Марко Д. Балабанов и първите стъпки на дипломацията в Княжество България

Author(s): Plamen Bozhinov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1-2/2014

The article traces the main points of the diplomatic activity of Marko D. Balabanov in the first years of the Principality of Bulgaria (1879–1885). Growing up as a writer, public figure and politician in the period before the Liberation, Balabanov occupied leading positions in the Interim Russian Government (1877–1879) and played a significant role in the work of the Constituent Assembly in Veliko Tarnovo. There he participated actively in the debates on the issue of reunification of the Bulgarian nation divided by the Berlin agreement. When the first Bulgarian government was formed Balabanov was given the post of foreign minister and as such he worked hard to lay the foundations of a new Bulgarian diplomacy. After the fall of the conservative government, he was appointed envoy in Istanbul where he vigorously acted in defense of the Bulgarian national interests and contributed to raising the international prestige of the country. The regime of credentials (1881–1883) interrupted his diplomatic career, but in the second government of Dragan Tsankov (1883–1884) we see him again in the position of Bulgarian Foreign Minister. In those years he contributed in solving all the major foreign policy issues and contributed to the rise and consolidation of the authority of the Bulgarian state on the international arena. Facts and events in the life of Balabanov which are presented in the study give grounds to assert that he played a noticeable and even at times a leading role in the construction of the Bulgarian foreign policy in the period.

Bogdan Morfov (1870–1948) et son engagement à la cause Bulgarie de la mer Égée

Author(s): Rumen Karaganev / Language(s): French Issue: 3-4/2014

Along with his interesting, diverse and successful career (of civil engineer, Director of Railways, minister plenipotentiary), Bogdan Morfov was directly engaged tied with Bulgaria’s cause of achieving an outlet to the Aegean Sea. He experienced the vicissitudes in this national aspiration both as an ordinary citizen of the kingdom and a direct participant in the formation of its changing in time configurations. In particular, the author reveals B. Morfov’s perceptions and efforts to implement them before the Balkan War (1912–1913); Expert activity in the early post-WWI period and his participation in the Bulgarian delegation at the conference in Lausanne (1922–23); later, his efforts in the respective direction as minister plenipotentiary in Paris and his activities in the preparation of the conference in Montreux (1936) as well as in the dramatic 1940 in connection with the anticipated return of Western Thrace within the borders of Bulgaria

La contribution Roumaine à la formation universitaire et professionnelle de spécialistes bulgares (1878–1912)

Author(s): Ivan Tanchev / Language(s): French Issue: 3-4/2014

The article deals with the education of Bulgarian specialists in higher and vocational Romanian schools in the period 1878–1912. The author specifies their total number, the schools they were trained at and the courses and subjects they studied. The research is based on abundant and diverse sources (unused so far archival documents of Bulgarian repositories, originals of diplomas, certificates, official correspondence; ministerial orders providing grants and one-off cash benefits for Bulgarian students in Romania; Bulgarian and Romania studies on the topic, reference books, etc.). These sources make it possible to compile a list with the names and the most important personal data of 143 Bulgarians who studied at the University of Bucharest and other higher education and vocational education institutions in Romania during the survey period

Теодор Теодоров като председател на VIII ОНС (1894–1896 г.)

Author(s): Maria Peneva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2013

Born March 14, 1859 in Elena, Teodor Todorov received his primary and secondary education in Elena and Gabrovo and then continued his studies in Russia. In 1893 he graduated from the Faculty of Novorossiysk University (Odessa). This determined his enduring feelings for Slavophilism and Russia. After returning to Bulgaria in the middle of 1886, he began his career as a lawyer in Ruse. His involvement with politics coincided with his professional development. Teodorov did not belong to the generation of politicians who took part in the national liberation movement, or the struggle for an independent church and education. From the beginning of his political career after the dethronement of Prince Alexander I he was defined as a Russophile. He strongly supported the dethronement of the Prince and endorsed the interim government of Metropolitan Kliment (Vasil Drumev) and was one of his defenders. During the time Teodorov served as Chairman of the National Assembly (1894-1896) he proved himself an extremely clever politician and a gifted orator. He asserted himself as the third major political factor in the country after the Prince and the Prime Minister. He was an irreconcilable enemy of liberals and Stambolov in particular. He was an undisputed authority among conservatives and hard-line Narodnyak Russophiles, and he advanced on the political arena at a time when the country had plunged into both social and political turmoil.

