Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/778

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BULGARIA.

(Blgariya.) Reigning King (Czar).

Boris III-, eldest son of Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. and the late Marie Louise (died January 31, 1899), eldest daughter of Duke Robert of Parma, born January 30, 1894, succeeded to the throne on the abdication of his father, October 3, 1918.

Br 'ther and Sisters of the King. — (1) Prince Cyril, born November 17, 1895 ; (2) Princess Eudoxia, born January 17, 1898 ; and (3) Princess Nadcjda, born January 30, 1899.

According to the Constitution the Sovereign must profess the Orthodox religion, and must reside permanently in the country. The royal title is hereditary.

The civil list is fixed at 1,250,000 leva (francs), besides 830,000 leva for the maintenance of palaces, &c.

Constitution and Government.

The Principality of Bulgaria was created by the Treaty of Berlin, signed July 13, 1878. It was ordered by the Treaty that Bulgaria should be con- stituted an autonomous and tributary Principality under the suzerainty of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan with a Christian Government and a national militia. The Prince of Bulgaria should be freely elected by the population and confirmed by the Sublime Porte, with the consent of the Powers. On October 5, 1908, Bulgaria declared her independence. The difficulty as to compensation to the Turkish Government in respect of railway claims was ar- ranged by an understanding between the Turkish Government and the Oriental Railways Company, and the Powers recognised Bulgarian independence, and the title of ' King of the Bulgarians ' assumed by Prince Ferdinand.

Eastern Rumelia (since its union with Bulgaria also known as Southern Bulgaria) was created by the Treaty of Berlin, signed July 13, 1878. It was to remain under the direct political and military authority of the Sultan, under conditions of administrative autonomy, with a' Governor-General nominated by the Porte. On September 18, 1885, the Government was overthrown by a revolution, and the union of the province with Bulgaria proclaimed. On April 6, 1886, the Sultan agreed that the government of Eastern Rumelia should be confided to the (then) Prince of Bulgaria as Governor-General.

On September 30, 1912, Bulgaria allied with Serbia, Greece and Montenegro commenced war on Turkey (First Balkan war), which was ended by the Treaty of London on May 30, 1913, by which Turkey ceded to the Allies all its European territory west of a line drawn from Midia on the Black Sea to Enos on the Aegean, and also Crete.

The Balkan League broke up almost immediately after the signing of the Treaty of London, owing to disagreements among the allies as to the division or the territory ceded to them, aud on June 29, 1913, war broko out among the allies (second Balkan War). On July 10, 1913, Rumania intervened to impose peace on the allies and to exact for herself from Bulgaria an extension of her frontier. Peace came finally on August 10 (July 26 old style), 1913, by the Treaty of Bukarest, between Bulgaria on the one hand, and Rumania, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro on the other.

For frontier arrangements agreed to by the Treaty of Bukarest and the Turko-Bulgarian Treaty, see The Statesman's Year-Book for 1915, p. 759, and the maps in The Statesman's Year-Book for 1914.