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{{History of Bulgaria}} 
The '''history of Bulgaria''' can be traced from the first settlements on the lands of [[Bulgaria|modern Bulgaria]] to its formation as a [[Nation state|nation-state]], and includes the history of the [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian people]] and their origin. The earliest evidence of [[hominid]] occupation discovered in what is today Bulgaria date from at least 1.4 million years ago.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sirakov et al. (2010).- an ancient continuous human presence in the Balkans and the beginnings of human settlement in western Eurasia: A Lower Pleistocene example of the Lower Palaeolithic levels in Kozarnika cave (North-western Bulgaria) &#124; Philippe Fernandez - Academia.edu |url=https://www.academia.edu/400095 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20141225190811/http://www.academia.edu/400095/Sirakov_et_al._2010_.-_An_ancient_continuous_human_presence_in_the_Balkans_and_the_beginnings_of_human_settlement_in_western_Eurasia_A_Lower_Pleistocene_example_of_the_Lower_Palaeolithic_levels_in_Kozarnika_cave_North-western_Bulgaria_ |archive-date=25 December 2014 |access-date=2 February 2022 |website=academia.edu}}</ref> Around [[5th millennium BC|5000 BC]], a sophisticated civilization already existed which produced some of the first pottery, jewellery and golden artifacts in the world. After 3500&nbsp;BC, the [[Thracians]] appeared on the [[Balkan Peninsula]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last1=Modi |first1=Alessandra |last2=Nesheva |first2=Desislava |last3=Sarno |first3=Stefania |last4=Vai |first4=Stefania |last5=Karachanak-Yankova |first5=Sena |last6=Luiselli |first6=Donata |last7=Pilli |first7=Elena |last8=Lari |first8=Martina |last9=Vergata |first9=Chiara |last10=Yordanov |first10=Yordan |last11=Dimitrova |first11=Diana |last12=Kalcev |first12=Petar |last13=Staneva |first13=Rada |last14=Antonova |first14=Olga |last15=Hadjidekova |first15=Savina |date=2019-04-01 |title=Ancient human mitochondrial genomes from Bronze Age Bulgaria: new insights into the genetic history of Thracians |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=5412 |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-41945-0 |pmid=30931994 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=6443937|bibcode=2019NatSR...9.5412M }}</ref> In the late 6th century&nbsp;BC, parts of what is currently Bulgaria, in particular the eastern region of the country, came under the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Achaemenid Empire]].<ref name="Ref-1">{{Cite book |first1=Joseph |last1=Roisman |first2=Ian |last2=Worthington |title=A companion to Ancient Macedonia |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |date=2011 |isbn=978-1-4443-5163-7 |pages=135–138, [https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&pg=PA345 343–345]}}</ref> In the 470s BC, the Thracians formed the powerful [[Odrysian Kingdom]] which lasted until 46 BC, when it was finally conquered by the [[Roman Empire]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Xenophon |title=The Expedition of Cyrus |date=8 September 2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1916-0504-8 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0oKx4FyAOOQC&pg=PA221 221]}}</ref> During the centuries, some Thracian tribes fell under [[Macedonian Empire|ancient Macedonian]] and [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]], and also [[Celts|Celtic]] domination. This mixture of ancient peoples was assimilated by the [[Slavs]], who permanently settled on the peninsula after 500 AD.

== Common Era ==

In 632 the [[Bulgars]] formed an independent state north of the [[Black Sea]] that became known as [[Great Bulgaria]] under the leadership of [[Kubrat]]. Pressure from the [[Khazars]] led to the gradual disintegration of Great Bulgaria in the second half of the 7th century. One of [[Kubrat]]'s successors, [[Asparuh of Bulgaria|Asparuh]], leading some of the Bulgar tribes settled in the area around the [[Danube delta]], and subsequently conquered [[Scythia Minor (Roman province)|Scythia Minor]] and [[Moesia Inferior]] from the [[Byzantine Empire]], expanding his new kingdom further into the Balkan peninsula.<ref>Runciman, p. 26</ref> The crucial [[Battle of Ongal]] in 680, the peace treaty with Byzantium in 681, and the establishment of a permanent Bulgarian capital at [[Pliska]] south of the Danube mark the beginning of the [[First Bulgarian Empire]]. The new state brought together local [[Byzantine population]] and [[Migration Period|migrant population]] as Early Slavs under Bulgar rule, and a slow process of mutual assimilation began. In the following centuries Bulgaria established itself as a powerful empire, dominating the Balkans through its aggressive military traditions, which led to development of a distinct ethnic identity.<ref>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+bg0013) Bulgaria - Introduction], Library of Congress</ref> Its ethnically and culturally diverse people united under a common religion, language and alphabet which formed and preserved the Bulgarian national consciousness despite foreign invasions and influences.

In the 11th century, the First Bulgarian Empire collapsed under multiple [[Rus' people|Rus']] and Byzantine attacks and wars, and was conquered and became part of the Byzantine Empire until 1185. Then, a [[Uprising of Asen and Peter|major uprising]] led by two brothers, Asen and Peter of the [[Asen dynasty]], restored the Bulgarian state to form the [[Second Bulgarian Empire]]. After reaching its apogee in the 1230s, Bulgaria started to decline due to a number of factors, most notably its geographic position which rendered it vulnerable to simultaneous attacks and invasions from many sides. A peasant rebellion, one of the few successful such in history, established the swineherd [[Ivaylo of Bulgaria|Ivaylo]] as a Tsar. His short reign was essential in recovering—at least partially—the integrity of the Bulgarian state. A relatively thriving period followed after 1300, but ended in 1371, when factional divisions caused Bulgaria to split into three small Tsardoms. By 1396, they were subjugated by the [[Ottoman Empire]]. The Turks eliminated the Bulgarian system of nobility and ruling clergy, and Bulgaria remained [[Ottoman Bulgaria|an integral Ottoman Empire territory]] for the next 482 years.

=== Post-decline ===

With the decline of the Ottoman Empire after 1762 (Slavic-Bulgarian history), signs of revival started to emerge. The Bulgarian nobility had vanished, leaving an egalitarian peasant society with a small but growing urban middle class. By the 19th century, the [[Bulgarian National Revival]] became a key component of the struggle for independence, which would culminate in the failed [[April uprising]] in 1876, which prompted the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)|Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78]] and the subsequent [[Liberation of Bulgaria]]. The initial [[Treaty of San Stefano]] was rejected by the Great Powers, and the following Treaty of Berlin limited Bulgaria's territories to 1/3 of Treaty of San Stefano and dividing it into the east rumelia province and the region of principality of Bulgaria. This left many ethnic Bulgarians out of the borders of the new state, which defined Bulgaria's militaristic approach to regional affairs and its allegiance to Germany in both World Wars.

After [[World War II]], Bulgaria became a [[Communist state]], and the General Secretary of the [[Bulgarian Communist Party]], [[Todor Zhivkov]], served for a period of 35 years, where there was relatively rapid economic growth. The Communist system collapsed at the eve of the 1990s, and several problems in the 1990s decreased the economic development of Bulgaria's agricultural and other industries. A period of relative stabilization began with the election of [[Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha]] as prime minister in 2001. Bulgaria joined [[NATO]] in 2004 and the [[European Union]] in 2007.

==Prehistory==
{{Main|Prehistory of Southeastern Europe}}
{{See also|Prehistoric Europe|First Temperate Neolithic|Old Europe (archaeology)|Neolithic Europe|Proto-Indo-European homeland|Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European migrations|Yamnaya culture}}

[[File:Magura - drawings.jpg|thumb|left|220x220px|[[Magura Cave|Magura cave]] drawings]]
[[File:20140611 Varna 08.jpg|thumb|[[Varna culture]] burial, 4500 BC (reconstruction)|221x221px]]

The earliest human remains found in Bulgaria were excavated in the [[Kozarnika]] cave, with an approximate age of 1,6 million BC. This cave probably keeps the earliest evidence of human symbolic behaviour ever found. A fragmented pair of human jaws, which are 44,000 years old, were found in [[Bacho Kiro cave]], but it is disputed whether these early humans were in fact [[Homo sapiens]] or [[Neanderthals]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sale |first=Kirkpatrick |title=After Eden: The evolution of human domination |date=2006 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=0-8223-3938-2 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2q9780EgEBEC&pg=PA48 48]}}</ref>

The earliest dwellings in Bulgaria – the [[Neolithic Dwellings Museum|Stara Zagora Neolithic dwellings]] – date from 6,000 BC and are amongst the [[List of the oldest buildings in the world|oldest human-made structures]] yet discovered.<ref>[http://museum.starazagora.net/brunches/brunches.html#dwelling The Neolithic Dwellings] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128233055/http://museum.starazagora.net/brunches/brunches.html |date=28 November 2011 }} at the Stara Zagora Neolithic Dwellings Museum website</ref> By the end of the Neolithic, the [[Karanovo culture|Karanovo]], [[Hamangia culture|Hamangia]] and [[Vinča culture|Vinča]] cultures developed on what is today Bulgaria, southern Romania and eastern Serbia.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Slavchev |first=Vladimir |date=2004–2005 |title=Monuments of the final phase of Cultures Hamangia and Savia on the territory of Bulgaria |url=http://revistapontica.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/pontica-37-38-pag-9-20.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718095224/http://revistapontica.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/pontica-37-38-pag-9-20.pdf |archive-date=18 July 2011 |website=Revista Pontica |pages=9–20 |volume=37–38}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Chapman |first=John |title=Fragmentation in Archaeology: People, Places, and Broken Objects |date=2000 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4151-5803-9 |location=London |page=239}}</ref> The earliest known town in Europe, [[Solnitsata]], was located in present-day Bulgaria.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Squires |first=Nick |date=31 October 2012 |title=Archaeologists find Europe's most prehistoric town |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/bulgaria/9646541/Bulgaria-archaeologists-find-Europes-most-prehistoric-town-Provadia-Solnitsata.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/bulgaria/9646541/Bulgaria-archaeologists-find-Europes-most-prehistoric-town-Provadia-Solnitsata.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |access-date=1 November 2012 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The [[Durankulak]] lake settlement in [[Bulgaria]] commenced on a small island, approximately 7000 BC and around 4700/4600 BC the stone architecture was already in general use and became a characteristic phenomenon that was unique in Europe.

The [[Eneolithic]] [[Varna culture]] (5000 BC)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vaysov |first=I. |title=Атлас по история на Стария свят |date=2002 |publisher=Херон прес |isbn=978-9-5458-0021-4 |location=Sofia |page=14 |language=Bulgarian}}</ref> represents the first civilization with a sophisticated social hierarchy in Europe. The centrepiece of this culture is the [[Varna Necropolis]], discovered in the early 1970s. It serves as a tool in understanding how the earliest European societies functioned,<ref>[http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/harsova/en/dobro3.htm The Gumelnita Culture], Government of France. ''The Necropolis at Varna is an important site in understanding this culture.''</ref> principally through well-preserved ritual burials, pottery, and golden jewellery. The golden rings, bracelets and ceremonial weapons discovered in one of the graves were created between 4,600 and 4200 BC, which makes them the oldest gold artefacts yet discovered anywhere in the world.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grande |first=Lance |title=Gems and gemstones: Timeless natural beauty of the mineral world |date=2009 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-30511-0 |location=Chicago |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=RnE9Fa4pbn0C&pg=PA290 292] |quote=The oldest known gold jewelry in the world is from an archaeological site in Varna Necropolis, Bulgaria, and is over 6,000 years old (radiocarbon dated between 4,600BC and 4,200BC).}}</ref>

Some of the earliest evidence of [[grape]] cultivation and livestock [[domestication]] is associated with the Bronze Age [[Ezero culture]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mallory |first=J.P. |author-link=J. P. Mallory |title=Ezero Culture |date=1997 |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn |series=[[Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture]]}}</ref> The [[Magura Cave]] drawings date from the same era, although the exact years of their creation cannot be pin-pointed.

==Antiquity==
===The Thracians===
{{Main|Thracians|Odrysae|Odrysian kingdom|Getae|Moesi|Bessi}}

[[File:Valchitran-treasure.jpg|thumb|[[Valchitran Treasure]], c. 1300 BC]]

[[File:Reproduction of Thracian tomb 2.jpg|thumb|220x220px|[[Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak]], 4th century BC]]

The first people to leave lasting traces and cultural heritage throughout the region were the [[Thracians]]. Their origin remains obscure. It is generally proposed that a proto-Thracian people developed from a mixture of [[Neolithic Europe|indigenous peoples]] and [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-Europeans]] from the time of Proto-Indo-European expansion in the [[Bronze Age Europe|Early Bronze Age]]<ref>Hoddinott, p. 27.</ref> when the latter, around 1500 BC, conquered the indigenous peoples.<ref>Casson, p. 3.</ref> Thracian craftsmen inherited the skills of the indigenous civilisations before them, especially in gold working.<ref>{{cite book|title=Treasures of Lost Races|last=Noorbergen|first=Rene|publisher=Teach Services Inc.|year=2004|page=72|isbn=1-57258-267-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VSBnYno2-1oC&pg=PA71}}</ref>

The Thracians were generally disorganized, but had an advanced culture despite the lack of their own proper script, and gathered powerful military forces when their divided tribes formed unions under the pressure of external threats. They formed the [[Odrysian kingdom]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rehm |first1=Ellen |chapter=The Impact of the Achaemenids on Thrace: A Historical Review|editor1-last=Nieling |editor1-first=Jens |editor2-last=Rehm |editor2-first=Ellen |title=Achaemenid Impact in the Black Sea: Communication of Powers |date=2010 |publisher=Aarhus University Press |series=Black Sea Studies|volume=11|page=143|isbn=978-8779344310|quote=In 470/469 BC, the strategist Kimon, mentioned above, defeated the Persian fleet at the mouth of the Eurymedon river. Subsequently, it seems that the royal house of the Odrysians in Thrace gained power and in about 465/464 BC emerged from the Persian shadow. The Odrysians became aware of the power  vacuum  resulting  from  the  withdrawal  of  the  Persians  and  claimed  back supremacy over the region inhabited by several tribes. From this period onwards an indigenous ruling dynasty is comprehensible.}}</ref> Although the concept of an urban center was not developed until the Roman period, various larger fortifications which also served as regional market centers were numerous. Yet, in general, despite Greek colonization in such areas as [[Byzantium]], [[Apollonia, Thrace|Apollonia]] and other cities, the Thracians avoided urban life.

