Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0060/00602.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 35KB | 555 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00602}
$Pretitle{368}
$Title{Bulgaria
Chapter 2A.   Historical Setting}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Eugene K. Keefe//L}
$Affiliation{United States Government}
$Subject{bulgaria
bulgarian
turks
bulgarians
country
century
turkish
byzantine
empire
macedonia}
$Date{1974}
$Log{}
Country:     Bulgaria
Book:        Bulgaria, A Country Study
Author:      Eugene K. Keefe//L
Affiliation: United States Government
Date:        1974

Chapter 2A.   Historical Setting

     The history of Bulgaria is marked by four interrelated motifs or themes.
The first motif is that of regional rivalry coupled with irredentism. The
second is Bulgaria's strategic significance for the leading powers of Europe
and the varying relationships with those powers. The third theme is Bulgaria's
constant conflict between loyalty to, and alliances with, the
East-particularly Russia and the Soviet Union-on the one hand and to the
West-particularly Italy and Germany-on the other. The fourth major theme in
Bulgarian history is the influence exerted by Russia (and the Soviet Union) on
the internal and external affairs of Bulgaria. This influence was intermittent
from the late nineteenth century until World War II but was constant after
that war.

     From its earliest history Bulgaria was in continual conflict with its
Balkan neighbors. The area that eventually became Bulgaria was the object of
regional disputes as early as the fourth century B.C. Later, when that area
was taken over by the Slavs in the sixth century A.D. and the Bulgars in the
seventh, a state evolved that proceeded to encroach on the territory of the
mighty Byzantine Empire itself. Despite successful raids and conquests during
the periods of the First Bulgarian Kingdom and the Second Bulgarian Kingdom,
Bulgaria was eventually reduced to subject status by the Byzantines and later
by the Ottoman Turks. During Turkish rule the country was not only under
constant attack by neighbors but was also utilized by the Turks as a base for
Turkish expansion. When Bulgaria was finally liberated from the Turks by the
Russians, irredentism and regional rivalry became the prime focus of its
foreign policy. Macedonia, a much-valued land throughout Bulgarian history,
became the major object of Bulgaria's irredentist campaigns, although
eventually most of the land reverted to Serbia and was later incorporated into
Yugoslavia. Macedonia, in addition to Thrace, which was valued because it
provided access to the sea, was the primary motive for Bulgaria's role not
only in the two Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913 but also in the two world wars.

     Bulgaria was not only struggling for power throughout its history; it was
also a pawn in the power struggles of the so-called great powers. Before the
Christian era the area was conquered first by Greece and later by Rome and was
influenced strongly by both of these early cultures. Later, when the Slavs and
Bulgars succeeded in forming a united state, the country was still besieged by
both Byzantium and Rome. Although the Romans eventually lost their hold over
Bulgaria, the Byzantine Empire took both political and religious control of
the country for two centuries. When Bulgaria managed to reassert its autonomy
in the time of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, independence was short lived, and
the country again fell under alien control, this time to the Ottoman Turks.
The Turks dominated Bulgaria for five centuries, until liberation by the
Russians temporarily gave the country full sovereignty. Before each of the two
world wars of the twentieth century, Bulgaria was actively courted by both
sides as a potentially strategic ally. Realizing Bulgaria's territorial
aspirations, Germany played upon Bulgarian irredentism in order to gain its
collaboration in the wars, and both times Bulgaria emerged on the losing side.
When World War II ended for Bulgaria in 1944, it fell under Soviet influence,
where it has remained ever since.

Early History

     The history of the country that became modern Bulgaria can be traced
back many hundreds of years before the time of Christ, predating by fifteen or
more centuries the arrival of the people known as Bulgars, from whom the
country ultimately took its name. The earliest people to have a viable
political organization in the area were the Thracians, whose loosely organized
tribes occupied and controlled much of the Balkan Peninsula. Later, when their
society began to disintegrate, the Thracians fell under Greek influence and
joined forces with Athens to overrun neighboring Macedonia. In the fourth
century B.C., however, Philip of Macedon, competing with the Greeks in a power
struggle over Thrace, conquered Thrace and made the Thracians a subject
people.

     This invasion was followed in the second century B.C. by a Roman
invasion of Macedonia and a subsequent conquest of Thrace. By the first
century A.D. the Romans totally dominated the area. Despite their strict and
unpopular military control over the population, under their tutelage cities
grew, roads were constructed, and mining and farming were developed.

     In the third century A.D. a series of mass migrations into the Balkans
began; these migrations lasted for several centuries (see ch. 3). The Goths
came in four separate waves during the third century. In the fourth century
the Huns swept across the country, razing cities and villages. They were
followed in the fourth and fifth centuries by the Visigoths and Ostrogoths
who, like the Huns, continued to ravage the country. These invasions
culminated in the eventual conquest and settlement by the relatively civilized
Slavs in the sixth century.

     In A.D. 330 the Emperor Constantine established what was to be considered
a second Rome and named it Constantinople. In this period the Roman Empire in
the Balkans was split into two parts: in the east, Thrace was once again under
Greek domination, and the west was dominated by the Romans. Constantinople was
growing in power, and Greek influence was eroding the political and cultural
influence of the Romans. By the mid-fourth century Rome and Constantinople
were actively struggling for domination over the Balkans.

     In the sixth century A.D. the Slavs crossed the Danube River and occupied
much of the Balkan Peninsula. Although the Byzantines built fortresses to
protect themselves, they were unable to hold the Slavs at bay. Once the Slavs
had taken over most of the Balkan Peninsula, they succeeded in destroying the
existing social system, rapidly replacing it with their own. Soon the entire
Thracian population became slavicized.

     In the seventh century A.D. the Bulgars in turn began to migrate into the
Balkans. They had come originally from central Asia and were said to be
related to the Huns. They were of the same stock as the Turks and spoke a
language similar to Turkish. Before migrating to the Balkans, they had lived
north of the Black Sea. Their social order was vastly different from that of
the Slavs, although eventually the Slavic system became dominant. The Bulgars,
unlike the Slavs who repudiated the concept of kingship, were governed
autocratically by khans. The Bulgars were warriors who fought on horseback,
and their customs and dress were Asiatic.

     When the Bulgars overran what is now northeastern Bulgaria, they found
Slavic tribes already established and quickly made peace with them in order
to strengthen themselves against the Byzantines. As the Slavs were far more
numerous than the Bulgars, the latter were assimilated, and within two
centuries the Bulgars had been completely slavicized. The Slavic language and
culture were adopted, although the Bulgarian name and political structure were
retained. A Slav-Bulgarian state was formed with the capital at Pliska.

     The First Bulgarian Kingdom lasted from A.D. 679 to A.D. 1018, when it
fell to Byzantium. During this period the social system resembled the feudal
system of Western Europe. The king, or tsar, was the leading nobleman. As the
political situation of the period varied, he was al