Officers and Cadets from the Third Bulgarian Kingdom – Followers of European Maritime Attainments
Book Review: Asen Kozhuharov „Bulgarian Naval Officers Training Abroad (1882-1944)”
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Book Review: Asen Kozhuharov „Bulgarian Naval Officers Training Abroad (1882-1944)”
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The origin and development of the Bulgarian education system is an issue that is increasingly attracting the attention of researchers. This presentation focuses on the activities of Marin Drinov as head of the Ministry of National Education, in order to highlight his contribution to the establishment of the Bulgarian education system.
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The article deals with the establishment and consolidation of the judicial system in the Bulgarian Armed Forces at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The author analyses the main laws and regulations concerning the military jurisprudence in the Bulgarian Principality (Kingdom, after 1908). The article traces the main stages of development of military jurisprudence as well as the practical application of the Military Penal Code.
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In the article the author examines the infighting that took place in the People’s Liberal Party (“Stambolovist” Party) of Bulgaria in the period of the First World War. During the period 1914-1918 both the supporters and the opponents of the head of the political power N. Genadiev used the collective memory about the eminent statesman Stefan Stambolov in order to achieve certain aims. In the course of twenty years that followed the death of the former Prime Minister of the Principality of Bulgaria his methods of pursuing of the internal and external policy had been one of the factors that influenced the processes of state formation in Bulgaria. The factions of the “Stambolovists”, which had been fighting for influence within the organization, had strived for taking up a position as a real bearers of the idea as well as continuers of the initiatives introduced by the founder of the party during his leadership of the Regency Council and the Cabinet of Ministers. Each of them had taken advantage of St. Stambolov’s memory for the purpose of the solution of certain set tasks, besides, using some controversial versions of the exceptional statesman’s activities.
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The article aims to show some unknown historical facts about the death of King Edward VII of England. In this context the political relations between the British Empire and the Kingdom of Bulgaria are developing. In view of the polarization of Europe between the Triple Alliance and the Entente, Sofia seeks to secure the support of London and to establish good connections and feelings. Bulgaria’s foreign policy is still with loose hands, but considering the pursuit of national unification, it looks for allies and friendly countries. Naturally, King Ferdinand I and his family ties to the royal family of England are naturally counting, given the English-Russian idea circulating in the diplomacy of 1908-1909 to create a Balkan Union.
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At the end of 1917 and the beginning of 1918, the process of the nationalization of army units took place on the Romanian Front of the Russian army. In conditions of army disintegration, in order to keep the front fighting against the Central Powers, the Russian Command planned to create two Ukrainian, two Polish, one Muslim corps, as well as Belarusian, Lithuanian, Moldovan, and Siberian military units. During the nationalization of troops on the Romanian Front, the entire corps and divisions, as well as smaller military units were given over to Ukrainization, Polonization, Muslimization, etc. Based on archival documents, the article identifies the numbers of major military units, smaller units and subdivisions intended for nationalization, and traces the course of nationalization. The causes of failures of the nationalization process were determined, and the fates of the nationalized formations of the Romanian Front were traced.
More...Савченко, В. (2020). Анархісти Одеси. 1917 – 1937. Одеса: Астропринт. 216 с.
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The article provides a brief description of the history of the Balkans in Modern and Recent times. At the beginning of this period, the Balkans became part of the pan-European international system. First as an object, and then more and more of its subject. After the Berlin Congress, many Balkan countries gained independence, and during the First Balkan War, for the first time in history, the Balkan states acted together and independently, and not to support certain actions of the great powers. The Balkan allies were even called the “seventh great power”. However, at the same time, almost all the Balkan states experienced national disasters. Their return to Europe turned out to be incomplete and the lag behind the advanced part of the continent did not decrease either then, or in the interwar or post-war periods. It remains today, despite the accession of most of the Balkan countries to the European Union.
More...Юра Константинова. Българите в османския Солун. София, Институт за балканистика с Център по тракология – Българска академия на науките, 2020. 440 стр.
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The article reviews military missions of 16th border battalion during First World War. It starts in the 1916 in Dobrudja, then during the period 1916 –1917 conducts operations in Romania and in 1918 at Macedonian front. In two years, in campaigns and battles, the company traveled over 2000 km. There is no other border formation with such a long battle route. The various geographical conditions for conducting the combat operations, the different enemies and combat tasks require the battalion to use various tactical options, which is not typical for the regular military formations. A unique combat experience has been gained that hasn't been studied for more than 100 years.
