Agrarian Union, Bulgarian abbreviation BZNS), signed the Neuilly Peace Treaty on November 27, 1919, through which two East Macedonian circles transferred to the SHS state (Yugoslavia) and the Aegean coast was lost to Greece (the latter was finally settled at the Entente Conference in San Remo, April 19-26, 1920) and Bulgaria was imposed high reparations. The domestic policy reform program (including the division of large estates, progressive income tax) and the foreign policy plans (Balkan Federation) aroused growing resistance; the Inner Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) fought v. a. the Bulgarian-Yugoslav rapprochement. On June 9, 1923 was Stambolijski overthrown in an officer coup and murdered a little later (June 14th). The communist September uprising under W. Kolarow and G. Dimitrov on September 23, 1923 to overthrow the government of A. Zankow (1923-26) was suppressed and was the reason for the suppression of the CP (founded 1919, 1938-48 Bulgarian Workers’ Party) as well as the farmers’ party (from 1924). Under Prime Minister Andrei Lyaptschew (* 1866, † 1933; 1926–31), whose government was supported by the National Bloc (union of the Democratic Party, Peasant Party, National Liberal Party and Radical Democratic Party), terrorist actions by IMRO intensified the Bulgarian-Yugoslav controversy over Macedonia. After the putsch of the Zweno district (1934) and the authoritarian government (dissolution of the political parties) of Prime Minister K. Georgiev (1934–35), Boris III. an autocratic rule, based on the Prime Ministers Georgi Kiosse-Iwanow (1935-40) and B. Filow (1940-43). The Bulgarian-Yugoslav rapprochement initiated in 1933 culminated in a friendship treaty dated January 24, 1937. With its rapprochement with the Axis powers – especially after the outbreak of World War II (1939) – Bulgaria isolated itself from the other Balkan states. Under German pressure, Romania ceded southern Dobruja to Bulgaria in the Treaty of Craiova (September 7, 1940). On March 1, 1941, Bulgaria joined the three-power pact, and on November 25, the Anti-Comintern Pact; on March 2nd, German troops entered the country (June 26th formation of the first partisan units). From then on Bulgaria took part in the Axis Powers’ war against Greece and Yugoslavia (including until 1944 the Bulgarian occupation of Macedonia and Thrace). On December 13, 1941, Bulgaria declared war on Great Britain and the USA (not the USSR). After their first program was announced (July 17, 1942), a semi-legal opposition formed on the Fatherland Front in mid-1943 with the participation of the Communists. After death Boris III. (August 28, 1943) exercised a regency council for the underage Crown Prince Simeon from the government. On September 5, 1944, the USSR declared war on Bulgaria. After the Red Army marched in without resistance on September 8, there was an uprising on September 9, as a result of which a government of the Patriotic Front under Prime Minister Georgiev (1944-46) came to power and on October 28, 1944 signed the armistice with the allies; Bulgaria took an active part in the war against Germany with a significant contingent of troops (declaration of war on September 10th).
