Bulgaria
a kingdom of southeastern Europe, bounded on the N. by the Danube and Rumania, on the S. by Turkey and the Ægean Sea, on the E.
BULGARIA by the Black Sea, and on the W. by Serbia and Greece. Before the World War it had an area of 43,320 square miles and a population of 4,467,000 people, made up chiefly of Bulgarians, but including also Turks, Rumanians, Greeks, Serbs and other nationalities.
The capital is Sofia, with a populatior: of 103,000.
Commerce and Finances. - Seventy per cent. of the people are engaged in agriculture, and the majority of them are small freeholders. The chief product is wheat, though fruits and vegetables are very abundant and roses are cultivated for the production of the attar of roses, which forms an important article of commerce. Tobacco is also raised and wine is produced in large quantities. There are many coal mines and stone quarries. The principal industries are carpets, hosiery, woolen and cotton goods and ribbons. In the year preceding the war the total state revenue was $51,399,000 and the national debt $231,496,540. The imports in 1914 were valued at $44,586,860, the exports $28,813,372.
Government. The government is a constitutional monarchy. King Boris III., who acceded to the throne Oct. 4, 1918, is the present ruler. Legislative authority is vested in a single chamber whose representatives are chosen at the rate of one to every twenty thousand of the population. Men over thirty are eligible as members. Elections are held every four years. There is a cabinet of eight members appointed by the king.
Religion. The national religion is that of the orthodox Greek church, but is not organically connected with that body. Twenty-five per cent. of the population are Mohammedans, Jews, Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Armenians while the remainder belong to the national church. Education is free and compulsory, and the university of Sofia, the chief institution of the kind in the kingdom, is coeducational. For so small a nation there are a creditable number of technical schools, museums, and free libraries.
History. The Bulgarians were originally of Tartar origin. Their settlement on the Volga dates back to the 4th century. On the adoption of Christianity in the 9th century the Slavic and Tartar elements were amalgamated into the one race of Bulgarians. In 1018 Bulgaria fell under the control of the Byzantine empire. She regained her independence for a short period in the 12th and 13th centuries, but in 1390 was conquered by the Turks. The atrocities of the latter in 1876 provoked BULGARIA an insurrection which led to the Russo- Turkish war, at the conclusion of which Bulgaria was made a separate principality, although still subject in a limited degree to Turkey. Alexander of Battenberg, a German prince, was made sovereign of Bulgaria, but, after a stormy reign reign and a war with Serbia, was compelled to abdicate Sept. 9, 1886. a His successor was Prince ce Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who assumed the throne July 7, 1887. He inaugurated strong anti-Russian policy, which was dictated largely by hatred of Serbia.
In 1912-1913 Bulgaria, in connection with other Balkan states, made war on Turkey, but as a result of quarrels between the members of the confederacy Bulgaria was shorn of a large part of the territory which she claimed as the spoils of war. (See BALKAN ful and was a moving cause of her WARS.) This left her sullen and resententry into the World War on the side of the Central Powers.
Bulgaria formally entered the World War Oct. 5, 1915. For many months previous her adhesion had been sought by both parties to the conflict. Each had made her substantial offers of territorial and other advantages. For some months prior to the actual declaration of war it had been evident that the offers of the Teutonic Powers outweighed those of the Entente, and, as a matter of fact, a secret treaty had been signed between Bulgaria, Germany, Austria, and Turkey about July 17, 1915.
Soon after this, Bulgaria began mobilizing, and Serbia, who had no doubt as to what the mobilization portended, asked permission of her Allies to attack Bulgaria at once and thus gain the advantage of the initial onset. This permission was refused, on the tenuous hope that Bulgaria might at least be held to neutrality. By October 3, however, the presence of German and Austrian officers in the Bulgarian War Ministry and army-the financial support being accepted from the Central Powers-and the concentration of Bulgarian troops in the zone bordering on Serbia so clearly foreshadowed the country's ultimate action that Russia addressed an ultimatum to the Bulgarian Government, giving it twenty-four hours to declare its intentions. The latter accepted the challenge defiantly and promptly moved against Serbia. At the same time it issued a manifesto to its own people declaring that Germany was certain to win the war and that it behooved Bulgaria to be on the side of the victors. The aims of the Entente were declared to be purely selfish and antagonistic to Bulgaria's interests. Russia, it stated, BULGARIA was in the war to rob Turkey of the Dardanelles and Constantinople ; France sought to regain Alsace-Lorraine ; Engand wished to ruin Germany because she was jealous of the latter's commercial expansion; Italy, Serbia, and Montenegro were only seeking plunder. The Central Powers, on the other hand, it was asserted, were "only fighting to defend property and assure peaceful progress." "Therefore," the manifesto concluded, "we shall fight the Serbs at the same time as the brave armies of the Central Empires."
