Българският проект за конституция от 1879 година (Към историята на идеите за политическо управление през 70-те години на XIX в.)

Author(s): Petko St. Petkov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2000

An analysis is made in this publication of an important historical document: the Bulgarian draft of a Constitution, submitted to the Constituent National Assembly in March 1879 by a 15-member parliamentary commission. The report was a draft of the fundamental law, pragmatic and adequate to the real historical situation and, moreover, the only one worked out exclusively by Bulgarians, representatives of the leading political currents and social groups in the society at that time. Arguments are put forward in support of the thesis that the general characteristics of the document were rather in the sphere of liberal constitutionalism (in compliance with the specific Bulgarian conditions after centuries of alien domination, from where came also certain nuances characteristic of conservatism) than of the true conservatism not typical of Bulgarian political life (and also not inherited from the ideological legacies of the National Revival). An analysis is made of the contents, of the proposals put forward in the report, their similarities with and differences from other programme documents revealing the leading ideas about political government in the 60s and 70s of the 19th c. The discussion of the report in the Constituent Assembly is followed up, as well as its rejection which led to the fanning of political demagogy and the turning of the “party acting out of spite” into a real thought negative factor in development of the just restored Bulgarian State. The Bulgarian Draft of a Constitution is published, as it would have looked according to the report of the 15-member commission.

Българи в европейски военноучебни заведения (1878–1912)

Author(s): Ivan Tanchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5-6/2000

The paper examines the use of European military training establishments (academies, schools; for the needs of the Bulgarian army. First of all the author sums up the extant scholarly publications dealing with the stages in the development of the problem. More particular attention is paid to the quantitative aspect. For this purpose an extensive study has been made of the documentary archives and of other sources the results of which are systematized in the article – by countries. The simple arithmetic comparison of the figures shows that Russia’s share in the training and specialization of Bulgarian military personnel came up to almost three-quarters, while the remaining one-quarter went to the West European states: Italy, Austria-Hungary, France, Belgium, etc. This proportion, however, does not reflect accurately enough the Bulgarian choice, the Bulgarian preferences in putting the accents in using foreign military establishments since during the initial stage not Bulgarians but Russian generals decided these accents. The generalization of the data from 1887 on shows the presence of a much more balanced interest of the Bulgarian War Ministry in the Russian military academies and schools on the one hand, and on the other in the West European – Italian, Austrian, French and Belgian.

Етническите и религиозните малцинства в Българския парламент (1879–1885)

Author(s): Zhorzheta Nazarska / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1-2/1999

The article looks into the problem of the participation of the minorities in the elections for the Ordinary and Grand National Assemblies and their work in the period 1879-1885. The archival material and the material from the press and memoirs show that the rights to vote and be elected, guaranteed by the Turnovo Constitution to the minorities, was seldom ensured in practice to them. The causes could be sought in the absence of ethnic quotes in Parliament, in the national character of the State, in the small number, lack of compactness and of education of the minorities, in the biased electoral laws and above all in the active repressive participation of the State in the different stages of the electoral process. For this reason the minorities could not win seats in Parliament corresponding to their real ethnic or religious presence, could not set up their parties nor demonstrate some activity as parliamentarians. On the contrary, their place was in regional or provisional coalitions with the Bulgarian political parties during the election campaigns and as extras in the National Assembly. This role of marionettes was deliberately chosen by the minorities, aware of the impossibility in some other way to influence the activity of the legislative power, and by the Bulgarian politicians who, by politicizing the minorities, tried not so much to protect the ethnic peace in the country than to create conditions for neutralizing, isolating or assimilating the so-called “others”.

Непубликувани писма на Пьотр Владимирович Алабин

Author(s): Yordan Tsenov,Teodora Uzunova,Maya Tsenova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1-2/1999

Тhe letters of P.V. Alabin offered here are annotated in detail. Each of them has its accents and is a document of their author’s stand on the respective problem or fact and of his highly developed sense of responsibility for the Liberation of Bulgaria. Here are some of the subject touches upon: a) Committee for tracing Bulgarians sent into exile; b) Prof. Marin Drinov, with his knowledge and experience, should leave for the town of Plovdiv and be under the orders of the Imperial Commissioner; c) reproaching Bulgarians who refused to assume administrative functions in the new State and the attitude of the Serbs to it; d) the fate of the historical heritage of National Revival Bulgaria and raising a monument to V. Levski; e) the problem of the refugees after the decisions of the Congress of Berlin; f) the fate of the National Library that was being created; g) premature departure from Bulgaria; h) the Alabin family in Bulgaria – three sons participants in the war, Vasilii buried at Yambol, and many others… They are all placed under the common denominator: ALABIN’S LOVE FOR BULGARIA.