The first [[Greek colonies]] in Thrace were founded in the 8th century BC.<ref>Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary''. Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 1515. "From the 8th century BC the coast Thrace was colonised by Greeks."</ref>

====Achaemenid Persian invasions====
{{Main|Achaemenid Empire}}

[[File:Achaemenid Empire 500 BCE.jpg|thumb|The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest territorial extent, under the rule of [[Darius the Great|Darius I]] (522 BC–486 BC)<ref>2002 Oxford Atlas of World History [https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA42 p.42 (West portion of the Achaemenid Empire)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129133020/https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA42 |date=29 November 2022 }} and [https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA43 p.43 (East portion of the Achaemenid Empire)].</ref>]]

Ever since the [[Macedon]]ian king [[Amyntas I]] surrendered his country to the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persians]] in about 512-511 BC, Macedonians and Persians were strangers no more.<ref name="Ref-1"/> Subjugation of [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]] was part of Persian military operations initiated by [[Darius the Great]] (521–486 BC). In 513 BC - after immense preparations - a huge Achaemenid army invaded the [[Balkans]] and [[European Scythian campaign of Darius I|tried to defeat]] the European [[Scythians]] roaming to the north of the [[Danube]] river.<ref name="Ref-1"/> Darius' army subjugated several [[Thracians|Thracian peoples]], and virtually all other regions that touch the European part of the [[Black Sea]], such as parts of nowadays [[Bulgaria]], [[Romania]], [[Ukraine]], and [[Russia]], before it returned to [[Asia Minor]].<ref name="Ref-1"/><ref>The Oxford Classical Dictionary by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth,{{ISBN|0-19-860641-9}},"page 1515,"The Thracians were subdued by the Persians by 516"</ref> Darius left in Europe one of his commanders named [[Megabazus]] whose task was to accomplish conquests in the Balkans.<ref name="Ref-1"/> The Persian troops subjugated gold-rich [[Thrace]], the coastal Greek cities, as well as defeating and conquering the powerful [[Paeonians]].<ref name="Ref-1"/><ref>Timothy Howe, Jeanne Reames. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uuwTAQAAMAAJ&q=persians+conquered+paeonia ''Macedonian Legacies: Studies in Ancient Macedonian History and Culture in Honor of Eugene N. Borza''] (original from the [[Indiana University]]) Regina Books, 2008 {{ISBN|978-1-930053-56-4}} p 239</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.livius.org/ia-in/influence/influence02.html|title=Persian influence on Greece (2)|access-date=17 December 2014|archive-date=24 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724223725/https://www.livius.org/ia-in/influence/influence02.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Finally, Megabazus sent envoys to Amyntas, demanding acceptation of Persian domination, which the Macedonians accepted.<ref name="Ref-1"/> Following the [[Ionian Revolt]], the Persian hold over the Balkans loosened, but was firmly restored in 492 BC through the campaigns of [[Mardonius (general)|Mardonius]].<ref name="Ref-1"/> The Balkans, including what is nowadays Bulgaria, provided many soldiers for the multi-ethnic Achaemenid army. Several Thracian treasures dating from the Persian rule in Bulgaria have been found.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kcvpAAAAMAAJ&q=persian+rule+bulgaria|title=Thracian Treasures from Bulgaria|year=1981|access-date=24 December 2014}}</ref> Most of what is today eastern Bulgaria remained firmly under the Persian sway [[Second Persian invasion of Greece|until 479 BC]].<ref name="Ref-1"/><ref>Dimitri Romanoff. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fPEqAQAAIAAJ&q=persians+conquer+bulgaria ''The orders, medals, and history of the Kingdom of Bulgaria''] Balkan Heritage, 1982 {{ISBN|978-87-981267-0-6}} p 9</ref> The Persian garrison at [[Doriscus]] in Thrace held out for many years even after the Persian defeat, and reportedly never surrendered. It remained as the last Persian stronghold in Europe.<ref>E.O. Blunsom. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9OmzcuGNJUgC&pg=PA101 ''The Past And Future Of Law''] Xlibris Corporation, 10 apr. 2013 {{ISBN|978-1-4628-7516-0}} p 101{{self-published source|date=January 2018}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=January 2018}}

===Thracian Odrysian kingdom (c. 480 BC - 30 BC)===
{{Main|Odrysian kingdom}}

[[File:Odrysian.svg|thumb|The Odrysian kingdom under king [[Sitalces]] ({{circa}} 431–424)]]

Thracian tribes remained divided and most of them fell under nominal Persian rule from the late 6th century until the first half of the 5th century,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&q=Achaemenid+Persians+ruled+balkans&pg=PA345|title=A Companion to Ancient Macedonia|isbn=9781444351637|access-date=17 December 2014|last1=Roisman|first1=Joseph|last2=Worthington|first2=Ian|date=7 July 2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons }}</ref> until King [[Teres I|Teres]] united most of them under the [[Odrysian kingdom]] around 470 BC, probably after the [[Second Persian invasion of Greece|Persian defeat in Greece]]<ref>Robin Waterfield. [https://books.google.com/books?id=0oKx4FyAOOQC&q=Teres+I+odrysian+kingdom+persian  "The Expedition of Cyrus"] OUP Oxford, 2005. {{ISBN|0-19-160504-2}} p 221</ref> which later peaked under the leadership of King [[Sitalces]] (431–424 BC) and of [[Cotys I (Odrysian)|Cotys I]] (383–359 BC). This Thracian kingdom thrived between the early 5th century BC and the early 3rd / late 1st century BC. Located in present-day Bulgaria, southeastern Romania (northern Dobruja), northeastern Greece and European Turkey, it was a tribal amalgam dominated by the Odrysians that was the first large political entity to develop in the eastern Balkans. Before the foundation of Seuthopolis in the late 4th century it had no fixed capital. Similar to the [[Gauls]] and other [[Celt]]ic tribes, most Thracians are thought to have lived simply in small [[Thracian warfare#Fortifications|fortified villages]], usually on hilltops. At the commencement of the [[Peloponnesian War]], [[Sitalces]] entered into alliance with the [[Athenians]], and in 429 BC he invaded [[Macedon]] (then ruled by [[Perdiccas II of Macedon|Perdiccas II]]) with a vast army that included 150,000 warriors from independent Thracian tribes. Cotys I on the other hand, went to war with the Athenians for the possession of the [[Thracian Chersonese]].

====Ancient Macedon invasions====
{{Main| Expansion of Macedonia under Philip II|Wars of Alexander the Great}}

[[File:Map Macedonia 336 BC-en.svg|thumb|Southern Thrace during [[Philip II of Macedon]]]]

Thereafter the [[Macedonian Empire]] incorporated the Odrysian kingdom<ref>
{{Cite book
|last= Hammond
|first= Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière
|author-link= N. G. L. Hammond
|author2=Frank William Walbank |author-link2=F. W. Walbank 
|title= A History of Macedonia: 336-167 B.C
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qpb3JdwuDQIC
|access-date= 2010-04-26
|volume= 3
|year= 1988
|publisher= Oxford University Press
|isbn= 978-0-19-814815-9
|page= 38
|quote= Whereas Philip had exacted from the Thracians subjugated in 344 a tribute of one tenth of their produce payable to the Macedones&nbsp;..., it seems that Alexander did not impose any tribute on the Triballi or on the down-river Thracians.
}}
</ref> and Thracians became an inalienable component in the extra-continental expeditions of both [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] and [[Alexander the Great|Alexander III (the Great)]].

====Ancient Celtic invasions====
{{Main|Tylis|Scordisci|Serdi|Celtic settlement of Southeast Europe}}
[[File:Tribes in Ancient Thrace (English).png|thumb|Tribes in Thrace. Celtic peoples, including the Gauls of Tylis, are labelled in red]]
In 298 BC, [[Celts|Celtic]] tribes reached what is today Bulgaria and clashed with the forces of Macedonian king [[Cassander]] on Mount Haemos ([[Stara Planina]]). The Macedonians won the battle, but that did not stop the Celtic advancement. Many Thracian communities, weakened by the Macedonian occupation, fell under Celtic dominance.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Celts: A History |last=Ó hÓgáin |first=Dáithí|year=2002 |publisher=The Collins Press |location=Cork |isbn=0-85115-923-0 |page=50 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-yd1huHoXJwC&pg=PA50 |access-date=8 November 2011|quote=This, however, had little effect on the Celts, who within some years reached as far as Bulgaria. There, in 298 BC, a large body of them clashed with Cassander's army on the slopes of Mount Haemos.&nbsp;... The power of the Thracians had been reduced by the Macedonians, and now much of the area fell into Celtic hands. Many placenames of that area in ancient times bear witness to the presence of Celtic strongholds&nbsp;...}}</ref>

In 279 BC, one of the Celtic armies, led by [[Comontorius]], attacked Thrace and succeeded in conquering it. Comontorius established the kingdom of [[Tylis]] in what is now eastern Bulgaria.<ref name="Celtic culture">{{cite book |title=Celtic culture: A historical encyclopedia |last=Koch |first=John T. |year=2006 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=1-85109-440-7 |page= 156 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&pg=PA15 |access-date=8 November 2011|quote=Their influence in Thrace (roughly modern Bulgaria and European Turkey) is very modest, with only occasional samples of armour and jewellery, but they established a kingdom known as [[Tylis]] (alternatively Tyle) on the Thracian coast of the Black Sea.}}</ref> The modern-day village of Tulovo bears the name of the relatively short-lived kingdom. Cultural interactions between Thracians and Celts are evidenced by several items containing elements of both cultures, such as the chariot of [[Mezek]] and almost certainly the [[Gundestrup cauldron]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Celts: Bronze Age to New Age |last=Haywood |first=John |publisher=Pearson Education Limited |year=2004|isbn=0-582-50578-X |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_pVY18-0OCgC&pg=PA28 |access-date=11 November 2011|quote=A clearer example of interaction between Celts and Thacians is the famous Gundestrup cauldron, which was found in a Danish peat bog. This spectacular silver cauldron is decorated with images of Celtic gods and warriors but its workmanship is quite obviously Thracian, the product of a Thracian craftsman for a celtic patron&nbsp;...}}</ref>

Tylis lasted until 212 BC, when the Thracians managed to regain their dominant position in the region and disbanded it.<ref>Nikola Theodossiev, [http://www.caorc.org/fellowships/mellon/pubs/Theodossiev.pdf "Celtic Settlement in North-Western Thrace during the Late Fourth and Third Centuries BC"].</ref> Small bands of Celts survived in Western Bulgaria. One such tribe were the ''[[serdi]]'', from which ''Serdica'' - the ancient name of [[Sofia]] - originates.<ref>The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, {{ISBN|0-521-22717-8}}, 1992, page 600: "In the place of the vanished Treres and Tilataei we find the Serdi for whom there is no evidence before the first century BC. It has for long being supposed on convincing linguistic and archeological grounds that this tribe was of Celtic origin."</ref> Even though the Celts remained in the Balkans for more than a century, their influence on the peninsula was modest.<ref name="Celtic culture"/> By the end of the 3rd century, a new threat appeared for the people of the Thracian region in the shape of the [[Roman Empire]].

===Roman period===
{{Main|Roman Empire|Thraco-Roman}}

[[File:Bulgaria Bulgaria-0785 - Roman Theatre of Philippopolis (7432772486).jpg|thumb|Roman theatre of [[Philippopolis (Thrace)|Philippopolis]], [[Plovdiv]]]]
In 188 BC, the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] invaded [[Thrace]], and warfare continued until 46 AD when Rome finally conquered the region.

==== Sapaean Thracian kingdom (Roman vassal state) (1st century BC - 46 AD) ====

The [[Thracian kingdom (Roman vassal state)|Sapaean kingdom]] was an ancient [[Thracians|Thracian]] state in the southeastern [[Balkans]] that existed from the middle of the 1st century BC until 46 AD. Succeeding the [[Classical Greece|Classical]] and [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] era Odrysian kingdom of [[Thrace]], it was dominated by the [[Sapaeans|Sapaean]] tribe, who ruled from their capital [[Vize|Bizye]] in what is now northwestern [[Turkey]]. Initially only of limited relevance, its power grew significantly in [[Ancient Rome|the ancient Roman world]] as a [[client state]] of the late [[Roman Republic]]. After the [[Battle of Actium]] in 31 BC, [[Octavian]] (later emperor [[Augustus]]) installed a new dynasty that proved to be highly loyal and expansive. Conquering and ruling much of Thrace on behalf of the [[Roman Empire]], it lasted until 46 AD, when Emperor [[Claudius]] annexed the kingdom and made [[Thracia]] into a [[Roman province]].

==== Roman rule ====

[[File:Roman Empire Trajan 117AD.png|thumb|Roman Empire under [[Trajan]] (117 AD)]]

In 46 AD, the Romans established the [[Roman provinces|province]] of [[Thracia]]. By the 4th century, the Thracians had a composite indigenous identity, as [[Romanised Thracian|Christian "Romans"]] who preserved some of their ancient pagan rituals. [[Thraco-Roman]]s became a dominant group in the region, and eventually yielded several military commanders and emperors such as [[Galerius]] and [[Constantine I the Great]]. Urban centres became well-developed, especially the territories of [[History of Sofia|Serdika]], which today the city of [[Sofia]], due to the abundance of mineral springs. The influx of immigrants from around the empire enriched the local cultural landscape; temples of [[Osiris]] and [[Isis]] have been discovered near the Black Sea coast.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://sofiaecho.com/2008/10/17/664284_temple-to-iris-and-osiris-unearthed-near-the-bulgarian-black-sea|title=Temple to Isis and Osiris unearthed near the Bulgarian Black Sea|newspaper=The Sofia Echo|date=17 October 2008|access-date=8 June 2012}}</ref> Sometime before 300 AD, [[Diocletian]] further divided [[Thracia]] into four smaller provinces.

