Chronography of Bulgaria
Page last modified 26 Novembert
2023
2007, Bulgaria joined the EU.
2004, Bulgaria joined NATO.
24 July 2001, Simeon Saxe Coburg Gotha, who as a child had
been the last Tsar of Bulgaria, was sworn in as the elected Bulgarian Prime
Minister.
1993, Major privatisation
programme began.
19 January 1992, Zhelyu Zhelev was elected President of
Bulgaria.
Fall of Communism in Bulgaria
14 October 1991 Communist rule ended in Bulgaria.
15 December 1989, In Bulgaria, 50,000
demonstrators outside Parliament demanded the end of Communist rule.
26 November 1989. The Bulgarian government voted to disband the secret police.
3 November 1989. Political unrest in Bulgaria.
10 November 1989, The rule of Bulgarian President,
Todor Zhikov ended after 35 years in power, as Soviet support for
him fell away. The Berlin Wall had collapsed the day before. Zhikov was later
sentenced to 7 years house arrest for embezzlement of State funds, but was
acquitted by the Bulgarian Supreme Court of inciting racial hatred (see 10 May 1989).
He died in 1998.
10 May 1989, 300,000 Bulgarians
of Turkish ethnicity left Bulgaria for Turkey. Bulgaria had begun a process of
�Bulgarisation� against its ethnic minorities such as the Roma and Pomak
communities in 1984, encouraging (or forcing) them to adopt Bulgarian surnames.
From 1985 onwards, the Bulgarian military stepped up �assimilation� efforts,
including assault, rape, imprisonment and even execution of those who resisted.
Then on 10 May 1998 Bulgaria relaxed exit restrictions and on 29 May 1989 the
Bulgarian President,
Todor Zhikov, asked Turkey to accept all Bulgarian Muslims who
wished to emigrate.
1 February 1950, In Bulgaria, Viko Chervenkov became Prime
Minister on the death of Vasil Kolarov
Communists take control in Bulgaria
21 November 1946, Bulgarian
Communist Georgi
Dimitrov returned from Moscow to become President of Bulgaria.
27 October 1946, General
elections for the Bulgarian Parliament gave the Communists control of
Government.
16 September 1946, King Simeon and the Queen Mother
left Bulgaria.
15 September 1946, The Bulgarian People�s
Republic was proclaimed.
10 September 1946, A referendum in Bulgaria
gave a 92% vote in favour of a Republic.�
8 September 1946. Communists took control in Bulgaria.�
9 November 1945, Martial law ended in
Bulgaria and demobilization began.
For more events of World War Two in Europe see France-Germany
28 August 1943, Boris III, Tsar of Bulgaria, died. Succeeded
by his 6-year-old son, Simeon II.
Militant fascism in Bulgaria
15 September 1939, Bulgaria declared its
neutrality and attempted to remain out of the Second World War.
19 May 1934. In
1930,
The Balkan Entente was set up. It
included Greece, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia; it was essentially a
defensive alliance against the expansionist aims of Bulgaria, which was seeking
to regain territories lost to Greece and Yugoslavia under the Treaty of Neuilly
(1919). In the 1930, as authoritarian regimes gained power in all members of
the Balkan Entente, the entire region moved politically closer to Germany and
Italy.
3
March 1935,
Zhelyu
Zhelev, 1st President of Bulgaria, was born in Veselinovo, Bulgaria
(died 2015)
6
January 1935,
Queen
Margarita of Bulgaria was born, in Madrid, Spain
13
January 1928.
Allied military control in
4 January 1926, In Bulgaria a moderate Government took
power, and offered an amnesty to all political prisoners except Communists.
14 June 1923, ex-Prime Minister Stamboliski of Bulgaria was shot
whilst trying to �escape�. On 9 June 1923 he had been ejected in a coup, after
his policies had antagonised the military.
27 November 1919. Bulgaria signed the Treaty of Neuilly, recognising the independence of
3 October 1918, Tsar Ferdinand of
17 October 1915. Russia and
16 October 1915. The Allies blockaded Bulgarian ports.�
15 October 1915. Britain declared war on Bulgaria.
14 October 1915. Bulgaria
and Serbia each declared war on the other.
12 October 1915. The
22/ September 1915. Bulgaria mobilised
its army and declared war on Serbia.
