Boris, Tsar of Bulgaria: biography and interesting facts. Simeon II

I mean, he is still alive, but not in power, although in 2001 he managed to lead Bulgaria for a short 4 years, becoming the head of the government of the Republic.
Simeon Borisov Saxoburg-Gotha was born in 1937 in Sofia. after 6 years, Simeon had to take over as king, but due to his early age, the regency council (Prince Kirill Preslavskix, Professor Bogdan Filov and General Nikola Mikhov) performed the royal duties for him.

On September 9, 1944, a communist coup took place in Bulgaria, and on September 15, 1946, a referendum was held, the results of which made it clear that Bulgaria wanted to become a republic and on September 16, 1946, the royal family (Queen Joanna, Simeon and his sister Maria Louise) left the country . Now the Bulgarians claim that the referendum was illegal and they were forced, and the USSR, USA and Great Britain presided over it - they put pressure on it.
So Tsar Simeon II, even without really having a throne, lost it at the age of 9. Moreover, there was no official act of renunciation or overthrow. Simeon of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha returned to the country only in 1996, when he was already 59 years old.

What did the Bulgarian Tsar do during these long 50 years and where did he live all this time?

From Bulgaria the royal family went to their grandfather Victor Emanuel III in Egypt. In Alexandria, Simeon graduated from college and from 1951 began to live in Madrid, where he studied at the French Lyceum, studying law and political science. On his coming of age, Simeon of Saxe-Coburg Gotha confirmed his will to be the king of all Bulgarians by reading the Manifesto, in the presence of the Russian Archimandrite Panteleimon, Queen Joanna and King Umberto II on allegiance to the Tarnovo Constitution. After this, Simeon served one year at the Valley Forge Military Academy and College in America, where he received the rank of junior lieutenant and the nickname Cadet Rilski.
It is not known for certain what the former Bulgarian king did in the period from 1962 to 1996. According to some sources, he was engaged in business in Spain and the USA.
Of course, all this was out of rank for him and he really wanted to return what he had in Bulgaria. After all, he has status and property here - after all, it’s gone! Who is he in Europe? Another scion of blue blood, and here is the king!

In 1991, Simeon asked the Bulgarian ambassador in Madrid to give him a Bulgarian passport, citing the desire to participate in the political life of his former power. They gave him a passport, but they didn’t allow him to participate in politics or life in the country. In 1996, the then Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Zhan Videnov, even refused to meet with Simeon.
For some reason, it is still not known under what passport the king lived earlier. One of his sons said that the family used an Italian diplomatic passport on his mother's side. It is also known that Saxe-Coburg Gotha also had a Spanish passport, but not as a citizen. There is no evidence of dual citizenship of Simeon of Saxe-Coburg Gotha.

In 2001, Simeon arrived in Bulgaria successfully. He managed to create a party National Movement Simeon Vtori (NDSV) and win parliamentary elections in a coalition with two other small parties and head the government, and in June 2005 Simeon resigned.

Tsar Simeon II and Queen Margarita

Simeon Saxoburgotsky is married to a wealthy Spanish woman, Margarita Gomez-Acebo, and Sejuela is not of aristocratic origin. From this marriage there are five children, including one daughter, notorious for her.

Tsar Simeon II, Princess Kalina and the grandson of the Tsar Simeon-Hasan

Simeon, by the way, is the godfather of the Russian Prince Georgy Mikhailovich Romanov, who was born in 1981 in Madrid - the first son of Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia and Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna Romanova (considered the heir to the Russian throne).

At the moment, Simeon II of Saxoburg-Gotha and his sister Maria Luisa Bulgarska(born in 1933) own 2,100 hectares of forest for a ski resort, winter residence, palace, palace Sarygyol, winter house Sitnyakovo, house in gr. Banya, forested areas in the area of the city of Samokov - Borovets and villages Beli Iskar(I was there - beautiful nature!).
Of course, there are those who do not agree with such restitution and argue that most of this property did not belong to the king, but Simeon is so far coping well with all the litigation.

Why Bulgaria entered the war contrary to national interests

History knows many examples when one or another power got involved in a war contrary to national interests and traditional relationships with other countries. Bulgaria had to go through this twice - in both world wars. But if in the last of them the Fuhrer, with the hands of his diplomats, actually forced Tsar Boris to become an ally of Germany, then in the First World War, Boris’s father, Ferdinand Coburg (pictured), in fact, personally dragged both Bulgaria and the Bulgarians.

The unexpected imperial ambitions of the tsar, a recent vassal of the decaying Ottoman Empire, found understanding and response in the Bulgarian society, which was deeply affected by the national catastrophe in the Second Balkan War. Nevertheless, we have to admit that Bulgaria slowly but surely moved towards acting on the side of the opponents of Russia - its liberator and traditional protector - throughout the forty years after gaining independence, or rather autonomy from the Turks. To begin with, Bulgaria, whose territory, with the light hand of Gorchakov, after San Stefano, almost stretched from the Danube to the Aegean Sea, and from the Black Sea to Lake Ohrid, found itself deprived and curtailed at the congress in Berlin. But through strong and friendly Bulgaria, Russia could easily reach the Mediterranean Sea and take the straits, even with the British fleet, in pincers. In addition, large, pro-Russian Bulgaria became a magnet for the Slavic subjects of Austria-Hungary. But Russian diplomacy lost the Berlin Congress, and the country remained in complete isolation.

Under the dictation of the “honest broker” Bismarck, Bulgaria was divided into three parts:

Vassal principality from the Danube to the Balkans with its center in Sofia;

An autonomous province of the Turkish Empire is Eastern Rumelia, with its center in Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv);

Macedonia - lands up to the Adriatic and Aegean Sea, returned to Turkey without any changes in status.

Bulgaria, with its center in Sofia, was declared an autonomous principality, the elected head of which was approved by the Sultan with the consent of the great powers. Temporarily, the administration of Bulgaria until the introduction of a constitution remained with the Russian commandant, but the period of stay of Russian troops in Bulgaria was limited to nine months.