Руските либерали и Балканите в началото на XX век

Author(s): Edward Wiśzniewski / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/1999

The article considers the problem of the positions of the liberal parties in Russia during the Bosnia crisis in 1908 and the period before the Balkan Wars 1912–1913. By means of varied documentary material revealing the views mostly of the leaders of the Constitutional Democrats and the Union of October 17 on the questions of Russia’s foreign policy in the Balkans and their attitude to the war, is proved the thesis of loyal as a whole attitude of the political parties to the activity and decisions of Russian diplomacy in the period 1908–1912.

Организации и обществено-политически изяви на българските студенти в чужбина (1878–1885)

Author(s): Ivan Tanchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5-6/1999

The article examines the organizations and socio-political activities of the Bulgarian university students during the first years after the resolution of the Bulgarian State. The following conclusions and generalizations have been drawn on the basis of the abundant source material. The first stable and lasting student organizations, such as the “Bratstvo” Society in Geneva, the “Bratstvo” Society in Paris, the “Shipka” Society in Munich were set up, and there was Bulgarian participation also in multi-national societies. Their organizational form in Western and Central Europe was analogous to the free student organizations there, while the police conditions in Russia imposed the adoption of the “fellow country-men” form of association with the accent on mutual aid. They both operated in compliance with the objective national interests at the time: strengthening and consolidating the Principality of Bulgaria and preparations for national unification. The students paid respect to the giants of the Bulgarian National Revival and expressed recognition to the Russian liberators. Characteristic were the actions aimed at raising the national consciousness of the Bulgarians and the role of the Bulgarian language with a view to resisting foreign denationalization efforts. The summit of patriotism and readiness for self-sacrifice of the students was their return en masse as volunteers during the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885. The individual societies in a co-ordinated manner used the European press in support of the just Bulgarian cause. The common ideal of the Bulgarian students then was a united and democratic Bulgaria, and there was no ideological confrontation in the proper sense of this concept.

Руските планове за независимост на България (1906–1908)

Author(s): Elena Dyakonova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5-6/1999

The article is devoted to the attitude of Russian diplomacy to the declaration of Bulgaria’s independence from the Ottoman Empire. The first attempts at declaring the independence of Bulgaria were made already in the late 19th century, but Prince Ferdinand and his diplomacy began to act more energetically in this direction in 1906. The Russian Foreign Ministry tried to impede these actions which were not co-ordinated with it. In its turn the Cabinet in St.Petersburg worked out its plan for declaring Bulgaria’s independence, linking this act to the abolition of the Treaty of Berlin and with the change of the regime of the Black Sea Straits in its favour. This plan envisaged the holding of a conference with the participation of all the states that had signed the Berlin Treat, the aim of which was to revise this international document and the abolition of certain restrictions, Russia’s striving was to obtain also territorial compensations in favour of Serbia and Montenegro. Bulgaria’s Diplomacy, however, decided to act on its own, as a result of which after the declaration of independence the Sofia Cabinet fell into international isolation. The real threat of a Turkish-Bulgarian war also emerged. The efforts of Russian diplomacy at that moment were directed to the regulation of Bulgarian-Turkish political and financial relations with a view to avoiding a war in the Balkans. Lending considerable financial assistance to the Bulgarian Government, St.Petersburg did away with this threat.

