Part 3 (1/2)
The establishment of a Bulgarian government in 1878 was relatively easily accomplished, and that government achieved a certain degree of stability in the aftermath of Turkish rule. The Turnovo Const.i.tution (1879)--originally drafted by the Russians but rewritten by Bulgarians--established an essentially advanced and democratic system.
It set up a unicameral parliament, which was to be elected on the basis of universal suffrage; the parliament was to control the executive. The monarchy, which lasted from the 1880s until World War II, was established at this time under a Germany dynasty that was acceptable to the European powers. Although the first prince was forced to abdicate by the Russians, his successor established firm and advanced economic and administrative inst.i.tutions in the country. Eventually, because of a crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country was able to declare itself an independent kingdom in 1908.
One historian has described the postliberation period as the ”only prolonged period of peaceful development” for Bulgaria. After the liberation, land rose in value. Peasants were able to purchase land from the Turks, and agricultural production rose markedly. Modern industry grew up at a relatively rapid pace, although the country remained primarily agrarian. The state began to take steps in education and culture. All levels of education were expanded; students of higher education studied both in Bulgaria and abroad; and illiteracy, which was overwhelming at the period of liberation, was reduced to 76 percent by 1900 and to 54 percent by 1920. Science and the arts were actively encouraged, and literature flourished once again.
Financial burdens, however, escalated rapidly between 1886 and 1911. In 1911 the national debt was actually more than three times the size of the national budget. At the same time, as industry increased, two antagonistic groups developed: the urban middle cla.s.s--composed of merchants and white-collar workers--and the poor, who were generally laborers or peasants. Working conditions in factories were nearly intolerable, causing factory workers to interest themselves in the cause of socialism, while on the farms the peasants began to organize a movement known as the Bulgarian Agrarian Union (also called the Agrarian Party), which was designed to offset the growing power of the urban groups. In 1891 the Social Democratic Party was established; this party later formed the base of the communist party in Bulgaria.
The Macedonian Issue
By the early twentieth century the country was once again embroiled in war; the Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913 impeded economic and social development in the country. Once again, as in the case of eastern Rumelia, irredentism was the Bulgarian motive for war. Both eastern Thrace and Macedonia, the lands ceded to Bulgaria by the Treaty of San Stefano, were still under Turkish rule. The lands had not only large Bulgarian populations but also strategic and economic significance.
Macedonia, more than Thrace, was of extreme importance to Bulgaria; Bulgarians believed the population of Macedonia to be composed almost exclusively of Bulgarians. The issue of Macedonia was, in fact, a focal point around which Bulgarian political life revolved after 1878, because that issue was seen by the Bulgarians as involving the territorial integrity of their nation.
Between the tenth and fourteenth centuries Macedonia was alternately occupied by the Bulgarians, the Serbs, and the Turks. At the time of liberation Macedonia was ceded to the Bulgarians by the Treaty of San Stefano, only to be returned to the Turks by the Treaty of Berlin. In 1893 the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) was founded. This terrorist organization, with the battle slogan ”Liberty or Death for Macedonia,” fought a continual underground war of terrorism against the Turks. In 1903 there was a major Macedonian uprising in which two factions partic.i.p.ated. Although the predominant faction favored Bulgarian annexation of Macedonia, another group favored complete autonomy for Macedonia. In 1908, when King Ferdinand proclaimed Bulgaria completely independent, memories of the medieval Bulgarian empire, which included Macedonia, were rekindled.
The Balkan Wars
The tumultuous history of Macedonia set the stage for the two Balkan wars. In 1912, at the onset of the First Balkan War, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece formed an alliance to drive the Turks from Europe. Turkey, who was at war with Italy at the time, was weak and disunited. Macedonia and Thrace were hotbeds of internal disorder. In October 1912 Turkey declared war on Serbia and Bulgaria, a move that was countered by a Greek declaration of war on Turkey. In 1913 the Bulgarians succeeded in capturing Adrianople, and the Greeks captured Salonica, Crete, and Samos. Eventually, the Turks were badly defeated.
But the question of Macedonia remained. Serbia, Greece, and Bulgaria all laid claim to the land at the end of the first Balkan War. Eventually a compromise was reached: the northern section went to Serbia and the eastern section, to Bulgaria.
Despite this compromise, the Serbs and Greeks remained wary of the Bulgarians. In 1913 the Second Balkan War began, the Greeks, Montenegrins, Serbs, and Romanians joining forces with their previous enemy, the Turks, against their former ally, the Bulgarians. This rivalry had been fostered by both Austria and Russia. Eventually, the Bulgarians turned to the Russians for arbitration and finally signed a mutual defense treaty with Russia. When the Romanians crossed into Bulgaria, the Bulgarians--who were simultaneously fighting in Macedonia and were therefore weakened by fighting on two fronts--were forced to surrender. As a result of this loss, when the peace treaty of Bucharest was signed in August 1913 and Macedonia was part.i.tioned between Greece and Serbia, Bulgaria managed to retain only a tiny fragment in the eastern sector.