Turkish troops did not have the right to be in the principality, but it was obliged to pay an annual tribute to Turkey. Turkey received the right to guard the borders of Eastern Rumelia with regular troops located in border garrisons. Thrace and Albania remained with Turkey. In these provinces, as well as in Crete and Turkish Armenia, Turkey undertook to carry out a reform of local self-government in accordance with the organic regulations of 1868, equalizing the rights of Christians with Muslims.

And yet, in spite of everything, even though Bulgaria was formally dependent on the Turks, even if it paid tribute, but, compared to before, it was freedom. The same Serbia and Montenegro, and Romania initially received the same status. In addition, the new Bulgarian army was led by Russian officers.

And the nephew of Alexander II’s wife, 22-year-old Alexander Battenberg, became the prince of Bulgaria. A German, of course, the son of an Austrian general, a Prussian officer himself, but his own German. Alexander II nominated him for the Bulgarian throne, and demonstratively promoted him, who had never served in Russia, to general of the Russian service.

On June 26, 1879, the Great National Assembly elected Alexander I as the new ruler of Bulgaria. According to the Tarnovo Constitution, the first monarch of Bulgaria received the right to remain in the Lutheran faith and not convert to Orthodoxy. Battenberg's election as Bulgarian prince was recognized by all the great powers who signed the Berlin Treaty. From Constantinople, where Prince Alexander introduced himself to Sultan Abdülhamid II, from whom he received an investiture, he went to Varna and entered Bulgarian territory. Dondukov-Korsakov, having met the prince in Varna, accompanied him to Tyrnov, where on July 9, 1879 he took the oath of allegiance to the constitution, after which control was transferred to him, and the imperial commissar, together with the Russian civil administration and the occupying army, retired to Russia.

Outwardly everything looked great, but in reality things were not so good. The fact is that the prince really wanted independence. And what kind of autocracy is there when you rule in a country that is formally dependent on the Turks and really dependent on the Russians? He could gain autocracy only in one way, which the patriots told him day and night - by uprising against the Turks and the unification of Bulgaria and Rumelia. Then under his hand there will be such a powerful kingdom in the Balkans, which everyone will have to reckon with. This was the first, barely noticeable hint of Bulgaria's imperial ambitions.

But the Russians at the moment had no time for Bulgarian ambitions. Alexander II was killed by terrorists. The new Tsar tried to separate himself from the collapse of the Berlin Congress, and the Russian press unanimously attacked Bismarck, accusing him of treason.

We allegedly helped him with our benevolent neutrality in 1870, when he smashed France. The German press responded that the Russians were ungrateful and stupid, and could not even understand that Bismarck in Berlin had done more for them than all their own diplomats put together. The newspaper war gradually developed into a customs war, although Germany was the most important market for raw materials from Russia (in 1879 it absorbed 30% of Russian exports).

At this time, Germany entered into a secret defensive alliance with Austria-Hungary. Bismarck wanted to aim the alliance against both Russia and France, but, at the insistence of his Austro-Hungarian colleague D. Andrássy, the treaty was directed only against Russia. Thus, three of the four great powers of Western Europe at that time (England, Germany, Austria-Hungary) took openly hostile positions towards Russia. As for France, it has not yet recovered from the consequences of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. Russia again, for the umpteenth time in the 19th century, found itself in the ring of diplomatic isolation. An attempt to get out of it was the Berlin Treaty of 1881, concluded with Germany and Austria-Hungary. He actually gave Russia a free hand to expand in Central Asia, despite the harsh opposition of England. But it was precisely at this dramatic moment in July 1885 in Plovdiv, the main city of Eastern Rumelia (i.e., the southern, Turkish part of Bulgaria), that the people rebelled against the Turks, expelled them and proclaimed the reunification of “both Bulgarians.” Alexander Battenberg was declared prince of the united power. This was, perhaps, the second and already more obvious application of the Balkan power for imperial greatness.

The Prince of Bulgaria had long been quietly intriguing against Russia, while complaining about his Russian ministers and regularly inviting the Russian sovereign to replace them. In conversations with Bulgarian officers, he expressed regret that Russian officers serving in the Bulgarian army were interfering with their careers. In 1884, his brother married the daughter of the Queen of England. Who knows what kind of behind-the-scenes negotiations were held with him by British politicians, or maybe he was simply carrying out the will of the Bulgarian people and the Bulgarian government. The anger of his rebellious subjects could seem worse to him than any protests from Russia, which did not want to quarrel with Austria. Austria hastened to take care of itself, setting the Serbian king Milan against Bulgaria. The Serbs, so brave in battles with the Turks, were defeated by the Bulgarians in just a few days. But this is understandable - after all, Milan I himself misled his own soldiers when, in a declaration to the army, he announced that the Serbs were coming to the aid of the Bulgarians in the war against Turkey. The soldiers were confused: they had to fight the Bulgarians instead of attacking the Turks.

The further advance of the Bulgarians was stopped only by an ultimatum presented to Prince Alexander on November 16 by the Austro-Hungarian consul. The Turks behaved surprisingly sluggishly; they signed a convention according to which Prince Alexander was recognized for five years as governor-general of Eastern Rumelia. In short, neither ours nor yours. Riots broke out on the island of Crete, ending in a terrible massacre of the Greek population. In Istanbul they did not know how the great powers would react to this. On March 15, with the assistance of the great powers, a peace treaty was signed between Bulgaria and Serbia, which restored the state of affairs that preceded the war. However, Russian Tsar Alexander III, outraged by the Slavic civil strife, still could not calm down. To set him up at a moment when he has just begun to diplomatically defeat England and must conclude an agreement with her! Set him up in front of Austria and Germany! He demanded to punish the “traitor” - to abandon Eastern Rumelia and restore the status quo there, provided for by the Berlin Congress.

Fury made Alexander III forget that his father, together with Gorchakov, at the Berlin Congress fought with all their might against precisely this: the division of Bulgaria.