== Migration Period (3rd century - 7th century)==
{{Main| Migration Period}}

[[File:Invasions of the Roman Empire 1.png|thumb|Invasions of the Roman Empire during the Migration Period]]

In the 4th century, a group of [[Goths]] arrived in northern Bulgaria and settled in and around [[Nicopolis ad Istrum]]. There the Gothic bishop [[Ulfilas]] translated the [[Bible]] from Greek to Gothic, creating the [[Gothic alphabet]] in the process. This was the first book written in a [[Germanic language]], and for this reason at least one historian refers to Ulfilas as "the father of Germanic literature".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Visigoths in the Time of Ulfila |last=Thompson |first=E.A. |publisher=Ducksworth |year=2009|quote=...&nbsp;Ulfila, the apostle of the Goths and the father of Germanic literature. }}</ref> The [[Monastery of Saint Athanasius|first Christian monastery]] in Europe was founded in 344 by [[Saint Athanasius]] near modern-day [[Chirpan]] following the [[Council of Serdica]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bnr.bg/radiobulgaria/post/100844993/chirpanskiat-manastir-svatanasii-nai-starata-obitel-v-evropa|title=The Saint Athanasius Monastery of Chirpan, the oldest cloister in Europe|publisher=Bulgarian National Radio|language=bg|date=22 June 2017|access-date=30 August 2018}}</ref>

Due to the rural nature of the local population, Roman control of the region remained weak. In the 5th century, [[Attila]]'s [[Huns]] attacked the territories of today's Bulgaria and pillaged many Roman settlements. By the end of the 6th century, [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avars]] organized regular incursions into northern Bulgaria, which were a prelude to the ''en masse'' arrival of the Slavs.

During the 6th century, the traditional Greco-Roman culture was still influential, but Christian philosophy and culture were dominant and began to replace it.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=QOlHkpXPTQoC ''Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire: The Development of Christian Discourse''], Averil Cameron, University of California Press, 1994, {{ISBN|0-520-08923-5}}, PP.&nbsp;189–190.
</ref> From the 7th century, Greek became the predominant language under the [[Eastern Roman Empire]]'s administration, Church and society, replacing Latin.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Kx_NjXiMZM0C ''A history of the Greek language: from its origins to the present''], [[Francisco Rodríguez Adrados]], BRILL, 2005, {{ISBN|90-04-12835-2}},  p. 226.</ref>
<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
GothicInvasions250-251-en.svg|Gothic Invasions 250–251
GothicInvasions 267-269-en.svg|Gothic Invasions 267–269
Test Adrianopoli -- 376.png|Gothic Invasions 376–382
Bulgarians and Slavs VI-VII century.png|The Bulgar and Slavic migrations 6th - 7th century
</gallery>

===Slavs===
{{Main|South Slavs}}
The Slavs emerged from their original homeland (most commonly thought to have been in [[Eastern Europe]]) in the early 6th century and spread to most of eastern [[Central Europe]], Eastern Europe and the Balkans, thus forming three main branches - the [[West Slavs]], the [[East Slavs]] and the [[South Slavs]]. The easternmost South Slavs settled on the territory of modern Bulgaria during the 6th century.

Most of the Thracians were eventually Hellenized or Romanized, with some exceptions surviving in remote areas until the 5th century.<ref name = "xixcnf"/><ref>Ivaylo Lozanov, Roman Thrace, pp. 75-90 in Julia Valeva, Emil Nankov, Denver Graninger as ed. (2020) A Companion to Ancient Thrace, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 1119016185.</ref> A portion of the eastern [[South Slavs]] assimilated most of them, before the Bulgar élite incorporated these peoples into the First Bulgarian Empire.<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Bulgaria/History |display=Bulgaria: History: First Empire |volume=4 |pages=780}}</ref>

===Bulgars===
{{Main|Bulgars}}

The '''Bulgars''' were a semi-nomadic people of [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] descent, originally from [[Central Asia]], who from the 2nd century onwards dwelled in the [[steppe]]s north of the [[Caucasus]] and around the banks of river [[Volga]] (then Itil). A branch of them gave rise to the [[First Bulgarian Empire]]. The [[Bulgars]] were governed by hereditary [[Khan (title)|khans]]. There were several aristocratic families whose members, bearing military titles, formed a governing class. Bulgars were [[polytheistic]], but chiefly worshiped the supreme deity [[Tengri|Tangra]].

===Old Great Bulgaria===
{{Main|Old Great Bulgaria}}
[[File:Pontic steppe region around 650 AD.png|250px|thumb|Great Bulgaria and adjacent regions, c. 650 AD]]
Unified under a single ruler, Kurt, or Kubrat (reigned c. 605–c. 642), the Bulgars constituted a powerful polity known to the Eastern Romans as [[Great Bulgaria]]. This country was situated between the lower course of the [[Danube]] river to the west, the [[Black Sea]] and the [[Azov Sea]] to the south, the [[Kuban]] river to the east and the Donets river to the north. The capital was [[Phanagoria]], on the Azov.<ref>(https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bulgar)</ref>

In 635, Kubrat signed a peace treaty with emperor Heraclius of the Byzantine Empire, expanding the Bulgar kingdom further into the Balkans. Later, Kubrat was crowned with the title Patrician by Heraclius. The kingdom never survived Kubrat's death. After several wars with the Khazars, the Bulgars were finally defeated and they migrated to the south, to the north, and mainly to the west into the Balkans, where most of the other Bulgar tribes were living, in a state vassal to the Byzantine Empire since the 5th century.

One of the successors of Khan [[Kubrat]], [[Kotrag]] led nine Bulgar tribes to the north along the banks of the river Volga in what is today Russia, creating the Kingdom of the Volga Bulgars in the late 7th century. This kingdom later became the trade and cultural centre of the north, because it stood on a very strategic position creating a monopoly over the trade among the Arabs, the Norse and the Avars. The Volga Bulgars were the first to ever defeat the Mongolic horde and protected Europe for decades, but after countless Mongol invasions the Kingdom of the Volga Bulgars was destroyed and most of its citizens slaughtered or sold as slaves in Asia.

Another successor of Khan Kubrat, [[Asparuh]] (Kotrag's brother) moved west, occupying today's southern [[Bessarabia]]. After a successful war with [[Byzantium]] in 680, Asparuh's khanate conquered initially [[Scythia Minor (Roman province)|Scythia Minor]] and was recognised as an independent state under the subsequent treaty signed with the [[Byzantine Empire]] in 681. That year is usually regarded as the year of the establishment of present-day [[Bulgaria]] and Asparuh is regarded as the first Bulgarian ruler.

Another Bulgar horde, led by Asparuh's brother [[Kuber]], came to settle in [[Pannonia]] and later into the [[Macedonia (region)|region of Macedonia]].<ref>Иван Микулчиќ, "Средновековни градови и тврдини во Македонија", Скопје, "Македонска цивилизација", 1996, стр. 29–33.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= Mikulčik |first= Ivan |title= Srednovekovni gradovi i tvrdini vo Makedonija |trans-title= Medieval cities and castles in Macedonia |series= Македонска цивилизација [Macedonian civilization] |year= 1996|publisher= Makedonska akademija na naukite i umetnostite |location= Skopje |language= mk |isbn= 9989-649-08-1 |page= 391 }}</ref>

==First Bulgarian Empire (681–1018)==
{{Main|First Bulgarian Empire}}

[[File:Balkans about 680 A.D., foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire.png|thumb|Southeast Europe 680 - 721]]

Under the reign of [[Asparuh]] Bulgaria expanded southwest after the [[Battle of Ongal]] and Danubian Bulgaria was created.

During the [[Later Roman Empire|Late Roman Empire]], several [[Roman provinces]] covered the territory that comprises present-day Bulgaria: [[Scythia Minor (Roman province)|Scythia]] (Scythia Minor), [[Moesia]] (Upper and Lower), [[Thrace]], [[Macedonia (Roman province)|Macedonia]] (First and Second), [[Dacia]] (Coastal and Inner, both south of Danube), [[Dardania (Samothrace)|Dardania]], [[Rhodope (Roman province)|Rhodope]] and Haemismontus, and had a mixed population of [[Byzantine Greeks]], [[Thracians]] and [[Dacians]], most of whom spoke either [[Greek language|Greek]] or variants of [[Vulgar Latin]]. Several consecutive waves of [[Slavs|Slavic]] migration throughout the 6th and the early 7th centuries led to a dramatic change of the demographics of the region and its almost complete [[Slavicisation]].
[[File:47-cropped-manasses-chronicle.jpg|thumb|256x256px|Miniature 47 from the [[Constantine Manasses|Constantine Manasses Chronicle]], 14 century: ''The arabs attacking [[Constantinople]] during the reign of emperor [[Leo III the Isaurian|Leo III]].'']]

The son and heir of  Asparuh, [[Tervel]], became ruler in the beginning of 8th century when the Byzantine emperor [[Justinian II]] asked Tervel for assistance in recovering his throne, for which Tervel received the region [[Zagore (region)|Zagore]] from the Empire and was paid large quantities of gold. He also received the Byzantine title "''[[Caesar (title)|Caesar]]''". Years later, the emperor decided to betray and attack Bulgaria, but his army was crushed in the battle of [[Battle of Anchialus (708)|Anhialo]]. After the death of Justinian II, the Bulgarians continued their crusades against the empire and in 716 they reached [[Second Arab Siege of Constantinople|Constantinople]]. The threat of both the Bulgarians and the Arab menace in the east, forced the new emperor [[Theodosius III]], to sign a peace treaty with Tervel. The successor, [[Leo III the Isaurian]] had to deal with an army of 100,000 Arabs led by [[Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik]] and a fleet of 2,500 ships that were laying siege on [[Second Arab Siege of Constantinople|Constantinople]] in the year 717. Relying on his treaty with Bulgaria, the emperor asked Khan Tervel to help him deal with the Arab invasion. Tervel accepted and the Arabs were decimated outside the walls of the city. The fleet was heavily damaged with the help of [[Greek fire]]. The remaining ships were destroyed by a storm, in an attempt to flee. So the [[Second Arab Siege of Constantinople]] ended. After the reign of Tervel, there were frequent changes in the ruling houses, which lead to instability and political crisis.

Decades later, in 768, [[Telerig of Bulgaria|Telerig]] of the house [[Dulo]], ruled Bulgaria. His military campaign against [[Constantine V]] in the year 774, proved to be unsuccessful. Thrilled with his success against Telerig, the Byzantine Emperor dispatched a fleet 2,000 ships loaded with horsemen. This expedition proved to be a failure, because of strong northern winds near [[Mesembria]]. Telerig was aware of the increased presence of spies in the capital [[Pliska]]. To decrease this Byzantine influence, he sent a letter to the emperor in which he asks for refuge in [[Constantinople]] and wants to know which Byzantine spies can help him. Knowing their names, he slaughters every agent in the capital. His rule marked the end of the political crisis.

[[File:Bulgaria under Presian.png|thumb|Territorial expansion during the reign of [[Presian of Bulgaria|Presian]] (836–852)]]

Under the reign of [[Krum of Bulgaria|Krum]] (802–814) Bulgaria expanded vastly north-west and south, occupying the lands between the middle Danube and [[Moldova River|Moldova]] rivers, all of present-day [[Romania]], [[Sofia]] in 809 and [[Adrianople]] in 813, and threatening [[Constantinople]] itself.  Krum implemented law reform intending to reduce poverty and strengthen social ties in his vastly enlarged state.

During the reign of Khan [[Omurtag of Bulgaria|Omurtag]] (814–831), the northwestern boundaries with the Frankish Empire were firmly settled along the middle Danube. A magnificent palace, pagan temples, ruler's residence, fortress, citadel, water mains and baths were built in the Bulgarian capital [[Pliska]], mainly of stone and brick.

Omurtag pursued policy of repression against Christians. Menologion of Basil II, glorifies Emperor Basil II showing him as a warrior defending Orthodox Christendom against the attacks of the Bulgarian Empire, whose attacks on Christians are graphically illustrated.
[[File:KoutragonChristiansBGhistory.jpg|thumb|350px|right|[[Omurtag]] ordering the murder of Christians]]

===Christianization===
{{Main|Christianization of Bulgaria|Bulgarian Orthodox Church|Golden Age of Bulgaria}}

Under Boris I, Bulgaria [[Christianization of Bulgaria|became officially Christian]], and the [[Ecumenical Patriarch]] agreed to allow an autonomous Bulgarian Archbishop at Pliska. Missionaries from Constantinople, [[Cyril and Methodius]], devised the [[Glagolitic alphabet]], which was adopted in the Bulgarian Empire around 886. The alphabet and the [[Old Church Slavonic|Old Bulgarian]] language that evolved from [[Slavic languages|Slavonic]]<ref>L. Ivanov. [[wikisource:Essential History of Bulgaria in Seven Pages|Essential History of Bulgaria in Seven Pages]]. Sofia, 2007.</ref> gave rise to a rich literary and cultural activity centered around the [[Preslav Literary School|Preslav]] and [[Ohrid Literary School]]s, established by order of Boris I in 886.

[[File:The Great Basilica Klearchos 2.jpg|thumb|250px|Ruins of Pliska, capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 680 to 893]]
In the early 9th century, a new alphabet — [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] — was developed at the Preslav Literary School, adapted from the [[Glagolitic alphabet]] invented by [[Saints Cyril and Methodius]].<ref>
Barford, P. M. (2001). ''The Early Slavs''. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press
</ref> An alternative theory is that the alphabet was devised at the Ohrid Literary School by Saint [[Climent of Ohrid]], a Bulgarian scholar and disciple of Cyril and Methodius.

