Bulgaria (An Honorable Retelling)

Kingdom of Bulgaria Царство България Timeline: An Honorable Retelling
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  Съединението прави силата "Unity Makes Strength"
Anthem:  Мила Родино "Dear Motherland" Royal anthem:  Химн на Негово Величество Царя "Anthem of His Majesty the Tsar"
Location of Bulgaria (An Honorable Retelling) Location of Bulgaria (green)
Capital (and largest city)		Sofia
Other cities		Skopje, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, Pleven, Ohrid, Bitola, Radovish
Official languages		Bulgarian
Religion		Orthodox Christianity
Demonym		Bulgarian
Government		Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
-	Monarch	Ivan V
-	Prime Minister	Nikolai Denkov
Legislature		National Assembly
Establishment
-	1st Bulgarian Empire	681-1018
-	2nd Bulgarian Empire	1185-1489
-	Independence from Hungary	3 March 1844
Population
-	estimate	12,164,315 (2023)
Currency		Lev (BGN)
Drives on the		right

Bulgaria, officially the Kingdom of Bulgaria, is a country located in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Dacia to the north, Serbia and Montenegro and Albania to the west, and Rhomania to the south. The capital and largest city is Sofia.

The territory of today's Bulgaria was settled by Slavs in the 6th century and they founded the First Bulgarian Empire, which lasted until the beginning of the 11th century, when it was conquered and dismantled by the Rhomanian emperor Basil II. A successful Bulgarian uprising in 1185 established the Second Bulgarian Empire, which existed until the end of the 15th century when Bulgaria was annexed by Hungary.

Modern Bulgaria gained independence in 1844 after a successful revolution against Hungary. Since then, Bulgaria would emerge as one of the largest military and economic powers in Southeastern Europe. As of 2023, it is a member of the Global Treaty Organization, the League to Enforce Peace, the Orthodox Christian Economic Community and the Eurasian Community.

History

Early history of Bulgaria (681-1844)

Human settlement in Bulgaria began roughly around 150,000 years ago with the arrival of the neanderthals. Afterwards, modern homo sapiens appeared in Bulgaria 47,000 years ago. Several neolithic cultures, such as the Karanovo, had risen and fell in the millennia following human arrival to the country. However, the first recorded civilization to appear in Bulgaria were the Thracians who had arisen on the peninsula in the 12th century BCE.

Despite advancements in metallurgy, the Thracians remained tribal and stateless, often resulting in them being conquered and subjugated by large empires such as the Persian Achaemenid Empire. Eventually, the Thracian culture and sovereignty would be weakened following subsequent conquests by Phillip II of Macedon, attacks from Celtic groups, and finally conquest by the Roman Empire in 45 AD.

By the 1st century AD, Roman hegemony over Bulgaria had been secured, though groups such as the Goths continued to act semi-independently of Roman rule. Eventually, the Western Roman Empire fell, and the region came under control of the Eastern Roman Empire. The Eastern Romans could not adequately defend Bulgaria from intrusions by the south Slavs as they were distracted with a prolonged war with Persia to the east. The Slavs had begun to assimilate the Hellenized and Gothicized Thracians in the rural portions of the province.

Eventually, the Bulgars had reached modern-day Bulgaria in 680 under the leadership of Asparuh of Bulgaria and he was able to sign a peace treaty with the Roman Emperor to establish control over a newly independent Bulgaria, staring the First Bulgarian Empire. In the following centuries, the Bulgarian state was strengthened and Roman incursions into the region were swiftly put down by the Bulgar warriors. However, the Bulgarian Empire would meet its match with Roman emperor Basil II, also known as "Basil the Bulgar slayer." Basil II used brutal tactics to break Bulgarian morale before achieving total subjugation of the First Bulgarian Empire in 1018, integrating the Bulgarian state infrastructure into the larger Roman bureaucracy.

