New illustrated book about 19-20th century Bulgarian diplomacy

published on 4/7/11 11:54 AM

Photo: Архив

Bulgarian interior and foreign policy and role of the diplomacy in the modern Bulgarian history is revealed in a book series by professor Lyudmil Spasov, entitled “Bulgarian 19th and 20th Century in Photographs - Policy and Diplomacy.” The book begins with the period after Bulgaria’s liberation from Ottoman rule in 1878. A few months after that the Treaty of Berlin divided the Bulgarian lands and the major goal of the Bulgarian state became unification. The first step towards this direction, which was done without blood shed, was the Unification of Northern and Southern Dobrudzha in 1885.

“Most people do not know much about the successes of the Bulgarian diplomacy,” Professor Lyudmil Spasov said in an interview for Radio Bulgaria. The unification of 1885 was a result of the activities or the Bulgarian people and army, but it was later protected in a magnificent way by the diplomacy. A small country had enough courage to violate the treaty of Berlin.”

Welcoming Alexander I in Plovdiv - 9 September 1885.

One of the most important people in defending the Unification was Ilia Tsanov, Bulgarian Foreign Minister in the period 1884-1886. Little is known about him. Thanks to his work the Tophane Act was signed and Sultan Abdul Hamid II appointed the Prince of Bulgaria as Governor-General of Eastern Rumelia. The Bulgarian independence was declared in 1908.

“It was a matter of diplomacy, the historian says. Some of the most important people in this task were Prime Minister Alexander Malinov, politician Ivan Geshov, and Andrey Liapchev, who led the negotiations with Turkey. I want to point out that the Bulgarian diplomacy played a crucial role in the Bulgarian independence. People often say that what Bulgaria wins on the battlefield is later lost due to bad diplomacy, which is not true,” professor Spasov claims.

The Alexander Malinov cabinet 1908.

In the period 1912-1918 Bulgaria fought in three wars, looking for national unification. These were the First and the Second Balkan Wars and the First World War. Bulgaria was defeated in the Second Balkan War and the First World War. According to Lyudmil Spasov, the Bulgarian diplomats were not to blame for the defeat. He adds that during the government of Georgi Kyoseivanov in the 30s the Bulgarian diplomacy was very successful, following a path of neutrality and peace until 1941 when the country joined the Tripartite Pact.
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“Mr. Kyoseivanov was a magnificent diplomat. Even near the end of the Second World War politicians in Bulgaria counted on the skills of Kyoseivanov in order to reduce the coming catastrophe, although he was replaced three years before that time. Kyoseivanov’s policy of neutrality was under pressure from Stalin and Hitler and Tsar Boris faced a difficult choice. He abandoned the neutrality policy and joined the Tripartite Pact. The agreement was signed on March 1, 1941. On August 26, 1944, Bulgaria returned to the policy of neutrality but nobody believed.”

G.Kyosseivanov and М. Stoyadinovich sign in Belgrade the Pact for Eternal Friendship January 24,1937.

On September 5 the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria. On September 9, 1944 the leftist forces, led by Kimon Georgiev, took power in Bulgaria. Bulgaria also joined the war against Germany and participated in its defeat. The last chapters of the professor Spasov’s book are dedicated to the Bulgarian diplomacy during the socialist regime and after the democratic changes in 1990. The book contains a rich collection of photographs, which will bring us back to the interesting moments of the modern Bulgarian history.

English: Alexander Markov

По публикацията работи: Veneta Pavlova

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New illustrated book about 19-20th century Bulgarian diplomacy

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