За евреите и антисемитизма в Средна Европа

Author(s): Radoslav Mishev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2013

Отзив: Пейковска, П. Българските общности в Унгария през ХIХ-ХХ в. Миграции и историко- демографска характеристика. София, 2011, 402 с.

Author(s): Kalcho Kalchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2013

„Малката Франция” и приемането на България в Обществото на народите 1920 г

Author(s): Ludmil Spasov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2012

The present article analyzes the relations between Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS) through the prism of the accession of Bulgaria to the League of Nations (LN) in 1920. By tracing the specific steps of Bulgarian and international diplomacy, the article throws light on the real nature of the Balkan model of interrelations between victor and defeated and highlights the circumstances in which the post-war foreign policy of Bulgaria was formed. The arguments adduced in the article justify the claim that KSCS behaved like a “little France” in the Balkans and, unlike Romania and Poland, was unwilling to listen to and follow Paris in everything.

Българската държавност след Освобождението (1878) и в началото на ХХI век: сравнителен анализ

Author(s): Georgi Yankov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2012

The problem of consolidating the system of state government was as importance for the development of Bulgaria after the Liberation, as it is in the beginning of the 21st century. The analysis shows that the outstanding political wisdom of the builders of the young Bulgarian state, the historical optimism and patriotism of the society, and the demographic boom after the Liberation, contrast with the enormous deficit of a sense of statehood in the majority of the political elite, with the pessimism and nihilism, with the demographic collapse and the diminution of the activities and functions of the state after 1989. The article concludes that in the beginning of the 21st century the Bulgarian society is once again faced with the necessity of consolidating the system of state government, of increasing the institutional effectiveness of the state and its administrative capacity. In this respect the lessons of the construction of the Bulgarian state after the Liberation can be of use, especially in respect of raising the “sense of statesmanship” of the political elite.

Българо-турското „братство по оръжие” на Добруджанския фронт през 1916 г.

Author(s): Kalcho Kalchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2011

The present work is focused on the dynamics of the problems of the Bulgarian-Turkish military interaction during the war against Romania in 1916. The underlying thesis is that in spite of the joint military operations against the common enemy, the brotherhood-in-arms was a fiction because it was a political formula related to completely different geopolitical goals of the now-allied former enemies.

Документи, свързани с възстановяването на Вътрешната македоно-одринска организация (1910–1911)

Author(s): Zorka Parvanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/1995

At authoress presents several unknown documents of the beginning of 1910 when, the idea of restoring the IMARO gained ground. The documents shed light on the attempts to reach agreement between the individual revolutionary groups, their ideological positions and the causes which hindered the restoration of IMARO in its original structural framework. The representatives of the different ideological currents equalized their stands on the fundamental questions of the strategy and tactics of the revolutionary movement and in 1911 restored the Internal Organization.

Княжеските пълномощия и задачите на II Велико народно събрание (1881 г.)

Author(s): Yordanka Gesheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/1995

Somewhat strange, in view of the competences indicated in the Turnovo Constitution, were the goals and tasks of the Second Grand National Assembly convened in Svishtov on July 1, 1881. The Head of State wanted the Assembly to pass judgment on the question of suspending the Constitution. Such a possibility was not embodied in the fundamental law: in it existed only the possibility of a change and that in conditions and a way quite different from the method of action of Prince Alexander I Battening. What could the Prince do? He was striving for something that was outside his rights and duties. In almost all cases his actions were outside the law. For this reason he wanted the Grand National Assembly convened; in his view it was the only legislative and constituent body which could help him. All the actions of the Head of State from April 27 to July 1, 1881 were but an attempt at observing the Constitution and the laws but not their actual implementation. The Prime Minister General Ernrot proceeded in the same way. It was counted chiefly on the general public being not familiar with the constitutional matter. The laws in force in the country were adapted according to what an extent they met the interests of the Prince and his government. With these preparations in advance, the Grand National Assembly, which under the Constitution was the supreme representation of the people, proved an impersonal performer of the will of the Head of State. Therefore without any problems and with complete unanimity were approve the suspension of the Constitution and the unlimited competences, demanded by Alexander Battening, to issue ukases having the force of laws.

