The Republic of Bulgaria is located in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula , which has undergone a long and arduous journey in its development, during which the stages of political and cultural growth have been replaced by periods of decline. The formation of the Bulgarian kingdom and its subsequent history became the topic of this article.
Creation of the first state in the Balkans
The main stages of the history of the Bulgarian kingdom can be divided into three independent periods. The first people to populate a significant part of the Balkan Peninsula in 681 AD e., became the Proto-Bulgarians, consisting of representatives of Turkic tribes who from the 4th century inhabited the Black Sea steppes up to the foothills of the North Caucasus. Separate Slavic and Thracian tribes also joined them. The state they formed went down in history as the First Bulgarian Kingdom and lasted until 1018, when it fell under the onslaught of Byzantium.
The period of its highest prosperity is considered to be the reign of King Simeon the Great, which lasted from 893 to 927. Under him, the capital of the First Bulgarian Kingdom, located in the city of Plisk until 893, and then moved to Preslav, was not only a major commercial and political center, but also played the role of a link that united many Slavic peoples.
The heyday of the First Bulgarian Kingdom
During the reign of Simeon I, the borders of his state covered most of the Balkan Peninsula, providing access to three seas - the Black, Aegean and Adriatic. According to the largest modern Byzantinist - the French scientist of Greek descent Eleni Arveler - this was the first state created by barbarians in the territory that belonged to those years of Byzantium.
The first Bulgarian kingdom earned the gratitude of posterity for the fact that it greatly contributed to the enlightenment of pagan Slavic tribes with the light of Orthodoxy. It was here that during the reign of the pious Tsar Boris I (852-889), later glorified in the face of saints, the first Slavic alphabet appeared, and from here literacy spread to the countries of Eastern Europe.
The fall of the state under the onslaught of Byzantium
Throughout the history of the First Bulgarian Kingdom, political tension continued between its rulers and the emperors of Byzantium, part of whose territory was captured by the Proto-Bulgarians in 681. Often it grew into armed clashes, and sometimes into full-scale wars. After a series of such open aggressions committed by the Byzantine emperors Nikifor Foka, John Tzimiskes and Basil III, the First Bulgarian Kingdom fell, unable to withstand the invasion of a larger and stronger neighbor.
Remarkable architectural monuments of that period have survived, preserved mainly in the two capitals of the ancient state - Pliska and Preslav. The first of them was famous for its citadel - a fortress that remained impregnable for several centuries. Even today you can see the remains of the stone walls surrounding it, the thickness of which reached two and a half meters, and the pentahedral towers towering above them.
The revival of the Bulgarian kingdom
About how and when the Second Bulgarian Kingdom arose, historians have a very definite opinion. Byzantine rule in the Balkans ended the uprising that broke out in 1185 under the leadership of Theodore Peter and his brothers Aseny and Kaloyan. As a result, independent statehood was restored, and the leaders of the rebels went down in history under the names of Kings Peter IV and his co-ruler Ivan Asen I. The Second Bulgarian Kingdom that they created lasted until 1422 and, like the First, after long resistance fell under the onslaught of the invaders. This time his independence was put to an end by the Ottoman Empire.
Crisis country
The history of the Bulgarian kingdom of this period is marked by a historical cataclysm that befell many peoples of that era - the invasion of nomadic Mongol tribes. This misfortune befell the country when, after the death of King Peter IV and his brother, she was in the grip of weak and mediocre rulers, which caused the loss of influence on the Balkan Peninsula. As a result, Bulgaria was forced to pay tribute to the Horde for a long time.
Her plight and obvious weakness were not slowed down by the neighbors who seized part of the territories that previously belonged to the Bulgarian kingdom. So, Macedonia and North Thrace again went to Byzantium, and Belgrade was conquered by the Hungarians. Gradually, Wallachia was also lost. The state has lost its former power to such an extent that at one time the son of the Tatar khan Nagoy was his king.
The end of independence and the beginning of the Turkish yoke
However, the culprits of the final fall of the once powerful state were the Ottoman Turks, who began in the XIV century to carry out devastating raids on the Balkan Peninsula, during one of which they plundered the capital of the Bulgarian kingdom of that period - the city of Tarnov, which completely came under the control of the conquerors in 1393.
One of the reasons for the defeat of the Bulgarian kingdom was an unsuccessful attempt to conclude an alliance with neighboring states, which were also at risk of capture. The actions of the Turks became especially active after the Bulgarian King Ivan Alexander IV, who managed to maintain peaceful relations with them, died in 1371.
The result was sad: a whole series of defeats, which began in 1371 with the defeat in the battle on the Maritsa River and ended with a victorious march along the Balkan Peninsula of Sultan Bayazid I, led to the loss of political independence by the Bulgarian state for the long five centuries that went down in history as the period of the Turkish yoke.
Creation of the last Bulgarian monarchy
The third Bulgarian kingdom was formed in 1908 as a result of the declaration of independence of the state from the Ottoman Empire, which had been extremely weak by that time. Taking advantage of the crisis, the Bulgarians managed to throw off the centuries-old yoke and create an independent constitutional monarchy, headed by King Ferdinand I. One of his first political actions was the seizure and accession of the Roman Empire of Eastern Romania, which until then was an autonomous Turkish province.
The territory of Bulgaria underwent significant changes during the two Balkan wars that followed one after the other from 1912 to 1913. As a result of the first of them, Ferdinand I managed to return and annex the vast territory of Thrace to the state, and also secure access to the Aegean Sea. In the second, military luck betrayed the Bulgarians, and part of the previously seized lands got out of their control.
During the First World War, Bulgaria was among the Entente countries and thereby stained itself with a betrayal of the interests of the Slavic world. The reason for this was the desire of Ferdinand I, using an alliance with Germany, Austria-Hungary and his recent adversary - Turkey, to annex the lands of Macedonia so desired by him to the state. However, this adventure ended with the military defeat of Bulgaria and his forced abdication.
The country's participation in World War II and the end of the monarchy
Bulgaria began World War II with the voluntary provision of its territory for the deployment of German troops. Then followed her accession to the military alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan. As a result of joint military operations with these states, Bulgaria took possession of the significant coast of the Aegean Sea, which included part of Western Thrace and the territory of Vardar Macedonia.
In the history of World War II, the terror equated with genocide unfolded by the Bulgarian occupation forces in the Greek city of Drama, the majority of the population of which were Turkish repatriates, became a shameful page. At the same time, from 1941 on the territory of Bulgaria, units of popular resistance actively fought against the Nazis. Their organizers and leaders were members of the underground of the Bulgarian Communist Party. By their actions they made a significant contribution to the weakening of the forces of the Third Reich.
The government of Bulgaria refrained from officially declaring war on the Soviet Union and did not take any military action. Even when Stalin declared war on them in September 1944, this did not cause active resistance from the Bulgarian army, which by then totaled up to half a million people. The anti-fascist uprising, organized by the Patriotic Front, which broke out in early September, put an end to the rule of the pro-German government, as a result of which the new authorities announced the accession of Bulgaria to the anti-Hitler coalition.
The monarchical system in Bulgaria ceased to exist on September 8, 1946. He quietly and painlessly gave way to the republic, for which the majority of the country's inhabitants voted during the referendum.