The Role of an External Factor for the Establishment of the Communist Regime in Bulgaria – September 1944–1948
The Role of an External Factor for the Establishment of the Communist Regime in Bulgaria – September 1944–1948

Summary/Abstract: The research objectives of this article are to analyse Bulgaria’s place in the policies ofthe USSR, the USA and Great Britain in the early post-war years, 1944–1948, and toanswer the main research question about the role of an external factor in the BulgarianCommunist Party’s rise to power and its assertion as a leading political force. The methodof analysing archival documents and causal connections between the Soviet and Americanpolicy, on the one hand, and the actions of the Communist party on the other, makes itpossible to trace the geopolitical interests of the USSR and the USA and Bulgaria’s placein them. The article discusses Soviet support for the Bulgarian Communist Party in thecontext of Moscow’s strategy towards the United States and the way it changed in 1946–1948 as a result of the Cold War. It reveals the role of US diplomacy in the emergenceof the anti-communist opposition in Bulgaria and its dependence upon the Americansupport it received, and on Washington’s policy towards the USSR. The research resultshighlight how the Soviet-American confrontation was projected on domestic politicalprocesses in Bulgaria and the way it predetermined the Communist Party’s victory overits opponents.

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