BULGARIA 



991 



BULGARIA 



The Bulgarian Church, a branch of the Greek 

 Orthodox, is the church of over eighty per cent 

 of the people. Other religions are not mo- 

 lested, however, and many of the cities have a 

 numerous population of Mohammedans. 



Government. Bulgaria is a constitutional 

 monarchy, under a new constitution which 

 dates from 1908. The ruler has in his hands 

 practically all of the executive power, and his 

 sanction is necessary to put into effect laws 

 passed by the legislative assembly. This body, 

 known as the Narodno Sobranye (National 

 Assembly), is made up of representatives 

 elected by universal male suffrage, and there is 

 one representative for every 20,000 inhabitants. 

 For the administration of local government 

 Bulgaria is divided into seventy-one districts. 



The chief cities are Sofia and Philippopolis, 

 both on the railway line which connects Europe 

 with Asia; and Varna and Bourgas, the prin- 

 cipal seaports. See SOFIA. 



History. During Roman times present-day 

 Bulgaria was Roman territory, partly Moesia, 

 partly Thrace. Over the plains to the east- 

 ward came first the Slavs and later the Bui- 

 gars, relatives of the Huns, and since neither 



FORMER KING FERDINAND 

 He cast Bulgaria's lot with Germany in the 

 second year of the war. He guessed wrong as 

 to the outcome and lost his throne. 



was strong enough to drive out the other, a 

 gradual blending took place which resulted in 

 the Bulgarians of to-day. In 864 they accepted 

 Christianity, and from them the Church lan- 

 guage and Church, as well as secular, literature 

 were introduced into Russia. For a time the 

 Bulgarian state was a strong enemy of the 



Byzantine Empire (which see), but in the 

 fourteenth century it fell a prey to the Turks. 

 Five centuries passed before the Bulgarians 

 were strong enough to rise against the Turks; 

 even then the first insurrection, in 1876, was 

 comparatively slight. 



The Turks, however, punished the subject 

 people severely, committing those unspeakable 

 "Bulgarian atrocities" which roused statesmen 

 everywhere to denunciations of the Turk. Rus- 

 sia, whose people are akin in race and in 

 religion to those of Bulgaria, undertook to right 

 Bulgarian wrongs, though not with a purely 

 unselfish motive, and the result was the Russo- 

 Turkish War (which see). Turkey was de- 

 feated, and the Congress of Berlin made Bul- 

 garia a semi-independent principality under the 

 nominal suzerainty of Turkey. The country 

 progressed steadily. It chose as its prince the 

 German Alexander of Battenberg, and when 

 he abdicated in 1886, Ferdinand of Coburg was 

 selected. Meanwhile, in 1886, Eastern Rumelia 

 had united with Bulgaria, and the result was 

 a sharp clash with Serbia, in which, to the 

 amazement of Europe, Bulgarian armies were 

 victorious. 



In 1908 Bulgaria took advantage of the inter- 

 nal troubles which were occupying the attention 

 of Turkey to declare itself independent. Prince 

 Ferdinand then assumed the title of king. But 

 a greater crisis in Bulgarian affairs occurred 

 in connection with the Balkan War of 1912- 

 1913. With the other Balkan states Serbia, 

 Montenegro and Greece Bulgaria was vic- 

 torious over Turkey, its armies proving them- 

 selves well disciplined and most courageous 

 (see BALKAN WARS). Turkey was forced to 

 give up almost all its European territory, but 

 a dispute arose between Bulgaria and its 

 allies, because the latter, especially Serbia, re- 

 fused to stand by the treaty which regulated 

 the division of the conquered territory. The 

 result was another war, in which Greece, Ser- 

 bia, Rumania and Montenegro joined against 

 Bulgaria, with entire success. Exhausted, Bul- 

 garia consented to a peace which gave to Ru- 

 mania a portion of its northeast territory, and 

 permitted it to annex but a fraction of the land 

 which had been won from Turkey. Bitter was 

 the disappointment caused in the young, self- 

 confident nation, and had not its resources been 

 well-nigh exhausted, it would probably have 

 renewed the struggle. 



In October, 1915, Bulgaria entered the War 

 of the Nations as an ally of the Central 

 Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary. Fof 



