The many years of being ruled by the Turks, left many Bulgarians in fear. The Bulgarians revolted and each time they were found being crushed by the Turks. By the end of the 16th century, two-thirds of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, was under Turkish rule. When the enemies came in to the country, they brought their government, their culture, and their religion into Bulgaria. This made some of the citizens convert to the Turkish ways and those who chose not to convert from their Christian views and their identity as a Bulgarian suffered a great deal. Often, this included in Bulgarians being dealt with harshly, and sometimes beaten. Sometimes, it was the whole village that refused, which the Turks did not like. They thought that since they wont convert, that burning their village would help get them to change.
Bulgaria gained their complete independence from Turkey on September 22, 1908. The Russians were the ones that helped supply the troops to help overthrow this rule. This started an interesting relationship with the rest of Europe. Bulgaria saw them as their ‘older brother.’ All the other countries disapproved.
My family came from Bulgaria in 1920’s. Their eldest daughter, Stella, was born in 1912. Behind her was their second eldest, named Pauline, was born in 1914. Their father, Richard Christoff, came to America a few months before they did, with his brother, Nedelko Christoff. Then in 1920, Demetra, Stella, and Pauline came to rhode island to become the newest US citizens. Thats when Richard realised it was a good thing that they came over from their homeland.
When Stella was born, they were entering the Second Balkan War with Greece, Serbia, and Montenegro to defeat the Turks. They defeated the Turks, but they still remained in Constantinople. The Bulgarians were rewarded with Thrace, but Macedonia denied them. Thinking they would be able to take over the country, they marched into Macedonia and hoped they would take it by force. Unfortunately, Bulgaria was outnumbered. Greece, Romania, and Montenegro sided with Serbia. A month after this war started, Bulgaria asked for a truce. This caused the Treaty of Bucharest to be in place. It caused Bulgaria to lost almost every bit of territory they had gained, and Macedonia was divided among everyone, leaving the Bulgarians a tiny corner of it. This made Serbia the more dominant country now and decided they wanted to take over Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was part of the Austrian-Hungary empire. The leader of the Austrian-Hungary empire visited Bosnia and was assassinated by a Serbian.
The assassination of the empires leader created chaos for both Germany, Serbia, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. This is now known as World War I. Bulgaria tried everything to stay neutral, which finally fell through in 1915. They decided to side with Germany and Austria-Hungary, which lead to Turkey siding with Germany and the empire. Austria-Hungary hoped that they would gain land from Serbia. The war caused devastation everywhere in the Balkans, which made the Bulgarians protest. On September 28, 1918, Bulgaria surrendered and signed an armistice with the UK, France, and America. Soon after, a German official had said, “The war will end in four months. It cannot continue longer because the states will collapse.” This ended with the German defeat. After that, the Bulgarians were forced to sign a treaty, which forced them to pay for all damages in Serbia and their allies. With this in place and having the country paying for damages in other countries, this allowed terrorist groups to try to take control over the government. Some citizens even thought that Bulgaria would fall and resort to anarchy.
Bulgaria was starting to struggle both politically and economically. This is when a new party was formed; BANU won twenty-five percent of the votes in the elections that year. Alexander Stambuliski attempted to reform the landholding system that was put in place years before. He did this so the peasants were able to have land and wealth like other citizens. He also ended all attempts to regain the lost land that the country had lost during the war. Stambuliski was also the person who had started secondary schooling for young Bulgarians while also creating new taxes. This made issues with people; he had many enemies and many friends due to his policies.
Macedonian naturalists became angry with the government because they were abandoning fights to gain back ancestral lands. In 1923, Stambuliski's opponents started a violent seizure, which Stambuliski was killed in. The people who did this took control of the government. The party was largely influenced by the military, which made it extremely repressive. They also went out to outlaw the communist party, which led the Soviet Union send agents to Bulgaria in retaliation. Lots of terrorist acts were starting, and the one most Bulgarians would remember is the attack on Sofia’s cathedral — Sveta Nedelia Cathedral. This holy place was bombed in attempt to kill the new czar, Czar Boris III. The czar was unharmed. Andrei Liapchev helped bring stability to the country in the 1920’s, but this was soon followed by the Depression of Eastern Europe.