After the death of Basil, the Roman Empire would be left in a weakened state and ethnic rebellions would plague the empire. This ultimately culminated in a successful Bulgarian uprising, leading to the Second Bulgarian Empire being established in 1185 under the Asen dynasty. In the centuries following independence, the Bulgarian Empire would be engaged in a prolonged conflict with the Angelid-led Roman Empire. Despite strong resistance, the Second Bulgarian Empire would be conquered by Roman Emperor Andrinokos II in 1489, with the resisting Bulgarian soldiers massacred and the state dismantled entirely.

The Hungarian Empire at its territorial peak including Bulgaria (1628)

After the fall of the Second Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria would remain solidly under Roman control and was used to reinforce Roman tributary states in southeastern Europe such as Serbia and Albania. However, Bulgaria would be conquered by the Hungarians in 1622 following the fall of Vidin. The Hungarians proved to be even more merciless than their Roman predecessors, massacring Bulgarian soldiers and civilians alike during their entrance into Plovdiv. Rather than building governing infrastructure, the Hungarians instead primarily used Bulgaria as a staging ground for naval attacks into the Black Sea and often butchered Bulgarian towns who refused to pay tribute. The miserable conditions within Bulgaria lead to an exodus of Bulgarians to English Novanglia, Russia, and further south into Rhomania.

Following the independence of Rhomania from Hungary in 1824, revolutionary fervor and a resurgence of Bulgarian nationalism would strike the nation. Following the outbreak of war between Hungary and Rhomania in 1843, Bulgarian warlord Angel Voyvoda used the opportunity to lead a massive revolt against the Hungarians in 1844. With the Hungarians overextended between their campaign against the Rhomanians, Bulgaria was able to overwhelm Hungarian forces and gain semi-independence as the "Kingdom of Bulgaria" was proclaimed as a Rhomanian protectorate.

Early years of the kingdom (1844–1913)

Rhomanian protectorate (1844-1903)

Statue of Angel Voyvoda, the first king of modern Bulgaria

The Voyvoda dynasty continued to rule Bulgaria as a protectorate of Rhomania. In practice, this meant that Bulgaria exercised independence and sovereignty in its domestic affairs, including the promotion of the Bulgarian language and the removal of Hungarian influences. However, Bulgaria forfeited its diplomatic sovereignty to Rhomania which had a say in what countries Bulgaria could trade with and go to war with. While some Bulgarians were resentful that they had not achieved full independence, many more were ultimately satisfied with being free from Hungarian rule. As a result, the issue of full independence was temporarily sidelined throughout the mid-19th century, but the issue would be a topic of debate throughout the remainder of the protectorate period.

Bulgaria would continue to fight border skirmishes with the Hungarians who still held onto Serbia and Wallachia. With the help of Rhomanian reinforcements, Bulgaria was often able to ward off Hungarian intrusions into their country and keep the Hungarians north of the Danube River. Following the further stagnation of Hungary and the independence of Serbia in 1878 and the formation of Dacia in 1890, Bulgaria no longer shared a hard border with Hungary. As a result, the debate over whether Bulgaria needed to remain a Rhomanian protectorate intensified and ultimately led to people growing increasingly defiant of Rhomanian rule going into the 20th century.

Full independence and conflict with Rhomania (1903-1913)

Bulgarian artillery on the border with Rhomania (1905)

Following the death of King Presian III in 1903, his successor, Ivan IV, broke the protectorate with Rhomania. This decision was met with objection from Constantinople, who had withdrawn its diplomats, soldiers, and economic investments from the country. With this sudden withdrawal of Rhomanian support, Bulgaria had turned to Napoleonic France for financial investment and began to actively fight with Rhomanian allies such as Serbia. After a decade of tensions in Southeastern Europe, Bulgaria would attack Serbia in June 1913, officially starting the Third Great War in Southeastern Europe and solidifying Bulgaria's alignment with France.

