1.
Tsar of Bulgaria
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The Bulgarian monarchy had two periods of foreign domination, one century and a half of Byzantine rule and almost five centuries of Ottoman rule. Early Bulgarian rulers possibly used the khan, later knyaz for a brief period. The title tsar, the Slavic form of the Latin caesar, was first adopted and used in Bulgaria by Simeon I and it was also used by all of Simeon Is successors until the fall of Bulgaria under Ottoman rule in 1396. After Bulgarias liberation from the Ottomans in 1878, its first monarch Alexander I adopted the title knyaz, however, when de jure independence was proclaimed under his successor Ferdinand in 1908, the title was elevated to the customary tsar once more. The use of tsar continued under Ferdinand and later under his heirs Boris III, while the title tsar was translated as emperor in the First and Second Bulgarian Empires, it was translated as king in modern Bulgaria. There are one living former Bulgarian Tsar, List of Bulgarian consorts List of Prime Ministers of Bulgaria List of presidents of Bulgaria Cuman people Cumania Andreev, Jordan, the Vatopedi Charter of Emperor Ivan Asen II. A History of the First Bulgarian Empire, a Political Study of the Northern Balkans. Los Angeles, University of California Press, History of the Bulgarian state in the Middle Ages. History of the First Bulgarian Empire
2.
Ferdinand I of Bulgaria
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Ferdinand I, born Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was the ruler of Bulgaria from 1887 to 1918, firstly as knyaz and later as tsar. He was also an author, botanist, entomologist and philatelist, Ferdinand was born on 26 February 1861 in Vienna, a prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry. He was baptised in St. Stephens Cathedral, Vienna on 27 February, having as godparents Emperor Maximilian of Mexico and he grew up in the cosmopolitan environment of Austro-Hungarian high nobility and also in their ancestral lands in Slovakia and in Germany. The Koháry descended from an immensely wealthy Upper Hungarian noble family, the familys property was augmented by Clémentine of Orléans remarkable dowry. These last two, Leopold and Carlota, were also first cousins of Ferdinand Is through his mother and this made the Belgian siblings his first cousins, as well as his first cousins once removed. Indeed, the family of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha had contrived to occupy, either by marriage or by direct election. Following the family trend, Ferdinand was himself to found the dynasty of Bulgaria. The first Prince of the Third Bulgarian State, Alexander of Battenberg, abdicated in 1886 after a Pro-Russian coup, Ferdinand, who was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army was elected Prince of autonomous Bulgaria by its Grand National Assembly on 7 July 1887 in the Gregorian calendar. The Russian tsar himself had nominated his aide, Nichols Dadian of Mingrelia, Ferdinands accession was greeted with disbelief in many of the royal houses of Europe. Queen Victoria, his fathers first cousin, stated to her Prime Minister, to the amazement of his initial detractors, Ferdinand generally made a success during the first two decades of his reign. However, this earned him the animosity of his Catholic Austrian relatives, particularly that of his uncle. On 5 October 1908, Ferdinand proclaimed Bulgarias de jure independence from the Ottoman Empire and he also proclaimed Bulgaria a kingdom, and assumed the title of tsar—a deliberate nod to the rulers of the earlier Bulgarian states. The Bulgarian Declaration of Independence was proclaimed by him at the Holy Forty Martyrs Church in Turnovo and it was accepted by Turkey and the other European powers. Ferdinand was known for being quite a character, Ferdinand was affronted by the gesture and the Emperor apologised. Ferdinand however exacted his revenge by awarding a valuable arms contract he had intended to give to the Krupps factory in Essen to French arms manufacturer Schneider-Creusot, another incident occurred on his journey to the funeral of his second cousin, King Edward VII in 1910. A tussle broke out over where his private railway carriage would be positioned in relation to the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, the Archduke won out, having his carriage positioned directly behind the engine. Realising the dining car of the train was behind his own carriage, on 15 July the same year during a visit to Belgium Ferdinand also became the first head of state to fly in an airplane. Like many other rulers before him, Ferdinand desired the creation of a new Byzantium, in 1912, Ferdinand joined the other Balkan states in an assault on the Ottoman Empire to free occupied territories
3.
Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
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Simeon Borisov Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is a Bulgarian politician and former monarch. During his reign as Simeon II, King of Bulgaria, from 1943 to 1946 he was a minor, the regents were Simeons uncle Prince Kiril, General Nikola Mihov and the prime minister, Bogdan Filov. In 1946 the monarchy was abolished as a consequence of a referendum, and Simeon was forced into exile. In the next elections he, as a leader of NDSV, took part in a government with the ex-communist party BSP. Simeon was born to Boris III and Giovanna of Italy, following his birth, Boris III sent an air force officer to the River Jordan to obtain water for Simeons baptism in the Orthodox faith. He became tsar on 28 August 1943 on the death of his father, since Tsar Simeon was only six years old when he ascended the throne, his uncle Prince Kyril, Prime Minister Bogdan Filov, and Lt. General Nikola Mikhov of the Bulgarian Army were appointed regents. They joined the Axis powers during World War II and on 5 September 1944 the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria, three days later the Red Army entered the country without encountering resistance. On the next day,9 September 1944, Prince Kyril, the three regents, all members of the last three governments, Parliament deputies, heads of the army and eminent journalists were executed by the Communists in February 1945. The royal family remained at Vrana Palace near Sofia, while three new regents were appointed, on 15 September 1946, a referendum was held in the presence of the Soviet army. It resulted in a 97% approval for republic and abolition of the monarchy, on 16 September 1946, the royal family was exiled from Bulgaria. The royal family first went to Alexandria, Egypt, where Queen Giovannas father Victor Emanuel III, King of Italy, there, Simeon II finished Victoria College. In July 1951, the Francos dictatorship in Spain granted asylum to the family, in Madrid, Simeon studied at the Lycée Français, but did not graduate. In 1958, he enrolled at Valley Forge Military Academy and College in the United States,6883, and graduated as a second lieutenant. Once again in Spain, Simeon studied law and business administration, for thirteen years, he was chairman of the Spanish subsidiary of Thomson, a French defence and electronics group. He was also an adviser in the banking, hotel, electronics, Simeon issued several political declarations during his exile through his chancellery in Madrid directed at the Communist regime in Bulgaria and his exiled compatriots. His early attempts at forming a government in exile did not come to fruition. On 21 January 1962, Simeon married a Spanish aristocrat, Doña Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela, the couple have had five children – four sons and a daughter, Kalina, all of whom subsequently married Spaniards. All of his sons received names of Bulgarian kings, his daughter has a Bulgarian name, kardam married Miriam de Ungría y López
4.
Sofia
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Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. The city has a population of 1.26 million, while 1.68 million people live in its metropolitan area, the city is located at the foot of Vitosha Mountain in the western part of the country, within less than 50 kilometres drive from the Serbian border. Its location in the centre of the Balkan peninsula means that it is the midway between the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea, whereas the Aegean Sea is the closest to it, Sofia has been an area of human habitation since at least 7000 BC. Being Bulgarias primate city, Sofia is a hometown of many of the local universities, cultural institutions. Sofia is one of the top 10 best places for business in the world. Sofia is Europes most affordable capital to visit as of 2013, for the longest time the city possessed a Thracian name, derived from the tribe Serdi, who were either of Thracian, Celtic, or mixed Thracian-Celtic origin. It seems that the first written mention of Serdica was made during his reign, during the Romans civitas Serdenisium was mentioned the brightest city of the Serdi in official inscriptions. The city was major throughout the past ever since Antiquity, when Roman emperor Constantine the Great referred to it as my Rome, other names given to Sofia, such as Serdonpolis and Triaditza, were mentioned by Byzantine Greek sources or coins. The Slavic name Sredets, which is related to middle and to the citys earliest name, the city was called Atralissa by the Arab traveller Idrisi and Strelisa, Stralitsa or Stralitsion by the Crusaders. The name Sofia comes from the Saint Sofia Church, as opposed to the prevailing Slavic etymology among Bulgarian cities and towns. It is ultimately derived from the Egyptian Kemetic word sbÅ, meaning star, door, teaching and wisdom and this was a tradition of collection of wise literature, shared between Mediterranean cultures, which was called sophia in Greek. In these documents the city is called Sofia, but at the time the region and the citys inhabitants are still called Sredecheski. The city became popular to the Ottomans by the name Sofya. In 1879 there was a dispute about what the name of the new Bulgarian capital should be, the citys name is pronounced by Bulgarians with a stress on the o, in contrast with the tendency of foreigners to place the stress on i. The female given name Sofia is pronounced by Bulgarians with a stress on the i, Sofia has an area of 492 km2, while Sofia City Province has an area of 1344 km2. Sofias development as a significant settlement owes much to its position in the Balkans. It is situated in western Bulgaria, at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the Sofia Valley that is surrounded by the Balkan mountains to the north. The valley has an altitude of 550 metres
5.
Principality of Bulgaria
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The Principality of Bulgaria was a de facto independent, and de jure vassal state under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. It was established by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, after the Russo-Turkish War ended with a Russian victory, the Treaty of San Stefano was signed by Russia and the Ottoman Empire on 3 March 1878. However, the United Kingdom and Austria-Hungary were against the establishment of such a large Russian client state in the Balkans, due to this, the great powers convened and signed the Treaty of Berlin, superseding the Treaty of San Stefano, which never went into effect. This created a smaller principality, alongside an autonomous Eastern Rumelia within the Ottoman Empire. Although an Ottoman vassal, Bulgaria only acknowledged the authority of the Sublime Porte in a formal way and it had its own Constitution, flag and anthem, and conducted its own foreign policy. In 1885, a bloodless revolution resulted in Eastern Rumelia being de facto annexed by Bulgaria, on 5 October 1908, Bulgaria declared its independence as the Kingdom of Bulgaria. In 1396 the Bulgarian–Ottoman Wars ended with the fall of the Bulgarian Empire, due to the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans, under Ottoman rule, the Bulgarian nobility was destroyed and the national consciousness suppressed. The Bulgarian National Revival, emerging in the late 18th century, revived Bulgarian identity, numerous revolutionary movements and uprisings against the Ottomans occurred alongside similar movements in the rest of the Balkans, culminating in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 to 1878. The Treaty of San Stefano of March 3,1878 proposed a Bulgarian state, based on that date Bulgarians celebrate Bulgarias national day each year. Fearing the establishment of a large Russian client state on the Balkans, a widely autonomous Principality of Bulgaria was created, between the Danube and the Stara Planina range, with its seat at the old Bulgarian capital of Veliko Turnovo, and including Sofia. This state was to be under nominal Ottoman sovereignty but was to be ruled by an elected by a congress of Bulgarian notables. They insisted that the Prince could not be a Russian, but in a compromise Prince Alexander of Battenberg, an autonomous Ottoman province under the name of Eastern Rumelia was created south of the Stara Planina range, whereas Macedonia was returned under the sovereignty of the Sultan. The Bulgarians adopted a democratic constitution, and power soon passed to the Liberal Party led by Stefan Stambolov. He also supported the Unification of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia, which was brought about by a coup in Plovdiv in September 1885, the Powers did not intervene because of the power struggles between them. Shortly after, Serbia declared war on Bulgaria in the hope of grabbing territory while the Bulgarians were distracted and these events made Alexander very popular in Bulgaria, but Russia was increasingly dissatisfied at the liberal tendencies under his reign. In August 1886 they fomented a coup, in the course of which Alexander was forced to abdicate and was exiled to Russia, Stambolov, however, acted quickly and the participants in the coup were forced to flee the country. Stambolov tried to reinstate Alexander, but strong Russian opposition forced the prince to abdicate again, in July 1887 the Bulgarians elected Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as their new Prince. Ferdinand was the Austrian candidate and the Russians refused to recognise him, Ferdinand initially worked with Stambolov, but by 1894 their relationship worsened
6.