By the late 9th and early 10th centuries, Bulgaria extended to [[Epirus]] and [[Thessaly]] in the south, [[Bosnia (region)|Bosnia]] in the west and controlled all of present-day Romania and eastern Hungary to the north reuniting with old roots. A Serbian state came into existence as a dependency of the Bulgarian Empire. Under Tsar [[Simeon I of Bulgaria]] (Simeon the Great), who was educated in Constantinople, Bulgaria became again a serious threat to the Byzantine Empire. His aggressive policy was aimed at displacing Byzantium as major partner of the nomadic polities in the area. By subverting the principles of Byzantine diplomacy and political culture, Simeon turned his own kingdom into a society-structuring factor in the nomadic world.<ref>Boris Todorov, "The value of empire: tenth-century Bulgaria between Magyars, Pechenegs and Byzantium," ''Journal of Medieval History'' (2010) 36#4 pp&nbsp;312–326</ref><ref name="The First Bulgarian Empire">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761556147_8/Bulgaria.html#p48 |title=The First Bulgarian Empire |encyclopedia=[[Encarta]] |access-date=2007-03-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071204165922/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761556147_8/Bulgaria.html#p48 |archive-date=2007-12-04 }}</ref>

Simeon hoped to take Constantinople and become emperor of both [[Bulgarians]] and Greeks, and fought a series of wars with the Byzantines through his long reign (893–927). At the end of his rule the front had reached the [[Peloponnese]] in the south, making it the most [[List of medieval great powers|powerful state]] in contemporary [[Southeast Europe]].<ref name="The First Bulgarian Empire"/> Simeon proclaimed himself "[[Tsar]] (Caesar) of the Bulgarians and the Romans", a title which was recognised by the Pope, but not by the Byzantine Emperor. The capital [[Preslav]] was said to rival [[Constantinople]],<ref>Bakalov, Istorija na Bǎlgarija, "Simeon I Veliki"</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://sofia.usembassy.gov/uploads/images/9slwbq67Sfo4dBuR2WMVfg/about_bulgaria1.PDF |title=About Bulgaria |publisher=U.S. Embassy Sofia, Bulgaria |access-date=2007-03-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061230015953/http://sofia.usembassy.gov/uploads/images/9slwbq67Sfo4dBuR2WMVfg/about_bulgaria1.PDF |archive-date=2006-12-30 }}</ref> the new independent [[Bulgarian Orthodox Church]] became the first new [[patriarchate]] besides the [[Pentarchy]] and Bulgarian translations of [[Christianity|Christian]] texts spread all over the [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] world of the time.<ref>{{cite book |title=Istorija na Balkanite XIV–XX vek |last=Castellan |first=Georges |others=trans. Liljana Caneva |year=1999 |publisher=Hermes |location=[[Plovdiv]] |isbn=954-459-901-0 |language=bg |page=37 }}</ref>

=== Bogomilism ===
{{main|Bogomilism}}
[[File:Bogomilist expansion.svg|alt=A map of the Bogomilist expansion in Europe|thumb|Expansion of [[Bogomilism]] in medieval Europe]]
During the reign of Emperor Peter{{nbsp}}I (r.{{nbsp}}927–969) a [[Heresy|heretical]] movement known as [[Bogomilism]] arose in Bulgaria. The heresy was named after its founder the priest [[Bogomil (priest)|Bogomil]] whose name can be translated as dear (''mil'') to God (''Bog''). The main sources about Bogomilism in Bulgaria come from a letter of the Ecumenical Patriarch [[Theophylact of Constantinople]] to Peter I (c.{{nbsp}}940), a treatise by [[Cosmas the Priest]] (c.{{nbsp}}970) and the anti-Bogomil council of Emperor [[Boril of Bulgaria]] (1211).<ref>{{harvnb|Fine|1991|p=172}}</ref> Bogomilism was a [[Christian Gnosticism|neo-Gnostic]] and [[Dualistic cosmology|dualist]] sect that believed that God had two sons, [[Jesus Christ]] and [[Satan]], that represented the two principles [[good and evil]].<ref name="fine176">{{harvnb|Fine|1991|p=176}}</ref> God had created light and the invisible world, while Satan rebelled and created darkness, the material world and man.<ref name="fine176"/><ref name="Kazhdan301">{{harvnb|Kazhdan|1991|p=301}}</ref>

===Decline=== 
After Simeon's death, Bulgaria was weakened by external and internal wars with [[Croatians]], [[Magyars]], [[Pecheneg]]s and [[Serb]]s and the spread of the [[Bogomilism|Bogomil heresy]].<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/84090/Bulgaria/42725/The-spread-of-Christianity Reign of Simeon I], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 4 December 2011. Quote: ''Under Simeon's successors Bulgaria was beset by internal dissension provoked by the spread of Bogomilism (a dualist religious sect) and by assaults from Magyars, Pechenegs, the Rus, and Byzantines.''</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Browning|first=Robert|title=Byzantium and Bulgaria|year=1975|publisher=Temple Smith|pages=[https://archive.org/details/byzantiumbulgari0000brow/page/194 194–5]|isbn=0-85117-064-1|url=https://archive.org/details/byzantiumbulgari0000brow/page/194}}</ref> Two consecutive [[Kievan Rus'|Rus']] and Byzantine invasions resulted in the seizure of the capital [[Preslav]] by the Byzantine army in 971.<ref>Leo Diaconus: [http://oldru.narod.ru/biblio/ldt6_10.htm ''Historia''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510074337/http://oldru.narod.ru/biblio/ldt6_10.htm |date=2011-05-10 }}, Historical Resources on Kievan Rus. Retrieved 4 December 2011. Quote:''Так в течение двух дней был завоеван и стал владением ромеев город Преслава.'' (in Russian)</ref> Under [[Samuel of Bulgaria|Samuil]], Bulgaria somewhat recovered from these attacks and managed to conquer Serbia and [[Duklja]].<ref>[http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus6/Dukljanin/frametext.htm Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja], full translation in Russian. Vostlit - Eastern Literature Resources. Retrieved 4 December 2011. Quote: ''В то время пока Владимир был юношей и правил на престоле своего отца, вышеупомянутый Самуил собрал большое войско и прибыл в далматинские окраины, в землю короля Владимира.'' (in Russian)</ref>

[[File:RizMap10.jpg|thumb|Bulgaria under the rule of Tsar [[Samuel of Bulgaria|Samuil]]]]

In 986, the Byzantine emperor [[Basil II]] undertook a campaign to conquer Bulgaria. After a war lasting several decades he inflicted a decisive defeat upon the Bulgarians in 1014 and completed the campaign four years later. In 1018, after the death of the last Bulgarian Tsar - [[Ivan Vladislav]], most of Bulgaria's nobility chose to join the Eastern Roman Empire.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.liternet.bg/publish13/p_pavlov/buntari/zagovorite.htm|title= Заговорите на "магистър Пресиан Българина"|author= Pavlov, Plamen|year= 2005|work= Бунтари и авантюристи в Средновековна България|publisher= LiterNet|access-date=22 October 2011|quote=И така, през пролетта на 1018 г. "партията на капитулацията" надделяла, а Василий II безпрепятствено влязъл в тогавашната българска столица Охрид.}} (in Bulgarian)</ref> However, Bulgaria lost its independence and remained subject to Byzantium for more than a century and a half. With the collapse of the state, the Bulgarian church fell under the domination of Byzantine ecclesiastics who took control of the Ohrid Archbishopric.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/84090/Bulgaria/42724/The-first-Bulgarian-empire|title=Bulgaria - history - geography|date=23 August 2023 }}</ref>

==Bulgaria under Byzantine rule (1018–1185)==
{{Main|Bulgaria (theme)|Paristrion|Strymon (theme)|Thrace (theme)|Macedonia (theme)}}
[[File:Byzantine Macedonia 1045CE.svg|thumb|300px|Administrative divisions of the [[Byzantine Empire]] in the Balkans c. 1045]]
No evidence remains of major resistance or any uprising of the Bulgarian population or nobility in the first decade after the establishment of [[Byzantine Bulgaria|Byzantine rule]]. Given the existence of such irreconcilable opponents to the Byzantines as [[Krakra of Pernik|Krakra]], [[Nikulitsa of Bulgaria|Nikulitsa]], Dragash and others, such apparent passivity seems difficult to explain. Some historians<ref name="Zlatarski">
Zlatarski, vol. II, pp. 1–41
</ref>
explain this as a consequence of the concessions that [[Basil II]] granted the Bulgarian nobility to gain their allegiance.

Basil II guaranteed the indivisibility of Bulgaria in its former geographic borders and did not officially abolish the local rule of the Bulgarian nobility, who became part of [[Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy|Byzantine aristocracy]] as [[archon]]s or [[strategos|strategoi]]. Secondly, special charters (royal decrees) of Basil II recognised the [[autocephaly]] of the [[Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid]] and set up its boundaries, securing the continuation of the [[diocese]]s already existing under Samuil, their property and other privileges.<ref>Averil Cameron, ''The Byzantines'', Blackwell Publishing (2006), p. 170</ref>

After the death of Basil II the empire entered into a period of instability. In 1040, [[Peter Delyan]] organized a large-scale rebellion, but failed to restore the Bulgarian state and was killed. Shortly after, the [[Komnenos dynasty]] came into succession and halted the [[Decline of the Byzantine Empire|decline of the empire]]. During this time the Byzantine state experienced a century of stability and progress.

In 1180 the last of the capable Komnenoi, [[Manuel I Komnenos]], died and was replaced by the relatively incompetent [[Angeloi]] dynasty, allowing some Bulgarian nobles to organize an uprising. In 1185 Peter and [[Asen dynasty|Asen]], leading nobles of supposed and contested Bulgarian, Cuman, Vlach or mixed origin, led [[Vlach-Bulgarian Rebellion|a revolt against Byzantine rule]] and Peter declared himself Tsar [[Theodore Peter of Bulgaria|Peter II]]. The following year, the Byzantines were forced to recognize Bulgaria's independence. Peter styled himself "Tsar of the Bulgars, Greeks and [[Wallachia]]ns".

==Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396)==
{{Main|Second Bulgarian Empire}}

[[File:Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1196).png|thumb|Second Bulgarian Empire in the period 1185-1196]]

[[File:Tsar Ivan Asen II cropped.png|thumb|200px|[[Ivan Asen II]]]]
[[File:Bulgaria-Iván Asen-es.svg|thumb|Bulgaria under Tsar Ivan Asen II (1218 - 1241)]]
Resurrected Bulgaria occupied the territory between the [[Black Sea]], the [[Danube]] and [[Stara Planina]], including a part of eastern [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], [[Belgrade]] and the valley of the [[Great Morava|Morava]]. It also exercised control over [[Wallachia]]<ref name=asen>{{cite web |title=Войните на цар Калоян (1197–1207 г.) (in Bulgarian) |url=http://anamnesis.info/resources/Voinite_na_Car_Kaloqn_1197-1207.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://anamnesis.info/resources/Voinite_na_Car_Kaloqn_1197-1207.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live }}</ref> Tsar [[Kaloyan]] (1197–1207) entered a union with the [[Papacy]], thereby securing the recognition of his title of "[[monarch|Rex]]" ([[King]]) although he desired to be recognized as "[[Emperor]]" or "[[Tsar]]" of Bulgarians and Vlachs. He waged wars on the [[Byzantine Empire]] and (after 1204) on the Knights of the [[Fourth Crusade]], conquering large parts of [[Thrace]], the [[Rhodopes]], Bohemia, and Moldavia as well as the whole of [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]].

In the [[Battle of Adrianople (1205)|Battle of Adrianople]] in 1205, Kaloyan defeated the forces of the [[Latin Empire]] and thus limited its power from the very first year of its establishment. The power of the Hungarians and to some extent the Serbs prevented significant expansion to the west and north-west. Under [[Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria|Ivan Asen II]] (1218–1241), Bulgaria once again became a regional power, occupying [[Belgrade]] and [[Albania]]. In an inscription from Turnovo in 1230 he entitled himself "In Christ the Lord faithful Tsar and autocrat of the Bulgarians, son of the old Asen".

The Bulgarian Orthodox [[Patriarchate]] was restored in 1235 with approval of all eastern Patriarchates, thus putting an end to the union with the [[Papacy]]. Ivan Asen II had a reputation as a wise and humane ruler, and opened relations with the [[Catholic]] west, especially [[Venice]] and [[Genoa]], to reduce the influence of the Byzantines over his country. Tarnovo became a major economic and religious centre—a "[[Third Rome]]", unlike the already declining Constantinople.<ref>{{cite book |title=ESSENTIAL HISTORY OF BULGARIA IN SEVEN PAGES |last=Ivanov |first=Lyubomir |year=2007 |publisher=Bulgarian Academy of Sciences |location=Sofia |page=4 |url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Essential_History_of_Bulgaria_in_Seven_Pages |access-date=26 October 2011|quote= The capital Tarnovo became a political, economic, cultural and religious center seen as 'the Third Rome' in contrast to Constantinople's decline after the Byzantine heartland in Asia Minor was lost to the Turks during the late 11th century.}}</ref> As [[Simeon I of Bulgaria|Simeon the Great]] during the first empire, Ivan Asen II expanded the territory to the coasts of three seas ([[Adriatic]], [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] and [[Black Sea|Black]]), annexed [[Kıyıköy|Medea]] - the last fortress before the walls of [[Constantinople]], unsuccessfully besieged the city in 1235 and restored the destroyed since 1018 [[Bulgarian Patriarchate]].