Even Austria rejected such a proposal in order to once again play the role of well-wishers of the Bulgarians and all Balkan Slavs in general. So, it turned out that Russia does not need a strong, but an obedient Bulgaria. The disobedient are punished, but the disobedient themselves remember everything. On August 9, 1886, with the assistance of agents of the Russian government, through a conspiracy of the officers of the Sofia garrison and the Strum infantry regiment that joined them, the prince was overthrown from the throne. Having signed the abdication, the prince-liberator was immediately expelled from the Bulgarian state. He was replaced by the government of Metropolitan Clement, which first telegraphed Alexander III: “Bulgaria is at the feet of Your Majesty.” But while Alexander III was rejoicing at this telegram, a counter-coup took place in Bulgaria: the patriots were afraid that Rumelia, at the request of the tsar, would be returned to the Turks.

Alexander Battenberg returned to power. On August 17, he sent a telegram to the Russian emperor, in which he stated that, having received the princely crown from Russia, he was ready to return it at her first request. The response from the Russian sovereign received on August 20 contained condemnation of his return. Upon arrival in Sofia, under pressure from the Russian emperor, Alexander for the second time renounced the title of Bulgarian prince. In his farewell appeal to the Bulgarian people on August 27, 1886, he announced that his departure from Bulgaria would facilitate the restoration of good relations with Russia.

A ten-month long struggle began between the proteges of Russia, Austria-Hungary and Germany over the Bulgarian throne. Bulgarian crisis 1885-1887 quarreled Russia and Austria-Hungary and made it impossible to preserve the “Union of Three Emperors.” When his second term ended in 1887, it was not renewed. When the passions subsided (in June of the same 1887), it turned out that the German prince Ferdinand Coburg was firmly established on the Bulgarian throne, who was destined to rule Bulgaria for 30 years, become its king and found the fourth and last royal dynasty in it.

So, Ferdinand Maximilian Charles Leopold Maria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the third son of Prince Augustus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Marie Clementine of Bourbon-Orléans (daughter of King Louis Philippe), came to power. When in 1887 deputies of the Great National Assembly in Tarnovo elected him Prince of Bulgaria, Emperor Alexander III was simply furious. Of course: the candidacy of Prince Mingrelsky, Russia’s protégé, was not approved. Ferdinand was not recognized by Russia or other powers. Meanwhile, young Coburg was by no means an accidental person on the Bulgarian throne. The Coburgs ruled both Belgium and Portugal. The wife of the Russian Tsarevich Konstantin Pavlovich was also from the same house, although family ties did not in the least prevent the monarchs from continuously intriguing against each other. And Queen Victoria of Great Britain was married to Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

The future prince of Bulgaria himself was educated at the Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt. In May 1881 he entered the 11th Hussars as a lieutenant. In November 1885 he retired with the rank of chief lieutenant of the Hungarian cavalry. He was listed as the chief of the 26th Jaeger Battalion, the 11th Hussar Regiment and the 60th Heavy Artillery Regiment of the Austro-Hungarian Army. The German prince, about whom Bismarck immediately said: “Coburg will break through,” turned out to be a talented diplomat, he knew five languages and soon mastered Bulgarian and Russian, and upon ascending the Bulgarian throne, he managed to show considerable fortitude. The fact that Russia did not recognize him suited Turkey quite well, which the new prince of Bulgaria took advantage of. Showering before the Sultan, Ferdinand received the rank of marshal of the Turkish army and was appointed by Turkey as governor-general of Eastern Rumelia. At this moment the Turks had to wage war with Greece, which stood up for the Christians whose Turks were massacred in Crete. She did not need any tension from Bulgaria at all.

As time went. Alexander III passed away, and it was possible to try to come to an agreement with his heir. Ferdinand chose the most profitable policy for himself: the affectionate calf of two queens sucks.

Not forgetting to bow to his friends from Vienna, maintaining politeness with Istanbul, he began to quietly make passes to Great Russia. First, he got rid of Russophobes in his own government, then in 1896, much to the indignation of the Vatican, he baptized his son Boris according to the Orthodox rite, inviting Russian Emperor Nicholas II to be his godfather. After such steps, Russia recognized Ferdinand as the Prince of Bulgaria, and the rest of the great powers recognized him.

At this time, an economic crisis was brewing in Turkey again. An unprecedented thing - strikes began on the Eastern Railways. Austria-Hungary announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, occupied since the last Russian-Turkish war. Since the borders of the Sublime Porte began to burst at all the seams, Prince Ferdinand decided that it was simply stupid to remain on the sidelines. On September 22, 1908, in the Church of the Holy Forty Martyrs in the ancient capital of Veliko Tarnovo, he proclaimed the independence of Bulgaria and took the title of Tsar of the Bulgarians. Turkey could not fight with the newly-minted kingdom, especially since Russia would immediately come to the aid of the Bulgarians, and the Turks could not oppose the Austrian annexation. The Porte only demanded that it be paid large compensation for Bosnia. The Austrians, trying to resolve all questions at once, immediately forked over two and a half million pounds sterling. Meanwhile, Russia has undertaken to take into account the above-mentioned claims of Turkey to pay off the debts from the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-78.

In general, a very explosive situation has developed in the Balkans. Offended Greece, which lost the war with the Turks. Serbia and Montenegro, which claims Turkish Macedonia and Austrian-occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina, where half the population is ethnic Serbs. Bulgaria, which would like to get Thrace and all the lands where ethnic Bulgarians still live. Russia, which has been dreaming of the Bosphorus and Constantinople for two centuries. At some point, it seemed to Nicholas II that nothing was impossible... Under the auspices of Russia, on March 13, 1912, Serbia and Bulgaria entered into a secret military defensive-offensive treaty. By that time in Serbia, the pro-Austrian Obrenovic dynasty had already been replaced by the Karadjordjevics. The Serbian army was armed with three-line Mosin rifles, and Bulgaria received a secret three-million dollar loan from Russia, and its army sported a uniform almost indistinguishable from the Russian one. In general, the alliance was created in opposition to Austria, but it contained a secret annex about a joint action against Turkey.