За началото на българската историческа наука

Author(s): Nikolay Prodanov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5-6/1999

The article defines and tries to give an answer to a fundamental question which refers to the evolution of Bulgarian historiography. In the development of historiography there conditional “interruptions” - border zones where it rises into higher hierarchical transformations. One of the most essential transformations in the evolution of Bulgarian historiography was the appearance of the phenomenon we call Bulgarian national historical science. The article supports the thesis that historical science constitutes a complex, relatively differentiated public system. It may be considered as a unity of reproductive, informative, institutional and publicizing subsystems. The first true elements of these subsystems appeared in Bulgaria’s social reality in the late 19th and early 20th c. Precisely that time can be regarded also as the start of Bulgarian historical science. The thesis defended in the article is at variance with the view predominant at present that about the middle of the 19th c. historical science was already a reality in Bulgarian society. Two are the basic arguments in favour of this view. The first is the personal one: it is believed that historians like Vassil Aprilov, Spiridon Palaouzov and Marin Drinov with their writings marked the beginnings of Bulgarian historical science. The specific analysis made in the article proves that V. Aprilov could not be regarded as a research historian. Spiridon Palaouzov and Marin Drinov, notwithstanding their indubitable Bulgarian ethnic consciousness, as learned historians were part of a non-Bulgarian social reality – Russian Slavonic studies. The second argument is the institutional one. The Bulgarian Learned Society, founded in Braila in 1869, is considered as a scientific society which also promoted historical research. In actual fact, in its statute there was such a wish but it was nor realized. Up to the end of the 19th c. the society was predominantly of an enlightening and not of an academic character.

Политически аспекти на русофилския бунт в Русе от 19 февруари 1887 г.

Author(s): Ljubomir Zlatev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1-2/1998

The author has tried to throw light on some moments of the Russophile revolts in ESulgaria in 1887 and on the revolt in the town of Rousse. On the basis of studies made so far and documentary sources a fuller picture of the political situation during the revolt in Rousse and certain political projection in the following years are outlined. The Russophile revolts and the revolt in Rousse marked the beginning of the interference of the army in the struggles between the parties and open violence in Bulgaria’s political reality while Russophobia and Russophilia became lasting tendencies in Bulgaria’s political life.

Измислици и факти в новата българска историография. Примерът със Стамболовия режим

Author(s): Vassilka Tankova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5-6/1997

Proceeding from the conclusion that dramatic historical periods also produce such facts, the article provides one of the possible answers for the reproduction of fabrications in the new Bulgarian historiography. Looking for different types of relations between facts (in the sense of real acts) and fabrications as textual reality, the authoress proceeds from the hypothesis of the immune insufficiency of interpretation of biased documentation. Although not in the sense that semiologists would invest in it, it contains the confirmation that the exceptional, special historical circumstances which can be subjected to discussion, may also be a myth. In this instance the myth is neither a lie or an admission but a sort of deviation, i.e. a fabrication.

Документи, свързани с възстановяването на Вътрешната македоно-одринска организация (1910–1911)

Author(s): Zorka Parvanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/1995

At authoress presents several unknown documents of the beginning of 1910 when, the idea of restoring the IMARO gained ground. The documents shed light on the attempts to reach agreement between the individual revolutionary groups, their ideological positions and the causes which hindered the restoration of IMARO in its original structural framework. The representatives of the different ideological currents equalized their stands on the fundamental questions of the strategy and tactics of the revolutionary movement and in 1911 restored the Internal Organization.

Княжеските пълномощия и задачите на II Велико народно събрание (1881 г.)

Author(s): Yordanka Gesheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/1995

Somewhat strange, in view of the competences indicated in the Turnovo Constitution, were the goals and tasks of the Second Grand National Assembly convened in Svishtov on July 1, 1881. The Head of State wanted the Assembly to pass judgment on the question of suspending the Constitution. Such a possibility was not embodied in the fundamental law: in it existed only the possibility of a change and that in conditions and a way quite different from the method of action of Prince Alexander I Battening. What could the Prince do? He was striving for something that was outside his rights and duties. In almost all cases his actions were outside the law. For this reason he wanted the Grand National Assembly convened; in his view it was the only legislative and constituent body which could help him. All the actions of the Head of State from April 27 to July 1, 1881 were but an attempt at observing the Constitution and the laws but not their actual implementation. The Prime Minister General Ernrot proceeded in the same way. It was counted chiefly on the general public being not familiar with the constitutional matter. The laws in force in the country were adapted according to what an extent they met the interests of the Prince and his government. With these preparations in advance, the Grand National Assembly, which under the Constitution was the supreme representation of the people, proved an impersonal performer of the will of the Head of State. Therefore without any problems and with complete unanimity were approve the suspension of the Constitution and the unlimited competences, demanded by Alexander Battening, to issue ukases having the force of laws.