Third Great War (1913-1921)

Bulgaria officially entered the Third Great War on France's side in 1913. The main objectives of Bulgaria in the war were to partition the newly independent Serbia with Hungary, annex Thrace from Rhomania, neutralize the military threat of Dacia, permanently break Rhomanian hegemony over Southeastern Europe, and proclaim a "Third Bulgarian Empire." Due to years of prior mobilizing, the morale of Bulgarian soldiers going into the war was very high, with many believing a Bulgarian victory would be achieved by the end of 1913.

Bulgarian soldiers in the trenches of Adrianople (1915)

Early on in the conflict, Bulgaria had managed to achieve early victories over the Serbians, pushing deep into the country and capturing the city of Niš in October 1913. By April 1914, the combined forces of Hungary and Bulgaria were able to overwhelm the small Serbian army and Serbia was fully conquered on 26 April 1914 despite Rhomanian reinforcements in the country. With Serbia defeated, Albania remaining neutral, and Rhomanian reinforcements captured, an emboldened Bulgaria would turn its attention to Rhomania and begin a full-scale assault on Rhomanian Thrace on 16 August 1914 while a smaller detachment was sent to the Dacian border to keep Dacia north of the Danube.

Unlike the relatively easy campaign in Serbia, the Bulgarian campaign in Rhomania would be more difficult and costly. Under the command of general Alexandros Papagos, the Rhomanian forces were able to repel Bulgarian advancements outside of Adrianople, Xanthi, and Kilkis. Rhomanian defenses halted any Bulgarian offense by November 1914 and the Bulgarian soldiers were forced to dig entrenchments and bunker down for the winter. By the spring of 1915, the Bulgarian army in Rhomania took advantage of Rhomania's conflict with Persia to reinforce their offensive and successfully capture the city of Kilkis on 5 April 1915, leaving the strategic Rhomanian city of Thessaloniki vulnerable for conquest. Bulgarian forces moved in to capture the city on 1 June 1915, but Rhomanian reinforcements from the Peloponnese arrived in the city and caught the Bulgarian advancement off guard.

By 1916, the Bulgarian army was in full retreat from Rhomania while Papagos' army chased them north into Bulgaria. The Rhomanian army had captured and killed Bulgarian commander Nikola Zhekov in the city of Plovdiv on 15 June 1916. With the top Bulgarian commander killed, the Bulgarian military was left permanently damaged and disorganized for the rest of the war. On June 1917, Dacia entered the war on the allied side and began a full-scale assault on the Bulgarian border. Dacia advanced into Bulgaria with little armed resistance, and they successfully captured the capital of Sofia on 18 July 1917. With their capital gone, the king under house arrest, and outnumbered by the Dacians 20 to 1, the remainder of the Bulgarian forces still fighting surrendered. Bulgaria would remain under joint Rhomanian-Dacian occupation until the end of the Third Great War in 1921.

Interwar period and the Fourth Great War (1921-1946)

Aleksandar Malinov, the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1922-1932)

Following the end of the Rhomanian-Dacian occupation, Bulgarian king Ivan IV would be ousted in a coup led by his reformist son Angel II. Angel II, in order to avoid a full-scale revolution, agreed to meet with liberal reformers in 1921. After months of negotiations, a new constitution would be agreed upon by both sides. The 1921 constitution abolished Bulgaria's absolute monarchy and reduced the king's powers to merely symbolic while establishing the office of Prime Minister as the leader of the Bulgarian government. Reformer Aleksandar Malinov was elected as Prime Minister in 1922 and began the process of rebuilding Bulgaria from the damage of GW3.

Under Malinov, Bulgaria began the process of reconciling with Serbia and Rhomania and met with Rhomanian Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos in 1925. By 1927, cross-border commerce with Rhomania had resumed and Bulgaria's nominal GDP had begun to grow at a healthy pace once again. Bulgaria had also begun to improve its ties with the Russian Republic and the United Commonwealths, allowing its Black Sea ports to expand rapidly. By 1935, Bulgaria was able to reach its pre-GW3 level of development, though the demographic losses from the war continued to be felt.