Kingdom of Bulgaria
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Ferdinand I was crowned a Tsar at the Declaration of Independence, mainly because of his military plans and for seeking options for unification of all Balkan lands with an ethnic Bulgarian majority. The state was almost constantly at war throughout its existence, lending to its nickname as the Balkan Prussia, following the First World War the Bulgarian army was disbanded and forbidden to exist by the Allied powers, and all plans for national unification of the Bulgarian lands failed. In 1946, the monarchy was abolished, its final Tsar was sent into exile, to complicate matters, Serbia and Greece too made claims over parts of Macedonia, while Serbia, as a Slavic nation, also considered Macedonian Slavs as belonging to the Serbian nation. Thus began a struggle for control of these areas which lasted until World War I. In 1903, there was a Bulgarian insurrection in Ottoman Macedonia, in 1908, Ferdinand used the struggles among the Great Powers to declare Bulgaria an independent kingdom with himself as Tsar. He did this on 5 October in the St Forty Martyrs Church in Veliko Tarnovo, in February 1912 a secret treaty was signed between Bulgaria and Serbia, and in May 1912 a similar treaty was signed with Greece. Montenegro was also brought into the pact, the treaties provided for the partition of Macedonia and Thrace between the allies, although the lines of partition were left dangerously vague. After the Ottomans refused to implement reforms in the disputed areas, the allies had an astonishing success. The Bulgarian army inflicted several crushing defeats on the Ottoman forces and advanced threateningly against Constantinople, while the Serbs, the Ottomans sued for peace in December. Negotiations broke down, and fighting resumed in February 1913, the Ottomans lost Adrianople to a Bulgarian task force. A second armistice followed in March, with the Ottomans losing all their European possessions west of the Midia-Enos line, Bulgaria gained possession of most of Thrace, including Adrianople and the Aegean port of Dedeagach. Bulgaria also gained a slice of Macedonia, north and east of Thessaloniki, Bulgaria sustained the heaviest casualties of any of the allies, and on this basis felt entitled to the largest share of the spoils. Some circles in Bulgaria inclined toward going to war with Serbia, in June 1913 Serbia and Greece formed a new alliance, against Bulgaria. The Serbian and the Greek forces were initially on the retreat on the western border, the fighting was very harsh, with many casualties, especially during the key Battle of Bregalnica. Soon Romania entered the war and attacked Bulgaria from the north, the Ottoman Empire also attacked from the south-east. The war was now definitely lost for Bulgaria, which had to abandon most of her claims of Macedonia to Serbia and Greece, Romania took possession of southern Dobruja. In the aftermath of the Balkan Wars, Bulgarian opinion turned against Russia and the western powers, the government of Vasil Radoslavov aligned Bulgaria with Germany and Austria-Hungary, even though this meant also becoming an ally of the Ottomans, Bulgarias traditional enemy. But Bulgaria now had no claims against the Ottomans, whereas Serbia, Greece, the UK, France, Italy and Russia then declared war on Bulgaria
7.
Rila Monastery
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The Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila, better known as the Rila Monastery is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria. The monastery is named after its founder, the hermit Ivan of Rila, in 2008 alone, it attracted 900,000 visitors. The monastery is depicted on the reverse of the 1 lev banknote and it is traditionally thought that the monastery was founded by the hermit St. Ivan of Rila, whose name it bears, during the rule of Tsar Peter I. Ever since its creation, the Rila Monastery has been supported and respected by the Bulgarian rulers, the Rila Monastery was reerected at its present place by Hrelyu, a feudal lord, during the first half of the 14th century. The oldest buildings in the date from this period -— the Tower of Hrelja. The bishops throne and the gates of the monastery also belong to the time. However, the arrival of the Ottomans in the end of the 14th century was followed by numerous raids, with Sultana Mara Brankovićs influence Ivan of Rilas relics were moved from Trnovo into the new complex in 1469. The complex acted as a depository of Bulgarian language and culture in the ages of foreign rule, the erection of the residential buildings began in 1816, while a belfry was added to the Tower of Hrelyu in 1844. Neofit Rilski founded a school in the monastery during the period, the monastery is known as being one of the hideouts of Bulgarian revolutionaries such as Vassil Levski, Gotse Delchev, Peyo Yavorov, etc. Since 1991 it has been subordinate to the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. On 25 May 2002, Pope John Paul II visited Rila monastery during his pilgrimage to Bulgaria and he was greeted by the Monasterys igumen, Bishop Ioan, who had been an observer at the Second Vatican Council. The whole complex occupies an area of 8,800 m² and is rectangular in form, centred on the yard, where the tower. The main church of the monastery was erected in the middle of the 19th century and its architect is Pavel Ioanov, who worked on it from 1834 to 1837. The frescoes, finished in 1846, are the work of masters from Bansko, Samokov and Razlog, including the famous brothers Zahari Zograf. The church is home to many valuable icons, dating from the 14th to the 19th century. Porticos in the courtyard have Mamluk influence with the painting and the domes. The four-storey residential part of the consists of 300 chambers, four chapels, an abbots room, a kitchen, a library housing 250 manuscripts and 9,000 old printed matters. The exterior of the complex, with its walls of stone and little windows
8.
Giovanna of Italy
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Giovanna of Italy was the Tsaritsa of Bulgaria. Giovanna was born in Rome, the daughter and fourth child of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Queen Elena. Upon her Roman Catholic christening, she was given the names Giovanna Elisabetta Antonia Romana Maria and her older brother was the future Italian king Umberto II of Italy. Giovanna married Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria in the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi, Assisi in October 1930, in a Roman Catholic ceremony, bulgarians deemed her a good match, partly because her mother, Elena of Montenegro, was of Slavic ethnicity. At a second ceremony in Sofia, Giovanna was married in an Eastern Orthodox Church ceremony, Giovanna adopted the Bulgarian version of her name, Ioanna. Giovanna knew the Popes Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria, Archbishop Angelo Roncalli and she and Boris had two children, Marie Louise of Bulgaria, born in January 1933, and then the future Simeon II of Bulgaria in 1937. In the years prior to World War II, Tsaritsa Ioanna became heavily involved in charities, during the war she counterbalanced her husband consigning Bulgaria to the Axis by obtaining transit visas to enable a number of Jews to escape to Argentina. Tsar Boris also proved less malleable than Hitler had hoped, and following a meeting in Berlin in August 1943, stress and a heart condition were the official reasons for his death. Ioannas son, Simeon, became the new tsar and a regency was established, led by his uncle Prince Kyril, in the dying days of the Second World War, Bulgaria was invaded by the Soviet Union. Prince Kyril was tried by a Peoples Court and subsequently executed, Giovanna and her son Simeon remained under house arrest at Vrana Palace, near Sofia, until 1946, when the new Communist government gave them 48 hours to leave the country. After initially fleeing to Alexandria in the Kingdom of Egypt, to join her father, King Victor Emmanuel III, during this last visit to Bulgaria she received a cordial welcome, and thousands of people went on the streets to greet her. She is buried in the Communal Cemetery of Assisi, Italy, where she had married King Boris III in 1930
9.
Princess Marie Louise of Bulgaria
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Princess Maria Louise of Bulgaria is the daughter of Tsar Boris III and Tsaritsa Ioanna and the older sister of Simeon II of Bulgaria. Her baptism in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church caused controversy at the time, after the abolition of the monarchy in 1946, Princess Maria Louise left the country with her mother and brother. They first lived in Egypt and then moved to Spain and she married Prince Karl of Leiningen in a civil ceremony on 14 February 1957 in Amorbach and in a religious ceremony on 20 February 1957 in Cannes. The couple had two sons, Prince Boris of Leiningen married firstly Millena Manov on 14 February 1987, divorced 9 July 1996, with issue. He wed secondly Cheryl Ann Riegler 11 September 1998, with issue Prince Hermann Friedrich of Leiningen married Deborah Cully 16 May 1987, with issue Karl, on 16 November 1969, she married Bronislaw Tomasz Andrzej Chrobok, in Toronto, Canada. Prince Pawel Alastair Antoni Chrobok of Koháry, married to Ariana Oliver Mas, the title Princess of Koháry was nominally ceded to Princess Maria-Louise and the children of her second marriage by her brother, the former Simeon II, King of Bulgaria, in 2012. Princess Maria-Louise is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American University in Bulgaria, House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Knight Grand Cross of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Saxe-Ernestine House Order
10.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
11.
Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma
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Princess Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma was the eldest daughter of Robert I, the last reigning Duke of Parma. She became Princess-consort of Bulgaria upon her marriage to Ferdinand of Bulgaria and she was the mother of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria. The couple produced eleven children before Maria Pia died in childbirth in 1882. Several of these twelve were born with mental retardation. Later, Duke Roberto remarried and had more children. Marie Louise, who was twelve at the time of her mothers death, was brought up in Biarritz, fluent in five languages, she liked painting and music. Her talents playing the guitar and the piano were judged to be well above the average and she was also well read and knew a lot of Dante and Leopardi by heart. In 1892, her father arranged her marriage to the then reigning Prince of Bulgaria, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, the negotiations were conducted between Duke Robert and Ferdinands mother, Princess Clémentine of Orléans. The engagement was celebrated at the Castle of Schwartzau, the residence of the Bourbon-Parma family in Austria, marie-Louise and Ferdinand had never met prior to that day. The wedding took place on 20 April 1893 at the Villa Pianore in Lucca, Italy, Marie Louise was twenty three, nine years younger than Ferdinand. The couple wasted no time producing an heir, with son Boris born nine months, Marie Louise was not loved by her husband. However, he made sure that in order to secure his lineage on the Bulgarian throne, Marie Louise, pregnant, argued bitterly against her husbands actions, with the support of her father and her mother-in-law. The second child received baptism with Roman Catholic rites, however, unable to avoid Boriss conversion, Marie Louise, who had threatened to leave the country, left Sofia that same day for Beaulieu. In May 1896 Marie Louise returned to Bulgaria, in the summer, she went to London with her husband for Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee, giving birth the following January to Princess Eudoxia. In July 1898 with her husband and their four-year-old, Boris, they visited St Petersburg at the invitation of Nicholas II of Russia, disillusionment in her private life and bearing four children in five years affected her frail health. Suffering from pneumonia, Marie Louise died in Sofia, twenty four hours after giving birth to her fourth child, aged just 29, she was buried in the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Louis of France in Plovdiv
12.
Eastern Orthodox Church
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The Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that it is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church established by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission to the apostles. It practices what it understands to be the original Christian faith, the Eastern Orthodox Church is a communion of autocephalous churches, each typically governed by a Holy Synod. It teaches that all bishops are equal by virtue of their ordination, prior to the Council of Chalcedon in AD451, the Eastern Orthodox had also shared communion with the Oriental Orthodox churches, separating primarily over differences in Christology. Eastern Orthodoxy spread throughout the Roman and later Eastern Roman Empires and beyond, playing a prominent role in European, Near Eastern, Slavic, and some African cultures. As a result, the term Greek Orthodox has sometimes used to describe all of Eastern Orthodoxy in general. However, the appellation Greek was never in use and was gradually abandoned by the non-Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox churches. Its most prominent episcopal see is Constantinople, there are also many in other parts of the world, formed through immigration, conversion and missionary activity. The official name of the Eastern Orthodox Church is the Orthodox Catholic Church and it is the name by which the church refers to itself in its liturgical or canonical texts, in official publications, and in official contexts or administrative documents. Orthodox teachers refer to the Church as Catholic and this name and longer variants containing Catholic are also recognized and referenced in other books and publications by secular or non-Orthodox writers. The common name of the Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, is a shortened practicality that helps to avoid confusions in casual use, for this reason, the eastern churches were sometimes identified as Greek, even before the great schism. After 1054, Greek Orthodox or Greek Catholic marked a church as being in communion with Constantinople and this identification with Greek, however, became increasingly confusing with time. Missionaries brought Orthodoxy to many regions without ethnic Greeks, where the Greek language was not spoken. Today, many of those same Roman churches remain, while a large number of Orthodox are not of Greek national origin. Eastern, then, indicates the element in the Churchs origin and development, while Orthodox indicates the faith. While the Church continues officially to call itself Catholic, for reasons of universality, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in a letter written about 110 AD from one Greek church to another. Quote of St Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, thus, almost from the very beginning, Christians referred to the Church as the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Orthodox Church claims that it is today the continuation and preservation of that same Church, a number of other Christian churches also make a similar claim, the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Assyrian Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. The Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church, not directly from the Orthodox Church, the depth of this meaning in the Orthodox Church is registered first in its use of the word Orthodox itself, a union of Greek orthos and doxa
13.
Roman Catholic
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
14.
Bulgarian language
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Bulgarian /bʌlˈɡɛəriən/, /bʊlˈ-/ is an Indo-European language, a member of the Southern branch of the Slavic language family. Various evidential verb forms exist to express unwitnessed, retold, with the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union on 1 January 2007, Bulgarian became one of the official languages of the European Union. Development of the Bulgarian language may be divided into several periods, prehistoric period – occurred between the Slavonic migration to eastern Balkans and the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia in the 860s. Old Bulgarian – a literary norm of the southern dialect of the Common Slavic language from which Bulgarian evolved. It was used by Saints Cyril and Methodius and their disciples to translate the Bible, Middle Bulgarian – a literary norm that evolved from the earlier Old Bulgarian, after major innovations were accepted. It was a language of literary activity and the official administration language of the Second Bulgarian Empire. Modern Bulgarian – dates from the 16th century onwards, undergoing general grammar, present-day written Bulgarian language was standardized on the basis of the 19th-century Bulgarian vernacular. Bulgarian was the first Slavic language attested in writing, as Slavic linguistic unity lasted into late antiquity, in the oldest manuscripts this language was initially referred to as языкъ словяньскъ, the Slavic language. In the Middle Bulgarian period this name was replaced by the name языкъ блъгарьскъ. In some cases, the name языкъ блъгарьскъ was used not only with regard to the contemporary Middle Bulgarian language of the copyist but also to the period of Old Bulgarian. During the Middle Bulgarian period, the language underwent dramatic changes, losing the Slavonic case system, today one difference between Bulgarian dialects in the country and literary spoken Bulgarian is the significant presence of Old Bulgarian words and even word forms in the latter. Russian loans are distinguished from Old Bulgarian ones on the basis of the presence of specifically Russian phonetic changes, as in оборот, непонятен, ядро and others. As usual in cases, many other loans from French, English. Modern Bulgarian was based essentially on the Eastern dialects of the language, between 1835–1878 more than 25 proposals were put forward and linguistic chaos ensued. Eventually the eastern dialects prevailed, and in 1899 the Ministry of Education officially codified a standard Bulgarian language based on the Drinov-Ivanchev orthography, the language is mainly split into two broad dialect areas, based on the different reflexes of the Common Slavic yat vowel. This split, which occurred at some point during the Middle Ages, led to the development of Bulgarias, E. g. млеко – milk, хлеб – bread. This rule obtains in most Eastern dialects, although some have ya, or an open e sound. The literary language norm, which is based on the Eastern dialects
15.
Abdication
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Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. The word abdication derives from the Latin abdicatio meaning to disown or renounce, in its broadest sense abdication is the act of renouncing and resigning from any formal office, but it is applied especially to the supreme office of state. In Roman law the term was applied to the disowning of a family member. Today the term applies to monarchs, or to those who have been formally crowned. An elected or appointed official is said to resign rather than to abdicate, a notable exception is the voluntary relinquishing of the office of Bishop of Rome by the Pope, called Papal resignation or Papal renunciation. Among the most notable abdications of antiquity are those of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the Dictator, in 79 BC, Emperor Diocletian in AD305, perhaps the most notable abdication in recent history is that of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom and the Dominions. In 1936 Edward abdicated to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson, over the objections of the British establishment, the governments of the Commonwealth, the Royal Family and it was the first time in history that the British or English crown was surrendered entirely voluntarily. Richard II of England, for example, was forced to abdicate after power was seized by his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, the Scottish parliament pronounced a decree of forfeiture and deposition. In Scotland, Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son, to give legal effect to the abdication of King Edward VIII, His Majestys Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 was passed. In Medieval Japan abdication was used often, and in fact occurred more often than death on the throne. A tradition developed that an emperor should accede to the relatively young. Thus, many Japanese emperors have acceded as children, some only 6 or 8 years old, several emperors abdicated while still in their teens. These traditions show in Japanese folklore, theater, literature and other forms of culture, over half of Japanese empresses abdicated once a suitable male descendant was considered to be old enough to rule. Since the Meiji Restoration and the subsequent reorganization of imperial succession, no emperor has abdicated, there is also no provision for abdication in the Imperial Household Law, the Meiji Constitution, or the current 1947 Constitution of Japan. On February 27,1946, the emperors youngest brother, Prince Mikasa, even stood up in the council and indirectly urged the emperor to step down. General Douglas MacArthur insisted that Emperor Hirohito retain the throne, MacArthur saw the emperor as a symbol of the continuity and cohesion of the Japanese people. However, senior officials within the Imperial Household Agency have denied there is any official plan for the monarch to abdicate. A potential abdication by the Emperor would require an amendment to the Imperial Household Act, on 8 August 2016 the Emperor gave a rare televised address, where he emphasized his advanced age and declining health, this address is interpreted as an implication of his intention to abdicate
16.
Second Balkan War
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Serbian and Greek armies repulsed the Bulgarian offensive and counter-attacked, entering Bulgaria. With Bulgaria also having engaged in territorial disputes with Romania. The Ottoman Empire also took advantage of the situation to some lost territories from the previous war. In the Treaty of Constantinople, it lost Edirne to the Ottomans, the political developments and military preparations for the Second Balkan War attracted an estimated 200–300 war correspondents from around the world. During the First Balkan War, the Balkan League succeeded in driving out the Ottoman Empire from its European provinces, leaving the Ottomans with only the Çatalca, however, the relations between the victorious Balkan allies quickly soured over the division of the spoils, especially in Macedonia. In the event, during the war, the Serbs succeeded in capturing an area far south of the agreed border, at the same time, the Greeks advanced north, occupying Thessaloniki shortly before the Bulgarians arrived, and establishing a common Greek border with Serbia. The developments essentially ended the Serbo-Bulgarian alliance and made a war between the two countries inevitable. Soon thereafter, minor clashes broke out along the borders of the zones with the Bulgarians against the Serbs. Responding to the perceived Bulgarian threat, Serbia started negotiations with Greece, with this agreement, Serbia succeeded in making Greece a part of its dispute over northern Macedonia, since Greece had guaranteed Serbias current occupation zone in Macedonia. However, his later dismissal put an end to the targeting of Serbia. Another point of friction arose, Bulgarias refusal to cede the fortress of Silistra to Romania, Romania threatened to occupy Bulgarian territory by force, but a Russian proposal for arbitration prevented hostilities. In the resulting Protocol of St. Petersburg of 8 May 1913, the resulting agreement was a compromise between the Romanian demands for the entire southern Dobruja and the Bulgarian refusal to accept any cession of its territory. However the fact that Russia failed to protect the integrity of Bulgaria made the Bulgarians uncertain of the reliability of the expected Russian arbitration of the dispute with Serbia. The Bulgarian behavior had also an impact on the Russo-Bulgarian relations. Both acts made conflict with Romania and Serbia inevitable, by mid-June Bulgaria became aware of the agreement between Serbia and Greece in case of a Bulgarian attack. On 27 June Montenegro announced that it would side with Serbia in the event of a Serbian-Bulgarian war, on 8 June, he sent an identical personal message to the Kings of Bulgaria and Serbia, offering to act as arbitrator according to the provisions of the 1912 Serbo-Bulgarian treaty. That caused Russia to cancel the initiative and to angrily repudiate its 1902 treaty of alliance with Bulgaria. Then Serbia and Greece proposed that each of the three countries reduce its army by one fourth, as a first step to facilitate a peaceful solution, but Bulgaria rejected it
17.
Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine
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The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine required Bulgaria to cede various territories, after Bulgaria had been one of the Central Powers defeated in World War I. The treaty was signed on 27 November 1919 at Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the treaty required Bulgaria to cede Western Thrace to the Entente thereby cutting off Bulgarias direct outlet to the Aegean Sea. The signing ceremony was held in Neuillys town hall, in Bulgaria, the results of the treaty are popularly known as the Second National Catastrophe. Bulgaria subsequently regained South Dobruja as a result of the Treaty of Craiova, during World War II, together with Nazi Germany, it temporarily reoccupied most of the other territories ceded under the treaty. Four minor regions had been part of Bulgaria from its inception as a principality in 1878, except for the region around Strumitsa, some areas with a Bulgarian majority population were ceded to Serbia. Territories ceded by the treaty to the then Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, in Serbia, to which the term generally applies in Bulgaria, the territory ceded is split between the modern Serbian District of Pirot and District of Pčinja. It also includes a section along the Timok River in the municipality and District of Zaječar. In 1919, the area corresponded to the parts of the Bulgarian okrugs, Kyustendil,661 km2, Tzaribrod 418 km2, Tran 278 km2, Kula 172 km2. Bulgarian sources claim that the Bulgarian population made 98% of the population in Bosilegrad, in the Yugoslav census of 1931, all South Slavs were simply counted as Yugoslavs so a comparison could not be made. According to the last Census in Serbia from 2002, Bulgarians made 50%, Bulgarians in Macedonia Bulgarians in Serbia List of treaties Minority Treaties Western Outlands Borisova, Galina M. Bulgaria, Greece and Britains Policy 1919. The treaties of Neuilly-sur-Seine and Sevres, or the redefining of a new Balkan Europe, Bulgarian Historical Review-Revue Bulgare dHistoire 3-4, 99-113. Greek Macedonia and the Convention of Neuilly, Balkan Studies 3#1 pp 169-184, text of the Treaty Map of Europe at time of Treaty of Neuilly at omniatlas. com
18.
Nikola Zhekov
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Nikola Todorov Zhekov was the Minister of War of Bulgaria in 1915 and served as commander-in-chief from 1915 to 1918 during World War I. Nikola Zhekov was born 1865 in Sliven and he was accepted in Sofia Military School and volunteered to serve in a reserve regiment during the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885. In 1886 he took part in the coup against prince Alexander Batenberg. After the plot failed he was demoted to the rank of cadet, soon after he received an amnesty for his offence and graduated from the Military School. In 1887 he was promoted to Lieutenant and assigned to the 2nd artillery regiment in Shumen, in 1894 he was promoted to captain and sent to Italy where in 1898 he graduated the military academy of Turin. After his return to Bulgaria he served in the 3rd artillery regiment, in 1901 he was promoted to major and taught at the Sofia military school, becoming its headmaster in 1912. Between 1910 and 1912 he also served as commander of the 1st infantry regiment, in 1913-1914 Zhekov was also part of a Bulgarian diplomatic mission to Istanbul which was involved in negotiating a military convention between Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. After that he served as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Bulgarian Army, in August 1915 he was promoted to major general and appointed Minister of War. Zhekov was a proponent for the intervention of Bulgaria in the war on the side of the Central Powers. Under Mackensens command, the Bulgarian Army also participated in the highly successful Romanian Campaign. Separately, Zhekov managed in throwing back the Allied offensives in Salonika in the autumn of 1916, zhekovs forces also participated in the successful attack against the port of Kavalla in August–September 1916. On 6 October 1916 he was promoted to lieutenant general, in the summer of 1918 he became ill and on 8 September was forced to go to Vienna for medical treatment, leaving the command of the army to the deputy commander-in-chief general Georgi Todorov. After the war Zhekov chose to flee into exile in Germany and he returned in 1921 to defend his reputation and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment but was granted amnesty after spending three years in jail. In the years after that Zhekov read lectures in the Military Academy and wrote books regarding the military science. On 6 May 1936 he was promoted to general of the infantry which was the highest rank in the Bulgarian Army. During World War II General Zhekov established a relationship with Adolf Hitler. After the government changes in September 1944 General Zhekov, fearing political persecutions, on 1 February 1945 he was sentenced to death by the Peoples Court established by the government of the Fatherland Front. However his whereabouts were unknown to the government and the sentence wasnt carried out, Zhekov died on 1 November 1949 in the Bavarian town of Füssen
19.
Konstantin Zhostov
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Konstantin Andonov Zhostov was a Bulgarian General and Chief of the Bulgarian Army Staff. Konstantin Zhostov was born in the village of Gaytaninovo, at the part of the Ottoman Empire. He was the son of Andon Zhostov a teacher and a significant figure in the struggle for the autonomy of the Bulgarian Church, Konstantin was not the only child in the family as he had two brothers. After the Russo-Turkish War the family settled in Sofia and Andon became a priest, during the Serbo-Bulgarian War Konstantin was a student in Lom and took part in the Battle of Pirot between 14 and 15 November 1885 as a volunteer in the Students Legion. After the war he graduated from the High School and Lom and he received his first officer rank - lieutenant on 9 May 1887 and began his service in the artillery and in 1894 was promoted to captain. In 1889 Zhostov went to Vienna, where he entered the Artillery School to study for a staff officer, in 1897 he graduated with excellent marks and returned to Bulgaria and was assigned to the administration of the Armys General Staff. Latter he was appointed commander of a battery in the 3rd Artillery Regiment and was made head of the fortress artillery section in the Artillery Department of the War Ministry. In 1902 he was promoted to major and in 1905 was sent as a military attaché to Vienna, in 1908 Zhostov was promoted to colonel and took command of the 8th Tundzha Infantry Division. Then in 1906-1907 he was again a military attaché in Saint Petersburg, after his return to Bulgariahe became part of Tsar Ferdinands retinue. In 19010 Konstantin was made commander of the 3rd Artillery Regiment, latter he was Chief of Staff of the united Bulgarian 1st and 3rd Armies. After the first armistice was concluded he was included in the Bulgarian delegation at the London peace talks, with the failure of the talks he returned to the front and assumed his previous post. After a few months of fighting the Ottoman Empire was finally defeated, during the Second Balkan War he was commander of the 1st Brigade of the 7th Infantry Division. On the 15 August 1915 Zhostov was promoted to major general and he had a leading role during the Serbian Campaign and in the Macedonian Front. Still the general was not among the supporters of the Central Powers. Following a tour of the Western Front and the Italian Front he even suggested to the prime minister Radoslavov that Bulgaria switch sides, such views made Zhostov, in his own words, a black cat for tsar Ferdinand and the government. Major General Konstantin Zhostov died on 30 August 1916 after suffering complications of appendicitis
20.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
21.
Roman Catholicism
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
22.
Franz Joseph I of Austria
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Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, and many others from 2 December 1848 until his death on 21 November 1916. From 1 May 1850 to 24 August 1866 he was also President of the German Confederation, in December 1848, Emperor Ferdinand abdicated the throne at Olomouc as part of Ministerpräsident Felix zu Schwarzenbergs plan to end the Revolutions of 1848 in Hungary. This allowed Ferdinands nephew Franz Joseph to accede to the throne, largely considered to be a reactionary, Franz Joseph spent his early reign resisting constitutionalism in his domains. Franz Joseph was troubled by nationalism during his entire reign and he concluded the Ausgleich of 1867, which granted greater autonomy to Hungary, hence transforming the Austrian Empire into the Austro-Hungarian Empire under his dual monarchy. After the Austro-Prussian War, Austria-Hungary turned its attention to the Balkans, the Bosnian crisis was a result of Franz Josephs annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, which had been occupied by his troops since the Congress of Berlin. On 28 June 1914, the assassination of his nephew Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo resulted in Austria-Hungarys declaration of war against the Kingdom of Serbia and this activated a system of alliances which resulted in World War I. Franz Joseph died on 21 November 1916, after ruling his domains for almost 68 years and he was succeeded by his grandnephew Charles. His name in German was Franz Joseph I and I and his names in other languages were, Croatian and Bosnian, Franjo Josip I. Ukrainian, Фра́нц Йо́сиф I, Romanian, Francisc Iosif Slovene, serbian, Фрања Јосиф Franz Joseph was born in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the eldest son of Archduke Franz Karl, and his wife Princess Sophie of Bavaria. Franzl came to idolise his grandfather, der Gute Kaiser Franz, at the age of thirteen, Franzl started a career as a colonel in the Austrian army. From that point onward, his fashion was dictated by army style, Franz Joseph was soon joined by three younger brothers, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Archduke Karl Ludwig, and Archduke Ludwig Viktor, and a sister, Maria Anna, who died at the age of four. Instead, Franz was sent to the front in Italy, joining Field Marshal Radetzky on campaign on 29 April, by all accounts he handled his first military experience calmly and with dignity. Around the same time, the Imperial Family was fleeing revolutionary Vienna for the setting of Innsbruck. Soon, the Archduke was called back from Italy, joining the rest of his family at Innsbruck by mid-June. It was at Innsbruck at this time that Franz Joseph first met his cousin Elisabeth, his bride, then a girl of ten. Following victory over the Italians at Custoza in late July, the court felt safe to return to Vienna, but within a few months Vienna again appeared unsafe, and in September the court left again, this time for Olomouc in Moravia. By now, Prince Alfred I of Windisch-Grätz, the military commander in Bohemia, was determined to see the young Archduke soon put on the throne. By the abdication of his uncle Ferdinand and the renunciation of his father, at this time he first became known by his second as well as his first Christian name
23.
