the extra-continental expeditions of both Philip II and Alexander III (the Great). In 188 BC the Romans invaded Thrace, and warfare continued until 45 AD when Rome finally conquered the region. Thus by the 4th century the Thracians had a composite indigenous identity, as Christian "Romans" who preserved some of their ancient pagan rituals. The Slavs emerged from their original homeland in the early 6th century and spread to most of Eastern Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, dividing in the process into three main branches: the West Slavs, the East Slavs and the South Slavs. A portion of the eastern South Slavs assimilated the Thracians before the Bulgar élite incorporated them into the First Bulgarian Empire.[9] The First Bulgarian Empire Main article: First Bulgarian Empire In 632 the Bulgars, originally from Central Asia,[10] formed under the leadership of Khan Kubrat an independent state that became known as Great Bulgaria. Its territory extended from the lower course of the Danube to the west, the Black Sea and the Azov Sea to the south, the Kuban River to the east, and the Donets River to the north.[11] Pressure from the Khazars led to the subjugation of Great Bulgaria in the second half of the 7th century. Kubrat’s successor, Khan Asparukh, migrated with some of the Bulgar tribes to the lower courses of the rivers Danube, Dniester and Dniepr (known as Ongal), and conquered Moesia and Scythia Minor (Dobrudzha) from the Byzantine Empire, expanding his new khanate further into the Balkan Peninsula.[12] A peace treaty with Byzantium in 681 and the establishment of the Bulgar capital of Pliska south of the Danube mark the beginning of the First Bulgarian Empire. At the same time one of Asparuh's brothers, Kuber, settled with another Bulgar group in present-day Macedonia.[13] Ruins of Pliska, capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 680 to 893 Khan Tervel (700/701-718/721), son of Asparukh, maintained a friendly policy towards the Byzantine empire. He earned the title caesar, after helping emperor Justinian II to retake the throne, and sent thousands of soldiers to protect Constantinople from the Arab invasions of 717-718. According to the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes, in the decisive battle the Bulgarians killed 22,000 Arabs, thereby eliminating the threat of a full-scale Arab invasion into Eastern and Central Europe.[14] The influence and territorial expansion of Bulgaria increased further during the rule of Khan Krum,[15] who in 811 won a decisive victory against the Byzantine army led by Nicephorus I in the Battle of Pliska.[16] By introducing the first written code of law, valid for both Slavs and Bulgars, Krum managed to further centralize and stabilize the country. The 8th and 9th centuries saw the gradual assimilation of the Turkic-speaking Bulgars (or Proto-Bulgarians) by the Slavic majority.[17] In 864, under Boris I The Baptist (852-889), Bulgaria accepted Eastern Orthodox Christianity.[18] During his reign, the Cyrillic alphabet developed in Preslav and Ohrid,[19] adapted from the Glagolitic alphabet invented by the monks Saints Cyril and Methodius.[20] Baba Vida fortress in Vidin, built in the 10th century The Cyrillic alphabet became the basis for further cultural development. Centuries later, this alphabet, along with the Old Bulgarian language, fostered the intellectual written language (lingua franca) for Eastern Europe, known as Church Slavonic. The greatest territorial extension of the Bulgarian Empire—covering most of the Balkans—occurred under Emperor Simeon I the Great, the first Bulgarian Tsar (Emperor), who ruled from 893 to 927.[21] The Battle of Anchialos (917), one of the bloodiest battles in the Middle ages.[22] marked one of Bulgaria's most decisive victories against the Byzantines. However, Simeon's greatest achievement consisted of Bulgaria developing a rich, unique Christian Slavonic culture, which became an example for the other Slavonic peoples in Eastern Europe and also ensured the continued existence of the Bulgarian nation despite forces that threatened to tear it into pieces throughout its long and war-ridden history. Bulgaria declined in the mid-tenth century, worn out by wars with Croatia, by frequent Serbian rebellions sponsored by Byzantine gold, and by disastrous Magyar and Pecheneg invasions.[23] Because of this, Bulgaria collapsed in the face of an assault of the Rus' in 969–971.