The country's military and economic might declined after the end of the Asen dynasty in 1257, facing internal conflicts, constant Byzantine and Hungarian attacks and [[Mongol invasion of Europe|Mongol domination]].<ref name=EB1911 /><ref>[http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Mongolia.html The Golden Horde] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916221127/http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Mongolia.html |date=2011-09-16 }}, Library of Congress Mongolia country study. Retrieved 4 December 2011. Quote:"The Mongols maintained sovereignty over eastern Russia from 1240 to 1480, and they controlled the upper Volga area, the territories of the former Volga Bulghar state, Siberia, the northern Caucasus, '''Bulgaria (for a time)''', the Crimea, and Khwarizm".</ref> Tsar [[Theodore Svetoslav of Bulgaria|Teodore Svetoslav]] (reigned 1300–1322) restored Bulgarian prestige from 1300 onwards, but only temporarily. Political instability continued to grow, and Bulgaria gradually began to lose territory. This led to a peasant rebellion led by the swineherd [[Ivaylo of Bulgaria|Ivaylo]], who eventually managed to defeat the Tsar's forces and ascend the throne.

===Ottoman incursions===

[[File:Feudal fragmentation of Bulgaria and fall under Ottoman rule.png|thumb|Feudal fragmentation of [[Second Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]] and fall under Ottoman rule]]

A weakened 14th-century Bulgaria faced a new threat from the south, the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]], who crossed into Europe in 1354. By 1371, factional divisions between [[boyars|the feudal landlords]] and the spread of [[Bogomilism]] had caused the Second Bulgarian Empire to split into three small tsardoms—[[Tsardom of Vidin|Vidin]], [[Second Bulgarian Empire#Ivan Alexander and fall of Bulgaria|Tarnovo]] and [[Despotate of Dobruja|Karvuna]]—and several semi-independent principalities that fought among themselves, and also with Byzantines, Hungarians, Serbs, [[Venetian Republic|Venetians]] and [[Genoese Republic|Genoese]].

The Ottomans faced little resistance from these divided and weak Bulgarian states. In 1362 they captured Philippopolis ([[Plovdiv]]), and in 1382 they took Sofia. The Ottomans then turned their attentions to the Serbs, whom they routed at [[Battle of Kosovo Polje|Kosovo Polje]] in 1389. In 1393 the Ottomans occupied [[Tarnovo]] after a three-month siege. In 1396 the Tsardom of [[Vidin]] was also invaded, bringing the Second Bulgarian Empire and Bulgarian independence to an end.

==Bulgaria under Ottoman rule (1396–1878)==
{{Main|Ottoman Bulgaria}}

In 1393, the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] captured Tarnovo, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, after a three-month siege. In 1396, the Vidin Tsardom fell after the defeat of a Christian [[crusade]] at the [[Battle of Nicopolis]]. With this the Ottomans finally subjugated and occupied Bulgaria.<ref name = "xixcnf">
[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ylz4fe7757cC R.J. Crampton, A Concise History of Bulgaria, 1997, Cambridge University Press] {{ISBN|0-521-56719-X}}
</ref>
<ref>
[[Lord Kinross]], ''The Ottoman Centuries'', Morrow QuillPaperback Edition, 1979
</ref><ref name = "xouksi">
D. Hupchick, The Balkans, 2002
</ref>
A [[Poland|Polish]]-[[Hungary|Hungarian]] crusade commanded by [[Władysław III of Poland]] set out to free Bulgaria and the Balkans in 1444, but the Turks emerged victorious at the [[battle of Varna]].

[[File:Chelebowski varna.jpg|thumb|250px|''The Battle of Varna'' by [[Stanisław Chlebowski]]]]
The new authorities dismantled Bulgarian institutions and merged the separate [[Bulgarian Church]] into the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople|Ecumenical Patriarchate]] in [[Constantinople]] (although a small, autocephalous Bulgarian archbishopric of [[Ohrid]] survived until January 1767). Turkish authorities destroyed most of the medieval Bulgarian fortresses to prevent rebellions. Large towns and the areas where Ottoman power predominated remained severely depopulated until the 19th century.<ref name=Dimitrov1>
Bojidar Dimitrov: ''Bulgaria Illustrated History''. BORIANA Publishing House 2002, {{ISBN|954-500-044-9}}
</ref>{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}

[[File:Rumelia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire (1609).png|thumb|[[Rumelia Eyalet]] in 1609 with capital [[Sofia]] from 1530 to 1836]]

The Ottomans did not normally require the Christians to become Muslims. Nevertheless, there were many cases of forced individual or mass Islamization, especially in the [[Rhodopes]]. Bulgarians who converted to Islam, the [[Pomaks]], retained Bulgarian language, dress and some customs compatible with Islam.<ref name = "xixcnf"/><ref name = "xouksi"/>{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}.

The Ottoman system began declining by the 17th century and at the end of the 18th had all but collapsed. Central government weakened over the decades and this had allowed a number of local Ottoman holders of large estates to establish personal ascendancy over separate regions.<ref>
Kemal H. Karpat, ''Social Change and Politics in Turkey: A Structural-Historical Analysis'', BRILL, 1973, {{ISBN|90-04-03817-5}}, pp.&nbsp;36–39
</ref> During the last two decades of the 18th and first decades of the 19th centuries the Balkan Peninsula dissolved into virtual anarchy.<ref name = "xixcnf"/><ref name="ReferenceA">Dennis P. Hupchick: ''The Balkans: from Constantinople to Communism'', 2002</ref>

Bulgarian tradition calls this period the ''kurdjaliistvo'': armed bands of Turks called ''[[Kirdzhalis|kurdjalii]]'' plagued the area. In many regions, thousands of peasants fled from the countryside either to local towns or (more commonly) to the hills or forests; some even fled beyond the [[Danube]] to [[Moldova]], [[Wallachia]] or southern [[Russia]].<ref name = "xixcnf"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/> The decline of Ottoman authorities also allowed a gradual [[National awakening of Bulgaria|revival of Bulgarian culture]], which became a key component in the ideology of national liberation.

[[File:Vasil Levski.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Vasil Levski]], key figure of the revolutionary movement and national hero of Bulgaria]]
Conditions gradually improved in certain areas in the 19th century. Some towns — such as [[Gabrovo]], [[Tryavna]], [[Karlovo]], [[Koprivshtitsa]], [[Lovech]], [[Skopie]] — prospered. The Bulgarian peasants actually possessed their land, although it officially belonged to the sultan. The 19th century also brought improved communications, transportation and trade. The first factory in the Bulgarian lands opened in [[Sliven]] in 1834 and the first railway system started running (between [[Rousse]] and [[Varna, Bulgaria|Varna]]) in 1865.

Bulgarian nationalism was emergent 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 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 [[firman]] and the first Bulgarian Exarch, [[Antim I]], became the natural leader of the emerging nation. The Constantinople Patriarch reacted by [[excommunication|excommunicating]] the Bulgarian Exarchate, which reinforced their will for independence. A struggle for political liberation from the Ottoman Empire emerged in the face of the [[Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee]] and the [[Internal Revolutionary Organisation]] led by liberal revolutionaries such as [[Vasil Levski]], [[Hristo Botev]] and [[Lyuben Karavelov]].

===April Uprising and Russo-Turkish War (1870s)===
[[File:Vsemirnaya Illyustratsia Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) 03.jpg|thumb|In 1877, Russian general [[Iosif Gurko]] liberated [[Veliko Tarnovo]], ending the 480-year rule of the Ottoman Empire.]]

[[File:April Uprising.png|thumb|April Uprising]]

In April 1876, the Bulgarians revolted in the [[April Uprising]]. The revolt was poorly organized and started before the planned date. It was largely confined to the region of [[Plovdiv]], though certain districts in northern Bulgaria, in Macedonia, and in the area of [[Sliven]] also took part. The uprising was crushed by the Ottomans, who brought in irregular troops ([[bashi-bazouk]]s) from outside the area. Countless villages were pillaged and tens of thousands of people were massacred, the majority of them in the insurgent towns of [[Batak, Bulgaria|Batak]], [[Perushtitsa]], and [[Bratsigovo]], all in the area of Plovdiv.

[[File:Konstantin_Makovsky_-_The_Bulgarian_martyresses.jpg|thumbnail|left|''The Bulgarian Martyresses'' by [[Konstantin Makovsky]], 1877]]
The massacres aroused a broad public reaction among liberal Europeans such as [[William Ewart Gladstone]], who launched a campaign against the "Bulgarian Horrors". The campaign was supported by many European intellectuals and public figures. The strongest reaction, however, came from Russia. The enormous public outcry which the April Uprising had caused in Europe led to the [[Constantinople Conference]] of the [[Great Powers]] in 1876–77.

Turkey's refusal to implement the decisions of the conference gave Russia a long-waited chance to realise her long-term objectives with regard to the Ottoman Empire. Having its reputation at stake, Russia [[Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878|declared war on the Ottomans]] in April 1877. The Bulgarians also fought alongside the advancing Russians. Russia established [[Provisional Russian Administration in Bulgaria|a provisional government in Bulgaria]]. The Russian army and the Bulgarian Opalchentsi decisively defeated the Ottomans at [[Battle of Shipka Pass|Shipka Pass]] and [[Battle of Pleven|Pleven]]. By January 1878 they had liberated much of the Bulgarian lands. (See [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)]].)

==Third Bulgarian State (1878–1946)==
{{Main|History of Bulgaria (1878–1946)|Principality of Bulgaria|Kingdom of Bulgaria}}
[[File:Bulgaria San Stefano Berlin 1878 TB.png|thumb|300px|The borders of Bulgaria according to the Preliminary [[Treaty of San Stefano]] and the subsequent [[Treaty of Berlin (1878)]]]]
The [[Treaty of San Stefano]] was signed on 3 March 1878 and set up an autonomous [[Principality of Bulgaria|Bulgarian principality]] on the territories of the Second Bulgarian Empire, including the regions of [[Moesia]], [[Thrace]] and [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]],<ref name="San Stefano">[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+bg0033) San Stefano, Berlin, and Independence], Library of Congress Country Study. Retrieved 4 December 2011</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Blamires |first=Cyprian |title=World Fascism: A historical encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2006 |isbn=1-57607-941-4 |page=107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nvD2rZSVau4C&pg=PA107 |access-date=10 November 2011|quote=The "Greater Bulgaria" re-established in March 1878 on the lines of the medieval Bulgarian empire after liberation from Turkish rule did not last long.}}</ref> though the state was ''[[de jure]]'' only autonomous but ''[[de facto]]'' functioned independently. However, trying to preserve the balance of power in Europe and fearing the establishment of a large Russian client state in the Balkans, the other [[Great Powers]] were reluctant to agree to the treaty.<ref name="San Stefano"/>

As a result, the [[Treaty of Berlin, 1878|Treaty of Berlin]] (1878), under the supervision of [[Otto von Bismarck]] of Germany and [[Benjamin Disraeli]] of Britain, revised the earlier treaty, and scaled back the proposed Bulgarian state. The new territory of Bulgaria was limited between the Danube and the [[Stara Planina]] range, with its seat at the old Bulgarian capital of [[Veliko Turnovo]] and including [[Sofia]]. This revision left large populations of ethnic Bulgarians outside the new country and defined Bulgaria's militaristic approach to foreign affairs and its participation in four wars during the first half of the 20th century.<ref name="San Stefano"/><ref>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+bg0013) Historical Setting], The Library of Congress. Retrieved 4 December 2011</ref><ref name=BBCProfile>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1061402.stm|work=BBC News|access-date=7 October 2010|title=Timeline: Bulgaria – A chronology of key events|date=6 May 2010}}</ref>

[[Alexander of Battenberg]], a German with close ties to the Russian Tsar, was the first prince (knyaz) of modern Bulgaria from 1879. Everyone had assumed Bulgaria would become a Russian ally.  To the contrary, it became a bulwark against Russian expansion, and cooperated with the British.<ref>K. Theodore Hoppen, ''The Mid-Victorian generation, 1846–1886'' (1998) pp 625–26.</ref>  Bulgaria [[Serbo-Bulgarian War|was attacked by Serbia in 1885]], but defeated the invaders. It thereby gained respect from the great powers and defied Russia.  In response Russia secured the abdication of Prince Alexander in 1886.<ref>L.S. Stavrianos, ''The Balkans since 1453'' (1958) pp 425-47.</ref>

[[Stefan Stambolov]] (1854–1895) served 1886-1894 first as regent and then prime minister for the new ruler, [[Ferdinand I of Bulgaria]] (prince 1887–1908, tsar 1908–1918). Stambolov believed that Russia's liberation of Bulgaria from Turkish rule had been an attempt by Czarist Russia to turn Bulgaria into its protectorate.  His policy was characterized by the goal of preserving Bulgarian independence at all costs, working with both the Liberal majority and Conservative minority parties. During his leadership Bulgaria was transformed from an Ottoman province into a modern European state.  Stambolov launched a new course in Bulgarian foreign policy, independent of the interests of any great power. His main foreign policy objective was the unification of the Bulgarian nation into a nation-state consisting of all the territories of the [[Bulgarian Exarchate]] granted by the Sultan in 1870. Stambolov established close connections with the Sultan in order to enliven Bulgarian national spirit in Macedonia and to oppose Russian-backed Greek and Serbian propaganda. As a result of Stambolov's tactics, the Sultan recognised Bulgarians as the predominant people in Macedonia and gave a green light to the creation of a strong church and cultural institutions. Stambolov negotiated loans with western European countries to develop the economic and military strength of Bulgaria. In part, this was motivated by his desire to create a modern army which could secure all of the national territory.  His approach toward western Europe was one of diplomatic manoeuvring. He understood the interests of the Austrian Empire in Macedonia and warned his diplomats accordingly. His domestic policy was distinguished by the defeat of terrorist groups sponsored by Russia, the strengthening of the rule of law, and rapid economic and educational growth, leading to progressive social and cultural change, and development of a modern army capable of protecting Bulgaria's independence.  Stambolov was aware that Bulgaria had to be politically, militarily, and economically strong to achieve national unification. He mapped out the political course which turned Bulgaria into a strong regional power, respected by the great powers of the day. However, Bulgaria's regional leadership was short-lived. After Stambolov's death the independent course of his policy was abandoned.<ref>Duncan M. Perry, ''Stefan Stambolov and the emergence of modern Bulgaria, 1870-1895'' (Duke University Press, 1993).</ref>

