The History of Bulgaria in Brief

The history of Bulgaria is long and interesting, full of descents and ascents, but always leaving clear signs after itself.

When someone speaks about the history of Bulgaria, usually he/she starts with the year 681 AD – the foundation year of the Bulgarian state. Fine, but I think, questions like who the Bulgarians are, where they come form are as equal interesting as the first one. This is the reason I have spent some time to search for the routs of the Bulgarian people.

I was surprised to know, that our grandparents are coming from the middle of Asian continent. Ancient Bulgarians were people that had inhabited the steppes between Pamir, Middle Asian Mountain, Ural and the territory of present day Kazakhstan. After almost two centuries of research and the endeavors of many scientists, the sacred fatherland of the Bulgarians was discovered to be Pamir.

Pamir is the old lands of Balgar and is still called Palgar by the local Tadziks. Bulgarian is an Uralo-Altai language under strong Indo-European influence. According to the “Chinese chronicles” the town Bugur had existed until 87 AD, which later was demolished to the ground by the Chinese imperial troops.There are various assumptions as to the origin of the name 'Bulgarian'.

According to some hypothesis, 'Bulgarian' designates a man who tanns or deals in hides; according to another, the name derives from 'Bulga' - the name of an animal that lived in the steppes of Central Asia and was renowned for its fine fur, and which in all likelihood was a Proto-Bulgarian totem centuries before our times. A third hypothesis says that the name Bulgar means, in the Turkish of the time, people of mixed race.

In the second century AD during the “Great Migration of the Peoples,” the ancient Bulgarians were pushed out of their lands by nomad tribes and settled, together with their old civilized neighbors the Masagets and the Saks in the valleys of the Caucasus.

In 632 AD, Khan Kubrat unites politically all Bulgarians tribes of the Azov and the Caspian Sea, founding the first state of the Bulgarians in Europe - Bulgaria Magna, called by the Armenians "The Bulgarian Land in Caucasus", and by the Byzantine "The Great Old Bulgaria." The capital of the first Bulgarian state is “Fanagoria” located at the Taman (Crimea) peninsula.


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In 660 AD after the death of Khan Kubrat, because of constant invasion of the Khazars his five sons decided to split the Bulgars into five hordes and to seek their fortunes independently.

1. Kubrat’s firstborn son, Batbayan (or Bayan) and his horde, remained on the coast of the Sea of Azov, and were later integrated into Volga Bulgaria.

2. Kuber led his part of the Bulgars first to Pannonia and then settled in Macedonia; eventually they were absorbed by the Bulgaria of Asparuh (or Isperih).

3. Altsek (or Altzek) disappeared into service under the Lombards in Italy. Many place names and towns are of Bulgar origin. Hum, I was just wondering from where is coming the name of the famous fashion brand “Bulgari”! Even today, the traces of Altsek’s horde are obvious in Italy.

4. Kubrat’s son Kotrag, avoided the Khazars by leading his horde far to the north, where it occupied a country around the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers. The country's capital was called "Bulgar" (nowadays Kazan in Tatarstan, Russia).

The Volga Bulgars had significant role in the trade between the fur-selling Ugrians and Russians of the far north and the southern civilizations – Byzantium, the Muslim Caliphate of Baghdad, Turkistan, and even China. In 922 AD, the Islam was adopted as an official religion in order to receive the political and military support of Baghdad against the enemies of the Bulgarian state. The Bulgarian king Gabdula Chelbir defeated Ghengis Khan in 1223 nearby Samarskaya Luka, the first defeat of the Mongols ever. In the long run, the fairly small Bulgaria state on the Volga could not stop the advance of the countless Mongol armies. In 1236 Batu Khan heading 600 000 soldiers sacked the city of Bulgar.

5. The youngest son of Kubrat, Asparukh led his horde (some 250-300 thousand people) westward across the Dniester River, and then southward across the Danube. There, on the plain between the Danube, the Black Sea, and the Balkan Mountains, they established the First Bulgarian Kingdom in 681 AD in the territory of the modern Bulgarian state.

You could find plenty of information on the net regarding the history of Bulgaria after 681 year. This is the reason, just to outline the main events from the long Bulgarian history below.

The First Bulgarian Kingdom rivaled the Byzantines for control of the Balkan region during the 9th and 10th centuries. In 864, Tsar Boris 1st Mikhail overcomes the internal rejection and adopts Christianity as official state religion.In late 9th century the brothers Cyril (Constantine the Philosopher) and Methodius created and disseminated the Cyrillic alphabet. The cities of Ohrid and Pliska, and subsequently the new capital city Veliki Preslav, became centers of Bulgarian and Slavonic culture. The Slavonic alphabet spread to other Slavic countries. Today, it is used in Serbia, Russia, Ukraine, Macedonia, and Belarus.

The Byzantine Empire overtook the Bulgarian state by the early 11th century. In 1185, the Second Bulgarian Kingdom was formed and remained in power until the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the late 14th century.

Following a Russian victory in a war with the Ottoman Empire, part of Bulgaria was declared as an autonomous principality in 1878. A year later, Bulgaria adopted a democratic constitution, with a prince as head of state. Bulgaria became a fully independent nation in 1908.

Following controversial political decisions, Bulgaria enters both World War I and World War II, as a German ally, which was apparently a wrong decision. Apart of the tragic consequences of the war, Bulgarian government managed to protect its Jews population of about 50,000 from the Holocaust by refusing to deport them to concentration camps.

In the aftermath of World War II, Bulgaria was placed under Soviet control. Bulgaria's royal family was exiled, ending the Bulgarian monarchy. In 1946, the country was declared a people's republic. When Allied military forces withdrew from Bulgaria the next year, communism took control of the state. During the two-year period between 1947 and 1949 as many as 20,000 "bourgeois" Bulgarians were executed, or, imprisoned by the Communist People's Court. Bulgaria remained a strong ally of the Soviet Union until 1980s.

Consequently, the changes, which Mikhail Gorbachev was introducing in the Soviet Union, encouraged reformist elements within the Bulgarian Communist Party. On 10 November 1989, after 35 years in power, the communist ruler of Bulgaria Todor Zhivkov was forced to resign.

In 1991, Bulgaria held its first democratic Parliamentary elections and adopted a new constitution. After a transition period, abided by inflation and economic instability, Bulgaria succeeded to gain political stability. As a result, the country joined WTO 1996, NATO 2004, and the EU 2007.

Since 2001, the President of Republic of Bulgaria is Georgi Parvanov. Sergei Stanishev was elected as the Prime Minister on August 17, 2005 in a coalition government with the National Movement for Stability and Progress and Movement for Rights and Freedoms.

The history of Bulgaria is truly inspirational. It teaches us the power of determination and persistence, and the definition of survival. Bulgaria has survived five centuries of Ottoman rule, defied the Nazis, and endured forty-five years behind the Iron Curtain. The country is actively involved in peacekeeping operation in the Balkans.

Sources: http://www.digsys.bg
http://www.megaone.com

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