[24] The Bulgarian Empire ca. 893 in dark green, with territorial gains up to 927 in light green The Byzantines then began campaigns to conquer Bulgaria. In 971, they seized the capital Preslav and captured Emperor Boris II.[25] Resistance continued under Tsar Samuil in the western Bulgarian lands for nearly half a century. The country managed to recover and defeated the its enemies in several major battles, taking the control of most of the Balkan peninsula and in 991 invaded the Serbian state.[26] Bulgaria's rise ended in 1014, when Byzantine Emperor Basil II ("the Bulgar-Slayer") defeated its armies at the Kleidion.[27] As many as 15,000 Bulgarian prisoners taken in the battle were blinded before releasing them.[17] The blinded soldiers were sent back to Samuil who reportedly had a heart attack upon seeing them. He died two days later, on 15 October 1014.[28] Four years later, in 1018, the First Bulgarian Empire was conquered by the Byzantine Empire, and came to an end. Byzantine rule and rise of the Second Empire Main articles: Vlach–Bulgarian Rebellion and Second Bulgarian Empire No evidence remains of major resistance or any uprising of the Bulgarian population or nobility in the first decade after the establishment of Byzantine rule. Given the existence of such irreconcilable opponents to Byzantium as Krakra, Nikulitsa, Dragash and others, such apparent passivity seems difficult to explain. Some historians[29] explain this as a consequence of the concessions that Basil II granted the Bulgarian nobility to gain their allegiance. In the first place, Basil II guaranteed the indivisibility of Bulgaria in its former geographic borders and did not officially abolish the local rule of the Bulgarian nobility, who became part of Byzantine aristocracy as archons or strategoi. Secondly, special charters (royal decrees) of Basil II recognised the autocephaly of the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid and set up its boundaries, securing the continuation of the dioceses already existing under Samuil, their property and other privileges.[30] The Bulgarian Empire under Tsar Ivan Asen II The people of Bulgaria challenged Byzantine rule several times in the 11th century and again in the early 12th century. The biggest uprising occurred under the leadership of Peter II Delyan (proclaimed Emperor of Bulgaria in Belgrade in 1040). The uprising failed, but marked an important step towards the re-establishment of the Bulgarian state. Bulgarian nobles ruled the province in the name of the Byzantine Empire until Ivan Asen I and Peter IV started a rebellion in 1185 that led to the founding of a second empire, which re-established Bulgaria as an important power in the Balkans for two more centuries. Ivan Shishman, the last ruler of the Tarnovo Tsardom (1371-1395) The Asen dynasty set up its capital in Veliko Tarnovo. Kaloyan, the third of the Asen monarchs, extended his dominions to Belgrade, Nish and Skopie; he acknowledged the spiritual supremacy of the Pope, and received a royal crown from a papal legate.[9] In the Battle of Adrianople in 1205, Kaloyan defeated the forces of the Latin Empire and thus limited its power from the very first year of its establishment. Ivan Asen II (1218–1241) extended Bulgaria's control over Albania, Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace.[31] During his reign, the state saw a period of cultural and economic growth, with important artistic achievements of the Tarnovo artistic school as well as the first coins to be minted by a Bulgarian ruler.[9] The Asen dynasty ended in 1257, and due to Tatar invasions (beginning in the later 13th century), internal conflicts, and constant attacks from the Byzantines and the Hungarians, the country's military and economic might declined. Emperor Theodore Svetoslav (reigned 1300–1322) restored Bulgarian prestige from 1300 onwards, but only temporarily. Political instability continued to grow, and Bulgaria gradually began to lose territory. This led to a peasant rebellion led by the swineherd Ivaylo, who eventually managed to defeat the Emperor's forces and ascend the throne. By the end of the 14th century, factional divisions between Bulgarian feudal landlords (boyars) and the spread of Bogomilism had gravely weakened the cohesion of the Second Bulgarian Empire. It split into three small Tsardoms and several semi-independent principalities that fought among themselves, and also with Byzantines, Hungarians, Serbs, Venetians, and Genoese. In these battles, Bulgarians often allied themselves with Ottoman Turks. Similar situations of internecine quarrel and infighting existed also in Byzantium and Serbia. In the period 1365–1370, the Ottomans conquered most Bulgarian towns and fortresses south of the Balkan Mountains and began their conquest north.