Bulgaria emerged from Turkish rule as a poor, underdeveloped agricultural country, with little industry or tapped natural resources. Most of the land was owned by small farmers, with peasants comprising 80% of the population of 3.8 million in 1900. [[Agrarianism]] was the dominant political philosophy in the countryside, as the peasantry organized a movement independent of any existing party. In 1899, the Bulgarian Agrarian Union was formed, bringing together rural intellectuals such as teachers with ambitious peasants. It promoted modern farming practices, as well as elementary education.<ref>John Bell, "The Genesis of Agrarianism in Bulgaria," ''Balkan Studies,'' (1975) 16#2 pp&nbsp;73–92</ref>

The government promoted modernization, with special emphasis on building a network of elementary and secondary schools. By 1910, there were 4,800 elementary schools, 330 lyceums, 27 post-secondary educational institutions, and 113 vocational schools. From 1878 to 1933, France funded numerous libraries, research institutes, and Catholic schools throughout Bulgaria. In 1888, a university was established. It was renamed the [[University of Sofia]] in 1904, where the three faculties of history and philology, physics and mathematics, and law produced civil servants for national and local government offices. It became the center of German and Russian intellectual, philosophical and theological influences.<ref>Nedyalka Videva, and Stilian Yotov, "European Moral Values and their Reception in Bulgarian Education," ''Studies in East European Thought,'' March 2001, Vol. 53 Issue 1/2, pp&nbsp;119–128</ref>

The first decade of the century saw sustained prosperity, with steady urban growth. The capital of Sofia grew by a factor of 600% - from 20,000 population in 1878 to 120,000 in 1912, primarily from peasants who arrived from the villages to become laborers, 
tradesman and office seekers. [[Macedonians (Bulgarians)|Macedonians]] used Bulgaria as a base, beginning in 1894, to agitate for independence from the Ottoman Empire. They launched a poorly planned uprising in 1903 that was brutally suppressed, and led to tens of thousands of additional refugees pouring into Bulgaria.<ref>Pundeff, 1992 pp&nbsp;65–70</ref>

===The Balkan Wars===
{{Main|Balkan Wars}}
[[File:First Balkan war.png|thumb|350px|Map of [[Balkan League]] operations in 1912, Bulgarian forces in red]]
In the years following independence, Bulgaria became increasingly militarized and was often referred to as the "[[Prussia]] of the Balkans", with regard to its desire to revise the Treaty of Berlin through warfare.<ref>{{cite book|last= Dillon|first= Emile Joseph|title= The Inside Story of the Peace Conference|url= http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/1/4/4/7/14477/14477-h/14477-h.htm|access-date= 15 June 2009|orig-year= 1920|date=February 1920|publisher= Harper|isbn=978-3-8424-7594-6|chapter= XV|quote= The territorial changes which the Prussia of the Balkans was condemned to undergo are neither very considerable nor unjust.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Pinon|first=Rene|title=L'Europe et la Jeune Turquie: les aspects nouveaux de la question d'Orient|year=1913|publisher=Perrin et cie|location=Paris|isbn=978-1-144-41381-9<!-- (Nabu Press Edition)-->|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xL9DAAAAYAAJ&q=prusse+des+balkans|quote=On a dit souvent de la Bulgarie qu'elle est la Prusse des Balkans|language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=И аз на тоя свят. Спомени от разни времена |last=Balabanov|first=A. |year=1983 |pages=72–361}} (in Bulgarian)</ref> The partition of territories in the Balkans by the Great Powers without regard to ethnic composition led to a wave of discontent not only in Bulgaria, but also in its neighbouring countries. In 1911, Nationalist Prime Minister [[Ivan Geshov]] formed an alliance with Greece and Serbia to jointly attack the Ottomans and revise the existing agreements around ethnic lines.<ref name="Pundeff, 1992 pp 70-72">Pundeff, 1992 pp&nbsp;70–72</ref>

In February 1912 a secret treaty was signed between Bulgaria and Serbia and in May 1912 a similar agreement was sealed with Greece. [[Kingdom of Montenegro|Montenegro]] was also brought into the pact. The treaties provided for the partition of the regions of Macedonia and Thrace between the allies, although the lines of partition were left dangerously vague. After the Ottoman Empire refused to implement reforms in the disputed areas, the First Balkan War broke out in October 1912 at a time when the Ottomans were tied down in [[Italo-Turkish War|a major war with Italy in Libya]]. The allies easily defeated the Ottomans and seized most of its European territory.<ref name="Pundeff, 1992 pp 70-72"/>

Bulgaria sustained the heaviest casualties of any of the allies while also making the largest territorial claims. The Serbs in particular did not agree and refused to vacate any of the territory they had seized in northern Macedonia (that is, the territory roughly corresponding to the modern [[Republic of North Macedonia]]), saying that the Bulgarian army had failed to accomplish its pre-war goals at Adrianople (to capture it without Serbian help) and that the pre-war agreement on the division of Macedonia had to be revised. Some circles in Bulgaria inclined toward going to war with Serbia and Greece on this issue.

In June 1913, Serbia and Greece formed a new alliance against Bulgaria. The Serbian Prime Minister [[Nikola Pasic]] promised Greece Thrace to Greece [no reference] if it helped Serbia defend the territory it had captured in Macedonia; the Greek Prime Minister [[Eleftherios Venizelos]] agreed [no reference]. Seeing this as a violation of the pre-war agreements, and privately encouraged by Germany and [[Austria-Hungary]], Tsar [[Ferdinand of Bulgaria|Ferdinand]] declared war on Serbia and Greece on June 29.

The Serbian and Greek forces were initially beaten back from Bulgaria's western border, but they quickly gained the advantage and forced Bulgaria to retreat. The fighting was very harsh, with many casualties, especially during the key Battle of Bregalnitsa. Soon afterward, the [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]] entered the war on the side of Greece and Serbia, attacking Bulgaria from the north. The Ottoman Empire saw this as an opportunity to regain its lost territories and also attacked from the south-east.

Facing war on three different fronts, Bulgaria sued for peace. It was forced to relinquish most of its territorial acquisitions in Macedonia to Serbia and Greece, Adrianapole to the Ottoman Empire, and the region of [[Southern Dobruja]] to Romania. The two Balkan wars greatly destabilized Bulgaria, stopping its hitherto steady economic growth, and leaving 58,000 dead and over 100,000 wounded. The bitterness at the perceived betrayal of its former allies empowered political movements who demanded the restoration of Macedonia to Bulgaria.<ref>Charles Jelavich and Barbara Jelavich, ''The Establishment of the Balkan National States, 1804–1920'' (1977) pp&nbsp;216–21, 289</ref>

===World War I===
{{Main|Bulgaria during World War I}}
[[File:Bulgarian soldiers with wire cutters WWI (contrasted).jpg|thumb|250px|Bulgarian soldiers cutting enemy barbed wire and preparing to advance, probably 1917]]
In the aftermath of the Balkan Wars Bulgarian opinion turned against Russia and the Western powers, by whom the Bulgarians felt betrayed. 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.

Bulgaria sat out the first year of [[World War I]] recuperating from the Balkan Wars.<ref>Richard C. Hall, "Bulgaria in the First World War," ''Historian,'' (Summer 2011) 73#2 pp&nbsp;300–315</ref> Germany and Austria realized they needed Bulgaria's help in order to defeat Serbia militarily thereby opening supply lines from Germany to Turkey and bolstering the Eastern Front against Russia. Bulgaria insisted on major territorial gains, especially Macedonia, which Austria was reluctant to grant until Berlin insisted. Bulgaria also negotiated with the Allies, who offered somewhat less generous terms. The Tsar decided to go with Germany and Austria and signed an alliance with them in September 1915, along with a special Bulgarian-Turkish arrangement. It envisioned that Bulgaria would dominate the Balkans after the war.<ref>Charles Jelavich and Barbara Jelavich, ''The Establishment of the Balkan National States, 1804–1920'' (1977) pp&nbsp;289–90</ref>

Bulgaria, which had the land force in the Balkans, declared war on Serbia in October 1915. Britain, France and Italy responded by declaring war on Bulgaria. In alliance with Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans, Bulgaria won military victories against Serbia and Romania, occupying much of Macedonia (taking [[Skopje]] in October), advancing into Greek Macedonia, and taking Dobruja from Romania in September 1916. Thus Serbia was temporarily knocked out of the war, and Turkey was temporarily rescued from collapse.<ref>Gerard E. Silberstein, "The Serbian Campaign of 1915: Its Diplomatic Background," ''American Historical Review,'' October 1967, Vol. 73 Issue 1, pp&nbsp;51–69 [https://www.jstor.org/pss/1849028 in JSTOR]</ref> By 1917, Bulgaria fielded more than a quarter of its 4.5 million population in a 1,200,000-strong army,<ref>{{cite book| last1=Tucker| first1=Spencer C| last2=Roberts| first2=Priscilla Mary| title=Encyclopedia of World War I| publisher=ABC-Clio| year=2005| page=273| isbn=1-85109-420-2| oclc=61247250}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cepr.org/meets/wkcn/1/1699/papers/Broadberry_Klein.pdf |title=Aggregate and per capita GDP in Europe, 1870–2000: Continental, regional and national data with changing boundaries |last1=Broadberry |first1=Stephen |last2=Klein |first2=Alexander |date=8 February 2008 |publisher=Department of Economics at the University of Warwick, Coventry |access-date=8 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622094503/http://www.cepr.org/meets/wkcn/1/1699/papers/Broadberry_Klein.pdf |archive-date=22 June 2012 }}</ref> and inflicted heavy losses on [[Serbia]] ([[Battle of Kaymakchalan|Kaymakchalan]]), [[Great Britain]] ([[Battle of Doiran (1917)|Doiran]]), [[France]] ([[Battle of Monastir (1917)|Monastir]]), the [[Russian Empire]] ([[Battle of Dobrich|Dobrich]]) and the [[Kingdom of Romania]] ([[Battle of Turtucaia|Tutrakan]]).

However, the war soon became unpopular with most Bulgarians, who suffered great economic hardship and also disliked fighting their fellow Orthodox Christians in alliance with the Muslim Ottomans. The Agrarian Party leader [[Aleksandur Stamboliyski]] was imprisoned in 1915 for his opposition to the war. The [[February Revolution|Russian Revolution]] of February 1917 had a great effect in Bulgaria, spreading anti-war and anti-monarchist sentiment among the troops and in the cities. In June Radoslavov's government resigned. Mutinies broke out in the army, Stamboliyski was released and a republic was proclaimed.

===Interwar years===
In September 1918, Tsar Ferdinand abdicated in favour of his son [[Boris III of Bulgaria|Boris III]] in order to head off anti-monarchic revolutionary tendencies. Under the [[Treaty of Neuilly]] (November 1919) Bulgaria ceded its [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] coastline to Greece, recognized the existence of [[Yugoslavia]], ceded nearly all of its Macedonian territory to the [[Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes]], and had to give Dobruja back to Romania. The country had to reduce its army to no more than 22,000 men and pay reparations exceeding $400 million. Bulgarians generally refer to the results of the treaty as the "Second National Catastrophe."<ref>{{cite book|author=Raymond Detrez|title=Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hywaBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA346|year=2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=346|isbn=9781442241800}}</ref>
[[File:BASA-3K-7-342-28-Boris III of Bulgaria.jpeg|thumb|upright|Tsar Boris III]]
Elections in March 1920 gave the [[Bulgarian Agrarian National Union|Agrarians]] a large majority and [[Aleksandar Stamboliyski]] formed Bulgaria's first peasant government. He faced huge social problems, but succeeded in carrying out many reforms, although opposition from the middle and upper classes, the landlords and officers of the army remained powerful. In March 1923, Stamboliyski signed an agreement with the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]] recognising the new border and agreeing to suppress [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] (VMRO), which favoured a war to regain Macedonia from Yugoslavia.<ref name="John D. Bell 1977">John D. Bell, ''Peasants in Power: Alexander Stamboliski and the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union, 1899–1923'' (1977)</ref>

This triggered a nationalist reaction and [[Bulgarian coup d'état of 1923|the coup d'état]] of 9 June 1923 eventually resulted in Stamboliykski's assassination. An extreme right-wing government under [[Aleksandar Tsankov]] took power, backed by the army and VMRO, which waged a [[White Terror (Bulgaria)|White terror]] against Agrarians and Communists. In 1926, after the brief [[Incident at Petrich]], the Tsar persuaded Tsankov to resign, a more moderate government under [[Andrey Lyapchev]] took office and an amnesty was proclaimed<!--by whom?-->, although the Communists remained banned. A popular alliance, including the re-organised Agrarians, won the elections of 1931 under the name "Popular Bloc".<ref name="John D. Bell 1977"/>

In May 1934 [[Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934|another coup]] took place, removing the Popular Bloc from power and establishing an authoritarian military régime headed by [[Kimon Georgiev]]. A year later, Tsar [[Boris III of Bulgaria|Boris]] managed to remove the military régime from power, restoring a form of parliamentary rule (without the re-establishment of the political parties) and under his own strict control. The Tsar's regime proclaimed neutrality, but gradually Bulgaria gravitated into alliance with [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Kingdom of Italy#Fascist regime (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]].

