Bulgaria (Triple Entente vs. Central Powers Map Game)

Kingdom of Bulgaria
Царство България
Kingdom of Bulgaria Царство България
	Motto: "Съединението прави силата" (Bulgarian); "Unity makes strength"
	Anthem: Shumi Maritsa; Royal anthem: Anthem of His Majesty the Tsar
	Location of Bulgaria (green) in Europe (dark grey).
Capital	Sofia
Official languages	Bulgarian
Demonym	Bulgarian
Government	Unitary parliamentary monarchy
Legislature	National Assembly
Formation
Currency	Bulgarian lev (лв)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
Drives on the	right
Internet TLD	.bg
Calling code	+359

Bulgaria (Bulgarian: България), officially the Kingdom of Bulgaria (Bulgarian: Царство България), is a country in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia to the west, Greece and the Ottoman Empire to the south, and the Black Sea to the east.

Organised prehistoric cultures began developing on Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period. Its ancient history saw the presence of the Thracians and later the Greeks and Romans. The emergence of a unified Bulgarian state dates back to the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681 CE, which dominated most of the Balkans and functioned as a cultural hub for Slavs during the Middle Ages. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for nearly five centuries. The Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) led to the formation of the Third Bulgarian State.

History[]

Third Bulgarian state[]

The Defence of the Eagle's Nest, painting by Alexey Popov from 1893, depicting the Defence of Shipka Pass — The Russian and Bulgarian defence of Shipka Pass was crucial for the independence of Bulgaria.

The Treaty of San Stefano was signed on 3 March 1878 by Russia and the Ottoman Empire, and included a provision to set up an autonomous Bulgarian principality roughly on the territories of the Second Bulgarian Empire. It never went into effect, as the Great Powers immediately rejected the treaty out of fear that such a large country in the Balkans might threaten their interests. It was superseded by the subsequent Treaty of Berlin, signed on 13 July, provided for a much smaller state comprising Moesia and the region of Sofia, leaving large populations of Bulgarians outside the new country. This played a significant role in forming Bulgaria's militaristic approach to foreign affairs during the first half of the 20th century.

The Bulgarian principality won a war against Serbia and incorporated the semi-autonomous Ottoman territory of Eastern Rumelia in 1885, proclaiming itself an independent state on 5 October 1908. In the years following independence, Bulgaria increasingly militarised and was often referred to as "the Balkan Prussia". In 1910, Tsar Ferdinand I started a large modernization and reformation program for the Bulgarian military, raising its troop count to 320,000 by 1911, and raising the number of total warships to 17. During this time, Bulgaria accepted trade agreements with Greece and Austria-Hungary. In 1911, Germany also requested an alliance between the two. The government of Bulgaria accepted it. The next year, 1912, saw the beginnings of construction on the country's first battleship, the Masorin. Also nationalism began increasing, due to government propaganda.

With the outbreak of World War I, Bulgaria initially remained neutral. In 1916, it joined Central Powers and invaded southern Serbia.

Military[]

Bulgarian Land Forces[]

Bulgarian soldiers with wire cutters WWI (contrasted) — Bulgarian soldiers during WWI.

In 1910, Tsar Ferdinand I ordered a massive reform of the Bulgarian armed forces. After a propaganda recruitment campaign, the Land Forces reached a total of 320,000 personnel by 1911. By 1912, this number was at 540,000. The Bulgarian Land Forces had a large assortment of fairly modern weapons, including rifles, Maxim guns, pistols, and others. The army included infantry, cavalry, and artillery divisions. The Tsar introduced a draft as well, for men between the ages of 17 and 48. As part of the 1910 reform, the Land Forces had four army-level commands: First Army, based in the northeast, Second, in the northwest, Third, in the southeast, and Fourth in the southwest. In 1911, a fifth was created, the Home Army, which was based in the central regions of the country. The army staffs were subordinated to the General Staff. Towards 1913, anti-aircraft units were introduced as well.

Bulgarian Navy[]

The Navy had a total of 25 ships, including 1 battleship, 4 cruisers, 9 destroyers, and 11 gunboats. It was under command of Fleet Admiral Vladimir Malyanov. The Navy was headquartered at the port of Varna and mainly protected the coastline.

#	Name	Laid Down	Launched	Commissioned	Class	Status
Battleships
B001	Masorin	1912	1913	1913	Masorin-class	Active Service
Cruisers
C001	Dimitar	1903	1904	1904	Dimitar-class	Active Service
C002	Ferdinand	1907	1908	1908	Dimitar-class	Active Service
C003	Vladimir	1907	1908	1908	Dimitar-class	Active Service
C004	Zhekov	1916	1917	1917	Dimitar-class	Active Service
Destroyers
S001	Stoychev	1904	1905	1905	Varna-class	Active Service
S002	Nikola	1905	1906	1906	Varna-class	Active Service
S003	Grigory	1906	1907	1907	Sofia-class	Active Service
S004	Ivanov	1907	1908	1908	Ivanov-class	Active Service
S005	Stoyanov	1907	1908	1908	Ivanov-class	Active Service
S006	Kiril	1908	1909	1909	Ivanov-class	Active Service
S007	Yanchulev	1909	1910	1910	Ivanov-class	Active Service
S008	Kotonin	1916	1917	1917	Sofia-class	Active Service
S009	Volga	1916	1917	1917	Ivanov-class	Active Servuce
Gunboats
G001	G-1	1901	1902	1902	Melchinkov-class	Active Service
G002	G-2	1901	1902	1902	Melchinkov-class	Active Service
G003	G-3	1901	1902	1902	Melchinkov-class	Active Service
G004	G-4	1901	1902	1902	Melchinkov-class	Active Service
G005	G-5	1902	1903	1903	Zhekov-class	Active Service
G006	G-6	1903	1904	1904	Zhekov-class	Active Service
G007	G-7	1902	1903	1903	Zhekov-class	Active Service
G008	G-8	1912	1914	1914	Zhekov-class	Active Service
G009	G-9	1912	1913	1913	Zhekov-class	Active Service
G010	G-10	1912	1913	1913	Zhekov-class	Active Service
G011	G-11	1912	1914	1914	Zhekov-class	Active Service

Bulgarian Air Force[]

The Bulgarian Air Force was heavily reformed in 1910. It had ten pilots total, and nine aircraft by 1912. Only two of them were actual Bulgarian models.

#	Type	Origin	Status
Fighters
2	Albatros B. I.	Germany	Active Service
2	Fokker E80E-III	Germany	Active Service
2	Bélriot IX-2	France	Active Service
1	Bélriot IX-bis	France	Active Service
2	Diplane Yordanov-1	Bulgaria	Active Service