Поп Минчо Кънчев за срещата си с Петко войвода

Author(s): Kirila Vuzvuzova-Karateodorova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/1995

The name of Priest Mincho Kunchev, one of the distinguished figures of the Bulgarian National Revival, became known about a decade ago when the first part of his remarkable manuscript “Vidritsa” was published. Priest Mincho Kunchev’s interest in the leaders of units of the haidouk and rebel period of the Bulgarian National Liberation movement was not accidental. To many of them he devoted considerable space in his work, the second part of which is to be published shortly. The meeting between Priest Mincho Kunchev and Petko Voivoda took place in Haskovo in the spring of 1879. Although brief, Priest Mincho Kunchev noted it in his manuscript which indicates that he placed Petko Voivoda along the other leaders of rebel units – Hadji Dimiter, Stefan Karadja, Panayot Hitov, Filip Totyu and others. Feeling that what he wrote about their brief meeting would not satisfy the future readers, Priest Mincho Kunchev gave an extensive historico-archaeographic and bibliographic information about the captain which took 15 pages in the “brief notes” appended to the manuscript. In these short “historical background notes” Priest Mincho Kunchev selected the most valuable and interesting in what had to that moment been published about the legendary voivoda, giving a comparatively full, accurate and convincing notion of the tireless fighter for freedom Petko Voivoda.

Административно териториално деление и погранични проблеми в Източна Румелия (1879–1885)

Author(s): Zhorzheta Nazarska / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/1995

The study examines the internal and external boundaries of Eastern Roumelia. The determination of the internal boundaries by the administrative-territorial division is considered as one of the trends of state construction in the Region after 1879. For this reason are indicated its original sources, its links to the establishment and operation of the administrative system and the electoral model, to the presence of religious-ethnic minorities and their claims, the power factors like militia, gendarmerie and police. With the aid of documents is presented the work of the two directors of internal affairs – G. Krustevich and N. Nachov – on establishing and improving the administrative-territorial division and the difficulties that appeared in connection with it. Unlike the problem of the internal boundaries, that of the external ones was part of the Treaty of Berlin and an object of international relations. It was for this reason that the leaders of Roumelia – Bogoridi and Krustevich – found it very difficult to cope with. Where one could depend on assistance from the neighbouring state – the northern frontier – the delimitation was not a destructive factor for the government, and even resulted in doing away with brigandage and ethnic separatism. Different was the problem with the southern, Ottoman-Roumelian, frontier, where the politicians of the region met with failure: incomplete territory, deformations in the administrative mechanism and confrontation with the population and the Great Powers.

Климент Браницки и Търновски като министър-председател на Княжество България

Author(s): Petko St. Petkov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/1995

Kliment Branitski i Turnovski (Vasil Droumev) was one of the most eminent personality in Bulgaria’s new history: participant in the revolutionary struggles, writer, one of the founders of the Bulgarian Literary Society, and after the Liberation from Turkish bondage – statesman, active public figure and respected prelate. This article aims at shedding light on the aspect of his activity: his participation in two governments of the Principality: from November 24, 1879 to March 24, 1880 and from August 9 to 12, 1889. The reasons for including the high clergyman in the two cabinets were different, but the motivation was the same: by his personal authority and the influence of the institution he represented to help getting out of the crisis situations created in the autumn of 1879 and the summer of 1886 in the Principality of Bulgaria. The sins of which of his contemporaries accused him that with his participation in the executive power Kliment Branitski pursued personal favours or tried to satisfy his personal ambitions for political expression did not correspond to truth, On the contrary, with his civic stand, with his loyalty to Orthodoxy and to Christian morality Kliment Branitski i Turnovski until the end of his life remained a patriot, one of those National Revival figures who realized the difficult transition to the values of the new time and the modern world.

