Стефан Стамболов и Васил Радославов в борба за политическата власт в периода на регентството (1886–1887 г.)
Stefan Stambolov and Vassil Radoslavov Fighting for Political Power in the Regency Period (1886–1887)

Summary/Abstract: After the voluntary abdication of Prince Alexander Battenberg the Regency and the cabinet were formed by politicians and public figures whose views were similar to those of the first regent Stefan Stambolov and of the prime minister Vassil Radoslavov. The only exception were Petko Karavelov, member of the Regency, and Ivan Ev. Geshov, the minister of finance, who resigned from their posts at the end of October and the beginning of November 1886. Georgi Zhivkov became the third member of the Regency and Radoslavov was entrusted with the Ministry of Finance. The rallying point in the policy followed by the regents and the government was their firm position as to the pressure of Russian diplomacy and the activity of the Russophile opposition in the Principality. The first differences between the regents, on the one hand, and the ministers Radoslavov and Colonel Danail Nikolaev, on the other, arose at the end of 1886 and in March-June 1887 they gradually turned into a strenuous struggle for political power. A formal pretext for the conflict was the delayed election of a new Prince. The great powers did not look favourably on Battenberg’s re-election and the regents were trying to find a candidate who was ready to accept the election and to come to Bulgaria without the preliminary approval of the countries which had signed the Berlin Treaty. Radoslavov and Colonel Nikolaev considered that the regents followed this policy of deliberately protracting the election of a new Prince to stay longer in power. On its turn the Regency accused the two ministers of striving to declare martial law in the country. The sharp clash between the two opposing groups in the country’s administration ended by the regent’s winning a victory. Gradually they secured for themselves the support of the most important military units and with the active assistance of the ministers Grigor Nachovich and Konstantin Stoilov forced the prime minister Radoslavov to give in his resignation. On June 28, 1887 a cabinet headed by Konstantin Stoilov was formed.

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