Nicholas II of Russia
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Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, ruling from 1 November 1894 until his forced abdication on 15 March 1917. His reign saw the fall of the Russian Empire from being one of the foremost great powers of the world to economic, Soviet historiography portrayed Nicholas as a weak and incompetent leader, whose decisions led to military defeats and the deaths of millions of his subjects. The Anglo-Russian Entente, designed to counter German attempts to influence in the Middle East. Nicholas approved the Russian mobilisation on 30 July 1914, which led to Germany declaring war on Russia on 1 August 1914 and it is estimated that around 3,300,000 Russians were killed in World War I. Following the February Revolution of 1917, Nicholas abdicated on behalf of himself and his son, Nicholas, the recovered remains of the Imperial Family were finally re-interred in St. Petersburg, eighty years to the day on 17 July 1998. In 1981, Nicholas, his wife and their children were canonized as martyrs by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, located in New York City. On 15 August 2000 Nicholas and his family were canonized as passion bearers, Nicholas was born in the Alexander Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. He had five siblings, Alexander, George, Xenia, Michael. Nicholas often referred to his father nostalgically in letters after Alexanders death in 1894 and he was also very close to his mother, as revealed in their published letters to each other. His paternal grandparents were Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia and his maternal grandparents were King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark. Nicholas was of primarily German and Danish descent, his last ethnically Russian ancestor being Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna, Nicholas was related to several monarchs in Europe. His mothers siblings included Kings Frederik VIII of Denmark and George I of Greece, Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany were all first cousins of King George V of the United Kingdom. Nicholas was also a first cousin of both King Haakon VII and Queen Maud of Norway, as well as King Constantine I of Greece, Tsar Nicholas II was the first cousin-once-removed of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich. To distinguish between them the Grand Duke was often known within the Imperial family as Nikolasha and Nicholas the Tall, while the Tsar was Nicholas the Short. In his childhood, Nicholas, his parents and siblings made annual visits to the Danish royal palaces of Fredensborg and Bernstorff to visit his grandparents, the king and queen. The visits also served as family reunions, as his mothers siblings would come from the United Kingdom, Germany. It was there in 1883, that he had a flirtation with one of his English first cousins, in 1873, Nicholas also accompanied his parents and younger brother, two-year-old George, on a two-month, semi-official visit to England. In London, Nicholas and his family stayed at Marlborough House, as guests of his Uncle Bertie and Aunt Alix, the Prince and Princess of Wales, where he was spoiled by his uncle
24.
Saint Petersburg
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Saint Petersburg is Russias second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is politically incorporated as a federal subject, situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 271703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, between 1713 and 1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the government bodies moved to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is one of the cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of consulates, international corporations, banks. Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress, at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a then called Ingermanland. A small town called Nyen grew up around it, Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he intended to have Russia gain a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations. He needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north, on May 1703121703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans, and soon replaced the fortress. On May 271703, closer to the estuary 5 km inland from the gulf), on Zayachy Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia, tens of thousands of serfs died building the city. Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate, Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712,9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war, he referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital as early as 1704. During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the bank of the Neva, near the Peter. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan, by 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed, but is evident in the layout of the streets, in 1716, Peter the Great appointed French Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great, in 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His endeavours to modernize Russia had met opposition from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life
25.
Balkan Wars
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The Balkan Wars consisted of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan Peninsula in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913. Four Balkan states defeated the Ottoman Empire in the first war, one of the four, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire lost the bulk of its territory in Europe. Austria-Hungary, although not a combatant, became relatively weaker as a much enlarged Serbia pushed for union of the South Slavic peoples, the war set the stage for the Balkan crisis of 1914 and thus served as a prelude to the First World War. By the early 20th century, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia had achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire, in 1912 these countries formed the Balkan League. The First Balkan War had three main causes, The Ottoman Empire was unable to reform itself, govern satisfactorily, or deal with the rising nationalism of its diverse peoples. The Great Powers quarreled amongst themselves and failed to ensure that the Ottomans would carry out the needed reforms and this led the Balkan states to impose their own solution. Most importantly, the Balkan League had been formed, and its members were confident that it could defeat the Turks. The Ottoman Empire lost all its European territories to the west of the River Maritsa as a result of the two Balkan Wars, which thus delineated present-day Turkeys western border, a large influx of Turks started to flee into the Ottoman heartland from the lost lands. By 1914, the core region of the Ottoman Empire had experienced a population increase of around 2.5 million because of the flood of immigration from the Balkans. Citizens of Turkey regard the Balkan Wars as a disaster in the nations history. Nazım Pasha, Chief of Staff of the Ottoman Army, was responsible for the failure and was assassinated on 23 January 1913 during the 1913 Ottoman coup détat carried out by the Young Turks. The First Balkan War began when the League member states attacked the Ottoman Empire on 8 October 1912, the Second Balkan War was begun on 16 June 1913. Seeing the treaty as trampled, Bulgaria was dissatisfied over the division of the spoils in Macedonia, the more numerous combined Serbian and Greek armies repelled the Bulgarian offensive and counter-attacked into Bulgaria. Romania, who having taken no part in the conflict, had intact armies to strike with, the Ottoman Empire also attacked Bulgaria and advanced in Thrace regaining Adrianople. The background to the lies in the incomplete emergence of nation-states on the European territory of the Ottoman Empire during the second half of the 19th century. Serbia had gained territory during the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878, while Greece acquired Thessaly in 1881. All three countries, as well as Montenegro, sought additional territories within the large Ottoman-ruled region known as Rumelia, comprising Eastern Rumelia, Albania, Macedonia, throughout the 19th century, the Great Powers shared different aims over the Eastern Question and the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. Russia wanted access to the waters of the Mediterranean from the Black Sea, it pursued a pan-Slavic foreign policy
26.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
27.
Liaison officer
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A liaison officer is a person who liaises between two organizations to communicate and coordinate their activities. Generally, liaison officers are used to achieve the best utilization of resources or employment of services of one organization by another, liaison officers often provide technical or subject matter expertise of their parent organization. Usually an organization embeds a liaison officer into another organization to provide face-to-face coordination, in the military, liaison officers may coordinate activities to protect units from collateral damage. They also work to achieve mutual understanding or unity of effort among disparate groups, for incidence or disaster management, liaison officers serve as the primary contact for agencies responding to the situation. In the foreign service, community liaison officers support employees and family members who are assigned to foreign embassies, in the United States foreign service, they are charged with building community spirit and enhancing morale at post. Currently, CLOs operate at over 200 U. S. missions worldwide, including several unaccompanied posts such as Baghdad, Kabul and this presents a challenge in the case of CLOs, who are posted to missions in their capacity as a spouse. Many have therefore not received the training in order to be proficient in the local language prior to being posted overseas. According to some commentators, this makes it difficult for many CLOs to be effective at their jobs. For example, George Wilcox counters, In the 1990s my wife served twice as CLO, once in Central Asia, where she didnt speak the language and once in Brazil, where she did. She did an excellent job in both places, mostly because of her empathy for family members and her involvement in helping them to adjust successfully to life in the two countries
28.
Macedonian Front
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The expedition came too late and in insufficient force to prevent the fall of Serbia, and was complicated by the internal political crisis in Greece. The Macedonian Front remained quite stable, despite local actions, until the great Allied offensive in September 1918, which resulted in the capitulation of Bulgaria and the liberation of Serbia. Following the asassination of the Crown Prince by a Bosnian Serb, after the entry of the Ottoman Empire into the war on the side of the Central Powers, the decisive factor in the Balkans became the attitude of Bulgaria. Bulgaria occupied an important position on the Serbian flank and its intervention on either side of the belligerents would be decisive. Bulgaria and Serbia had fought each other twice in the thirty years, in the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885. Bulgaria had suffered defeat in 1913 and the Bulgarian government and people felt that Serbia had stolen land which rightfully belonged to Bulgaria. After the victory of the Serbian army in the Battle of Kolubara in December 1914, on 15 October 1915, two Bulgarian armies attacked, overrunning Serbian units, penetrating into the valley of the South Morava river near Vranje up to 22 October 1915. The Bulgarian forces occupied Kumanovo, Štip, and Skopje, and prevented the withdrawal of the Serbian army to the Greek border, for a year, the Allies had repeatedly promised to send serious military forces to Serbia, while nothing had materialized. But with Bulgarias mobilization to its south, the situation for Serbia became desperate, the main reason for the delay was the lack of available Allied forces due to the critical situation in the Western Front. The Entente used Greek neutrality as an excuse, although they could have used the Albanian coast for a deployment of reinforcements. The Entente also delayed due to protracted secret negotiations aiming at bringing Bulgaria into the Allied camp, in the event the lack of Allied support sealed the fate of the Serbian Army. Against Serbia the Central Powers marshalled the Bulgarian Army, a German Army, the Germans and Austro-Hungarians began their attack on 7 October with a massive artillery barrage, followed by attacks across the rivers. Then, on 11 October, the Bulgarian Army attacked from two directions, one from the north of Bulgaria towards Niš, the other from the south towards Skopje, the Bulgarian Army rapidly broke through the weaker Serbian forces which tried to block its advance. With the Bulgarian breakthrough, the Serbian position became hopeless, their army in the north faced either encirclement and enforced surrender. Marshal Putnik ordered a full Serbian retreat, southwards and westwards through Montenegro, the Serbs faced great difficulties, terrible weather, poor roads and the need for the army to help the tens of thousands of civilians who retreated with them. Only c.125,000 Serbian soldiers reached the Adriatic coast and embarked on Italian transport ships carried the army to Corfu. Marshal Putnik had to be carried during the retreat, he died just over a year later in a French hospital. The French and British divisions marched north from Thessaloniki in October 1915 under the joint command of French General Maurice Sarrail, however, the War Office in London was reluctant to advance too deep into Serbia
29.
Colonel
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Colonel is a senior military officer rank below the general officer ranks. However, in small military forces, such as those of Iceland or the Vatican. It is also used in police forces and paramilitary organizations. Historically, in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of a regiment in an army, the rank of colonel is typically above the rank of lieutenant colonel. The rank above colonel is typically called brigadier, brigade general or brigadier general, equivalent naval ranks may be called captain or ship-of-the-line captain. In the Commonwealth air force rank system, the equivalent rank is group captain, the word colonel derives from the same root as the word column and means of a column, and, by implication, commander of a column. The word colonel is therefore linked to the column in a similar way that brigadier is linked to brigade. By the end of the medieval period, a group of companies was referred to as a column of an army. Since the word is believed to derive from sixteenth-century Italian, it was presumably first used by Italian city states in that century. The first use of colonel as a rank in an army was in the French National Legions created by King Francis I by his decree of 1534. Building on the reforms of Louis XIIs decree of 1509. Each colonel commanded a legion with a strength of six thousand men. With the shift from primarily mercenary to primarily national armies in the course of the seventeenth century, the Spanish equivalent rank of coronel was used by the Spanish tercios in the 16th and 17th centuries. Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, nicknamed the Great Captain, divided his armies in coronelías or colonelcies, however, the Spanish word probably derives from a different origin, in that it appears to designate an officer of the crown, rather than an officer of the column. This makes the Spanish word coronel probably cognate with the English word coroner and this regiment, or governance, was to some extent embodied in a contract and set of written rules, also referred to as the colonels regiment or standing regulation. By extension, the group of companies subject to a colonels regiment came to be referred to as his regiment as well, the position, however, was primarily contractual and it became progressively more of a functionless sinecure. By the late 19th century, colonel was a military rank though still held typically by an officer in command of a regiment or equivalent unit. As European military influence expanded throughout the world, the rank of colonel became adopted by every nation
30.