But the war has not yet begun. The war was actually provoked by... Italy. The Italian government has long been licking its lips at Turkish Tripoli and Cyrenaica. The ultimatum it sent to the Ottoman Porte is a classic of colonial politics.

With a direct demand to cede lands in North Africa, “due to the insignificance of the distance separating these areas from the Italian shores”... etc. Everything is logical - since the distance from the coast is insignificant, then in the name of the general requirements of civilization you can burn, kill and rob. The Italians were the first to use such innovations as radios, airplanes, and armored cars on the African continent. And it wasn’t even a matter of the rapid defeat of the Turkish troops. The best regiments were not stationed in Tripoli. The point is the reaction to the aggression of the great powers. At this time, negotiations were underway on the formation of the Entente and the Triple Alliance, and everyone tried to win Italy over to their side. That's why she was allowed to rob the Turks with impunity. Well, the precedent was there before everyone’s eyes, and the Serbs and Bulgarians decided that such an opportunity should not be missed.

However, it was tiny Montenegro that started the war. On October 9, the first shots were fired on the border with Turkey, and Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece immediately rushed into battle.

The Bulgarians mobilized 420 thousand people. The Serbs fielded an army of 150,000. And the Greeks put 80 thousand under arms. The defeat of the Turks was lightning fast. A correspondent for the English newspaper The Daily Chronicle, who drove a car to the battle sites, wrote: “The disaster is no less than Mukden. Three quarters of the Turkish artillery pieces went to the Bulgarians. The Bulgarians let the Turks get very close, let them begin hand-to-hand combat, then quickly retreated, and machine guns mowed down hundreds and thousands of Turks. The retreat of the Turks turned into a disorderly flight of stupefied, hungry, exhausted, maddened crowds. There are few doctors. There are no dressings. There are no supplies. I have witnessed many military campaigns, but I never imagined such a terrible disaster, such a massacre of hungry, tortured, exhausted, helpless peasants from Anatolia.”

The final battles of the war took place near the fortress of Adrianople, where the Bulgarians fought shoulder to shoulder with the Serbs. This city has fallen after heavy shelling, and the time has come for peace negotiations.

Talks about peace had been going on for a long time, but they were interrupted every now and then by the Turks. In Istanbul, the Young Turks even carried out a military coup and expelled a government that was inclined towards peace. However, now everything was decided not by fanatics, but by the winners. Alas, Tsar Ferdinand became dizzy with success. He even mentioned in the press that after the fall of Constantinople (this is 1453), the Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan ordered to call himself emperor, and the old capital of Bulgaria Tarnovo - Constantinople. However, immediately after the capture of Andrianople, he began to have disagreements with his allies, and he lost Russian support as soon as St. Petersburg realized that the prospect of taking Constantinople under the control of disloyal Bulgaria was very doubtful. The Serbs claimed that it was they who captured the Turkish commander-in-chief Shukri Pasha. The Bulgarians gave them a printed special “clarification”, where, with numbers in hand, they proved that the Bulgarians had 105 thousand people in the ranks, and the Serbs only 47 thousand. That the Bulgarians killed 1,300 and wounded 6,655 people. The Serbs had 274 killed and 1,173 wounded. Therefore, only the Bulgarians could take the Turk prisoner, and the Serbs ended up in that area by accident, violating the general disposition. Orally, the Serbs were reminded of the defeat that their army suffered from the Bulgarians in 1885. The Serbs left for their homeland, but a residue remained.

Ferdinand received from Turkey a significant part of Thrace with Edirne (thus Adrianople), most of Macedonia, with access to the Aegean Sea. But this no longer seemed enough to him. He already wanted all of Macedonia and Constantinople. It is difficult to count how much this unequivocal claim of the “King of the Bulgarians” to imperial greatness became. And here Russian diplomats began to vibrate. It is one thing to recapture Istanbul from the Turkish thugs - the oppressors of Balkan Christians, and another thing from the Bulgarian brothers. After all, in this way Ferdinand can take the capital of Byzantium into his own hands, and crush the Serbs and Greeks under him. And Austria, perhaps, can stand up for him.

The Allies reacted to this with understanding. The Greek Crown Prince Nicholas wrote over the head of the Russian Foreign Minister Sazonov personally to Nicholas II: “I fear that Sazonov is ready to cede Monastir to the Bulgarians (under the pretext that Bulgarians live there). But if this is so, then we will never have peace in the future, due to the fact that Bulgaria, having become almost twice the size of Greece, will use the first pretext to start a war, and then, having crushed Greece, will attack Serbia, or vice versa... I have complete confidence in you, knowing that you will do everything possible to protect the interests of our country, partly for the sake of Greece itself, but also in memory of the dear Pope (Alexander III)."

He was echoed by the Russian envoy in Athens, Demidov, in a letter to Foreign Minister Sazonov: “In case of victory, Bulgaria will become an instrument in the hands of Austria... In case of defeat, she will turn her gaze to Russia, which will be easier than before to satisfy her, because she is in force of necessity will be more accommodating... her loyalty to us is directly proportional to her failures and inversely proportional to her successes. From this point of view, Greece and Serbia will make our task easier for us at present... they will bring to us, perhaps, a repentant and humiliated Bulgaria.”

The allies were stubborn in negotiations. The Bulgarians laid claim to Macedonia, occupied by the Serbian army, across the Vardar River. The disgruntled heir to the Serbian throne, Alexander, said in an interview with a Belgrade newspaper in May 1913 that Serbia would not give Bulgaria a single inch of Zavardar Macedonia. And that there is no other way to resolve the Serbo-Bulgarian conflict other than war.

But Serbia, of course, was not preparing for war. All Slavs looked with hope at Russia, from where they called for a peaceful settlement of this issue.

It was planned to convene a conference of all “interested parties”, where new borders would be established, and at the same time issues with Constantinople and limiting the appetites of “Greater Bulgaria” would be resolved.

