Българската армия - монархически и републикански образ
The Bulgarian Army - Monarchic and Republican Images

Summary/Abstract: The article offered to the readers is a synthetic presentation of the historical development of Bulgaria’s armed forces in a period levering more than 110 years, i.e. from the restoration of the State system in 1878 to the dissolution of the Warsaw Coalition in 1991. An attempt is made from such a standpoint to show the genesis and the basic characteristics of the Bulgarian Army during the two diametrically opposed political systems - monarchic and republican; to outline their images and parameters although in certain respects they coincide but they mostly differ. In this way a comparison and a comparative analysis should be made and the attitude of the contradictory ruling regimes towards the armed forces and hence to State defence be shown. Being acquainted with the image of the Bulgarian Army, the reader should be aware that the author has taken into account the considerably large stock of publications dedicated to its history during the monarchy. The facts about the republican Bulgarian People’s Army, especially from the fifties to the end of the eighties, are not known. From this point of view what is new and original in the article are the facts put into scientific circulation about the armed forces during this period of the country’s history, extracted from the hitherto highly confidential documents of the Politburo of the CC of the BCP. The accents in the article are the analysis and interpretation of the development of the normative regulations and the picture and features of tie armed forces they formed, making use of the chronological-problem approach. More specifically it is the question of the objectives, tasks and functions solved by them; the changes in the methods of their formation and hence of its character; the modernization of the organizational structure and the changes in their quantitative growth; the methods and ways of instructing the command, staff and the combat and moral training of the ranks. Within the context of comparisons concerning the armed forces, this is the author’s second, publication in which he draws the reader’s attention to a little known and discussed problem: the evolution of the Bulgarian military doctrine and. its political and strategic concepts during the different stages of Bulgaria’s modern history. Along with that the development of Bulgarian military strategic thinking and the influence of the different military schools are also subjected to comment. When looking into the mechanisms and methods of building up the republican armed, forces, the author considers the complex processes of their complete control by the Communist Party and their further ideologizing. Their turning not so much into a national but rather into a party power tool. In this respect he introduces into circulation numerous facts connected with the unification of the Bulgarian Army on a Soviet model...

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