When the Depression of Eastern Europe had hit, my family came from Bulgaria to start their new lives in Ohio. They knew little english, but they soon figured out how to speak it. They had to find jobs, learn how to write english, and learn how to sustain their money for their family. Then, in 1922, they had their son, Chris Christoff. Not only did they have to manage two daughters, they now had a baby to feed and take care of. They were starting to learn the ways of being an American.
During the depression, fascism was on the rise, which fed the frustrations of many people who had dreamed about the economy being secure and having self-respect for themselves. In 1931, Liapchev lost the elections to a new opponent name Zveno. In 1934, Zveno seized the government in a coup. Boris expressed the fact that Zveno would only ruin Bulgaria. The czar asserted his power and made a royal dictatorship. To this day, it is still considered one of the best powers of Bulgaria. This brought stability and also weakened the politics in the country. In 1938, he announced people could run if they had no party affiliation, but he controlled all the events. This made Nazi-Germany look at Bulgaria in a new way.
In World War II, Nazi-Germany viewed the country as the key to take over the Balkans. They started working their way into Bulgaria to gain their trust, which influenced the poor country economically all because of trade. Czar Boris III tried to remain neutral, but failed to do so because of Italy and Germany. Germany had promised Bulgaria to regain territory. Italy and Germany convinced Bulgaria to sign the Tripartite Pact in March 1941. Bulgaria sent no troops to help fight, and then Germans used Bulgaria as the base for all operations for fighting Greece and Yugoslavia, who supported the US and UK.
When the Nazi’s came to collect the Bulgarian jews, who had been living there for centuries, Boris was able to strike a deal with Germany to make sure that none of the Bulgarian citizens wouldn’t die by gas chambers. The Bulgarians also refused to be coerced into Hitlers idea of detaining all jews from Eastern Europe, in concentration camps. Boris passed the anti-anti-Semitic laws, but never acted on them, due to Bulgaria having 50,000 Jews that have been there. The neighbours to the Jewish Bulgarians weren’t happy that they were being marched to their death at the camps. During the third reich, the red army came to Bulgaria and had hitlers fury along with them. One of the major camps that the Bulgarians were sent to was Treblinka.
This lead Boris to declare war on the allies, and refused to cut off all diplomatic relations with the Soviets. Bulgaria then sided with the allies when Germany attacked in 1941. Many people were forced to fight for the country, which was ordered by the czar, in fear that they would turn on him. They fought as an ally and friend as the liberator. Along with this, Bulgaria refused to be coerced into Hitler detaining Jews. For many citizens, their neighbours were jewish. The idea of people they knew being sent to a concentration camp where they would most likely meet their death, hurt them very much. There has been an estimation of fifty thousand jews who had lived in Bulgaria throughout the centuries. Boris and his government passed anti-anti-Semitic laws, but didn’t prepare to act on them. The Bulgarian orthodox church, members of the community, and intellectuals opposed of the deportation of Jews. The country didn’t get through the war without death.
The Allied Air Command heavily bombed Bulgaria. When the war ended, it was estimated that thirty-two thousand Bulgarians had died. Not only did citizens die, but so did Czar Boris III. He died shortly after his visit with Hitler in 1943. There is still speculation that Hitler had poisoned the countries most favoured ruler. Boris’ six year old son was his successor. Bulgaria had tried to make peace with the UK and the USA after this.
In September 1944, talking about peace between countries ended when the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria. They took over the country in a matter of days. The communists were then willing to share power with the other parties, in coalition called Fatherland Front. The OF gradually lost control to the communists and ended up losing half of their seats in the National Assembly in 1946.