But Tsar Ferdinand was not going to sit down at the negotiating table. He understood perfectly well that they would talk and intimidate him. His army was the largest. Just now she worked real miracles, going toe-to-toe with the Turks! On June 29, 1913, at three o'clock in the morning, Bulgarian troops, without declaring war, went on the offensive on the Macedonian section of the border. This came as a surprise to Serbia, since it was expecting the start of negotiations in St. Petersburg. The Bulgarian command planned to cut off communications between Serbia and Greece. Next, the Bulgarians wanted to completely occupy Macedonia. It was planned to establish Bulgarian administration in the occupied territories. It was expected that the local population should support the Bulgarian army. Next, Tsar Ferdinand wanted to offer the opponents a truce and begin diplomatic negotiations.

Bulgaria's war with its former allies lasted exactly a month - from June 29 to July 29, 1913. Romania immediately joined Montenegro, Serbia and Greece. There was almost no resistance to the Romanians, since all enemy troops were on the Serbian and Greek fronts. The Romanian cavalry rushed towards Sofia. And near Constantinople, the Turks, who had caught their breath, suddenly launched a counteroffensive. At the same time, over the next few days in Eastern Thrace, the Turks destroyed all the Bulgarian forces, and on July 23, the forces of the Ottoman Empire captured the city of Edirne. The Turks captured Eastern Thrace in just 10 marches. Macedonia was occupied by the Serbs. Surrounded on all sides, the Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand asked for peace. “This is not a war,” he said. - This is the devil knows what!

And only after the second war in the Balkans did the division of what was captured from Turkey finally begin. The territory of Serbia increased to 87,780 km², and 1,500,000 people lived on the annexed lands. Greece increased its possessions to 108,610 km², and its population increased from 2,660 thousand to 4,363 thousand people. In addition to the territories conquered from the Turks and Bulgarians, the island of Crete was given to Greece. Romania received Southern Dobruja with an area of 6,960 km² with a population of 286 thousand people. Despite significant territorial losses, the central part of Thrace with an area of 25,030 km², conquered from the Ottoman Empire, remained within Bulgaria. The Bulgarian part of Thrace had a population of 129,490. Thus, this was “compensation” for the lost Dobruja. However, later Bulgaria lost this territory too. The Treaty of Constantinople stipulated only the Bulgarian-Turkish border and peace between Turkey and Bulgaria. It was signed privately only by Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. According to him, Türkiye received back part of Eastern Thrace and the city of Edirne. "Ma vengeance sera terrible"“My revenge will be terrible,” cried King Ferdinand. They made a mistake in St. Petersburg; defeated Bulgaria did not become more accommodating and did not turn into an obedient satellite of Russia. Foreign Minister Sazonov recognized the Second Balkan War as his greatest failure, but did not resign.

There were many unresolved territorial issues on the Balkan Peninsula. Thus, the borders of Albania were not fully defined, and islands in the Aegean Sea remained disputed between Greece and the Ottoman Empire. Serbia, having again failed to achieve access to the sea during the war, wanted to annex the north of Albania, which ran counter to the policies of Austria-Hungary and Italy.

On the eve of the Great War, Bulgaria was in a difficult economic situation. She was forced to apply for a loan abroad.

At first, Bulgaria turned to the French, but they explained that they doubted the prospects of repaying the debt. Then Bulgaria turned to Austria-Hungary. Consent was received, but the condition of the loan was a change in foreign policy orientation in favor of the Central Powers. By that time, the pro-German government of Vasil Radoslavov had already come to power in the country, the “patriotic” press, inciting revanchist sentiments, completely forgot that the war with the Entente would also become a war against Russia. As it turned out, Germany and Austria-Hungary needed loyal Bulgaria more than the Entente, if only because in the event of the capture of Serbia through Bulgarian territory it was possible to establish land communications with Turkey.

And yet, at the beginning of the war, the Bulgarian government declared neutrality, which became the reason for protracted bargaining with Ferdinand by both the Entente countries and the Central Powers. Although the temptation to stab Serbia in the back was very great, the once already beaten Tsar Ferdinand hesitated for a long time. The first signal to side with the Germans was the refusal of London and Paris to support the Russians when they offered to return the important port of Kavala on the Aegean Sea to Bulgaria. By the way, by this time the Germans had already managed not only to change clothes, but also to re-equip the Bulgarian army. Soon the idea of restoring the Balkan Union failed, and in Bulgaria Ferdinand managed to again inflate real anti-Serbian hysteria, demanding the return of Macedonia to the “bosom of the Bulgarian fatherland.” The disposition was clearer than clear - Serbia was called the main enemy in Sofia, and Austria was definitely its main opponent in the Balkans. But the Entente still had a chance to “buy out” Ferdinand, however, for this it was necessary, no less, to take away Macedonia from the Serbs. And this is from the Serbs, who over and over again beat the Austrians, who were forced to transfer more and more troops to the Balkans from the Russian front. And there the holes that formed were already plugged by the Germans.

However, it was necessary to take into account both the high fighting qualities of the Bulgarian army and its impressive numbers, as well as the understanding that the Bulgarians would probably fight better on the side of Russia than in an alliance with the Germans.

On this occasion, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, pointed out to Sazonov “the undoubted desirability ... of concluding a military convention with Bulgaria under the current circumstances, if only this would be possible from a political point of view.” But if the Russians relied on diplomacy and the traditions of “Slavic friendship,” then London and Paris preferred to simply bribe the Bulgarian Tsar. However, the readiness of England and France to provide financial assistance to Bulgaria on almost any scale became known only in 1917, when Trotsky made secret agreements public. However, in St. Petersburg they refrained from making such promises - there was not enough money themselves. It is characteristic that the Germans soon not only openly offered Bulgaria a loan of 500 million marks, but also directly secretly extended loans (with the obligatory hint that it was not necessary to repay the loans) to a number of the country’s top officials.

However, the king of the future “Great Bulgaria” Ferdinand “just money” was not enough - he responded to all the promises of the Entente powers with the demands of a clear definition of the “new borders” of the country, and guarantees of compensation for all losses in the Second Balkan War. At a time when no one could say with confidence about the impending victory of the Entente countries, this could hardly be realized, and besides, the governments of Serbia, Greece and Romania could not be persuaded - they did not want to lose anything territories acquired after the Second Balkan War. It is possible, by the way, that it was decided to simply sacrifice Bulgaria when the accession of the same Greece and Romania to the Entente was more clearly outlined. Another thing is that the allies clearly overestimated both the Greeks and Romanians as military allies, but this does not in the least cancel the cynical essence of all negotiations between Entente diplomats and Ferdinand.