Поп Минчо Кънчев за срещата си с Петко войвода

Author(s): Kirila Vuzvuzova-Karateodorova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/1995

The name of Priest Mincho Kunchev, one of the distinguished figures of the Bulgarian National Revival, became known about a decade ago when the first part of his remarkable manuscript “Vidritsa” was published. Priest Mincho Kunchev’s interest in the leaders of units of the haidouk and rebel period of the Bulgarian National Liberation movement was not accidental. To many of them he devoted considerable space in his work, the second part of which is to be published shortly. The meeting between Priest Mincho Kunchev and Petko Voivoda took place in Haskovo in the spring of 1879. Although brief, Priest Mincho Kunchev noted it in his manuscript which indicates that he placed Petko Voivoda along the other leaders of rebel units – Hadji Dimiter, Stefan Karadja, Panayot Hitov, Filip Totyu and others. Feeling that what he wrote about their brief meeting would not satisfy the future readers, Priest Mincho Kunchev gave an extensive historico-archaeographic and bibliographic information about the captain which took 15 pages in the “brief notes” appended to the manuscript. In these short “historical background notes” Priest Mincho Kunchev selected the most valuable and interesting in what had to that moment been published about the legendary voivoda, giving a comparatively full, accurate and convincing notion of the tireless fighter for freedom Petko Voivoda.

Административно териториално деление и погранични проблеми в Източна Румелия (1879–1885)

Author(s): Zhorzheta Nazarska / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/1995

The study examines the internal and external boundaries of Eastern Roumelia. The determination of the internal boundaries by the administrative-territorial division is considered as one of the trends of state construction in the Region after 1879. For this reason are indicated its original sources, its links to the establishment and operation of the administrative system and the electoral model, to the presence of religious-ethnic minorities and their claims, the power factors like militia, gendarmerie and police. With the aid of documents is presented the work of the two directors of internal affairs – G. Krustevich and N. Nachov – on establishing and improving the administrative-territorial division and the difficulties that appeared in connection with it. Unlike the problem of the internal boundaries, that of the external ones was part of the Treaty of Berlin and an object of international relations. It was for this reason that the leaders of Roumelia – Bogoridi and Krustevich – found it very difficult to cope with. Where one could depend on assistance from the neighbouring state – the northern frontier – the delimitation was not a destructive factor for the government, and even resulted in doing away with brigandage and ethnic separatism. Different was the problem with the southern, Ottoman-Roumelian, frontier, where the politicians of the region met with failure: incomplete territory, deformations in the administrative mechanism and confrontation with the population and the Great Powers.

Климент Браницки и Търновски като министър-председател на Княжество България

Author(s): Petko St. Petkov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/1995

Kliment Branitski i Turnovski (Vasil Droumev) was one of the most eminent personality in Bulgaria’s new history: participant in the revolutionary struggles, writer, one of the founders of the Bulgarian Literary Society, and after the Liberation from Turkish bondage – statesman, active public figure and respected prelate. This article aims at shedding light on the aspect of his activity: his participation in two governments of the Principality: from November 24, 1879 to March 24, 1880 and from August 9 to 12, 1889. The reasons for including the high clergyman in the two cabinets were different, but the motivation was the same: by his personal authority and the influence of the institution he represented to help getting out of the crisis situations created in the autumn of 1879 and the summer of 1886 in the Principality of Bulgaria. The sins of which of his contemporaries accused him that with his participation in the executive power Kliment Branitski pursued personal favours or tried to satisfy his personal ambitions for political expression did not correspond to truth, On the contrary, with his civic stand, with his loyalty to Orthodoxy and to Christian morality Kliment Branitski i Turnovski until the end of his life remained a patriot, one of those National Revival figures who realized the difficult transition to the values of the new time and the modern world.

Национално честване на 100-годишнината от Съединението на Източна Румелия и Княжество България

Author(s): Vassilka Tankova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/1995

Третото велико народно събрание (1886–1887). Проблеми и задачи

Author(s): Yordanka Gesheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/1993

After August 9, 1886 when Prince Alexander I Batten berg was dethroned, Bulgaria sank into a grave political crisis and faced the problem of looking for and electing a prince for its throne. The facts concerning the appointment of regents, the convening and the work of the Third Grand National Assembly and the search for a candidate for the Bulgarian crown are all well known. In the article these questions are, therefore, examined from a different angle: towhat an extent the cases with the formation of a government, a vicegerency and a regency after an abdication were covered by the Turnovo Constitution that was then in force, to what an extent they conformed to the Constitution. Attention focuses also on the result of the elections held for the Grand National Assembly, and also on the activity of the national representatives which to a high degree was only formal. The Assembly, which sat for several months, had one task only: to approve the election of a prince whom others had sought, approved and proposed to the Bulgarian people.