Third Army (Bulgaria)
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The Bulgarian Third Army was a Bulgarian field army during the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II. After 1907, during times of peace, the territory of Bulgaria was divided into three army inspectorates, each one comprising three divisional district, during war they formed three independent field armies. The Third Army Inspectorate, which had its seat in Ruse, the three Bulgarian field armies were activated and began concentrating on the border with the Ottoman Empire. The Third Army was placed under the command of Lieutenant General Radko Dimitriev and his chief of staff, the chief of staff of the Bulgarian Army, Major General Ivan Fichev, had devised the final plan for the war with the Ottoman Empire more than a year earlier. He realized that Bulgaria had to seize the initiative immediately after the outbreak of the war by conducting an offensive in Eastern Thrace. To achieve this task the general deployed all three Bulgarian field armies in the vicinity of the Thracian border. The Third Army had a role in the plan as it was deployed to the northeast of the First Army. General Fichev expected that the Ottomans would remain unaware of this important force, by 8 October the Third Army had moved south and managed to align its front with that of the First Army without being detected by the Ottomans, proving General Fitchevs expectations correct. The two Bulgarian armies were now ready to commence the attack on the Adrianople - Kirk Kilisse line, the lack of sufficient information led him to greatly underestimate the strength of the invading armies and had grave consequences for the Ottomans. On 9 October the Bulgarian high command ordered its Third Army and this coincided with the beginning of the Ottoman offensive and the advance of the III Corps against the Bulgarian left. In the ensuing struggle the Ottomans were overwhelmed and forced to retreat in panic which meant that the encirclement of the Bulgarians was impossible. The remaining Ottoman forces further west were also suffering defeats and the situation deteriorated rapidly. Abdullah Pasha ordered a retreat and abandoned the Empires most strategic defensive position on the Balkan Peninsula. In addition more than 60,000 Ottoman troops were surrounded in Adrianople, with the end of the Battle of Kirk Kilisse battle the Bulgarian high command chose to rest its forces instead of vigorously pursuing the retreating Ottomans. The Ottomans used the time to establish a new defensive line, by the time the Bulgarian Third and First armies resumed their advance their opponents were thoroughly entrenched and reinforced. When the Battle of Lule Burgas began the Bulgarians were forced to engage in a frontal assault with around 108,000 riflemen against the 126,000 riflemen of the Ottomans. The Third Army was to bear the brunt of the fighting as the First Army was forced to leave substantial forces to guard its rear, despite their numerical superiority the Ottoman armies were routed after a five-day battle. The losses and exhaustion of the soldiers forced the Bulgarian command to order a couple of days rest
31.
Romania during World War I
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The Romanian campaign was part of the Balkan theatre of World War I, with Romania and Russia allied against the armies of the Central Powers. Romania entered the war in an attempt to seize Transylvania, a region with majority Romanian population, despite initial successes, the Romanian forces suffered several setbacks, and by the end of 1916 only Moldavia remained under Allied control. On 10 November 1918, just one day before the German armistice and after all the other Central Powers had already capitulated, by then, about 220,000 Romanian soldiers had been killed, about 6% of total Entente military deaths. The Kingdom of Romania was ruled by kings of the House of Hohenzollern from 1866, while Carol wanted to enter World War I as an ally of the Central Powers, the Romanian public and the political parties were in favor of joining the Triple Entente. Romania remained neutral when the war started, arguing that Austria-Hungary itself had started the war and, consequently, in the same time, Germany started encouraging Austro-Hungary to make territorial concessions to Romania and Italy in order to keep both states neutral. In return for entering the war on Allied side, the Romania demanded support for its claims to parts of Transylvania. The Romanians greatest concerns in negotiations were the avoidance of a conflict that would have to be fought on two fronts and written guarantees of Romanian territorial gains after the war, the Allies were to send 300 tons of provisions on a daily basis. According to the Romanian account, most of these clauses, with the exception of those imposed on Romania, according to British military historian John Keegan, before Romania entered the war, the Allies had secretly agreed not to honour the territorial expansion of Romania when the war ended. In 1915, Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Thomson, a fluent speaker of French, was sent to Bucharest as British military attaché on the initiative of Lord Kitchener to bring Romania into the war. Once there, he formed the view that an unprepared and ill-armed Romania facing a war on two fronts would be a liability, not an asset, to the Allies. This view was brushed aside by Whitehall, and Thomson signed a Military Convention with Romania on 13 August 1916, within a few months, he had to alleviate the consequences of Romania’s setbacks and supervise the destruction of the Romanian oil wells to deny them to Germany. The Romanian government signed a treaty with the Allies on 17 August 1916 that pledged to declare war on Austria-Hungary by 28 August, the Romanian ambassador in Vienna actually transmitted the declaration of war on 27 August. Germany, caught by surprise, responded with a declaration of war on Romania the next day, the dates of the Bulgarian and Ottoman declarations of war are disputed. Ian Beckett says that Bulgaria did not issue a declaration of war prior to its attack of 31 August, other sources place the declaration on 30 August or 1 September. The Ottoman declaration took place either on 29 August,30 August or 1 September, within two days of her own declaration, according to one source, Romania found herself at war with all the Central Powers. The Romanian army was large, with over 650,000 men in 23 divisions. Meanwhile, the German Chief of Staff, General Erich von Falkenhayn, had correctly reasoned that Romania would side with the Allies, thus everything seemed to depend on whether Rumania was ready to make any sort of use of her momentary advantage. The Romanians in Austria-Hungary entered the war from the very beginning, although most Transylvanian Romanians were loyal to the Empire, over time, reactionary sentiments emerged, especially after Romania joined the war
32.
Field marshal
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Field marshal is a very senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually it is the highest rank in an army, and when it is and it is considered as a five-star rank in modern-day armed forces in many countries. The origin of the dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the kings horses. Promotion to the rank of marshal in many countries historically required extraordinary military achievement by a general. However, the rank has also used as a divisional command rank. The traditional attribute distinguishing a field marshal is a baton, the baton nowadays is purely ornamental, and as such may be richly decorated. That said, it is not necessary for the insignia to be a baton, the exact wording of the titles used by field marshals varies, examples include marshal and field marshal general. The air force equivalent in Commonwealth and many Middle Eastern air forces is marshal of the air force. Navies, which usually do not use the nomenclature employed by armies or air forces, use titles such as fleet admiral, Field marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim was a politician in Afghanistan who served as Vice President from June 2002 until December 2004 and from November 2009 until his death. Between September 2001 and December 2004, he served as Defense Minister under the Afghan Transitional Administration. As military commander of the Northern Alliance, Fahim captured the Afghan capital Kabul in the fall of 2001 from the Taliban government, in 2004 President Hamid Karzai provided Fahim the honorary title Marshal and a year later he became member of the House of Elders. He later became a recipient of the Ahmad Shah Baba Medal, Fahim was a member of Afghanistans Tajik ethnic group. He was affiliated with the Jamiat Islami party of Afghanistan, Sir Thomas Blamey was the first and is the only Australian-born field marshal. He was promoted to the rank on the insistence of the Australian prime minister, Sir Robert Menzies, Blamey was, at the time of his promotion, seriously ill and mostly bed-ridden in the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital. He was presented with his marshals baton at a ceremony held in the sunroom at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital by the Governor-General of Australia. Blameys field marshals baton is on display in the Second World War galleries at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Currently, the only Australian field marshal is HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, during Imperial rule in China, different dynasty gave different titles to generals. A very similar title is 司馬 in Eastern Han dynasty, which means master of horse
33.
August von Mackensen
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Anton Ludwig August von Mackensen, born August Mackensen, was a German field marshal. He commanded with success during the First World War and became one of the German Empires most prominent military leaders, after the Armistice, Mackensen was interned for a year. He retired from the army in 1920 and was made a Prussian state councillor in 1933 by Hermann Göring, during the Nazi era, Mackensen remained a committed monarchist and sometimes appeared at official functions in his First World War uniform. He was suspected of disloyalty to the Third Reich, although nothing was proven against him, Mackensen was born in Haus Leipnitz, near the village of Dahlenberg in the Prussian Province of Saxony, to Louis and Marie Louise Mackensen. His father, an administrator of agricultural enterprises, sent him to a Realgymnasium in Halle in 1865, Mackensen began his military service in 1869 as a volunteer with the Prussian 2nd Life Hussars Regiment. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 he was promoted to second lieutenant, after the war he left the service and studied at Halle University, but returned to the army in 1873 with his old regiment. He married Doris von Horn, the sister of a slain comrade and her father Karl von Horn was the influential Oberpräsident of East Prussia, they had two daughters and three sons. In 1891 Mackensen was appointed to the General Staff in Berlin, Mackensen was surprised by his next posting, as an adjutant to William II, because he was the first commoner to hold that position. For the next three and a half years he shadowed the Kaiser, meeting the high and mighty of Germany, the rest of Europe, and his sons shared gymnastics classes with the Kaisers. He was ennobled on the Kaisers 40th birthday,27 January 1899, next he received the command of the newly created Life Hussar Brigade from 1901 to 1903, and from 1903 to 1908 commanded the 36th Division in Danzig. He became a widower in 1905, and two later married Leonie von der Osten, who was 22 years old. When Schlieffen retired in 1906, Mackensen was considered as a possible successor, in 1908 Mackensen was given command of the XVII Army Corps, headquartered in Danzig. The Crown Prince was placed under his command, and the Kaiser asked Mackensen to keep an eye on the young man and to teach him to ride properly. He led XVII Corps in the battles of Gumbinnen, Tannenberg and the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes, on 2 November 1914 Mackensen took over command of the Ninth Army from Hindenburg, who became Supreme Commander East. On 27 November 1914 Mackensen was awarded the Pour le Mérite, Prussias highest military order, for successful battles around Łódź, by April 1915 the Russians had conquered all of western Galicia, the Austro-Hungarian slice of partitioned Poland, and were pushing toward Hungary. In response to desperate pleas the German supreme commander Erich von Falkenhayn agreed to an offensive against the Russian flank by an Austro-German Army under a German commander, the reluctant Austro-Hungarian supreme command agreed that the tactful Mackensen was the best choice for commanding the coalition army. Army Group Mackensen was established containing a new German Eleventh army, also under his command, as chief of staff he was assigned Hans von Seeckt, who described Mackensen as an amiable, hands-on commander with the instincts of a hunter. Mackensen was awarded oak leaves to his Pour le Mérite on 3 June 1915, in October 1915, a new Army Group Mackensen, launched a renewed campaign against Serbia
34.
