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The NAZIs duting the 1930s gave considerable diplomatic effort to drawing the Balkan coyntries unto the German orbit. The King resisted as best he could, but by 1941, NAZI military power and Bulgarian Fascist elements left King Boris III few options. Hitler as part of a Balkans settlement transferred Southern Dobrudža from Romania to Bulgaria (1940). Romania had fought with the Allies in World War I while Bulgaria had joined the Central Powers. The NAZIs applied considerable force and Bulgaria finally joined the Axis and agreed to the entry of German forces (March 1, 1941). The NAZIs offered Bulgaria the return of Macedonia. Bulgaria participated in the attack on Greece and Yugosalvia (April 1941). The Bulgarians in large part because of King Boris III who was very popular. The King refused to turn Bulgarian Jews over to the NAZIs as part of the Holocaust. The King employed a range of delaying tactics. The Bulgarians did, however, turn over Jews in the occupied areas of Greece and Yugoslavia. Bulgaria also refused to partcipate in the NAZI invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941). King Boris who was very popular died mysteriously in 1943, possibly by heart attack or by assassination. The King's 6-year old son, Simeon II, succeeded under a regency.
The Red Army driving the NAZIs back on the Eastern Front reached Romania (1944). The Soviets next declared war on Bulgaria abd crossed the Danube (September 8, 1944). Bulgarian army units and partisan bans joined with the Red army and quickly took Sofia. There was only limited NAZI resistance. Unlike Romania with the key Ploesti oil fields, Bulgaria wa of only marginal strategic value to the Reich. The Soviets on the next day seized the rest of Bulgaria (September 9). This day is now known as Liberation Day.
The Bulgars invaded and soon dominated the Balkans in the 7th century. They accepted Christianity under Tsar Boris I in the 9th cetury. Tsar Simeon greatly expanded Bulgarian territory in the 10th century. The Christian kindoms in Bulgaria and the rest of the Balkans were conquered by the Ottomon Turks in the 14th and 15th centuries. The Bulgarian royal dynasty was restablished in the 19th century after the decline of Ottomon rule. A member of the German royal family was selected for the Bulgarian monarchy.
Bulgaria believed that it had a right to Macedonia. Nationalists were upset with thecsmall part of Macedonia it received in the First Balkan War (1912-13). As a result it largely caused the Second Balkan War (June–Aug. 1913). This time Bulgaria not only fought Turkey, but its former Christian allies as well. Not surprisinly Bulgaria lost the War and substantial territory, primarily to Serbia. The territory gained by Serbia made it a growing threat to Austria-Hungary which had a Slavic minority in its southern provinces, especially newly annexed Bulgaria. The desire to destroy Serbia as a threat to the Empire was why Austrian authorities made such onerous demands on Serbia following the assasination of Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand (June 1914). With the outbreak of the World War I (August 1914), Germany courted allies. One of the few countries to respond was Bulgaria. German diplomats promissed Bulgaria territories it lost during the Balkan Wars if they joined the Central Powers. And Bulgaria was still intent or obtaining Macedonia. Even before Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, the Bulgarians allowed the German to ship pontoon bridges to the Ottomons to be used in crossing the Suez Canal in an attack on Egypt. Bulgaria participated in the attack on Romania after that country joined the Allies (1917). A new front opened up when Greece entered the War on the Allied side (1917). Although Romania was defeated, the Bulgarians had to face a new front opened from Greece with Greek, Serbia, and British troops. The demise of Austria-Hungary and the defeat of Germany on the Western Front ended the War. The defeat of Germany on the Western Front (1918), With his failures to obtain Macedonia in the Balkan WSars and World War I, King King Ferdinand abdicated in favor of his son (1918). Bulgaria was punished by the victorious Allies in the the Peace treaty of Neuilly (1919). Bulgaria had to cede southwest Thrace to Greece and much of Macedonia to Serbia which became Yugoslavia. Bulgaria as a result lost access to the Aegean Sea. Bulgaria also had to ceed territory to Romania.
Bulgaria declared itself neutral when NAZI Germany launched World War II (September 1, 1939). The monarchy and ruling clique had led Bulgaria into World War I. This time King Boris was a force for moderation. Many Bulgrarians remembered the terrible losses of World War I and had no desire for another such experience, despite the desire to reclaim the territory lost as a result of the War. The early phase of the War was fought in northern Europe and with Germany and the Soviet Union virtually allied, the war seemed far away, although the Italian invasion of Albania and Greece brought the warvinto the Balkans.
Bulgaria had a small army, but poised against either the Soviet Union or Germany, the countr would be quickly overwealmed. At the same time Bulgarian nationalists saw the War as offering the piossivility of regainong the territory lost in the Balkan Wars and World War I.