===World War II===
{{Main|Bulgaria during 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.{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} 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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=THE GERMAN CAMPAIGN IN THE BALKANS (SPRING 1941): PART I|url=https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/balkan/20_260_1.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225065044/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/balkan/20_260_1.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 25, 2007|access-date=2022-01-20|website=history.army.mil}}</ref> [[Turkey]] had a [[non-aggression pact]] with Bulgaria.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1941, The British Commonwealth; The Near East and Africa, Volume III - Office of the Historian|url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1941v03/d890|access-date=2022-01-20|website=history.state.gov}}</ref>

Bulgaria succeeded in negotiating a recovery of [[Southern Dobruja]], part of Romania since 1913, in the [[Axis Powers|Axis]]-sponsored [[Treaty of Craiova]] on 7 September 1940, which reinforced Bulgarian hopes for solving territorial problems without direct involvement in the war. However, Bulgaria was forced to join the Axis powers in 1941, when German troops that were preparing to [[Battle of Greece|invade Greece]] from Romania reached the Bulgarian borders and demanded permission to pass through Bulgarian territory. Threatened by direct military confrontation, Tsar Boris III had no choice but to join the fascist bloc, which was made official on 1 March 1941. There was little popular opposition, since the [[Soviet Union]] was in a [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|non-aggression pact with Germany]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bulgaria-embassy.org/History_of_Bulgaria.htm#BULGARIA%20DURING%20WORLD%20WAR%20II |title= History of Bulgaria|website=bulgaria-embassy.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101011003946/http://www.bulgaria-embassy.org/History_of_Bulgaria.htm |archive-date=2010-10-11}}</ref> However the king refused to hand over the Bulgarian Jews to the Nazis, saving 50,000 lives.<ref>[http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005355 BULGARIA] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926081523/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005355 |date=2011-09-26}} United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 1 April 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2010.</ref> Bulgaria [[Bulgarian rule of Macedonia, Morava Valley and Western Thrace (1941–1944)|sent occupation forces]] into eastern [[Serbia]], [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]] and northern [[Greece]] (territories it claimed as its own), where atrocities were committed and local Jews were sent to [[death camps]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Kassabov |first=Ognian |title=No, Bulgaria Doesn't Need to Bury the Communist Past |url=https://jacobin.com/2024/01/bulgaria-soviet-army-monument-dismantling-far-right |access-date= |website=jacobin.com |language=en-US}}</ref> A [[Bulgarian resistance movement during World War II|resistance movement]] organised to fight against the [[Wehrmacht]] forces in [[Bulgaria]] and the [[Third Bulgarian Empire|Tsardom of Bulgaria]] authorities. It was mainly [[communist]] and pro-[[Soviet Union]].

[[File:BGSoldiers1945.png|thumb|Bulgarian troops marching at a victory parade in Sofia celebrating the end of World War II, 1945]]
Bulgaria did not join the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]] that began on 22 June 1941 nor did it declare war on the Soviet Union. However, despite the lack of official declarations of war by both sides, the [[Bulgarian Navy]] was involved in a number of skirmishes with the [[Soviet Black Sea Fleet]], which attacked Bulgarian shipping. Besides this, Bulgarian armed forces garrisoned in the Balkans battled various resistance groups. The Bulgarian government was forced by Germany to declare a token war on the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[United States]] on 13 December 1941, an act which resulted in the [[Bombing of Sofia in World War II|bombing of Sofia]] and other Bulgarian cities by Allied aircraft.

On 23 August 1944, Romania left the Axis Powers and declared war on Germany, and allowed Soviet forces to cross its territory to reach Bulgaria. On 5 September 1944 the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria and invaded. Within three days, the Soviets occupied the northeastern part of Bulgaria along with the key port cities of [[Varna, Bulgaria|Varna]] and [[Burgas]]. Meanwhile, on 5 of September, Bulgaria declared war on Nazi Germany. The Bulgarian Army was ordered to offer no resistance.<ref name="Pavlowitch 2008 238–240">{{cite book |title=Hitler's new disorder: the Second World War in Yugoslavia |last=Pavlowitch |first=Stevan K.|year=2008 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-70050-4 |pages=238–240 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R8d2409V9tEC&q=puppet++State+in+Macedonia++1944+mihailov&pg=PA239}}</ref>

On 9 September 1944 in a [[Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944|coup]] the government of [[List of Prime Ministers of Bulgaria|Prime Minister]] [[Konstantin Muraviev]] was overthrown and replaced with a government of the [[Fatherland Front (Bulgaria)|Fatherland Front]] led by [[Kimon Georgiev]]. On 16 September 1944 the Soviet Red Army entered Sofia.<ref name="Pavlowitch 2008 238–240"/> In October 1944, mobilisation was ordered and Bulgaria sent three armies to fight under the operational command of the Red Army's [[3rd Ukrainian Front]] to repel the [[Wehrmacht]] across Central Europe.<ref name=":0" /> The Bulgarian Army marked several victories against the [[7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen]] (at [[Niš|Nish]]), the [[22nd (Air Borne) Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|22nd Infantry Division]] (at [[Strumica]]) and other German forces during the operations [[Kosovo Operation (1944)|in Kosovo]] and at Stratsin.<ref>Великите битки и борби на българите след освобождението, Световна библиотека, София, 2007, стр.73–74.</ref><ref name="Waffen-SS">{{cite book | last = Williamson | first = Gordon|author-link=Gordon Williamson (writer)| year = 2004 | title = The Waffen-SS (2) 6. to 10. Divisions | publisher = Osprey | page = 14 | isbn = 1-84176-590-2}}</ref> The Soviet army withdraws from Bulgaria after one year.<ref name=":0" />

==People's Republic of Bulgaria (1946–1991)==
{{Main|People's Republic of Bulgaria}}
[[File:Sofia, 1984.jpg|thumb|250px|Headquarters of the Bulgarian Communist party in 1984]]
From 1946 to 1991 the country was known as the People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB) and was ruled by the [[Bulgarian Communist Party]] (BCP), which underwent a transformation and changed its name to "[[Bulgarian Socialist Party]]" in 1990.

Communist leader [[Georgi Dimitrov]] had been in exile, mostly in the Soviet Union, since 1923. Although Stalin executed many other exiles, he was close to Dimitrov and thus appointed him to high positions. After Dimitrov was arrested in Berlin, he showed great courage during the [[Reichstag fire]] trial of 1933, which led to Stalin naming him head of the [[Comintern]] during the [[Popular Front]] period.<ref>Georgi Dimitrov, ''Dimitrov and Stalin: 1934-1943: letters from the Soviet archives'' (Yale University Press, 2000) p xix.</ref>

After 1944 Dimitrov also became close with the [[Yugoslav Communist]] leader [[Josip Broz Tito]], and believed that Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, as closely related South Slav peoples, should form a federation. This idea was not favoured by Stalin. There have long been suspicions that Dimitrov's sudden death in Moscow in July 1949 was not accidental, but this has never been proven. Dimitrov's death coincided with Stalin's expulsion of Tito from the [[Cominform]], and was followed by a "Titoist" witch hunt in Bulgaria. The witch hunt culminated in the [[show trial]] and execution of Deputy Prime Minister [[Traicho Kostov]] (died 16 December 1949). Once the elderly Prime Minister [[Vasil Kolarov]] (born 1877) died in January 1950, this seat was passed on to a Stalinist, [[Vulko Chervenkov]] (1900–1980).

Bulgaria's Stalinist phase lasted less than five years. Under Chervenkov's leadership, agriculture was collectivised and a massive industrialisation campaign was launched. Bulgaria also adopted a [[centrally planned economy]], similar to those in other [[COMECON]] states;  when [[collectivisation]] began in the mid-1940s, Bulgaria was a primarily agrarian state, with about 80% of its population located in rural areas.<ref>Valentino, Benjamin A (2005). Final solutions: mass killing and genocide in the twentieth century. Cornell University Press. pp. 91–151.</ref><ref>Rummel, Rudolph, Statistics of Democide, 1997.</ref> Although he broke off diplomatic relations with the U.S. in 1950, Chervenkov's support base in the Communist Party was too narrow for him to last long once Stalin, his patron, was no longer in charge. After Stalin's death in March 1953, Chervenkov was deposed as Party Secretary in March 1954 with the approval of the new leadership in Moscow, and [[Todor Zhivkov]] took his place. Chervenkov remained prime minister until April 1955, when he was dismissed and replaced by [[Anton Yugov]].

By the mid-1950s, living standards rose significantly, and in 1957 collective farm workers benefited from the first agricultural pension and welfare system in [[Eastern Europe]].<ref>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+bg0062) Domestic policy and its results], Library of Congress</ref> Bulgaria underwent rapid industrial development from the 1950s onwards. Starting with the 1960s, the country's economy appeared profoundly transformed. Despite the achievements of this modernisation, many difficulties remained, such as poor housing and inadequate urban infrastructure.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=How communist Bulgaria became a leader in tech and sci-fi &#124; Aeon Essays |url=https://aeon.co/essays/how-communist-bulgaria-became-a-leader-in-tech-and-sci-fi}}</ref> During this period, Zhivkov initiated various reforms and passed a few experimental market-oriented policies.<ref name="csecon">William Marsteller. "The Economy". [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/bgtoc.html Bulgaria country study] (Glenn E. Curtis, editor). [[Library of Congress]] [[Federal Research Division]] (June 1992)</ref> The country's production eventually turned to high technology, a sector which represented 14% of its GDP between 1985 and 1990. It hosted the factory production of processors, hard disks, floppy disk drives and industrial robots.<ref name=":1" /> 

[[Lyudmila Zhivkova]], politician and daughter of Todor Zhivkov, worked to promote Bulgaria's national heritage, culture and arts on a global scale.<ref>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+bg0068) The Political Atmosphere in the 1970s], Library of Congress</ref> An assimilation campaign of the late 1980s directed against ethnic Turks resulted in the emigration of some 300,000 [[Turks in Bulgaria|Bulgarian Turks]] to Turkey,<ref>
{{Cite news
 |first       = Celestine
 |last        = Bohlen
 |title       = Vote Gives Key Role to Ethnic Turks
 |url         = https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/17/world/bulgaria-vote-gives-key-role-to-ethnic-turks.html 
 |work        = [[The New York Times]]
 |date        = 1991-10-17
 |access-date  = 2009-07-15
 |quote       =...&nbsp;in the 1980s&nbsp;... the Communist leader, Todor Zhivkov, began a campaign of cultural assimilation that forced ethnic Turks to adopt Slavic names, closed their mosques and prayer houses and suppressed any attempts at protest. One result was the mass exodus of more than 300,000 ethnic Turks to neighboring Turkey in 1989&nbsp;... 
}}
</ref><ref>
[https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE55001C20090601 Cracks show in Bulgaria's Muslim ethnic model]. Reuters. May 31, 2009.
</ref> which caused a significant drop in agricultural production due to the loss of labor force.<ref name=cia1990>{{cite web|url=http://www.umsl.edu/services/govdocs/wofact90/world12.txt|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|access-date=2010-02-07|title=1990 CIA World Factbook|archive-date=2011-04-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427053700/http://www.umsl.edu/services/govdocs/wofact90/world12.txt|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Republic of Bulgaria (since 1989) ==
{{Main|History of Bulgaria since 1989}}

By the time the impact of [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]'s reform program in the Soviet Union was felt in Bulgaria in the late 1980s, the Bulgarian Communist Party had grown too weak to resist the demand for change. In November 1989 Sofia saw demonstrations relating to ecological issues, and these soon expanded into a broad campaign for political reform. The BCP reacted by deposing Zhivkov and replacing him with [[Petar Mladenov]], which resulted in only a short period of peace.

In February 1990 the BCP voluntarily gave up its monopoly on power, and in June the country held its first free election since 1931. In this election the BCP retained its position as Bulgaria's leading party, though not without shedding its hard-line wing, and adopted the name [[Bulgarian Socialist Party]] (BSP). In July 1991 a [[Constitution of Bulgaria|new Constitution]] was adopted, in which the system of government was fixed as a [[parliamentary republic]] with a [[Direct election|directly elected]] President, and a Prime Minister held accountable by the legislature.

[[File:Vladimir Putin in Bulgaria 17-18 January 2008-6.jpg|thumb|250px|President [[Georgi Parvanov]] (left) with Russian president [[Vladimir Putin]], 2008]]
Like other post-Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, Bulgaria found the transition to capitalism more troublesome than was expected. The anti-Communist [[Union of Democratic Forces (Bulgaria)|Union of Democratic Forces]] (UDF) took office in the next elections, and the [[Berov Government]] went through with the privatisation of land and industry between 1992 and 1994 through the issue of shares in government enterprises to all citizens. These were, however, accompanied by massive unemployment as uncompetitive industries failed and the backward state of Bulgaria's industry and infrastructure were revealed. BSP consequently campaigned on protecting the poor from the excesses of the free market.

Negative reactions to the economic reforms led to [[Zhan Videnov]] (BSP) taking the office of prime minister in 1995. By 1996 however the BSP government was also encountering difficulties, and UDF's [[Petar Stoyanov]] was elected president in the [[Bulgarian presidential election, 1996|election held that year]]. In 1997 the BSP government collapsed and the UDF came to power. Unemployment, however, remained high and the electorate became increasingly dissatisfied with both parties.

On 17 June 2001, [[Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha|Simeon II]], former [[Child monarch|child Tsar]] of Bulgaria (1943–1946) and son of [[Boris III of Bulgaria|Boris III]], won a narrow victory in parliamentary elections. Simeon's party — [[National Movement Simeon II]] ("NMSII") — won 120 of the 240 seats in Parliament. Despite this, Simeon's popularity declined quickly during his four-year rule as prime minister, and the BSP gained his seat back in the [[Bulgarian parliamentary election, 2005|2005 parliamentary election]]. The BSP, however, could not form a single-party government and had to seek a coalition. In the [[Bulgarian parliamentary election, 2009|2009 parliamentary elections]], [[Boyko Borisov]]'s right-centrist party [[Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria]] won nearly 40% of the vote.