Georgi Dimitrov was a communist trained by Jospeh Stalin, and he later became prime minister of Bulgaria. This soon lead to many Bulgarians torture. The citizens who opposed of the communist government were arrested, put on trial, convicted, and were executed or sent to jail. Not only did the communists do this, but they also wanted to completely eradicate the Agrarian Union, who was their biggest rival. The leader of the Agrarian Union, Nikola Petkov, got support and lots of encouragement from the USA, in order to compete with the communists. This lead to the USA and Bulgaria treaty became ratified in 1947 and Petkov was arrest on the floor of the Bulgarian parliament. He was tried and convicted, which lead to him being hung in September of 1947. This made it very clear that you couldn’t resist the communist rule in the country. No one tried to resist for a while.
The Bulgarians looked at Russia and the Soviet Union as a friend and their liberator. They thought that they had brought stability to the Bulgarian citizens. The soviets had dominated the country, but the citizens didn’t mind, even if they were freedom lovers. Wars were a constant visitor. They were either at war with the neighbouring countries, or they were at war with themselves. Nikita Khrushchev wrote in his autobiography, ”Not all that many years have passed since the battlefields of Bulgaria were littered with the bones of Russian warriors who died winning Bulgaria’s independence from the Turks.” This quote is showing that the Bulgarians have to live with the fact that many of their friends from Russia, had died in their honour.
The new Soviet domination seemed to appeal to most Bulgarians. The citizens were freedom-loving, but they still saw the benefits to having the Soviets rule. War was always a constant fear for Bulgarians. Even if there was no war between the neighbouring countries, they were fighting a war with themselves. It was majority between the liberals and nationalists, or the Communists and democrats. The Soviets helped with trying to get rid of this, which helped create some stability and security with the population. This new rule also created more places for the Bulgarians to work. The new jobs were especially helpful for the new urban workers. These people no longer had to work on the farms, but if they decided to stay on farms, they worked for cooperative farms, which had more modern machinery. These machines increased the productivity of the people and also sped up the job. This gave workers and farmers a new standard of living.
Russia had a new respect for Bulgaria, only because they were now the most loyal ally in the communist blocks. There were no Hungarian uprisings, no Prague springs, no polish solidary movements, and no challenges to the Soviets authority. There were no more demonstrations being done. The Bulgarians were no longer satisfied with the strict regime they were now living under. To keep the soviet block happy, they stayed quiet and kept to themselves.
In 1949, Dimitrov died, in Moscow, during medical treatment. When Premier Dimitrov died, he was replaced by Vulko Chervenkov. Vulko was a protégé of Stalin. He was very enthusiastic of the Soviet Communism. He was also ruthless when it came down to face his enemies. He ended all party opponents, which meant he took out everyone he felt threatened by. Many party members died after show trials. These trials were designed after Stalins show trials from the 1930’s. Vulko ended all relations with the west, and created a cult around him. He earned his nickname of ‘little Stalin.’ In 1953, he had found his position less secure, when Stalin died. In 1954, the sixth party congress named Todor Zhivkov secretary of the central committee. He was now the youngest person in the communist block to be honoured.
Chervenkov still held power for two more years. In 1956, Nikita Khrushchev had the rapid process of de-Stalinization. This assured Chervenkov’s downfall. In the April meeting, Zhivkov publicly attacked Chervenkov and his cult. Vulko was then replaced with Anton Yugov. Chervenkov was also suspended from the party. Zhivkov proceeded to oust Yugov, making himself Premier. This also made him a pawn to the Soviets. He announced that the Soviet flag would be flown alongside the Bulgarian flag, and also declared the Russian Revolution a holiday. He proceeded to be modest about his accomplishments. Zhivkov took pride in ordinances. He played the role of a man that loved his people.