Hungarian nationalists also had desires to regain territory lost in World War I. War was threatened between Hungary and Romania. This threatened to disrupt NAZI plans for Brabarossa which were being developed. Hitler intervened and large areas of Romania were awarded to Hungary. Bulgaria was awarded southern Dobrudja, which had been lost to Romania in 1913 (Autumn 1940). THe Soviets had also seized Romanian territory.
The NAZIs duting the 1930s gave considerable diplomatic effort to drawing the Balkan coyntries unto the German orbit. The King resisted as best he could, but by 1941, NAZI military power and Bulgarian Fascist elements left King Boris III few options. Hitler as part of a Balkans settlement transferred Southern Dobrudža from Romania to Bulgaria (1940). Romania had fought with the Allies in World War I while Bulgaria had joined the Central Powers.
The Bulgarian Fascist movement was the Ratnizi. Unlike the situation in other Balkan countries, the Fascist Ratnizi had few adherents and relatively little political influence. There was, however, considerable right-wing feeling in Bulgaria and King Boris was concerned throughout the 1930s that they might seize power. The rise of the NAZIs in Germany put the King in a difficult position. The Bulgarian right wing was not as vriulently anti-Senitic as right-wing partiesin many other European countries, but under NAZI influence this increased over time.
The NAZIs applied considerable diplomatic force. There was no doubt that Bulgaria did not have the military force to resist a NAZI invasion. Bulgaria finally joined the Axis and agreed to the entry of German forces (March 1, 1941). Bulgaria essentially had the choice of a German invasion or joining the Axis. The NAZIs offered Bulgaria the return of Macedonia. The Bulgarian public had mixed emotions. Unlike Yugoslavia, there was no great objection to joining the Axis. Nationalists saw the possibility of territorial gains. Bulgaria had fought with the Germans in World War I. Even so, there were historic and ethnic ties with the Russians. But at athe time the Soviet Union and NAZIs were virtual allies as a result of the NAZI-Soviet Non-agression Pact (August 1939). With accession to the Axis, German military units moved into Bulgaria, putting them in a position to move against northern Greece and southern Yugoslavia.
Bulgaria did not actively participate in the attack on Greece and Yugosalvia (April 1941). The fighting was conducted by the Whermacht. And the German troops that moved into Bulgaria did ply a major role in the invasion. The Bulgarian Army was not involved in any heavy fighting. The NAZIs rewarded Bulgaria with territory it had lost during the Balkan Wars and World War I, including areas in both Greece and Yugoslavia. The Bulgaria Army occupied these areas.
The Bulgarians were nominally a German ally in World War II. The Bulgarians under King Boris III were one of the few peoples in NAZI-dominated Europe to defy Hitler. Much of this was due to King Borris who was very popular. The Bulgarians y refused repeated NAZI demands that the Bulgarian Jews be handed over for deportation to the death camps in Poland as part of the Holocaust. The King employed a range of delaying tactics. Bulgaria's 48,000 Jews were thus saved. The Bulgarian Army did cooperate with the round up and transport of Jews in the northern area of Greece and southern Yugoslavia (Macedonia) that they occupied in 1941, although Bulgarian civil authorities do not appear to have been involved.
Bulgaria also refused to partcipate in the NAZI invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941). Bulgaria thus did not declare war on the Soviet Union. The Government managed to do this without incurring any major NAZI reaction. This is prpbably because of Bulgaria's location in the southern Balkans. Hitler's major objective in the Balkans was securing the Romanian oil fields and the Reich's southern flank. Intervening in Bulgaria to install a more submissive government would have necesitated an even greater commitment of forces than the occupatuin of Yugoslavia and Greece already required. Thus it would have been counter productive. The whole idea was to concentrate forces on the Eastern Front to defeat the Red Army.
The NAZIs pressed the Bulgarians to increase their participation in the War. The Government adamently refused to declare war on the Soviet Union. And Bulgarian troops were never deployed on the Eastern Front. After Hitler declared war on the United States (December 1941), the Government declared war on Britain and the United States. I do not fully understand why they took this action, but presume it seemed a relatively save way of apeasing Hitler while staying out of the war in the East. The increasingly hard-pressed NAZIs demanded greater Bulgarian economic support fpr the War. The Wehrmacht seized virtual control of the Bulgarian transport and communications network. The Germans essentially seized control of the country's economy to ensure that Bulgarian industry and agriculture was used to support the war effort. Here, the NAZIs treated Bulgaria essentially as an occupied country, exploiting the Bulgarian economy with no substantial payment.
