The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine gets signed on November 27, 1919

The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine was signed on November 27, 1919 in the Paris suburb of the same name, to officially spell the end of Bulgaria’s involvement in World War I. This country joined the war in pursuit of its ideal for national unification with territories with predominantly Bulgarian population. “Unfortunately, Tsar Ferdinand and PM Vasil Radoslavov joined the losers – the Central Powers”, Academician Georgi Markov told Radio Bulgaria. He is the director of the Institute of History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. “Germany and Austria-Hungary had a top offer for Bulgaria – unconditional reclaiming of lands lost following the 1913 Second Balkan War, while the Entente, the alliance of Britain, France and Russia could offer certain territories in Macedonia (in the undisputed zone) and in Eastern Thrace in case Bulgaria joined the war against the Ottoman Empire. In the course of three years Bulgaria warred on three fronts. It paid a dear cost with many lives lost, but it was winning many battles too. At the end of the day, however, the outcome of World War I was not decided in the Balkans, but rather on the Western Front where Germany was losing, harming Bulgaria’s interests too”, explains Georgi Markov.

What did the Neuilly Treaty envisage?

“This treaty opened the door for another national catastrophe for this country. It tore away from Bulgaria the western regions of Strumica, Bosilegrad and Tsaribrod, and half of the region of Kula. The treaty cut off Bulgaria’s outlet to the Aegean Sea through western Thrace; it confirmed the partition of Macedonia between Serbia and Greece and took away from Bulgaria its granary, Southern Dobrudja. That treaty was a dictate.

The Bulgarian delegation was closed in the Madrid Castle in the Paris suburbs and was merely informed of the terms without any option of a discussion. This was coupled with a very close signature deadline. Every attempt to revise the clauses proved abortive. The treaty laid out most severe financial clauses as well. Bulgaria was burdened with huge reparations – an exorbitant amount of 2.25 billion in gold French francs. The military clauses in turn banned the country from keeping a regular army; they limited the volunteer mercenary troops to 20,000, plus a 10,000-strong gendarmerie and a 3000-strong border guard. This condemned the country to paying reparations for years that resulted in civil unrest on a few occasions. The worst blow that the Neuilly Treaty dealt on Bulgaria was that it impaired the faith of Bulgarians that they could find a solution to their national question on their own.”

What were Bulgaria’s options to uphold its interests compared to other loser countries?

“The first treaty was signed up with Germany and was used as a blueprint for treaties with other defeated countries: Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary and Turkey. French PM George Clemenceau’s key message was that the losers had to pay. What he meant was the loser nations. This was in fact where that conference went wrong. It failed to punish governments that had committed strategic blunders and war crimes. Instead it punished nations without even allowing them to voice their opinion about the treaties.”

Was a single policy on the treaty possible in Bulgaria?

“For the first time in Bulgaria misfortune urged the political parties to move and make a grand coalition including democrats, radicals, socialists, agrarians and conservatives – a few parties that had not favored alliance with Germany. Teodor Teodorov from the conservative People’s Party was named prime minister. In his speech to the Paris Peace Conference he put the entire blame on Tsar Ferdinand and PM Vasil Radoslavov. At that time Ferdinand had already left Bulgaria, and Radoslavov had left for Germany with him. His cabinet ministers were arrested and Teodorov vowed that they would be brought to justice. However nobody heard his message at the conference. At the post of prime minister Teodorov was succeeded by the leader of the Bulgarian Agrarian Party Alexander Stamboliiski who won the elections on 6 October 1919. In a twist of irony Stamboliiski, who had previously fought fervently for Bulgaria’s neutrality in the war and had been imprisoned for that, had to sign the Neuilly Treaty hoping for a peaceful revision of its harsh terms.”

Is it true that he broke the pen after the signature?

“This is a heroic legend. The truth was that the secretary of the conference suggested to him to keep the pen as memento from the signature. He however threw it aside saying ‘Great memento, I don’t need it, you keep it.’ In this way he openly demonstrated his displeasure with signing a dictate.”

How did the Treaty of Neuilly influence the Balkans?

“Regrettably the Treaty of Neuilly confirmed the Balkan’s disrepute as a powder keg earned during the Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913. Since then the term ‘Balkanization’ entered the political vocabulary with the meaning peace under threat, enmity and conflict. The Treaty of Neuilly made those conflicts worse. The Bulgarians in Macedonia continued their armed struggle through the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization led by Todor Alexandrov. Terrorist attacks became frequent. The western border was in constant warfare and was even closed. Relations with Romania worsened over Southern Dobrudja. A military conflict broke out with Greece in 1925 when the Greek army occupied the region of Petrich, Southwestern Bulgaria, while persecuting IMRO detachments. As an exception, relations with Turkey normalized given that it had been defeated in the war like Bulgaria. The Great Powers fuelled Balkanization. Each of them selected a Balkan country to patronize and to benefit from its enmity with its neighbors. In this way the Great Powers actually worked together to keep a powder keg in the Balkans on a short fuse”, concludes historian Georgi Markov.

English version: Daniela Konstantinova

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The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine gets signed on November 27, 1919

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