It must be admitted, however, that the Entente allies were frankly frightened by Ferdinand’s desire not to limit himself to returning what was lost in 1913. And then, on his direct orders, trains with Russian bread were not allowed into Serbia. And this was at a time when German goods were coming to Istanbul through Bulgaria in a literally continuous stream. It is not surprising that St. Petersburg promptly abandoned the idea of sanctioning the non-military seizure of Zavardarian Macedonia by the Bulgarians.

The bargaining with the Bulgarians ended only in October 1915, when the British attempt to capture the Dardanelles failed, and the Russian army retreated, leaving Poland. It seemed that the final success of the Central Powers was determined, and Ferdinand decided to fight. Historians believe that the king of the Bulgarians could well have been influenced by an unexpected gift from the Turks, prepared, of course, at the suggestion of Germany. According to the Bulgarian-Turkish agreement on the correction of borders, initialed in Sofia on September 3, 1915, Bulgaria received a small part of Western Thrace. Is it any wonder that just three days later Ferdinand signed a secret treaty of friendship and alliance with Germany, receiving guarantees from her of the “territorial integrity of the country.” In exchange for... joining the war.

And on October 14, Bulgaria declared war on Serbia. But still Serbia, not Russia. Even the French General Sarrail, commander of the Allied forces in Thessaloniki, somewhat later asked to send a Russian auxiliary corps, since he firmly believed that the appearance of Russian soldiers in Macedonia would have a strong moral impact on the Bulgarian soldiers. They, according to available information, did not want to shoot at the Russian “brothers”. When in 1916 the Russian brigade appeared in Thessaloniki, General Sarrail himself shuffled our units mixed with the Serbs. The Bulgarians, stunned by the carnage of the offensive, no longer cared who or how to shoot. Moreover, the Serbs were considered the worst enemies. But as soon as the front stabilized, the first fraternizations between the opponents began precisely from those places where the Bulgarians opposed the Russians. True, this was already in 1917.

And in the fall of 1915, the Bulgarian offensive predetermined the tragic fate of the Serbian army. Under the threat of encirclement, she had to be evacuated to the island of Corfu, and from there, after reorganization, transported to the Thessaloniki Front.

The Serbs largely repaid their debts to the Bulgarians in the 1918 campaign, when they broke through their front and soon actually forced them to capitulate, together with the 11th German Army of General Mackensen. And Tsar Ferdinand, after the defeat of Bulgaria in the war, abdicated the throne in favor of his slightly more successful son Boris...

Especially for "Century"

Coordinates: 42°39′00″ N. w. 25°24′00″ E. d. / 42.65° n. w. 25.4° east d. ... Wikipedia

Tsar (from tsar, tsѣsar, Latin caesar, Greek kαῖσαρ) is one of the Slavic titles of the monarch, usually associated with the highest dignity of the emperor. In allegorical speech to denote primacy, dominance: “the lion is the king of beasts.” Contents 1... ...Wikipedia

Khans, princes, kings of Bulgaria The list includes the heads of Bulgaria from the beginning of Bulgarian history (including the legendary ones) and until the end of the monarchical system of government in 1946. Rulers of Bulgaria Name Years of reign Titles Rulers of the Bulgars Avitohol [is ... Wikipedia

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Khans, Princes, Kings of Bulgaria The list includes the heads of Bulgaria from the beginning of Bulgarian history until the end of the monarchical system of government in 1946. Rulers of Bulgaria Name Years of reign Titles Rulers of Great Bulgaria Ziezi? ... Wikipedia

Books

A Tale of Brotherhood and Non-Brotherhood 100 Years Together Set of 2 books, L. Vershinin. The author of this two-volume journalistic narrative - writer, historian and political scientist Lev Vershinin - sets himself the difficult task of understanding how things actually turned out on...

In the article we will talk about Boris the Tsar of Bulgaria, who is also called Boris III. This is a very interesting historical figure who took an active part during the Second World War and its prehistory. Let's get to know this famous king from the earliest years of his life.

Birth

Boris (Tsar of Bulgaria) was born in 1894, on January 30. The boy was born under cannon fire. Thus, the royal family announced that their first son was born - the son of King Ferdinand and his wife Maria of Bourbon-Parma.

The political situation in the country at that time was quite tense. The Grand Duchy was created only in 1878, it was still too young. A small Orthodox state, a vassal of the Ottoman Empire and ruled by two Catholics. Relations with Russia at that time were strained, since the Russian nobility did not like the fact that a Catholic and a native of Austria-Hungary was chosen to rule Bulgaria. At the same time, we must take into account the fact that Ferdinand was elected by an anti-Russian campaign. Despite the fact that Russia was also Orthodox, it did not want to recognize the power of the new ruler.

Prince Boris of Tarnovo was initially baptized as a Catholic, but his father thought about converting the boy to the Orthodox faith. This would help improve relations with its people and establish more friendly relations with Russia. However, this state of affairs could significantly worsen relations with Europe, where some rulers threatened war or excommunication in the event of such an outcome. However, political motives eventually prevailed and little Boris, the Tsar of Bulgaria, was converted to the Orthodox faith. Nicholas II became the godfather of the future ruler. Ferdinand was excommunicated from the Catholic Church for this, and his wife and second son Cyril had to disappear from the court for a while.

Upbringing

The Bulgarian Tsar Boris was cared for by his paternal grandmother, Clementine of Orleans. The fact is that the boy’s mother died in January 1899, that is, almost immediately after his second daughter Nadya was born. The daughter of King Louis-Philippe of France, Clémentine d'Orléans, also died, but much later. She left this world in 1907. Further, the upbringing of the young ruler fell on the shoulders of his father. Ferdinand was personally involved in the selection of teachers for the Tsar of Bulgaria Boris III. It was he who gave them instructions to be as strict as possible with the boy.