For main
European events of World War One see France-Germany
16 September 1915, Bulgaria formed an alliance with Germany.
6 September 1915. Bulgaria signed a military accord with
10 August 1913. The Third
Treaty of Bucharest ended the Second Balkan War.� Rumania gained the fertile area of Southern
Dobruja, which had been Bulgarian since 1878, whilst Serbia and Greece divided
Macedonia between them; again� territory
that Bulgaria wanted.� Greece received
Salonika, a major port.� Bulgaria merely
received the mountainous areas of Pirin and Dospat, and two small Mediterranean
ports called Dedeagach and Lagos; Bulgaria was left resentful.� Turkey�s possession in Europe were limited to
the area around Constantinople and Adrianople.�
Albania was created.� See 6
September 1915.� In the First World War,
the losers by this Treaty (Turkey and Bulgaria) fought on the German side; the
gainers (Greece, Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro) fought on the Allied side.
Balkan Wars
29 June 1913. Bulgaria
launched a surprise attack on Serbia and Greece, thereby starting the Second
Balkan War.� Bulgaria was then invaded by
Romania and Turkey.� See 10 August 1913.
30 May 1913. Turkey signed a peace treaty with the Balkan
League (the Treaty of London), ending their war.� Under this Treaty Salonika was formally
assigned to Greece. The Great Powers formally recognised Albanian sovereignty.
18 October 1912. The Ottoman Turks agreed to cede Tripoli
and Cyrenaica (now Libya) to Italy, at the Peace of Lausanne.� Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia declared war on
Turkey. The Greek Army had been well-equipped under Venizelos, and the Turks
were pushed back, to the point where Istanbul itself was threatened; the city
was only saved by bad weather making the roads impassable and a cholera
outbreak, halting military operations.
14 August 1912, As a pretext for war with the Ottoman
Empire, Bulgaria demanded autonomy for Macedonia.
13 March 1912, Under
Russian influence (wanting to undermine Austro-Hungary), Serbia and Bulgaria
buried their territorial rivalries for the time being (but see 29 June 1913),
and, along with Greece and Montenegro, formed the Balkan League. Originally
directed against the large multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire (which
contained many ethnic Serbs within its borders), the League redirected its
efforts against Ottoman Turkey, ultimately aiming to oust the Turks entirely
from all its European territories. Serbia and Bulgaria signed a mutual defence
pact. Balkan nationalism was on the rise. The pact also divided northern
Macedonia between them. It was assumed that southern Macedonia would be divided
between Bulgaria and Greece. On 30 May 1913 the Treaty of London divided up the
Balkans amongst the members of the Balkan League, leaving Ottoman Turkey with only
a sliver of European territory immediately west of Istanbul.
Emergence of independent Bulgaria (from Ottoman Empire)
21 February 1909, Ferdinand I of Bulgaria visited
Russia to obtain the financial aid he needed to pay Ottoman Turkey an indemnity
for Bulgarian independence.
5 October 1908. Prince Ferdinand declared
Bulgaria independent of Ottoman Turkey. Russia wanted Turkey weak so as not to
block its plans for expansion.
11 March 1907, The Bulgarian Prime
Minister was assassinated by a disaffected youth, who had been dismissed from a
job in one of the country�s agricultural posts.
19 February 1896, Russia �recognised�
Bulgaria as an independent state following the conversion of Crown Prince
Boris, son of Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, to Orthodox Christianity.
De facto, however, Bulgaria remained as part of the Ottoman Empire.
15 November 1885, The Union of Rumelia and Bulgaria caused anxiety for Serbia, and Serbia
declared war on Bulgaria.
18 September 1885, Eastern Rumelia, formerly
a province of Turkey,
proclaimed its unity with Bulgaria to its north.
3 January
1879, Sofia was designated the capital of Bulgaria.
4 January
1878, Sofia was captured, by Russian troops, from the Ottoman
Empire.
16 April 1876, Start
of Bulgarian uprising against ottoman rule, which led to Bulgarian independence
in 1878.
26 February 1861, Ferdinand I,
King of Bulgaria, was born.
5 April 1857, Alexander of Battenberg, First
Prince of Bulgaria, was born (died 23 October 1893).