Stefan Toshev
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Stefan Toshev was a Bulgarian General, from World War I. His mother was a teacher from the period of the National Revival and he volunteered in the Bulgarian Opalchentsi Corps during the Russo-Turkish War and later served as a translator. On 10 May 1879, he graduated from the Military School in Sofia in its first year, then he served in the Police force of Eastern Rumelia. During the Serbo-Bulgarian War in 1885 Stefan Toshev was a commander of 2nd company of the 3rd Vidin Regiment and he took part in the battle of Slivnitsa, the fight at Tran, the repulse of the Serbian Morava Division. He fought bravely in the battle of Tri Ushi and the attack of Meka tsrav and he was awarded with Order For Bravery 4th Class. Later Toshev was in command of the 1st Sofia Infantry Regiment and in 1908 was appointed as a commander of the First Sofia Infantry Division, during the First Balkan War Stefan Toshev and his division took part in the offensive of the Bulgarian Army in the Thracian theatre of operation. He participated in the fights of Gechkenli and Seliolu during the battle of Kirk Kilisse, on 5 August 1913 he was promoted Lieutenant General. During the Second Balkan War he was in command of the 5th Army which successfully fought against the Serbs, Toshev was appointed governor of Macedonia. On 25 March 1917 he was promoted General of the Infantry - the highest military post in Bulgaria, in 1918 Toshev commanded 4th Army and from June 1919 went into the reserve. Between 1923-1924 he was a chairman of the Association of the reserve officers, in October 1923 he led the Narodna Priznatelnost committee whose aim was to make assistance for the victims of the September Uprising. General Stefan Toshev died on 27 November 1924 in Plovdiv and was buried in Sofia, one town and a village are named after him. Командването на българската войска през войните за национално обединение, София,1993, Животописни бележки, София,1992, Военноиздателски комплекс „Св. Георги Победоносец“, ISBN 954-509-002-2, с.123 Димитров, И, Съединението1885 - енциклопедичен справочник, София,1985, Държавно издателство „д-р Петър Берон“ Born a victor, a knight of honour
35.
Erich Ludendorff
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Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff was a German general, the victor of the Battle of Liège and the Battle of Tannenberg. From August 1916, his appointment as Quartermaster general made him the leader of the German war efforts during World War I until his resignation in October 1918, from 1924 to 1928 he represented the German Völkisch Freedom Party in the German Parliament. Consistently pursuing a military line of thought, Ludendorff developed, after the war. In this work, he argued that the physical and moral forces of the nation should be mobilized, because, according to him. Ludendorff was a recipient of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, Ludendorff was born on 9 April 1865 in Kruszewnia near Posen, Province of Posen, Kingdom of Prussia, the third of six children of August Wilhelm Ludendorff. His father was descended from Pomeranian merchants who had achieved the status of Junker, the Prussian epiphet of lower nobility, and he held a commission in the reserve cavalry. Through Dziembowskis wife Johanna Wilhelmine von Unruh, Erich was a descendant of the Counts of Dönhoff, the Dukes of Legnica and Brzeg. He had a stable and comfortable childhood, growing up on their family farm. Erich received his schooling from his maternal aunt and had a gift for mathematics. He passed the exam for the Cadet School at Plön with distinction. Ludendorffs education continued at the Hauptkadettenschule at Groß-Lichterfelde near Berlin through 1882, the old sinner, as he liked to hear himself called. Married the daughter of a factory owner, Margarethe née Schmidt. They met in a rainstorm when he offered his umbrella and she divorced to marry him, bringing three stepsons and a stepdaughter. Their marriage pleased both families and he was devoted to his stepchildren, in 1885, Ludendorff was commissioned as a subaltern into the 57th Infantry Regiment, then at Wesel. His service reports reveal the highest praise, with frequent commendations, in 1893, he entered the War Academy, where the commandant, General Meckel, recommended him to the General Staff, to which he was appointed in 1894. He rose rapidly and was a staff officer at the headquarters of V Corps from 1902 to 1904. Next he joined the Great General Staff in Berlin, which was commanded by Alfred von Schlieffen, Ludendorff directed the Second or Mobilization Section from 1904–13. Soon he was joined by Max Bauer, a brilliant artillery officer, by 1911, Ludendorff was a full colonel
36.
Major general
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Major general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the rank of sergeant major general. In the Commonwealth, major general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral. In some countries, including much of Eastern Europe, major general is the lowest of the officer ranks. In the old Austro-Hungarian Army, the general was called a Generalmajor. Todays Austrian Federal Army still uses the same term, see also Rank insignias of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces General de Brigade is the lowest rank amongst general officers in the Brazilian Army. AGeneral de Brigada wears two-stars as this is the level for general officers in the Brazilian Army. In tha Brazilian Air Force, the two-star, three-star and four-star rank are known as Brigadeiro, Major-Brigadeiro, see Military ranks of Brazil and Brigadier for more information. In the Canadian Armed Forces, the rank of major-general is both a Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force rank equivalent to the Royal Canadian Navys rank of rear-admiral, a major-general is a general officer, the equivalent of a naval flag officer. The major-general rank is senior to the ranks of brigadier-general and commodore, prior to 1968, the Air Force used the rank of air vice-marshal, instead. In the Canadian Army, the insignia is a wide braid on the cuff. It is worn on the straps of the service dress tunic. On the visor of the cap are two rows of gold oak leaves. Major-generals are initially addressed as general and name, as are all general officers, major-generals are normally entitled to staff cars. In the Estonian military, the general rank is called kindralmajor. The Finnish military equivalent is kenraalimajuri in Finnish, and generalmajor in Swedish and Danish, the French equivalent to the rank of major general is général de division. In the French military, major général is not a rank but an appointment conferred on some generals, usually of général de corps darmée rank, the position of major général can be considered the equivalent of a deputy chief of staff. In the French Army, Major General is a position and the general is normally of the rank of corps general
37.
Vardar Offensive
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The Vardar Offensive was a World War I military operation, fought between 15 and 29 September 1918. The operation took place during the stage of the Balkans Campaign. On September 15, a force of Serbian, French and Greek troops attacked the Bulgarian-held trenches in Dobro Pole. The assault and the artillery preparation had devastating effects on Bulgarian morale. On September 18, a second Entente formation assaulted the Bulgarian positions in the vicinity of Lake Doiran, effectively employing machine gun and artillery fire the Bulgarians managed to stall the Allied advance on the Doiran sector. However the collapse of the front at Dobro Pole forced the Bulgarians to withdraw from Doiran, the Allies pursued the German 11th Army and the Bulgarian 1st Army, while pushing deeper into Vardar Macedonia. By 29 September, the Allies had captured the former HQ of Uskub, the parallel development of the anti-monarchist Radomir Rebellion, forced Bulgaria to sign the Armistice of Salonica and withdraw from the war. The treaty included the full capitulation of the 11th Army, bringing the tally of German and Bulgarian prisoners to 77,000. The Bulgarian downfall turned the strategic and operational balance of the war against the Central Powers, the Macedonian Front was brought to an end at noon on 30 September, when the ceasefire came into effect. The 28 June 1914, assassination of Austro-Hungarian heir presumptive Archduke Franz Ferdinand precipitated Austria-Hungarys declaration of war against Serbia, the conflict quickly attracted the involvement of all major European countries, pitting the Central Powers against the Entente coalition and starting World War I. Serbia was defeated during the autumn 1915 phase of the Serbian Campaign, prompting France, the Macedonian Front was thus established in an effort to support the remnants of the Serbian army to conquer Vardar Macedonia. The surrender of territory recently won with difficulty in the Second Balkan War of 1913 was the last straw for many supporters of Liberal Party politician Eleftherios Venizelos, with Allied assistance, they launched a coup which secured Thessaloniki and most of Greek Macedonia, causing the National Schism. In June 1917, the Venizelists gained full control of the country, immediately declaring war on the Central Powers and joining the Allied Army of the Orient operating on the Balkan Front. The Greek entry into the war along with the 24 division reinforcements that the Army had received in the spring of the year had created a strategic advantage for the Entente. On 30 May 1918, the Allies launched an offensive on the heavily fortified Skra salient, utilizing the cover of heavy artillery a Franco-Hellenic force made a rapid push into the enemy trenches, conquering Skra and the surrounding system of fortifications. Greek casualties amounted to 434–440 killed in action, 154–164 missing in action and 1, 974–2,220 wounded, the plan for a Bulgarian counterattack against Skra remained unfulfilled as the Bulgarian soldiers refused to take part in the operation. Both the Greek and the French press used the opportunity to extol the efforts of the Greek army, the fall of Skra prompted Bulgarian prime minister Vasil Radoslavov to resign on 21 June 1918. However, British prime minister David Lloyd George rejected the proposal, assuring the Greek ambassador in London Ioannis Gennadius, Zhekov requested that Germany immediately reinforce the Balkan Front, hinting that Austria-Hungary would also be required to strengthen its positions in Albania
38.