Macedonia, however, remained an issue for Bulgaria. In World War I Bulgaria succeeded in invading Macedonia. During the interwar period Macedonia was divided between Greece, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia retaining the largest portion of the land. In the 1923-34 period Macedonian terrorism plagued the country and wreaked havoc on Bulgarian political and social life. During World War II the Bulgarians invaded both Greek Macedonia and Yugoslav Macedonia once again. Although the Macedonians themselves were divided in their sentiments between loyalties to Greeks, Yugoslavs, and Bulgarians, the land eventually reverted to Yugoslavia during World War II. As an issue, however, it still burns in the minds of the Bulgarians. The Macedonian question has been aptly referred to as ”that eternal Balkan sore spot of rival nationalism.”
WORLD WAR I
As was the case in the Balkan wars, Bulgaria's primary motivation for engagement in World War I was irredentism. Again the country was determined to regain the two lands that had escaped her grasp in the past: Macedonia and Thrace. Although Macedonia was prized for political and social reasons, Thrace represented a strategically more significant objective. In order to develop foreign trade, Bulgaria required an outlet to the sea; Thrace represented that outlet.
The domestic situation in the country before World War I was mixed.
Although Bulgaria's army had been demobilized at the end of the Second Balkan War (1913) and economic conditions were rapidly improving, the mood of the monarchy and the middle cla.s.s was one of vindictiveness and retaliation against those countries that had stripped Bulgaria of its territories. The country became divided between those who wanted closer relations with Russia and the Triple Entente and those who preferred an alliance with the Central Powers. As the war neared, the struggle between these camps intensified.
Bulgaria, of all the Balkan states, was the only one to join the Central Powers, led by Germany and Austria, in World War I. It was deeply ironic that Bulgaria chose to side with her former enemy and oppressor, Turkey, and against her former friend and protector, Russia. Again, the issue for Bulgaria was the Macedonian question. Serbia and Greece, which had triumphed over Bulgaria in the Second Balkan War, were allied with the entente powers. Bulgaria chose to fight against these enemies in order to regain Macedonia. Although the entente powers hoped to woo Bulgaria to their side, they refused--because of Serb and Greek pressures--to cede Macedonia to Bulgaria. The Central Powers, on the other hand, who were already at war with Serbia, were willing to promise Macedonia to the Bulgarians in exchange for their collaboration.
In the early stages of the war Germany won victories in France and on the eastern front. Although the government then ruling Bulgaria was already inclined to join the Central Powers, these early successes made German promises even more appealing. In August 1915 a secret treaty of alliance was signed by Bulgaria and Germany, containing a clause that promised Serbian, Greek, and Romanian territories to the Bulgarians.
Thus the quadripart.i.te alliance was born, composed of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria.
By September 1915 Bulgarian troops were mobilized and began to deploy along the borders of Greece and Serbia. On October 1, 1915, Bulgaria declared war on Serbia and, with the a.s.sistance of Austrian and German troops, succeeded in defeating the Serbian army. At the same time the Bulgarian army began to advance on Macedonia. There the local population, a proportion of which was openly sympathetic to Bulgarian aspirations, joined in the fighting on the side of the Bulgarians.
Although the Bulgarian army attempted to drive the entente forces from southern Macedonia, it met with failure. This defeat was followed by a period of prolonged trench warfare on the Balkan front. By 1916 Bulgaria was also at war with Romania and, with the help of German and Austrian units, managed a victory over the Romanians.
While the war dragged on, the internal political situation was rapidly deteriorating. The country was in a state of economic chaos, and the living conditions of laborers and peasants continued to decline. Farm production dropped quickly, resulting in famine and soaring prices.
These dire conditions gave a strong impetus to the growing antiwar movement in the country. The movement was headed by the left-wing Socialists, who attempted to correlate the antiwar movement with socialist propaganda. The Russian Revolution of 1917 stirred some elements of the Bulgarian population who, like the Russian people, felt that their government failed to represent their interests and was unresponsive to their needs. There were open revolts in the towns and villages; underground activities were growing within the Bulgarian army itself.
By 1918 Bulgaria and the Central Powers were defeated, leaving Bulgaria in a worse position than before the war. Hopes of regaining Thrace and Macedonia were dashed, and the country was immeasurably weakened by external fighting and internal division. The people were frustrated and bitter. Although the war had stimulated Bulgaria's industry--there were 345 industrial enterprises in 1911 and 1,404 in 1924--it had been costly in other respects. Bulgaria was forced to pay both reparations and payments for the allied occupation that followed. Taxes rose, and the value of the currency declined. As a result, King Ferdinand was forced to abdicate in 1918, shortly before the armistice was signed.
The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine was signed on November 27, 1919, ending Bulgaria's role in the war and establis.h.i.+ng her boundaries. Once more Bulgaria had entered a war on the losing side, and once more its irredentist ambitions had resulted in no territorial gains. At the end of the war Bulgaria lost Thrace to Greece--thus failing in her attempts to gain access to the sea--and a small area in the Rodopi (or Rhodope Mountains) and a portion of its western frontier to Yugoslavia. As a result of these losses, Bulgaria was left with a still greater sense of frustration and hostility toward its Balkan neighbors.
THE INTERWAR YEARS
The period between the first and second world wars was one of political unrest and Macedonian terrorism. The country was in an almost untenable economic situation at the close of the war: prices skyrocketed, people died of starvation, and strikes were almost continuous. Out of this situation two extreme political groups grew up. On the extreme Right was a faction of the IMRO, which at that time demanded the annexation of Greek and Yugoslav Macedonia. On the Left was the Bulgarian Agrarian Union, the only party at the time more popular than the Communists.