Национално честване на 100-годишнината от Съединението на Източна Румелия и Княжество България

Author(s): Vassilka Tankova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/1995

Третото велико народно събрание (1886–1887). Проблеми и задачи

Author(s): Yordanka Gesheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/1993

After August 9, 1886 when Prince Alexander I Batten berg was dethroned, Bulgaria sank into a grave political crisis and faced the problem of looking for and electing a prince for its throne. The facts concerning the appointment of regents, the convening and the work of the Third Grand National Assembly and the search for a candidate for the Bulgarian crown are all well known. In the article these questions are, therefore, examined from a different angle: towhat an extent the cases with the formation of a government, a vicegerency and a regency after an abdication were covered by the Turnovo Constitution that was then in force, to what an extent they conformed to the Constitution. Attention focuses also on the result of the elections held for the Grand National Assembly, and also on the activity of the national representatives which to a high degree was only formal. The Assembly, which sat for several months, had one task only: to approve the election of a prince whom others had sought, approved and proposed to the Bulgarian people.

Гръцката пропаганда в Одринска Тракия (1878–1893)

Author(s): Vessela Traykova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/1993

Greek propaganda began to operate for preserving and expanding Greek influence among the Bulgarian, Albanian and Turkish Christian populations in Adrianople Thrace at the end of the 1860s. Its main attention focused up to the end of the period under review on activity in the educational field. This activity was directed by the learned societies, mostly those in Athens and Constantinople. Up to about 1887 the principal role in this respect was played by the “Educational and Philanthropic Brotherhood” in the Ottoman capital, behind which stood the Patriarchate. Later, however, it was displaced by the “Committee for Assisting the Greek Church and Education” in Athens which was backed by the Greek government. The differences existing between the two centres of Graecism – Athens and Constantinople – were unessential in comparison with that which linked them in the common propaganda cause.The practical work on implementing this goal on the spot was carried out by the metropolitans, their assistants, teacher and others. As a result of the collision between the Bulgarian national movement which slowly and painfully gathered strength and Greek propaganda a complicated and contradictory picture emerged of a difficult driving out of the Greek influence also in the areas situated more to the south of Adrianople Thrace and of the gradual consolidation of the national awareness in an ever growing number of Bulgarians.

Българи в американските учебни заведения в Цариград (от Освобождението до началото на XX век)

Author(s): Ivan Tanchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/1993

The article examines the role and importance of the American colleges in Constantinople in the formation of Bulgarian cadres with modern education. Attention focuses on questions that have not been researched yet or have been very cursorily examined: the attitude in Bulgaria towards these establishments of learning, the names of the Bulgarians who studied there, the real value of the training received there, etc. It is established that the “Bulgarian presence” in the American college in Constantinople during the period under review amounted to 600–700 persons, while some 100 Bulgarians studied in the USA. Bulgarian-American connections in the sphere of education, therefore, expanded considerably, and marked credit for that must go precisely to the establishments in question. A great part of the Bulgarians trained at the American Robert College in Constantinople went on with their education at European universities. This shows that the College was one of the major foreign centres of learning through which for part of the emerging Bulgarian intelligentsia passed the road to the cultural values of Europe. The expansion of Bulgarian-American connections in the sphere of education was not evaluated in the same way in Bulgaria’s post-Liberation society: it met with resistance of certain Russophil and church circles.

Първото българско Велико народно събрание и изборът на княз Александър Батенберг

Author(s): Yordanka Gesheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4-5/1993

The First Grand National Assembly of Bulgaria, convened immediately after the passing of the Constitution (April 1879), was entrusted with an important and responsible task: to select a prince, a prince who had to mark the beginning of the new Bulgarian dynasty at that. It is true that the question of the head of state was not fully decided by the Assembly at that time. Of importance was also the opinion of the Western Great Powers, of Russia and Turkey which had to approve the choice. This selection to a considerable extent depended on the good will that these states would show towards the candidate chosen. The national representatives took a very serious view of their task. Although the majority of the national representatives impulsively wanted a Russian subject or at least a representative indicated by Russia to occupy the throne, they soberly assessed the international realities. Not only the representatives but the entire Bulgarian public associated the question of the national unification with the selection of a suitable head of state. A person with authority and influence was, therefore, sought, a man committed to or at least supported by the reigning European dynasties and by Russia. For this reason the Bulgarian candidates were looked upon with mistrust – perhaps they did not lack qualities but they were isolated from the ruling dynasties at the moment, what they needed were experience, tradition and knowledge, and not in the last place – support. The selection of Prince Alexander I Battenberg conformed to the requirements of the Treaty of Berlin (July 1, 1878) and for the time being satisfied the Great Powers and Turkey. For the Bulgarian people that was a step towards the building of the new Bulgarian statehood.