A Concise History of Bulgaria

by R. J. Crampton

• ISBN13: 9780521850858
• ISBN10: 0521850851
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-01-09
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Bulgaria is slated to become a member of the European Union in 2007, yet its history is amongst the least well known in the rest of the continent. R. J. Crampton provides here a general introduction to this country at the cross-roads of Christendom and Islam. The text and illustrations trace the rich and dramatic story from pre-history, through the days when Bulgaria was the centre of a powerful medieval empire and the five centuries of Ottoman rule, to the cultural renaissance of the nineteenth century and the political upheavals of the twentieth, upheavals which led Bulgaria into three wars. The new and updated edition includes the years from 1995 to 2004, a vital period in which Bulgaria endured financial meltdown, set itself seriously on the road to reform, elected its former King as prime minister, and finally secured membership of NATO and admission to the European Union.

Author Biography

R. J. Crampton is Professor of East European History at the University of Oxford

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	xii
Preface	xv
Preface to the second edition	xviii
Note on transliteration	xxi
The Bulgarian Lands from Prehistory to the Arrival of the Bulgarians	1	(8)
Mediaeval Bulgaria, 681--1393	9	(20)
Bulgaria under the Khans, 681--852	9	(2)
The reign of Boris I (852--888) and the conversion to Christianity	11	(5)
The reign of Simeon the great (893--927)	16	(1)
The end of the first empire, 896--1018	17	(4)
Bulgaria under Byzantine rule, 1018--1185	21	(1)
The second Bulgarian empire, 1185--1393	22	(7)
Ottoman Rule in the Bulgarian Lands	29	(16)
Ottoman society and administration	29	(4)
The Bulgarian population under Ottoman rule	33	(5)
The Bulgarian church under Ottoman rule	38	(2)
Protest against Ottoman power	40	(2)
The decline of the Ottoman empire	42	(3)
The National Revival and the Liberation	45	(40)
The Awakeners	45	(6)
Economic, social and political change in the Ottoman empire	51	(5)
The background to the Bulgarian cultural revival	56	(2)
The cultural revival: education, literacy and literature	58	(7)
The struggle for a separate Bulgarian church	65	(10)
The struggle for political independence and the liberation of 1878	75	(10)
The Consolidation of the Bulgarian State, 1878--1896	85	(32)
The Constituent Assembly and the Turnovo constitution	85	(4)
Constitutional conflicts, 1879--1883	89	(4)
The national question and union with Rumelia, 1884--1885	93	(6)
The war with Serbia and the deposition of Alexander Battenberg, 1885--1886	99	(2)
The regency and the election of Prince Ferdinand, 1886--1887	101	(2)
The Stambolovshtina, 1887--1894	103	(7)
The recognition of Prince Ferdinand	110	(1)
Ethnic and social change after the liberation	111	(6)
Ferdinand's Personal Rule, 1896--1918	117	(27)
Stoilov's programme for modernisation	117	(2)
The establishment of Ferdinand's personal rule	119	(2)
Social crisis and the emergence of the agrarian movement, 1895--1908	121	(5)
The Macedonian crisis and the declaration of independence, 1900--1908	126	(5)
Balkan diplomacy and the Balkan wars, 1908--1913	131	(6)
Bulgaria and the first world war	137	(7)
Bulgaria, 1918--1944	144	(36)
The peace settlement of 1919	144	(1)
Agrarian rule, 1919--1923	145	(8)
The Rule of the Democratic Alliance, 1923--1931	153	(5)
The rule of the devetnaiseti, May 1934--January 1935	158	(2)
The personal rule of King Boris, 1934--1941	160	(7)
Bulgaria and the second world war, 1941--1944	167	(13)
Bulgaria Under Communist Rule, 1944--1989	180	(32)
The communist takeover, 1944--1947	180	(11)
Destalinisation and the rise of Todor Zhivkov, 1953--1965	191	(2)
The zhivkovshtina, 1965--1981	193	(8)
The decline and fall of Todor Zhivkov, 1981--1989	201	(11)
Post-Communist Bulgaria	212	(47)
Part I Incomplete transition, 1989--1997	212	(24)
Dismantling the apparatus of totalitarianism, November 1989--December 1990	212	(4)
Constructing the apparatus of democracy, December 1990--October 1991	216	(3)
The UDF government, October 1991--October 1992	219	(5)
The Berov government, December 1992--September 1994	224	(1)
The failure of economic reform, 1989--1994	225	(4)
The Videnov government and the catastrophe of 1996	229	(7)
Part II Real transition, 1997--2004	236	(23)
The Kostov government and the attainment of stability, April 1997--June 2001	236	(13)
The government of `the king'; the road to the EU and NATO	249	(10)
Conclusion	259	(11)
Appendix 1 Bulgarian monarchs	270	(2)
Appendix 2 Prime ministers of Bulgaria, 1879--2004	272	(2)
Suggestions for further reading	274	(4)
Index	278