The history of Bulgaria as a separate country began in the 7th century with the arrival of the Bulgars and the foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire together with the local seven Slavic tribes, a union recognized by Byzantium in 681. A country in the middle of the ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse Balkan Peninsula, Bulgaria has seen many twists and turns in its long history and has been a prospering empire stretching to a coastline on the Black, Aegean and Adriatic Seas and a cultural centre of Slavic Europe, but also a land long dominated by a foreign state, once by the Byzantine Empire and once by the Ottoman Empire.
- history of bulgaria - Bulgars
- The Bulgars arrived in the Balkans in the 7th century from central Asia, a Central Asian Iranian or Hurrian-Mitanni people, merged with the local romanized and hellenized Thracians and Slavic inhabitants in the late 7th century to form the first Bulgarian state.
- history of bulgaria - Old Great Bulgaria
- Picture of |200px|thumb|Great Bulgaria and adjacent regions, c. 650 AD
- history of bulgaria - First Bulgarian Empire
- Picture of The First Bulgarian Empire's greatest territorial extent during the reign of Tsar Simeon
- history of bulgaria - Under Byzantine rule
- Byzantium ruled Bulgaria from 1018 to 1185, subordinating the independent Bulgarian Orthodox Church to the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople but otherwise interfering little in Bulgarian local affairs.
- history of bulgaria - Second Bulgarian Empire
- In 1185 Peter and Asen, leading nobles of supposed and contested Bulgarian, Cuman, Vlach or mixed origin, led a revolt against Byzantine rule and Peter declared himself Tsar Peter II (also known as Theodore Peter). The following year the Byzantines were forced to recognize Bulgaria's independence. Peter styled himself "Tsar of the Bulgars, Greeks and Vlachs".
- history of bulgaria - Ottoman Bulgaria
- The Ottomans reorganised the Bulgarian territories as the Beyerlik of Rumili, ruled by a Beylerbey at Sofia. This territory, which included Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia, was divided into several sanjaks , each ruled by a Sanjakbey accountable to the Beylerbey. Significant part of the conquered land was parcelled out to the Sultan's followers, who held it as feudal fiefs (small timars , medium ziyamet and large hases ) directly from him. That category of land could not be sold or inherited, but reverted to the Sultan when the fiefholder died. The rest of the lands were organized as private possessions of the Sultan or Ottoman nobility, called "mülk", and also as economic base for religious foundations, called "vakιf". Bulgarians gave multiple regularly paid taxes as a tithe ("yushur"), a capitation tax ("dzhizie"), a land tax ("ispench"), a levy on commerce and so on and also various group of irregularly collected taxes, products and corvees ("avariz").
- history of bulgaria - National awakening
- Bulgarian nationalism emerged in the early 19th century under the influence of western ideas such as liberalism and nationalism, which trickled into the country after the French Revolution, mostly via Greece. The Greek revolt against the Ottomans which began in 1821 (see History of Ottoman Greece), also influenced the small Bulgarian educated class. But Greek influence was limited by the general Bulgarian resentment of Greek control of the Bulgarian Church, and it was the struggle to revive an independent Bulgarian Church which first roused Bulgarian nationalist sentiment. In 1870 a Bulgarian Exarchate was created by a Sultan edict, and the first Bulgarian Exarch (Antim I) became the natural leader of the emerging nation. The Constantinople Patriarch reacted by excommunicating the Bulgarian Exarchate, which reinforced their will for independence.
- history of bulgaria - Kingdom of Bulgaria
- Picture of Borders of Bulgaria according to the Preliminary Treaty of San Stefano and the subsequent Treaty of Berlin
- history of bulgaria - Balkan Wars
- Picture of Balkan Wars boundaries
- history of bulgaria - World War I
- In the aftermath of the Balkan Wars, Bulgarian opinion turned against Russia and the western powers, whom the Bulgarians felt had done nothing to help them. The government of Vasil Radoslavov aligned Bulgaria with the German Empire and Austria-Hungary, even though this meant becoming an ally of the Ottomans, Bulgaria's traditional enemy. But Bulgaria now had no claims against the Ottomans, whereas Serbia, Greece and Romania (allies of Britain and France) held lands perceived in Bulgaria as Bulgarian.
- history of bulgaria - World War II
- Upon the outbreak of World War II, the government of the Kingdom of Bulgaria under Bogdan Filov declared a position of neutrality, being determined to observe it until the end of the war, but hoping for bloodless territorial gains, especially in the lands with a significant Bulgarian population occupied by neighbouring countries after the Second Balkan War and World War I. But it was clear that the central geopolitical position of Bulgaria in the Balkans would inevitably lead to strong external pressure by both sides of World War II. Turkey had a non-aggression pact with Bulgaria.
- history of bulgaria - People's Republic of Bulgaria
- During this time (1944-1989), the country was known as the "People's Republic of Bulgaria" (PRB) and was ruled by the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP). The BCP transformed itself in 1990, changing its name to "Bulgarian Socialist Party", and is currently part of the governing coalition government.
- history of bulgaria - Republic of Bulgaria
- By the time the impact of Mikhail Gorbachev's reform program in the Soviet Union was felt in Bulgaria in the late 1980s, the Communists, like their leader, had grown too feeble to resist the demand for change for long. In November 1989 demonstrations on ecological issues were staged in Sofia, and these soon broadened into a general campaign for political reform. The Communists reacted by deposing the decrepit Zhivkov and replacing him with Petar Mladenov, but this gained them only a short respite. In February 1990 the Party voluntarily gave up its claim on power and in June 1990 the first free elections since 1931 were held, won by the moderate wing of the Communist Party, renamed the Bulgarian Socialist Party. In July 1991 a new Constitution was adopted, in which there was a weak elected President and a Prime Minister accountable to the legislature.
- history of bulgaria - See also
- List of Bulgarian monarchs
- history of bulgaria - References
- history of bulgaria - External links
- history of bulgaria - Related topics