Following the outbreak of the Fourth Great War in 1938, Bulgaria had committed to a policy of neutrality due to its weakened army being unable to fight a war against Maurras' France. Even as Rhomania and Serbia eventually joined the war, Bulgaria continued to remain neutral as it was a key campaign promise of Prime Minister Ivan Bagrianov. By 1946, the Fourth Great War and its continental devastation had come and passed, and Bulgaria was successfully able to maintain its neutrality. Untouched by the devastation of the Fourth Great War, Bulgaria entered the Cold War with a heightened economic and political advantage that not many countries in Europe had.

Cold War (1946-1994)

Bulgaria had emerged in the Cold War as the second-largest military in Southeastern Europe only behind Rhomania. Due to their large military and rapidly growing economy, the Bulgarian defense industry would experience a boom in the 1950s as the Bulgarian navy began to rapidly increase the size of its navy to help reinforce the Russian and Rhomanian navies in the Black Sea to match Persia's Black Sea fleet. The lucrative Bulgarian defense industry would also attract investment from Russia, Rhomania, Ireland, and the United States as defense companies in these countries had begun to establish themselves in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian military would also assist their GTO allies, such as West France, in reinforcing their border patrols and ensuring that any fascist and communist intrusions into the democratic bloc would be swiftly neutralized.

Throughout the Cold War, Bulgaria would also begin to invest heavily in nuclear energy and nuclear technology following the advent of nuclear fusion in the 1970s. As a result, nuclear energy became one of Bulgaria's main exports in the 1980s and helped to further enrich the country in the late Cold War. Bulgaria also used its wealth to donate foreign aid to war-torn countries such as Borneo and Suriname from the 1970s onwards, making it one of the largest donors of financial aid within the Orthodox Christian Economic Community and within the World Bank.

Bulgaria was a big proponent of détente, and Bulgarian Prime Minister Dimitar Iliev Popov had begun to meet with German, Chinese, and Persian leaders to encourage cooperation and diplomacy. Following the fall of East France in 1992, the Cold War in Europe had come to an end and Bulgaria emerged as a big geopolitical and economic player in Southeastern Europe.

Modern era (1994-present)

Despite the 2008 recession, the Bulgarian economy has remained stable following the Cold War. While the Bulgarian defense industry has begun to decline, other sectors in the economy have begun to grow such as telecommunications and nuclear energy to keep Bulgaria’s economy healthy. With the Cold War over and Bulgarian militarism on the decline, anti-militarist candidate Reneta Indzhova would be elected Prime Minister in 2001. Indzhova would oversee cuts to Bulgaria’s defense budget and the controversial privatization of the Port of Burgas. Indzhova served as Prime Minister until 2010, but the resurgence of tensions between Rhomania and Persia in 2009 led to a greater demand for military spending within the Bulgarian government. As a result, Indzhova’s successor, Rosen Plevneliev, pledged greater investment into Bulgaria’s defense industry and a scaling up of the Bulgarian Black Sea fleet.

As of 2024, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria is Nikolai Denkov, who has sought to expand Bulgaria’s influence within the European Community. In particular, Denkov has increased its arm sales to France as it has dealt with renewed tensions with Germany.

Government and politics

Structure of government

The Bulgarian government is a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy based on the Henrylandic system. This means that executive and legislative power is held by the Prime Minister and National Assembly while the monarch of Bulgaria holds symbolic power. The Prime Minister is allowed to call elections but cannot postpone an election indefinitely. If the ruling party loses faith in the incumbent prime minister, the prime minister may be ousted in a vote of no confidence.

Due to the unitary nature of Bulgaria’s government, ultimate power is vested in the central government in Sofia rather than in a provincial system as seen in federalist systems such as Rhomania and the United States.