Гръцката пропаганда в Одринска Тракия (1878–1893)

Author(s): Vessela Traykova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/1993

Greek propaganda began to operate for preserving and expanding Greek influence among the Bulgarian, Albanian and Turkish Christian populations in Adrianople Thrace at the end of the 1860s. Its main attention focused up to the end of the period under review on activity in the educational field. This activity was directed by the learned societies, mostly those in Athens and Constantinople. Up to about 1887 the principal role in this respect was played by the “Educational and Philanthropic Brotherhood” in the Ottoman capital, behind which stood the Patriarchate. Later, however, it was displaced by the “Committee for Assisting the Greek Church and Education” in Athens which was backed by the Greek government. The differences existing between the two centres of Graecism – Athens and Constantinople – were unessential in comparison with that which linked them in the common propaganda cause.The practical work on implementing this goal on the spot was carried out by the metropolitans, their assistants, teacher and others. As a result of the collision between the Bulgarian national movement which slowly and painfully gathered strength and Greek propaganda a complicated and contradictory picture emerged of a difficult driving out of the Greek influence also in the areas situated more to the south of Adrianople Thrace and of the gradual consolidation of the national awareness in an ever growing number of Bulgarians.

Българи в американските учебни заведения в Цариград (от Освобождението до началото на XX век)

Author(s): Ivan Tanchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/1993

The article examines the role and importance of the American colleges in Constantinople in the formation of Bulgarian cadres with modern education. Attention focuses on questions that have not been researched yet or have been very cursorily examined: the attitude in Bulgaria towards these establishments of learning, the names of the Bulgarians who studied there, the real value of the training received there, etc. It is established that the “Bulgarian presence” in the American college in Constantinople during the period under review amounted to 600–700 persons, while some 100 Bulgarians studied in the USA. Bulgarian-American connections in the sphere of education, therefore, expanded considerably, and marked credit for that must go precisely to the establishments in question. A great part of the Bulgarians trained at the American Robert College in Constantinople went on with their education at European universities. This shows that the College was one of the major foreign centres of learning through which for part of the emerging Bulgarian intelligentsia passed the road to the cultural values of Europe. The expansion of Bulgarian-American connections in the sphere of education was not evaluated in the same way in Bulgaria’s post-Liberation society: it met with resistance of certain Russophil and church circles.

1890-1914: The Golden Era of the Bund in the Russian Empire

Author(s): David E. Fishman / Language(s): English Issue: 13/2022

This article provides an overview of the Bund from the establishment of its precursor organization in 1890 until World War I. First it takes into account the historical conditions that led to the rise of a distinct Jewish socialist movement in the Russian Empire to then focus on its three spheres of activity: (a) economic difficulties, as a Jewish workers’ movement engaged in union-organizing and strikes, (b) political challenges, as a Jewish revolutionary movement working to overthrow the Tsarist system and (c) national obstacles, as a movement fighting for Jewish civil rights and Jewish national autonomy, the advancement of Yiddish language and culture, and the organisation of Jewish self-defense against pogroms. Appended to the article is the translation of an early Bundist pamphlet, The Town Preacher (1895), which presents the movement’s ideas in a simple, popular form, based on the story of the single strike of Jewish tobacco-workers in Vilna.

Бащите на Търновската конституция – духовниците между политиката и религията

Author(s): Milko Palangurski / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

According to the 1878 Berlin Treaty, the Bulgarian state is a constitutional monarchy. The establishment of the Organic Statute was entrusted to the Constituent Assembly summoned by the Provisional Russian Administration. The leaders of the Bulgarian Orthodox Exarchate, as well as representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Muslims and the Jews, occupied a special place in this task. The forefront of the meeting was given to the priests due to their great influence in forming the Bulgarian society. Their educational background was related to two of the most conservative structures of the nineteenth century – the Russian theological educational institutions and the Patriarchate in Istanbul. Their careers in the religious institutions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate defined them as followers of century old canonical rules, thus their inability to become a part of the progress. All this, plus their important role as teachers, writers and spiritual leaders, took them to the conservative sector of the gathering. They failed to enforce their vision for the constitutional arrangements, thereby creating conditions for reducing their role in the future political life of the country. For a very short period of time, a “political secularization” took place and all of the religious communities were removed from the political scene.