Bulgaria

From Kaiserreich

Bulgaria is a country in Southeast Europe.

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History

After the preliminary peace of San Stefano in the 8th Russian-Turkish War 1877/78, the newly formed nation state of Bulgaria included Macedonia to the Ochrid Lake, and a coastal strip on the Aegean Sea (so-called ‘Greater’ Bulgaria). The Berlin Congress of 1878 however limited the country's territory to the region between the Danube and Balkans, whilst Macedonia and Eastern Rumelia remained with the Ottoman Empire. Russia watched the successes of Prince Alexander I (such as the annexation of Eastern Rumelia in 1885 and victory over Serbia in 1885/86) with distrust.Interested in controlling Bulgaria the Russians forced Alexander I to abdicate after orchestrating a coup led by pro-Russian officers. His successor was Ferdinand of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha, and it was he who achieved the formal independence from the Ottomans and crowned Tsar in 1908. With the idea of a Greater Bulgaria as a kind of ‘manifest destiny’ the country became the driving force in the Balkans League and carried the much of the burden in the First Balkan War (1912/13). Defeat at the hands of the other Balkan states soon after this war cost Bulgaria much of her hard won land, but its participation on the victorious side in the Great War reversed these losses and Ferdinand's vision seemed finally to be reality.However unrest in the recaptured regions, subversive nationalist propaganda campaigns by the other Balkan states and the general economic difficulties of the 1920's meant Bulgaria was unable to make full use of its newly found power, despite German industrial assistance and by 1936 the Bulgarian empire is beginning to descend into chaos. Its neighbours are once more eyeing up the lands on their borders, and rumours are emerging of a potential Pan-Balkan alliance to achieve these aims. A strong leader will be needed to guide Bulgaria out of her troubles and become the only real power in the Balkans.