Aleksandar Stamboliyski
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Aleksandar Stamboliyski was the prime minister of Bulgaria from 1919 until 1923. Stamboliyski was a member of the Agrarian Union, a peasant movement which was not allied to the monarchy. He opposed the participation in World War I and its support for the Central Powers. This statement relates to his belief in a Balkan Federation which would unite the region and he was court-martialed and sentenced to life in prison in 1915. In 1918, with the defeat of Bulgaria, Tsar Ferdinand abdicated in favor of his son Tsar Boris III who released Stamboliyski from prison and he joined the government in January,1919, and was appointed prime minister on October 14 of that year. On March 20,1920, the Agrarian Union won national elections, during his term in office, Stamboliyski made a concerted effort to improve relations with the rest of Europe. This resulted in Bulgaria becoming the first of the states to join the League of Nations in 1920. Though popular with the peasants, he antagonized the middle class, many considered him to be a virtual dictator or a peasant thug. He was ousted in a coup on June 9,1923. However, before this grand counter-insurgence was to transpire, Stamboliyski had to work himself up the ranks of the political scene as the leader of the Bulgarian Agrarian Peoples Union. Until the mid 20th century Bulgaria was primarily a land of small, the proportion of the population who were peasants was roughly the same in 1920 as it had been in 1878. By 1911, as the leader of the BANU, Stamboliyski was the a notorious anti-monarchist, lasting from only 28 September until 2 October, the rebellion although short-lived found some early success. The mutineers managed to enter Bulgarias capital where tsarist forces, led by general Alexander Protogerov, crushed the rebellion killing an estimated 2000 soldiers, Ferdinand was to be succeeded by his son, Boris III, with the approval of the Allied Powers. After Tsar Boris III took the throne, the political factions in Bulgaria were the Agrarians, the Socialists. As the general election of 1919 approached, Stamboliyski came out of hiding, however, because the election was so close, Stamboliyski was forced to form a government coalition between the agrarians and the left-wing parliamentary parties. By March 1920, however, Stamboliyski was able to form a solely BANU government with another election victory. This is in spite of his electoral successes and his goal was to transform the political, economic, and social structures of the state while at the same time rejecting the rhetoric of radicalism and its Bolshevik associations. He aimed at establishing the rule of the peasant, which comprised over 80% of the population of Bulgaria in 1920, part of his objective was to offer each member of the dominant group an equitable distribution of property and access to the cultural and welfare facilities in all villages
39.
St Nedelya Church assault
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The St Nedelya Church assault was a terrorist attack on St Nedelya Church in Sofia, Bulgaria. 150 people, mainly from the political and military elite, were killed in the attack. After the failure of the September Uprising in 1923 and the prohibition of the BCP by the Bulgarian Supreme Court of Appeal on 2 April 1924, the government arrested many activists and the organizations very existence was under threat. A Special Punitive Group was established as part of the Central Committee of the BCP, including Yako Dorosiev, Captain Ivan Minkov, the Military Organization of the BCP, led by Minkov and Major Kosta Yankov, set up small isolated groups that carried out individual attacks. This, however, did not prevent the police from discovering and destroying the structures of the BCP with relative ease. Later, in December 1924, the organization recruited Petar Zadgorski, in this way they hoped to eliminate a large number of key figures in the police hierarchy and thus lessen the pressure that the authorities exerted on the BCP. The idea was welcomed by Stanke Dimitrov, Secretary of the Central Committee, nevertheless, they did not approve the proposal, as they thought such an action should first be preceded by preparations for a large-scale uprising that would follow the attack. Meanwhile, the government continued to increase its pressure on the BCP, Yako Dorosiev, head of the MO, was then assassinated on 26 March. These events threatened the survival of the BCP leaders and angered the MO leadership. They announced that they were ready to put their plan into practice despite the Cominterns disapproval and it has been theorized that the assailants acted with the support of Soviet services, but there is no documentary evidence to support this hypothesis. The MO management assigned one of its groups to the task, led by Petar Abadzhiev, with his help, Abadzhiev and Asen Pavlov carried in a total of 25 kg of explosives to the attic of St Nedelya Church over the course of a couple of weeks. The explosives were mounted in a package one of the columns of the main dome. The plan was to detonate the bomb by a 15 m-long cord that would allow the assailants a chance to escape, due to the strengthened guard at Vladimir Nachevs funeral service, the MO chose another victim whose funeral would be used as bait for the assault. The funeral service of General Georgiev was set for 16 April, in order to increase the toll, the organizers sent forged invitations on behalf of the Association of Reserve Officers. At 7 am on the 16th, Zadgorski led Nikola Petrov to the roof, the funeral procession entered the church at 3 pm that afternoon. The service was conducted by Bishop Stefan, the future Bulgarian Exarch, the coffin was initially placed right next to the column that was to be blown up, but then moved forward due to the large number of people that came to attend the ceremony. The explosion demolished the dome of the church, burying many people inside. The blast indoors caused further damage,150 people died during the explosion and another 500 were injured
40.
Incident at Petrich
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The incident ended after a decision of the League of Nations. The relations between Greece and Bulgaria had been strained since the start of the 20th century, with their rivalry over possession of Macedonia. There are two versions of how the incident started, the border was guarded by Bulgarian sentries, and one of them shot the Greek soldier. Bulgaria explained that the firing was due to a misunderstanding and expressed its regret, also, the Greek dictatorial government under General Theodoros Pangalos issued an ultimatum to Bulgaria giving a time limit of 48 hours. Greece in its ultimatum demanded, The punishment of those responsible, two million French francs, as compensation for the families of the victims. In addition, on October 22, Greece sent soldiers into Bulgaria to occupy the town of Petrich with the objective of enforcing the Greek demands, fighting between Greek and Bulgarian forces started and Bulgaria appealed to the League of Nations to intervene in the dispute. Some chetas of Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, together with the sentries, volunteers and war veterans from the whole region were summoned to join the resistance. On the other side Greece made it clear that it was not interested in Bulgarian territory, the League ordered, Ceasefire Greek troops should withdraw from Bulgaria Greece should pay £45,000 to Bulgaria. The League Council sent military attaches from France, Italy and the United Kingdom to report to it when the hostilities have ceased, the compensation that Greece had to pay for material and morale damage was £45,000 and should pay them in two months. Over 50 people were killed before Greece complied, mostly Bulgarian civilians, pig War Tarlis incident Media related to Incident at Petrich at Wikimedia Commons The Greek-Bulgarian crisis of 1925
41.
League of Nations
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The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organisation founded on 10 January 1920 as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first international organisation whose mission was to maintain world peace. Its primary goals, as stated in its Covenant, included preventing wars through collective security and disarmament, at its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members. The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a shift from the preceding hundred years. The League lacked its own armed force and depended on the Great Powers to enforce its resolutions, keep to its economic sanctions, however, the Great Powers were often reluctant to do so. Sanctions could hurt League members, so they were reluctant to comply with them, after a number of notable successes and some early failures in the 1920s, the League ultimately proved incapable of preventing aggression by the Axis powers in the 1930s. Germany withdrew from the League, as did Japan, Italy, Spain, the onset of the Second World War showed that the League had failed its primary purpose, which was to prevent any future world war. The League lasted for 26 years, the United Nations replaced it after the end of the Second World War on 20 April 1946 and inherited a number of agencies and organisations founded by the League. As historians William H. Harbaugh and Ronald E. Powaski point out, the organisation was international in scope, with a third of the members of parliaments serving as members of the IPU by 1914. Its aims were to encourage governments to solve disputes by peaceful means. Annual conferences were held to help refine the process of international arbitration. Its structure consisted of a council headed by a president, which would later be reflected in the structure of the League, at the start of the 20th century, two power blocs emerged from alliances between the European Great Powers. It was these alliances that, at the start of the First World War in 1914 and this was the first major war in Europe between industrialised countries, and the first time in Western Europe that the results of industrialisation had been dedicated to war. By the time the fighting ended in November 1918, the war had had an impact, affecting the social, political and economic systems of Europe. Anti-war sentiment rose across the world, the First World War was described as the war to end all wars, the causes identified included arms races, alliances, militaristic nationalism, secret diplomacy, and the freedom of sovereign states to enter into war for their own benefit. Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson, a British political scientist, coined the term League of Nations in 1914, together with Lord Bryce, he played a leading role in the founding of the group of internationalist pacifists known as the Bryce Group, later the League of Nations Union. The group became more influential among the public and as a pressure group within the then governing Liberal Party. In Dickinsons 1915 pamphlet After the War he wrote of his League of Peace as being essentially an organisation for arbitration and conciliation
42.
Kimon Georgiev
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Kimon Georgiev Stoyanov was a Bulgarian general who was Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 1934 to 1935 and again from 1944 to 1946. Born in Pazardzhik, Georgiev graduated from the Sofia military academy in 1902 and he participated in the Balkan Wars as a company commander and in the First World War as a commander of a battalion. In 1916 he lost an eye due to injuries received in action and he left the army in 1920 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Georgiev was one of the founders of the Military Union in 1919 and he participated in the organization of the 1923 coup détat and after that became one of the leaders of the Democratic Alliance. He was the minister for railways, postal service and telegraphs in the first cabinet of Andrey Lyapchev, in the 1930s he became one of the leaders of the right-wing military Zveno movement. Together with fellow officers he committed a coup détat in May 1934 and he was also justice minister and for a short time minister of war and foreign affairs. He abolished all parties and trade unions. Influenced by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini he introduced an economic system. In 1935 Tsar Boris III forced him to resign, during World War II, when Bulgaria was fighting on the side of the Axis, he grew close to the left wing forces in Bulgaria and in 1943 he joined the anti-Axis Fatherland Front as one of its leaders. In September 1944 the FF committed a coup détat and Georgiev became again prime minister, in 1946 he was succeeded by the communist leader Georgi Dimitrov and became vice-premier and Foreign Minister. Though Zveno was disbanded in 1949, Georgiev continued holding ministerial posts in all the cabinets until 1962, from 1962 until his death in 1969 he was a member of the Parliaments presidium. Georgiev was twice awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labour and he is known as stariya prevratadzhiya in Bulgaria for having organised three coups,1923,1934 and 1944. Tasho Tashev, The Ministers of Bulgaria 1879-1999, Sofia, AI Prof. Marin Drinov/Publishing house of the Ministry of defense,1999, ISBN 978-954-430-603-8 / ISBN 978-954-509-191-9
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Bulgaria: Sovereign Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius[13][14]
Austrian Imperial and Royal family: Knight Grand Cordon of the Imperial and Royal Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary[23]
Belgium: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold I[23]
France: Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour[23]
Nazi Germany: Grand Cross of the Nazi Iron Cross[24]
German Imperial and Royal Family: Knight Grand Cordon of the Imperial and Royal Order of the Red Eagle[23]
Bavarian Royal Family: Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Royal Order of Saint Hubert[23]
Italy: Knight Grand Collar of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation[25]
Ducal Family of Parma: Knight Grand Cross of the Parmese Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George[26]
Poland: Grand Cross of the Order of the White Eagle[23]
Romania: Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Carol I[27]
Russian Imperial Family:
United Kingdom: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order[23]
Yugoslavia: Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of the Star of Karađorđe[29][30]
Montenegro: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Danilo I, 1910.[31]
Arms of Boris as Prince of Tarnovo (1894-1918)
Arms of Boris III as Sovereign of Bulgaria (1929-1943)
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