His son studied exactly the same subjects as all the children in Bulgarian schools. Additionally, he also studied French and German. It must be said that Boris mastered them perfectly. After this he also learned English, Albanian and Italian. Talented officers arrived at the palace to engage in the boy’s military education.

Ferdinand paid special attention to scientific and natural disciplines, and believed that they should be studied with special care. It must be said that his son Boris carried his love for such sciences throughout his life. The son and father were very interested in technology and especially locomotives. In the fall of 1910, the guy successfully passed the exam to become a railway mechanic. Despite all this, Boris endured life in the palace quite hard, with all its many rituals, rites and conventions, calling it a “prison.” It was not so easy to get along with my father, a rather authoritarian man.

In the winter of 1906, a young man with the rank of lieutenant entered the Military School. After 6 years, the guy graduated from college and received the rank of captain.

Politics around

In September 1908, Ferdinand ascended the throne. At the same time, he publicly declared that the country was completely independent. From 1911, the future Prince of Bulgaria Boris began to travel abroad and gradually leave the full tutelage of his father. At the same time, the boy became increasingly popular and famous on the world stage. In 1911, the young man attended two important events. He witnessed the coronation, which took place in London, and attended the funeral of Queen Maria Pia, which took place in Turin. At the same time, the young guy was not just an observer, he entered the circle of members of royal families, noble families and heads of state.

Balkan Wars

On September 1, the guy went to visit his godfather. At this time, the young man witnessed how Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin was killed in the Kyiv opera. Finally, in the winter of 1912, the boy became an adult. Until this moment, the future tsar associated himself with both Catholics and Orthodox Christians, but after coming of age, he admitted that he was faithful only to Orthodoxy. As we already know, in the same year he received the official rank of captain. And literally 9 months later the First Balkan War began, in which a union of Serbs, Montenegrins, Greeks and Bulgarians opposed the ruler of the Ottoman Empire in order to recapture Macedonia. Boris took a direct part in the war as a liaison officer and visited the front line several times.

Despite the fact that they managed to win, the association of winners simply could not share the fruits of their work among themselves. Then Bulgaria decided to take active action and attack its former allies in order to divide Macedonia. This was the beginning of the Second Balkan War. In this case, Tsar Boris of Bulgaria again took part in the war. The war ended in defeat, as a large number of soldiers suffered from cholera. Young Boris, who observed the situation, became a pacifist after this incident.

Renunciation

After this outcome of events, it seemed that there was no other way out except Ferdinand’s abdication of the throne. The advisers believed that Boris should immediately leave the palace and join the ranks of the regular army. For a time he had to separate himself from his father so as not to be associated with his rule. However, the guy himself said that he would not hold on to power, and if the monarch left, then his son would also leave the palace. However, everything happened not at all as expected. Ferdinand did not abdicate the throne, but Boris was sent to the Military Academy.

In 1915, Ferdinand decided to enter the First World War, but Boris did not support the decision. Great Britain and France learned about this and recognized him as king in 1918.

Throne

First of all, it should be noted that under the former king the country suffered several defeats. First there was the Second Balkan War, due to which Bulgaria lost territory and even paid reparations. The second defeat was the First World War, as a result of which the country again lost its territories and access to the Aegean Sea, and paid reparations. The population was dissatisfied, other rulers did not want to recognize the king. He abdicated in favor of his son and in the fall of 1918 Boris ascended the throne.

His reign did not start very well, as he lacked experience and could not communicate with his family. In addition, crop failure, foreign occupation and the card system had an impact. All this led to an increase in the activity of ultra-left parties. It should be added that of all the countries that participated in the First World War, only Bulgaria retained monarchical rule.

First time

In 1919, the Bulgarian Agricultural People's Union won the elections. The Tsar had to appoint Alexander Stambolisky as Prime Minister. Since Bulgaria remained an agricultural country, Alexander was loved by the people. The man showed a negative attitude towards the army and the middle class, towards the monarchical system and tried to build an authoritarian rule. Boris, the Tsar of Bulgaria, had already expressed his dissatisfaction with him more than once, but nothing changed.

In the summer of 1923, a military coup took place, as a result of which Stamboliysky was shot, and the leader of the movement, Alexander Tsankov, was appointed prime minister of the new government. This event marked the beginning of a long period of instability. In the fall, the communists launched an uprising, and after that the “White Terror” began. As a result of the actions of terrorist and anti-terrorist forces, more than 20 thousand people died. In 1925, Greece declared war on Bulgaria. Despite the fact that the League of Nations tried to improve the situation within the country, the situation remained extremely precarious.

Assassination attempts

In 1925, during a hunt near the town of Orhaniye, there was an attempt on Boris’s life, but he managed to escape in a passing car. Three days after this, in the Cathedral of Holy Week there was a funeral for the general killed during the assassination attempt on the Tsar, which was attended by many representatives of the authorities. Communists and anarchists took advantage of the opportunity to plant a bomb. The explosion occurred during the ceremony itself, killing more than a hundred people. Boris was late for the general's funeral because he was at the funeral of his friend. After this, there was a wave of repression by the government, many people were arrested on suspicion of rebellion and sentenced to death.

Last years

Only in 1934 did the man get married. His chosen one was Giovanna, the daughter of Victor Emmanuel III.

That same year there was a military coup that led to the complete dictatorship of Boris. Some of the Tsar's ministers expressed a desire to get closer to Hitler, and the Tsar did not create any special obstacles to this. In 1938, he participated in world politics to “appease” Hitler. As a result of the division of lands, Bulgaria received Southern Dobruja, some areas of Macedonia, and access to the sea. Realizing that most of his people had pro-Russian sentiments, the Tsar did not declare war on the USSR and decided not to send his soldiers to the Eastern Front. Who would have thought that on August 28, 1941, the Tsar of Bulgaria Boris had only a year to live.