On October 12 Bulgaria declared war on Serbia. Three days later, Great Britain declared war against Bulgaria and was followed by the other Allies.
Later, when America declared war on Austria and Germany, the question was raised why Bulgaria had not been included. The answer was that the Bulgarians were fighting only in what they regarded as Bulgarian territory, that the theater of operations was so circumscribed that Bu Bulgarians were unlikely ever to face American troops, and that, despite the German demand that she should break with the United States , Bulgaria had refused to do so.
The Bulgarian military operations are treated in detail in the article on the WORLD WAR (q. v.) and need to be alluded to but briefly here. Her initial efforts in co-operation with the Teutonic forces of Von Mackensen resulted in the driving of the Serbs into Greece and the subjugation of Serbia. In the early part of 1916 the Bulgars held the Midji Mountains on the W. and the Belashitza Mountains on the E. and commanded the Vardar Pass. They had also encroached to some extent on Greek territory at Monastir. In the autumn of the same year they were signally defeated by the Franco -Serbian forces at Monastir and Florina. From that time on until the autumn of 1918 the hostile armies on the Macedonian front were practically deadlocked, each occupying positions of great natural strength and neither feeling strong enough to take a decided offensive. In September, 1918, a brilliant campaign was inaugurated by the Allied forces under the command of Franchet d'Esperey. In the Lake Doiran region, the British and Greek troops attacked the enemy's right, while the French and Serbians broke through the Bulgarian center on the Czerna river.
At the same time the Italians struck heavily on the left, where the line extended into Albanian territory. By September 23 the First Bulgarian army had been separated from the Second and was in wild flight. The next day the Second army was in full retreat, and BULGARIA the defeat ended in a debacle. Desperate appeals for aid brought no help from Germany, who was herself reeling under the Allied blows on the western front.
Steps were taken looking toward an armistice, and this was signed on September 29, going into force at noon of September 30. King Ferdinand abdicated and was succeeded, Oct. 4, 1918, by his son, Boris III.
The treaty of peace between the Allied and Associated Powers and Bulgaria was presented to the delegates of the latter on Sept. 19, 1919, at Paris .
Twenty-five days were given for consideration of its terms and the filing of objections or counter-proposals , after which a final date would be set for signature. In some respects the same lines were followed as that in the German treaty, especially as regards the League of Nations Covenant, penalties, prisoners of war, graves, labor, and aerial navigation. Changes were made in the former Bulgarian frontier to the south, where Bulgaria lost Thrace, while Serbia gained some slight advantages on Bulgaria's western frontier. The vanquished nation was obliged to recognize the independence of the Serb-Croat-Slovene state. Provision was made for the protection of racial and religious minorities. Fifty thousand tons of coal were required to be delivered annually for a period of five years to the Jugoslavic sta state, in compensation for the destruction of Serbian coal mines. Universal military service was abolished and voluntary enlistment substituted. The Bulgarian army was reduced to 20,000 men within three months from the date of signing. Only one military school was permitted to exist. The importation or exportation of arms, munitions, and war materials of all kinds were forbidden, and the manufacture of war material was confined to a single factory.
All warships, including submarines, were to be yielded up to the Allies. As reparation Bulgaria was to pay $445,000,000 in gold in semi-yearly payments. It was recognized that this amount was not adequate to cover the loss and damage suffered by the Allies from Bulgaria's participation in the war, but account was taken in fixing the sum of Bulgaria's ability to pay. An Inter-Allied Commission was to be established at Sofia as soon as possible after the coming into force of the treaty to supervise the carrying out of the terms. The cost and expenses of the commission were to be paid by Bulgaria and be a first charge on her revenues. The treaty was signed at Neuilly, near Paris, Nov. 27, 1919, accompanied by a protest on the part of the Bulgarian delegates, BULKHEAD who claimed that the principle of selfdetermination was violated by the territorial provisions.