Since the introduction of multi-party [[elections]] in 1989 and the privatization of its [[Economy of Bulgaria|economy]], economic difficulties and widespread corruption led to the emigration of over 800,000 Bulgarians, including many qualified [[profession]]als. The reform package introduced in 1997 restored positive economic growth, but caused a rise in social inequality, failing to improve living standards. According to a 2009 Pew Global Attitudes Project survey, 76% of Bulgarians said they were dissatisfied with the democratic system, 63% thought that free markets did not make people better off and only 11% of Bulgarians agreed that ordinary people had benefited from the changes in 1989.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/world/europe/11iht-bulgaria.html | work=The New York Times | title=Bulgaria Still Stuck in Trauma of Transition | first=Matthew | last=Brunwasser | date=November 11, 2009}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=December 2025}} Furthermore, the average quality of life and economic performance in the 2000s sunk lower than its level under socialism.<ref>[http://bg.mondediplo.com/article181.html Разрушителният български преход], October 1, 2007, ''Le Monde diplomatique'' (Bulgarian edition)</ref>

Bulgaria became a [[Enlargement of NATO|member of NATO on 29 March 2004]] and of the [[European Union]] on 1 January 2007. In 2010 it was ranked 32nd (between [[Greece]] and [[Lithuania]]) out of 181 countries in the [[Globalization Index]].<ref>''See [[Globalization Index]]''</ref> The freedom of speech and of the press are respected by the government (as of 2015), but many media outlets are beholden to major advertisers and owners with political agendas.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2015/bulgaria|title=Bulgaria|website=freedomhouse.org|access-date=2016-10-25|archive-date=2020-02-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206000036/https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2015/bulgaria|url-status=dead}}</ref> Also see [[Human rights in Bulgaria]]. Polls carried out seven years after the country's accession to the EU found only 15% of Bulgarians felt they had personally benefited from the membership.<ref>{{Cite news |last = Popkostadinova |first = Nikoleta |date = 3 March 2014 |title = Angry Bulgarians feel EU membership has brought few benefits |url = http://euobserver.com/eu-elections/123199 |work = [[EUobserver]] |access-date = 5 March 2014 }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Timeline of Bulgarian history]]
*[[Hominid dispersals in Europe]]
*[[Cradle of civilization]]
*[[Neolithic Revolution]]
*[[Neolithic Europe]]
*[[Thracians]]
*[[Moesi]]
*[[Getae]]
*[[List of ancient Daco-Thracian peoples and tribes]]
*[[Dacians]]
*[[Paeonia (kingdom)]]
*[[Scythians]]
*[[Classical Antiquity]]
*[[Timeline of Varna]]
*[[Philippopolis (Thrace)]]
*[[Celtic settlement of Southeast Europe]]
*[[List of archaeological sites by country]]
*[[History of Sofia]]
*[[Edict of Serdica]]
*[[Ancient Roman architecture]]
*[[Early centers of Christianity]]
*[[List of oldest known surviving buildings]]
*[[List of oldest church buildings]]
*[[Fresco]]
*[[Migration Period]]
*[[Gothic Bible]]
*[[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgarian Empire]]
*[[Golden Age of medieval Bulgarian culture]]
*[[Early Cyrillic alphabet]]
*[[Balkan–Danubian culture]]
*[[Bulgarian–Latin wars]]
*[[Tsarevets (fortress)]]
*[[Architecture of the Tarnovo Artistic School]]
*[[Tarnovo Literary School]]
*[[Baba Vida]]
*[[Byzantine–Bulgarian wars]]
*[[National awakening of Bulgaria]]
*[[Bulgarian unification]]
*[[List of Bulgarian monarchs]]
* [[Medieval Bulgarian army]]
* [[Medieval Bulgarian navy]]
*[[Bulgarian lands across the Danube]]
*[[Bulgarian language]]
*[[Bulgarian dialects]]
*[[List of predecessors of sovereign states in Europe]]
*[[List of sovereign states by date of formation#Europe|List of sovereign states by date of formation § Europe]]
*[[List of empires]]
*[[List of medieval great powers]]
*[[List of oldest continuously inhabited cities]]
*[[History of the Balkans]]
*[[History of the Mediterranean region]]
*[[History of Europe]]
*[[History of the European Union]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
===Surveys===
*Chary, Frederick B. "Bulgaria (History)" in Richard Frucht,  ed. ''Encyclopedia of Eastern Europe'' (Garland, 2000) pp 91–113.
*Chary, Frederick B. ''The History of Bulgaria'' (The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations) (2011) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0313384460/  excerpt and text search]; [https://www.questia.com/read/124039325/the-history-of-bulgaria complete text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215170435/https://www.questia.com/read/124039325/the-history-of-bulgaria |date=2020-02-15 }}
*Crampton, R.J. ''Bulgaria'' (Oxford History of Modern Europe) (1990) [https://www.amazon.com/Bulgaria-Oxford-History-Modern-ebook/dp/B0013OB84E/  excerpt and text search]; also [https://www.questia.com/library/118954653/bulgaria complete text online]
**Crampton, R.J. ''A Concise History of Bulgaria''  (2005) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ylz4fe7757cC excerpt and text search]
*Detrez, Raymond. ''Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria'' (2nd ed. 2006). lxiv + 638 pp. Maps, bibliography, appendix, chronology. {{ISBN|978-0-8108-4901-3}}.
*Hristov, Hristo. ''History of Bulgaria'' [translated from the Bulgarian, Stefan Kostov; editor, Dimiter Markovski]. Khristov, Khristo Angelov. 1985.
*Jelavich, Barbara. ''History of the Balkans'' (1983)
*Kossev, D., H. Hristov and D. Angelov; ''Short history of Bulgaria'' (1963).
*Lampe, John R, and Marvin R. Jackson. ''Balkan Economic History, 1550–1950: From Imperial Borderlands to Developing Nations.'' 1982. [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=99465160 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626135424/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=99465160 |date=2012-06-26 }}
*Lampe, John R. ''The Bulgarian Economy in the 20th century.'' 1986.
*[[Mercia MacDermott|MacDermott, Mercia]]; ''A History of Bulgaria, 1393–1885'' (1962) [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=3083760 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604233210/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=3083760 |date=2011-06-04 }}
*Todorov, Nikolai. ''Short history of Bulgaria'' (1921)
*[https://www.academia.edu/18698805/Shared_Pasts_in_Central_and_Southeast_Europe_17th_21st_Centuries_Hungarian_and_Bulgarian_Approaches._Eds._G%C3%A1bor_Demeter_Penka_Peykovska._Sofia-Budapest_2015_440_p/ Shared Pasts in Central and Southeast Europe, 17th-21st Centuries. Eds. G.Demeter, P. Peykovska. 2015]

===Pre 1939===
*Black, Cyril E. ''The Establishment of Constitutional Government in Bulgaria'' (Princeton University Press, 1943)
*Constant, Stephen. ''Foxy Ferdinand, 1861–1948: Tsar of Bulgaria'' (1979)
*Forbes, Nevill. ''Balkans: A history of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Rumania, Turkey'' 1915.
*Hall, Richard C. ''Bulgaria's Road to the First World War.'' Columbia University Press, 1996.
* Hall, Richard C. ''War in the Balkans: An Encyclopedic History from the Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Breakup of Yugoslavia'' (2014) [https://www.amazon.com/War-Balkans-Encyclopedic-History-Yugoslavia/dp/1610690303/  excerpt]
*Jelavich, Charles, and Barbara Jelavich. ''The Establishment of the Balkan National States, 1804–1920'' (1977)
*Perry; Duncan M. ''Stefan Stambolov and the Emergence of Modern Bulgaria, 1870–1895'' (1993) [https://web.archive.org/web/20120721095050/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=23099886 online edition]
*Pundeff, Marin. "Bulgaria," in Joseph Held, ed. ''The Columbia History of Eastern Europe in the 20th Century'' (Columbia University Press, 1992) pp 65–118
*[[Steven Runciman|Runciman, Steven]]. ''A History of the First Bulgarian Empire'' (1930) [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=91315121 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120721142916/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=91315121 |date=2012-07-21 }}
* Stavrianos, L.S. '' The Balkans Since 1453'' (1958), major scholarly history; [https://archive.org/details/balkanssince145300lsst online free to borrow]

===1939–1989===
*[[Michael Bar-Zohar]]. ''Beyond Hitler's Grasp: The Heroic Rescue of Bulgaria's Jews''
*[[Alexenia Dimitrova]]. ''The Iron Fist: Inside the Bulgarian secret archives''
*[[Stephane Groueff]]. ''Crown of Thorns: The Reign of King Boris III of Bulgaria, 1918–1943''
*Pundeff, Marin. "Bulgaria," in Joseph Held, ed. ''The Columbia History of Eastern Europe in the 20th Century'' (Columbia University Press, 1992) pp 65–118
*[[Tzvetan Todorov]] ''The Fragility of Goodness: Why Bulgaria's Jews Survived the Holocaust''
*Tzvetan Todorov. ''Voices from the Gulag: Life and Death in Communist Bulgaria''

===Contemporary===
*John D. Bell, ed. ''Bulgaria in Transition: Politics, Economics, Society, and Culture after Communism'' (1998) [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=98671779 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120721032446/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=98671779 |date=2012-07-21 }}

===Historiography===
{{See also|List of Slavic studies journals}}
*Baeva, Iskra. "An Attempt to Revive Foreign Interest to Bulgarian History." ''Bulgarian Historical Review/Revue Bulgare d'Histoire'' 1-2 (2007): 266–268.
*Birman, Mikhail. "Bulgarian Jewry and the Holocaust: History and Historiography," ''Shvut'' 2001, Vol. 10, pp 160–181.
*Daskalova, Krassimira. "The politics of a discipline: women historians in twentieth century Bulgaria." ''Rivista internazionale di storia della storiografia'' 46 (2004): 171–187.
*Daskalov, Roumen. "The Social History of Bulgaria: Topics and Approaches," ''East Central Europe,'' (2007) 34#1-2 pp 83–103, [http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/187633007789886054 abstract]
*Daskalov, Roumen. ''Making of a Nation in the Balkans: Historiography of the Bulgarian Revival,'' (2004) 286pp.
*Davidova, Evguenia. "A Centre in the Periphery: Merchants during the Ottoman period in Modern Bulgarian Historiography (1890s-1990s)."  '' Journal of European Economic History'' (2002) 31#3 pp 663–86.
*Grozdanova, Elena. "Bulgarian Ottoman Studies At The Turn Of Two Centuries: Continuity And Innovation," ''Etudes Balkaniques'' (2005) 41#3 PP 93–146. covers 1400 to 1922; 
*Hacisalihoglu, Mehmet. "The Ottoman Administration of Bulgaria and Macedonia During the 19th - 20th Centuries in Recent Turkish Historiography: Contributions, Deficiencies and Perspectives." ''Turkish Review of Balkan Studies'' (2006), Issue 11, pP 85–123; covers 1800 to 1920.
*Meininger, Thomas A. "A Troubled Transition: Bulgarian Historiography, 1989–94," ''Contemporary European History,'' (1996) 5#1 pp 103–118
*Mosely, Philip E. "The Post-War Historiography of Modern Bulgaria," ''Journal of Modern History,'' (1937) 9#3 pp 348–366; work done in 1920s and 1930s [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1898871 in JSTOR]
*Robarts, Andrew. "The Danube Vilayet And Bulgar-Turkish Compromise Proposal Of 1867 In Bulgarian Historiography," ''International Journal of Turkish Studies'' (2008) 14#1-2 pp 61–74. 
*Todorova, Maria. "Historiography of the countries of Eastern Europe: Bulgaria," ''American Historical Review,'' (1992) 97#4 pp 1105–1117 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2165495 in JSTOR]

===Other===
*12 Myths in Bulgarian History, by Bozhidar Dimitrov; Published by "KOM Foundation," Sofia, 2005.
*The 7th Ancient Civilizations in Bulgaria (The Golden Prehistoric Civilization, Civilization of Thracians and Macedonians, Hellenistic Civilization, Roman [Empire] Civilization, Byzantine [Empire] Civilization, Bulgarian Civilization, Islamic Civilization), by Bozhidar Dimitrov; Published by "KOM Foundation," Sofia, 2005 (108 p.)
* Evans, Stanley G. ''A Short History of Bulgaria'' (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1960).
* {{The Early Medieval Balkans}}
* {{cite book |last=Kazhdan |first=A. |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium |author-link=Alexander Kazhdan |year=1991 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, Oxford |isbn=0-19-504652-8}}

==External links==
{{commons category|History of Bulgaria}}

*[http://vlib.iue.it/history/europe/bulgaria.html WWW-VL: History: Bulgaria] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923070815/http://vlib.iue.it/history/europe/bulgaria.html |date=2017-09-23 }}
*[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Essential_History_of_Bulgaria_in_Seven_Pages Essential History of Bulgaria in Seven Pages]
*[http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/History_of_Bulgaria:_Primary_Documents History of Bulgaria: Primary Documents]
*[https://www.academia.edu/5896929/%D0%90._%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BF%D1%80%D1%8F%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0_%D0%9F._%D0%9F%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%92._%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%8F%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2_%D0%98%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%84%D0%B8%D1%8F%D1%82%D0%B0_%D0%B2_%D0%91%D1%8A%D0%BB%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F_Historiography_in_Bulgaria_1949-1999._-_%D0%92_50_%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8_%D0%98%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%83%D1%82_%D0%BF%D0%BE_%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B8_%D0%91%D0%90%D0%9D_50_Years_Institute_of_History_at_the_BAS_._%D0%A1._1999_%D1%81._19-45 Historiography in Bulgaria - in Bg]

{{Bulgaria topics}}
{{Years in Bulgaria}}
{{Bulgarian Empire}}
{{Bulgaria in World War I}}
{{History of Europe}}
{{European history by country}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Bulgaria}}
[[Category:History of Bulgaria| ]]
[[Category:National histories|Bulgaria]]
[[Category:Prehistory of Southeastern Europe]]
[[Category:History of Europe]]
[[Category:Prehistoric Europe]]