25 September 1396, Battle of Nicopolis. Alarmed by Ottoman
expansion into Europe, an army composed of contingents from France, Germany and
Hungary marched on the Ottoman-held fortress of Nicopolis, Bulgaria. They were
led by King
Sigismund of Hungary. However the Christian army was ill equipped
for the venture, divided by national factionalism, and only reached the
fortress in late summer, then had to enforce a long siege. Hearing that an
Ottoman relief army under Bayezid was only hours away, the French
knights insisted on a frontal charge, despite not knowing the size of the force
they were up against. Bayezid arrived and counterattacked, and
outflanked the Christian force. Sigismund himself escaped but most of his army
was taken prisoner and slaughtered.
17 July 1394, Turkish troops took Trnovo, a town in Bulgaria 124
miles ENE of Sofia.
1366, The last Bulgarian Tsar, Ivan Shishman
III, was obliged to send hois sister to join the Ottoman Sultan�s
harem and to declatre himself an Ottoman vassal.
28 June 1330, Bulgarian Tsar Michael Shishman was killed by the Serbs.
However Serbian hegemony in this region
was to be short-lived; on 15 June 1389 at vthe �Field of Blackbirds�, Kosovo,
the Ottomans crushed Serbian forces.
1277, Constantine Asen, King of
Bulgaria, was killed by a peasant usurper after a 19-year reign.
8 November 1204, Kaloyan was crowned King of Bulgaria by a
Papal Legate, after agreeing to accept the authority of the Catholic Church.
1185, Insurrection in Bulgaria
against Byzantine
rule, due to corrupt taxation agents practising extortion. The local Greek
population was practically exterminated.
See also Ottoman Empire
1019, Byzantine Emperor Basil
II completed his comnquest of Bulgaria
1014, Tsar Samuel of Ochrida was
defeated at Belasitza by Greek forces, ending the Western Bulgarian Empire.
6 July 1014, The Byzantine Emperor Basil II defeated the Bulgarian army,
after a 28-year war, under Tsar Samuel, then ordered
the defeated 15,000 men to be blinded. Basil arranged for one eye of every hundredth
man to be spared so the army could find its way back to the Tsar.
987, Samuel became King of
Bulgaria.
976, Samuel of Bulgaria
began a war of indeoendence from Byzantium, early 976, folloeing the death of
Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimisces.
23 April 971, Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimisces expelled Svyatoslav of
Kiev from Bulgaria and the Crimea. The First Bulgarian Empire was
overthrown.
27 May 927, Bulgar King Simeon (ruled 893-927) died. He
fixed the Bulgarian capital at Preslav; the Bulgarian Empire now extended from
the Adriatic to the Black Sea. �He was
succeeded by his son Peter, who signed a peace agreement with
Byzantium that restored Byzantine control of Serbia.
927, Death of Simeon
2 May 907, King Boris I of Bulgaria died.
861, The Bulgarians
conquered southern Albania. However Durazzo, on the Adriatic, remained under
Byzantine rule.
13 April 814, Death of Tsar Krum (ruled 802-814).
Under his rule, Bulgaria invaded Adrinaople and central Macedonia. He was
succeeded by Omortag, who made peace
with Byzantium.
26 July 811, Battle
of Pliska. In May 811 Nicephorus and his son Stauracius led a Byzantine
Army into Bulgaria, to curb the rising power of the Bulgarians, which
Constantinople saw as a threat. Tsar Krum was unable to meet such an army head
on and attempted negotiations, but Byzantium spurned this offer, intent on
crushing the Bulgarians. Pliska fell easily to Nicephorus. The Byzantines
then terrorised the region, massacring people, and destroying crops and
animals. Having taught the Bulgarians a lesson, Nicephorus then turned back
home. His route took him through the narrow Verbiza pass, which Nicephorus neglected to scout out first. The
Bulgarians had laid a trap here; they sealed both ends of the gorge, then fell
upon the Byzantines.and on 26 July massacred them at this point. Only a few
returned to Constantiniple, and Nicephoirus was killed. Stauracius had to be carried home, paralysed by a neck
wound, and .he died of this after six months agony.
9 April 809, The Bulgars captured Sofia.
681, The
Byzantine Empire ceded land to the Bulgars, who established the First Bulgarian Empire.
3,500 BCE, Earliest
copper mines sunk, in Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.