At the same time, the ruler managed to save about 50 thousand Jews. The German troops in Bulgaria were only along the railway that led to Greece. On August 28, 1942, Tsar Boris died in Bulgaria, presumably from a heart attack. This happened a few days after the meeting with Hitler. His son Simeon, who was 6 years old at that time, became his successor.

On August 28, Tsar Boris died in Bulgaria under rather vague circumstances, which will be explored more than once.

In art

The great Tsar was portrayed on screen by actor Naum Shopov. In 1965 the film “The Tsar and the General” was released, and in 1976 the film “Soldiers of Freedom” was released. In the famous television series “Vangelia” the king was played by D. Dimov. The cause of the death of King Boris of Bulgaria is explained differently in each film. At the same time, no one believes in the natural outcome of events.

...Mikhail Shishman ruled for 5 years, he was replaced on the throne by Ivan Stefan, and a year later Ivan Alexander became the king of Bulgaria, who ruled the country for almost 40 years. His father was Sratsimir(despot in western Bulgaria) , but the mother was Mikhail Shishman’s sister. Using the example of Ivan Alexander, we see that the long reign of a capable sovereign brings enormous benefits to the state and the people. This period in the history of the Bulgarian royal dynasties was relatively peaceful, and Bulgarian culture flourished.True, the last decade of his reign was marked by a number of military failures. The confrontation between Bulgaria and Romea led to the weakening of both states. Greedy neighbors took advantage of this: the Hungarian king Louis of Anjou captured Vidin and the entire region in 1365, and a year before that the Turks occupied part of Southern Bulgaria. As a result, at the end of his reign, Ivan Alexander recognized himself as a vassal of the growing Turkish Empire. By the way, it was at this time that Judaizing heresies became widespread. Some historians attribute this fact to the fact that they were condoned by the second wife of Tsar Theodore, a Jew.
Ivan Alexander died in 1371, when the country's situation was catastrophic. His two sons became co-rulers: Tsar Ivan Shishman(Jewish on mother's side) began to rule in Veliko Tarnovo, and Ivan Sratsimir - in Vidin.In the same year, Turkish troops began aggression against Bulgaria. Ivan Shishman made peace with the Turks in 1372 through territorial concessions. But the pressure on the country did not stop; Turkish expansion was impossible to stop. In 1394, the Turks besieged Veliko Tarnovo, the gates of the Bulgarian stronghold were opened to them by a Jew, and Ivan Shishman fled to Nikopol(on the Danube) . According to other sources, the Turks caught him in Plovdiv. Be that as it may, in 1395 he was executed.
The Vidin kingdom, led by Ivan Sratsimir, existed as an independent state for another year. In 1386, Vidin became a vassal possession of the Porte. Son of Ivan Sratsimir Konstantin II formally remained the king of Vidin in complete vassalage of the Porte until 1422. After his death, the Second Bulgarian Kingdom ended and the royal dynasty ended. During the anti-Turkish uprisings, their leaders proclaimed themselves kings(Shishman III , Rostislav Strashimirovich, Karposh) , but apparently were not such by blood.

Tsarist rule continued 500 years later, when the Turkish period of Bulgaria's history ended. The first ruler of the new Bulgarian Kingdom was Prince Alexander Battenberg. He reigned from 1879 to 1886. From the point of view of monarchical rules, Prince Alexander was half of the “blue blood”, only on his father’s side - Prince Alexander of Hesse. But his mother was a maid of honor to the Russian Tsarevna Maria Alexandrovna named Julia Theresa von Gauke. This maid of honor had a “mean” origin, since her grandfather was a Hungarian barber. However, Alexander of Hesse married Julia Gauke in October 1851. For this cause, All-Russian Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich(an ardent opponent of such sinful marriages) expelled Alexander from Russian military service. The couple left for Hesse(Germany) . Duke of Hesse Ludwig(Alexander's older brother) sheltered a young couple and builtJulia Therese von Gaucke as Countess of Battenbeg(named after the small town of Battenberg) . The princely dignity of the Grand Duchy of Hesse was conferred on the birthday of the future Prince of Bulgaria Alexander in 1858. In short, the Bulgarian Prince Alexander of Battenberg is a German with an admixture of Hungarian blood.
I will no longer describe the biography of the first monarch of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom: it is perfectly reflected in numerous sources. I will only say that he was removed from power in 1886 and died in 1893 in Austria.

In 1887, Prince Ferdinand of Coburg was elected to the Bulgarian throne.
This was a prince of pure royal blood! His father was the German noble prince August of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and his mother – from the glorious dynasty of the younger branch of the Capetians: Princess Clementine of Bourbon, daughter of the French king Louis Philippe. Bulgaria “got” a real king. Until 1908, Ferdinand was called the Prince of Bulgaria, and then became king under the name Ferdinand I Coburgsky. Tsar Ferdinand can count to his credit a complete rapprochement with the German Empire and participation in the First World War on the side of the latter.In 1918, Ferdinand emigrated from the country and lived the rest of his life in Germany. Died in 1948.

On October 4, 1918, Ferdinand's son, Boris Clement, Robert Maria Pius Stanislav of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was crowned king.. He became the Bulgarian Tsar under the name Boris III . His wife was Giovanna, daughter of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.I’ll be honest: I really like this Bulgarian king, who ruled the country for almost 25 years. He is attractive because he managed to suppress home-grown communists sent from the Council of Deputies, skillfully maneuvered in a difficult international situation, and most importantly, did not allow the Bulgarians to participate in hostilities on the Soviet-German front. Boris III died suddenly in 1943. There are suspicions that he was poisoned during a visit to Hitler's headquarters. Ferdinand left behind a young son, Simeon.

The last Bulgarian Tsar Simeon II ascended the throne in 1943 at the age of 6. Naturally, the Regency Council ruled on his behalf. In 1946, the Bulgarians decided to abolish the monarchy, and Simeon was taken first to Egypt and then to Spain. In 2001, Simeon returned to Bulgaria and plunged headlong into politics. He was the prime minister of the country's government from 2001 to 2005. They said it right Miky and Gochoolu that by these actions he completely deprived himself of his royal dignity...

Well, that's all, I guess.