Political parties

Bulgaria’s National Assembly is dominated by a multi-party system, meaning there are multiple parties represented within its legislature. As of 2024, there are 4 parties represented within the National Assembly, with the largest party being the Centrist Alliance led by incumbent Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov. Other notable parties in the assembly include the center-left Social Democratic Party, the ring-wing Democratic Party, and the left-wing Green Party.

Foreign relations

A Bulgarian sniper training alongside Russian soldiers (2017)

A member of the Global Treaty Organization, the European Community, the League to Enforce Peace, and the Orthodox Christian Economic Community, Bulgaria has an extensive network of foreign relations that it able to utilize for its benefit. Russia is often considered Bulgaria's closest ally due to their close partnership and cooperation within the Orthodox Christian Economic Community, the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, and the Global Treaty Organization.

Despite a complex and often tense relationship, Bulgaria has also managed to develop a close relationship with Rhomania from the late 20th century onwards. Both Rhomania and Bulgaria trade military technology, participate in the Orthodox Christian Economic Community, and lobby for each other's economic interests within the European Community. Similarly complex yet increasingly positive relationships also exist between Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, and Dacia.

Despite mutual membership in both the European Community and the Global Treaty Organization, the relationship between Bulgaria and Hungary has been strained due to the contested status of ethnic Hungarians within Bulgaria. Many of the Hungarians in Bulgaria immigrated to the country when it was still part of the Hungarian Empire and have faced vicious persecution ever since Bulgaria achieved independence. With the Hungarian language banned from government spaces in Bulgaria, Hungarian Bulgarians still face legal discrimination, and this has led to continued disputes between both countries.

Economy

Nuclear energy

The Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant in Kozloduy, Bulgaria

Since 1982, the largest sector of Bulgaria's economy has been its nuclear energy sector. With Russian and European financing, Bulgaria was able to open up 5 nuclear fusion power plants within its territory. Most famous of these plants is the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant which provides power to all of northern Bulgaria and southern Dacia. Bulgaria remains the largest exporter of nuclear technologies on the European continent, having successful exported its nuclear technology to countries such as the United Commonwealths, France, and the Dutch Republic for high profits. As of 2024, Bulgaria's nuclear energy sector was valued at 500 billion European guilders, the second largest in Europe behind Russia.

Defense industry

With the second largest military in Southeastern Europe and the 5th-largest standing army on the European continent, Bulgaria's defense industry remains the second-largest sector in the country's economy. Due to its strategic location in the Cold War, the Bulgarian defense industry grew in response to a high demand for advanced naval technology in order to compete with Socialist Persia in the Black Sea. However, the lucrative nature of Bulgarian arms exports led to a military industrial complex forming in the 1960s which only grew in its influence. Despite setbacks in the 1990s due to the end of the Cold War, the resurgence of the Persian-Rhomanian conflict in the 2000s would lead to the Bulgarian defense industry coming back in full swing.

Bulgarian defense corporations such as RTX Europe and Dunarit Corp remain key suppliers to the Bulgarian military but also the militaries of the Global Treaty Organization, Suriname, Mali, and Arabia. The Bulgarian defense industry is estimated at around 210 billion dollars, making it the fourth-largest defense industry within Europe.

Agriculture

Wheat field in Bulgaria (c. 1880)

Prior to 1920, agriculture was Bulgaria's largest economic sector and served as the vehicle for the country's full-scale industrialization. As of 2024, agriculture remains the third-largest sector in Bulgaria's economy and is especially prevalent in central Bulgaria. In 2018 alone, Bulgaria had produced 5.8 million tons of wheat. The abundance of wheat within Bulgaria has given the country the nickname of the "breadbasket of Southeastern Europe" and exports its wheat to the rest of the European Community and the world. Outside of wheat, other prominent Bulgarian agricultural exports include sunflower seed, maize, sunflower seeds, and potatoes.