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The article is devoted to one of the important aspects of the Stolypin agrarian reform – the practical activities of land settlement commissions in the field of land surveying in Southern Ukraine in 1906 – 1917. The personnel, tasks and functional responsibilities of members of land settlement commissions are clarified. The main types, volumes and results of land surveying works in the region are determined. It is proved that the practice of boundary works differed in the modernization of technical measures for the elimination of cross-strips, small strips, far-flung land, which led to improved field cultivation, increased agricultural yields and rising land prices. Special attention is paid to land management in the Bulgarian colonies of the region.
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The question of the political and judicial responsibility of ministers was included already in the Turnovo Constitution with the clear awareness of its necessity and from then on it existed in all the drafts and proposals for changes in the fundamental law up to 1947 inclusive. After that public opinion was deliberately diverted in another direction in the search of guilt so that in the last two constitutions (of 1971 and 1991) the responsibility of ministers was tacitly overlooked, and in the Criminal Code the ministers were put on the same footing with officials. The article examines the nature of political responsibility and also the question of judicial responsibility – how it is proceeded, who has the initiative for seeking judicial responsibility, who tries the ministers and what are the possibilities for imposing effective punishment. The constitution drafts of 1935, 1936, 1946 and 1947 are presented and their common features and differences are indicated. From the presented constitutions and constitution drafts it is evident that as regards the political (parliamentary) and criminal (judicial) responsibility of the ministers, the differences between them are neither so numerous nor so essential. The goal of the Bulgarian legislators over a long period of time was to create such constitutional provisions as would have a really restrictive effect on the work of ministers. Although every minister and every cabinet strive to ensure independence in taking decisions and in implementing the comprehensive policy of the government, it should be known also that the responsibility is exclusively of the Council of Ministers. Moreover – all action or inactions of the Cabinet are under the strict control of the legislative power. For any act, for any deed, the minister or the whole cabinet bear political and in certain cases criminal responsibility as wee. It is Parliament that supervises and controls their actions. In the constitutions and draft constitutions existing up to 1947 serious attention was paid to parliamentary responsibility. This was so because it was believed that if the National Assembly acted without allowing gross political passions get the upper hand (irrespective of whether it accused or justified the ministers) the possibility to commit a crime was strongly restricted. The controlling function of the National Assembly was therefore of particular importance also for the upward development of socio-political life and for the conformity with the law of the policy of the government. Unfortunately, both in the older and in the more recent history and also in our contemporary history Parliament and with it the governments, have often fallen prey to their own unrealistic political ambitions.
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The problems of the foreign policy aspects of the Bulgarian national question (1878-1912) is one of the leading subjects in liberal historiography of the period 1878-1944. Formed under the influence of the European liberalism and historical positivism of the late 19th and early 20th c., Bulgarian historiography was distinguished by thematic variety, interdisciplinary approach, high theoretical and methodical standards and national loyalty. In the spirit of liberal positivism historians analysed the Bulgarian Question within the context of the geostrategic interests of the Great Powers in the Balkans (as part of the Eastern Question). The historical writings objectively reflected the tendencies in Bulgarian foreign policy: 1. Satellitism which was a common "complex" of the small Balkan states; 2. The striving for independent foreign policy, realized to a certain extent during Stefan Stambolov’s cabinets. A number of authors advanced the thesis that the genesis of the foreign policy conflicts in the European South-East was expressed in the confrontation of the European nationalist conceptions: Pan-Germanism, Pan-Slavism, Pan-Turkism, British and French neo-colonialism. The active interference of the Balkan nationalist conceptions found practical realization in the clashes between the armed and cultural-religious propagandas.
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The paper is focused on Kremna, a village in Western Serbia close to the Serbian-Bosnian border where a series of prophetic pronouncements, recorded and publicized in the early 20th century, gained momentum during the demise of Yugoslavia and are undergoing a process of heritage-making. It builds on two kinds of ethnography: visits of the field “site” which is the Museum/Memorial of the Prophecy”, and an ethnography of a main road which crosses the state border and relates two former Yugoslav countries. The first and longer part of the paper is dedicated to Kremna, its prophets, the prophecies and to those promoting it as the “Serbian Delphi”. It first outlines the local context and the history of the purportedly prophetic pronouncements subsequently known by the name of the village. It uncovers the logic and the circumstances in which the Kremna prophecies have been brought to public knowledge, to become a banner of Serbian national aspirations and during the last decades, of nationalism. A special section is dedicated to the legitimation of local prophets and the inscription of their work in the longue durée history as well as in cosmic processes. The second part evolves around the ethnography of the road Užice-Višegrad, Kremna being half way from both. It helps to grasp the overall landscape of history- memory- and heritage sites, the dynamics of their intertwining, and the creation of a kind of symbolic grammar of events, personae and cultural items which impacts the historical imagination. Throughout the paper, attention is paid to the importance of border and of boundaries broadly speaking in the microareas where outspoken national prophets are born and have lived.
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