The Luftwaffe along with the Wehrmacht deployed to Bulgaria when Bulgaria joined the Axis (March 1941). The Luftwaffe was thus in position for the invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece (April 1941). The Bulgarian declaration of war against America and Britain seemed a relatively safe action (1941). Allied successes in North Africa, however, brought Bulgaria within range of Allied bombers. The Allies bombed Sofia and other Bulgarian targets (1943). Allied air strikes from North Africa on Ploesti had to pass over Bulgaria and Bulgarian occupied Yugoslavia and Greece. Thus the Bulgarian Air Force became part of the German air defenses protecting Polesti. Luftwaffe units were deployed in Bulgaria, primarily to defend Polesti.
The NAZIs forced Bulgaria into the Axis. While the German military presence in the country permitted them to seuize resources useful in the War effirt. I could not force them to declare war on the Soviet Union and deploy the Bulgarian Army on the Eastern Front. Here the NAZIs could not force the issue. If they attempted to replace the Government, they would have to take on the Bulgarian Army which is not the way to create allies. Here the King played an important role. He was also doing his best to orotect Jews which further antagonized the NAZIs. Goebbels wrote in his diary, "Several reports indicate that anti-German sentiment in certain Bulgarian Government circles is slightly on the increase. Especiially Czar Boris is said to be playing a somewhat double-faced game. He is a sly, crafty fellow, who, obviously impressed by the severity of the defensive battles on the Eastern Front, is looking for some back door by whuich he might eventually escape. This is a very shortsighted policy which will, of course, immediately be reversed, once our offensive has started again ... " [January 25, 1942--Goebbels, p. 47.] The King was one of many individuals that Goebbels suggested that there would be scores settled.
While Bulgaria had not declared war on the Soviet Union, it was an Axis country and the Bulgarian economy was supporting the NAZI war effort. The Bulgarian Communit Prty (BCP) which was largely controlled by Moscow was quiet during the 1940s because Stalin was being careful not to create problems that Hitler might use as an excuse for war. This changed after Barbarossa (June 1941). The BCP began organizing resistance to the monarch and Governnment. Guerrilla groups began to organize in the countryside.
They stage attacks on industrial and other targets, although on a small scale. The BCP promoted a common front against the Government (Mid 1942). The BCP initiative was called the Fatherland Front. Other parties were at first reluctant to join, but as the War turned against the NAZIs after Stalingrad (January 1943) at other NAZI defeats, there was increasing interest. The BCP, the BPAU left wing, the left social democrats and the Zveno political group all joined the Fatherland front (August 1943). With the German defeat at Kursk (July 1943)it was clear not only that the NAZIs were losing the War, but that the Soviet Red Army was moving toward the country.
King Boris who was very popular died mysteriously (August 1943). His cause of his death is not with any certainty, possibly by heart attack or by assassination. The King's 6-year old son, Simeon II, succeeded under a regency.
This left Bulgaria without any real leadership. The Bulgarian germanophile bourgeoisie which had been a major support forthe monarchy began to grow desperate as the Red Army advanced west. Rumors spread in Bulgaria of a program to democratize society or to reach a truce with the Allies. In fact no real action was taken.
The Soviet Union finally reached the Balkans (summer 1944).
The Red Army driving the NAZIs back on the Eastern Front reached Romania. The Red Army destroyed the only major NAZI force in the south at Lassi-Kishinev (August 1944). The Soviet destruction of Germany Army Group Central forced the German withdrawl from the Balkans. Romania withdrew from the Axis and declared war on Germany (August 23). Soon the Red Army reached Dobrudja. The BCP Central Committee decided on an armed rising in cooperation with other parties in the Fatherland Front. A new Government was organozed (September 2). The Fatherland Front refused to support it. The Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria (September 5) anbd invaded the country by crossing the Danube (Septenber 8). There was only limited NAZI resistance. Unlike Romania with the key Ploesti oil fields, Bulgaria was of only marginal strategic value to the Reich. The Bulgarian Government ordered the Army not to resist the Red Army. The Soviets proceeded to occupy northeastern Bulgaria and the two major ports (Varna and Burgas). Bulgarian army units and partisan bans joined with the Red army and quickly took Sofia. The Army's Sofia garrison with Zveno-supporting officers and under orders of the Fatherland Front took control of strategic points in Sofia. They overthrew the government and arrested the ministers (September 8).
The next day the Fatherland Front announced that a new Fatherland Front Government had seized power the new primeminister was Kimon Georgiev (September 9). The Soviets on the next day seized the rest of Bulgaria (September 9). This day is now known as Liberation Day.
Goebbels, Joseph. ed, Louis B. Lochner, The Goebbels Diaries, 1942-1943 (Doubleday: New York, 1948), 566p.
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