Demographics

Ethnic groups

Ethnic Bulgarians in traditional Bulgarian attire

Bulgarians remain the largest ethnic group in Bulgaria, making up 92% of the population as of 2023. Bulgarians have dominated the politics and society of Bulgaria since the country regained its independence in 1843. Due to persecution faced at the Rhomanians and Hungarians, the embrace and promotion of Bulgarian culture became the main focus of the new nation. As a result, ethnic Bulgarians were enfranchised and empowered, but this often came at the expense of non-Bulgarian minorities that lived within the country.

Besides Bulgarians, other notable ethnic groups within Bulgaria include Bulgarian Hungarians (Hungarians who settled within Bulgarian during its time as a Hungarian territory), Roma people, Ashkenazi and Romaniote Jews, and immigrant communities such as the German emigres of Burgas.

Religion

As of 2023, 95% of Bulgarians identified as Orthodox Christian, though only 50% said that they attended church regularly or were active in their religious communities. Due to Bulgaria's nature as a constitutional monarchy, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is institutionalized within the state and Bulgaria's monarchy, though Bulgaria has been a de-facto secular state since the 1920s. Other notable religious communities in Bulgaria include Jews, Roman Catholics, and atheists/non-religious people.

Education

As of 2024, Bulgaria had a 98% literacy rate and 35% of its population holding a college degree. In Bulgaria, school attendance is free and compulsory for ages 5 to 16. Required curriculum in Bulgaria primary and secondary schools include mathematics, history, physical education, science, culinary arts, and Greek language classes. The public school system within Bulgaria was ranked top 10 within Europe by an internal study conducted by the European Ministry of Education.

Public universities in Bulgaria are free to all citizens while citizens have to pay rather hefty admissions fees. Notable colleges within Bulgaria include the European Polytechnical University, which has the largest nuclear science program in Europe, the Novanglian University in Bulgaria, Plovdiv University, and Sofia University.

Gender and sexuality

Bulgarian women gained the right to vote in 1930 and began to enter the workforce in the 1960s. While Bulgaria has some of the highest levels of gender equality in Southeastern Europe, issues such as workplace discrimination still persist and remain topics of national debate within the country. As of 2024, over 30% of Bulgaria's parliament are women and that number is only projected to grow in the following decades.

Same-sex marriage was legalized in Bulgaria in 2005 while homosexuality itself was decriminalized in 1923. Same-sex adoption would be legalized in 2016, though it was originally supposed to occur earlier but faced opposition from the country's religious right. Transgender rights have also seen steady improvement in Bulgaria, with the country officially recognizing transgender identity in 1998 and restricting roadblocks to gender affirming care from 2002 onwards.

Culture

Sports

Chariot racer in Burgas, Bulgaria (2018)

Chariot racing remains the most popular sport in Bulgaria in terms of audience attendance and television viewership. Originally introduced to the region by the Romans and originally limited to the aristocracy, industrialization and the subsequent rise of mass media has resulted in the popularization of chariot racing within Bulgaria. Bulgaria hosts its own chariot racing league and also competes in the European chariot racing league and the Constantinople Derby.

The second most popular sport in Bulgaria is association football. Bulgaria has competed in the EFU Champions Cup and has qualified for the IFF World Cup on a couple of occasions. Notable Bulgarian football clubs include FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia and Botev Plovdiv.

Music

Bulgaria has a rich musical tradition ranging from classical opera, ballet, and folk music. Classical music composer Emanuil Manolov remains one of the most famous figures in the country’s musical history, with his compositions performed at music venues from Mumbai to Dublin.

More contemporary Bulgarian musicians include Sylvie Vartan and Vasil Naydenov, who were prominent in the European music scenes throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Members of the Bulgarian diaspora have also gone on to achieve musical fame worldwide, such as Novanglian singer-songwriter Mira Aroyo.