1940: Bulgaria

Bulgaria, a kingdom in the Balkans, like all other Balkan countries, found 1940 a year of great stress and trouble. The profound changes brought about in the map of Eastern Europe during the first period of the second world war aroused in many Bulgarians the hope that Bulgaria would be able to recover the territorial losses suffered as the result of her defeats in the Second Balkan war in 1913 and in the first World War and the ensuing peace treaty of Neuilly in 1919. These hopes were partly realized by the acquisition of the southern Dobruja, which Bulgaria had ceded to Rumania in 1913, and had regained by the treaty of Crayova on Sept. 7, 1940. The territory thus gained comprised about 7,600 square kilometers, with a population of about 350,000, most of them Bulgarians. But Bulgaria has further claims, against Yugoslavia for some parts of Macedonia, and above all against Greece for access to the Aegean Sea on the right bank of the Maritza River and to the port of Dedeagach in Western Thrace. These demands had not been fulfilled by the end of 1940, but they helped to produce a state of permanent tension in the Balkans which made itself felt especially after the outbreak of the Italo-Greek war.

While the sympathies of the large majority of the Bulgarian population, especially the peasant masses, were definitely pro-Slav and generally on the side of the Soviet Union and to a certain extent even on the side of the western democracies, King Boris of Bulgaria, himself of German descent and married to an Italian princess, and the court party followed a pro-Axis policy, though trying to preserve as long as possible the advantages of neutrality for Bulgaria. But during 1940 the country came, economically, politically and militarily, under German influence, which became more pronounced with the extension of German domination over neighboring Rumania. The existing jealousies and conflicting territorial claims of the Balkan nations prevented the Balkan Entente Conference which met in Belgrade at the beginning of February from arriving at any closer understanding in spite of the common danger by which all Balkan States were faced. During 1940 Bulgaria preserved her neutrality, although towards the end of the year her situation might be better described as 'non-belligerent.'

The elections for the National Parliament or Sobranye, which were held during the month of January, gave to the government the expected majority, but in view of many signs of popular discontent the Prime Minister, George Kiosscivanoff, resigned on Feb. 15, and Professor Bogdan Philoff, who had been Minister of Education in the former Cabinet, formed a new ministry, most of whose members had also formed part of the preceding Cabinet. Ivan Popoff, Bulgarian Minister to Yugoslavia, was named Foreign Minister. On Feb. 24 the King opened the twenty-fifth Sobranye with a speech in which he declared that Bulgaria's policy remained unchanged. On May 25, the Minister of War introduced a bill calling for compulsory military service for all men between the ages of seventeen and sixty-five, who will serve for periods of from one to three years, depending on the category of service.

Foreign Relations.

The general unrest following the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia led to a further dismemberment of Rumania, in which Bulgaria was able to press successfully her claims for the southern Dobruja. The negotiations which lasted for several weeks ended with the return of a fertile quadrilateral territory, including the important port of Silistra on the Danube and the port of Balchich on the Black Sea. It was also decided to exchange the remaining Rumanian population in the southern Dobruja for the Bulgarian population living in the northern Dobruja. This cession increases the value of the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Varna and renders the strategic position of the Rumanian port of Constanza more difficult. On Sept. 20 Bulgarian troops under General Popoff began to occupy the southern Dobruja, which was organized as an integral part of the kingdom.

After the successful revision of her frontier with Rumania, Bulgaria started to emphasize her claims to a part of Western Thrace from Greece. For these claims Bulgaria relied more and more upon the Axis. To ingratiate herself with Germany, Bulgaria cut off coal shipments to Greece which were supposed to be destined for the British Mediterranean fleet, and enacted a strong anti-Semitic law, accepted on Oct. 8 which, in addition to the prohibition of free masons, Rotarians and similar organizations, excluded Jews from public service and severely limited their participation in the professions. Important thoroughfares in Sophia were named after Hitler, Ribbentrop, Mussolini, and Ciano. In the middle of October the Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture, Ivan Bagrianoff, visited Rome and was welcomed there as the 'coming strong man of Bulgaria,' and on Nov. 17 King Boris secretly visited Chancellor Hitler in Germany. Both visits were thought to deal with the complete fascization of Bulgaria and with the right of German troops to pass through Bulgaria on their march against Greece and Turkey. In the second half of November it appeared almost certain that Bulgaria would join the 'new order in Europe' and would receive in compensation her full claim to territories along the Aegean Sea, which exceeded by far the territories lost by her in 1919. But towards the end of November it became clear that for the time being at least, perhaps under the pressure of the Soviet Union or under the influence of the Greek victories over Italy, Bulgaria had renounced her intention of joining openly with the Axis powers.