Zhivkov initiated some modest reforms in economics along with liberated censorship, opened the doors to diplomatic relations, and opened the trade with the west. In 1965, some of his political enemies decided that they were going to attempt a coup. This coup was the first one to occur under a communist-bloc country. Lots of people blamed Zhivkov for the coup because of his love for the soviet policy. It was also blamed on the pro-chinese element. The soviets then came down hard on the Czechoslovakian liberal movements and Zhivkov sent some troops to try and help, which made things worse back in Bulgaria.
In 1971, Zhivkov made a new national constitution that solidified the communist party in Bulgaria. He was trying to make it look like they were getting more freedom, all while trying to keep some power to himself. The failed coup helped him secure his power. Zhivkov made himself look like a statesman like person. He started making relations with western Germany and the USA. This new version of Zhivkov then met with the president of France, which helped improve relations with the catholic people and catholic church. This improved relations with Pope Paul VI.
When things started to become a little bit more hard for Zhivkov, he had to prove he was a Bulgarian, even though he was so close to Russia. Once he was able to prove this, he appointed his daughter, Lyudmila, as the head of state on art and culture. Her efforts had reduced culmination on the 1,300th anniversary of Bulgaria being a nation. They celebrated with arts.
Despite everything Zhivkov had done to keep good relations with other countries and the Pope, he had lost the Popes respect when an assassination on Pope John Paul II was attempted. The assassin, Mehmet Ali Ağca, had said that this assassination was engineered by Bulgarian and Soviet agents. There were three Bulgarians accused of being coconspirators, and was acquitted in 1986. This also resulted in Bulgaria going on the USA’s list of countries that had sponsored terrorism. Bulgaria had supplied arms and weapons to 36 countries, many of which were developing countries that had terrorist groups and organisations.
in 1984, Zhivkov ruined himself. His campaign damaged both his power and his regime. He feared that Bulgarias high birth rate of ethnic Turkish kids would make Bulgarians a minority within its home country. Todor Zhivkov insisted on a drastic policy of forced assimilation. He also stated that the turks had their own country, forgetting about how a lot of turks had been living in Bulgaria peacefully, with no problems and not creating any within the country. They were now told that they had to change their Turkish names to Bulgarian names and had to speak the country’s language. A lot of Turkish people had moved back to turkey, and many were forced out of their homes and were arrested, tried, imprisoned, and sometimes, even killed. This was now a new rule on the constitution, from Zhivkov himself . This was only put into rule because there were many deaths happening within the country. 300,000 more turks left the country, once the exoduses happened in Bulgaria. This caused lots of employers to lose a lot of their workers. Turkey couldn’t assimilate many new immigrants, which left many new immigrants unemployed, which made unemployment rates soar. Zhivkov saw what this was doing to the Turkish people, and retracted the statement, allowing them to come back.
When 1982 rolled around, Khrushchevs successor, Leonid Brezhnev, died. This left Zhivkov with no patron left. The new person who replaced Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, did not like Zhivkov. The reason why he did not like Zhivkov was because Todor Zhivkov did not support Andropov as a party leader. After this was established, Mikhail Gorbachev took power back in Russia. Bulgaria now had to reform itself in order to keep the support of the Russians. This angered Zhivkov a lot. In just under 40 years, the communist regime had changed the natural beauty and environmental ugliness in Bulgaria. This happened because of unregulated industry and pollution. In October of 1989, there was a national meeting held in Sofia, due to the city being one of the most polluted sites in Bulgaria. Some people also held a rally at the building where the meeting was being held.
On November 3, 1989, 5,000 citizens came together and marched at the national assembly. They marched for their environment, and for many other reasons. This was now one of the largest assemblies in nearly four decades. This was their way of protesting the government that polluted Bulgarian life aspects. The Bulgarians chose their moment very wisely, all while suppressing the demonstration with many foreigners, fighting for their cause. They thought that this would embarrass their government, and hoped that the protest would run its course. This made the communist think that they could avert similar aspects throughout Eastern Europe.