[32] Fall of the Second Empire and Ottoman rule Main articles: History of early Ottoman Bulgaria and National awakening of Bulgaria The Battle of Nicopolis, 1396 In 1393, the Ottomans captured Tarnovo, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, after a three-month siege. In 1396, the Vidin Tsardom fell after the defeat of a Christian crusade at the Battle of Nicopolis. With this, the Ottomans finally subjugated and occupied Bulgaria.[33][34][35] A Polish–Hungarian crusade commanded by Wladyslaw III of Poland set out to free the Balkans in 1444, but the Turks defeated it in the battle of Varna. The Bulgarian population was decimated by the invading forces, suffered greatly from the Ottoman oppression, intolerance and misgovernment,[36] and lost most of its cultural relics. Turkish authorities destroyed most of the medieval Bulgarian fortresses to prevent rebellions. Large towns and the areas where Ottoman power predominated remained severely depopulated until the 19th century.[22][page needed] The invaders destroyed all Bulgarian nobility and enserfed the peasantry to Ottoman masters.[17] Bulgarians had to pay much higher taxes than the Muslim population, and lacked judicial equality with them.[37] One response among the Bulgarians to opression was a strengthening of the haydut ('outlaw') tradition.[17] Bulgarians who converted to Islam, the Pomaks, retained Bulgarian language, dress and some customs compatible with Islam.[34][35][page needed]. The origin of the Pomaks remains a subject of debate.[38][39] During the last two decades of the 18th and first decades of the 19th centuries the Balkan Peninsula dissolved into virtual anarchy. This period is refered to as the kurdjaliistvo: armed bands of Turks called kurdjalii plagued the area. In many regions, thousands of peasants fled from the countryside either to local towns or (more commonly) to the hills or forests; some even fled beyond the Danube to Moldova, Wallachia or southern Russia.[34][40] Shipka memorial (located near Gabrovo) — built in honor of the Battle of Shipka Pass; one of the important symbols of Bulgarian liberation. Throughout the five centuries of Ottoman rule, the Bulgarian people organized several attempts to re-establish their own state, most notably the First and Second Tarnovo Uprisings (1598 / 1686) and Karposh's Rebellion (1689). The National awakening of Bulgaria became one of the key factors in the struggle for liberation. The 19th century saw the creation of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee and the Internal Revolutionary Organisation led by liberal revolutionaries such as Vasil Levski, Hristo Botev, Lyuben Karavelov, among others. In 1876 the April uprising, the largest and best-organized Bulgarian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire, broke out. Though crushed by the Ottoman authorities — in reprisal, the Turks massacred some 15,000 Bulgarians[17] — the uprising (together with the 1875 rebellion in Bosnia) prompted the Great Powers to convene the 1876 Conference of Constantinople, which delimited the ethnic Bulgarian territories as of the late 19th century, and elaborated the legal and political arrangements for establishing two autonomous Bulgarian provinces. The Ottoman Government declined to comply with the Great Powers’ decisions. This allowed Russia to seek a solution by force without risking military confrontation with other Great Powers (as had happened in the Crimean War of 1854 to 1856). Liberation and formation of a Third Bulgarian State In the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878, Russian soldiers together with a Romanian expeditionary force and volunteer Bulgarian troops defeated the Ottoman armies. The Treaty of San Stefano (3 March 1878), set up an autonomous Bulgarian principality. But the Western Great Powers immediately rejected the treaty, fearing that a large Slavic country in the Balkans might serve Russian interests. This led to the Treaty of Berlin (1878), which provided for an autonomous Bulgarian principality comprising Moesia and the region of Sofia. Alexander, Prince of Battenberg, became Bulgaria's first Prince. Most of Thrace became part of the autonomous region of Eastern Rumelia, whereas the rest of Thrace and all of Macedonia returned to the sovereignty of the Ottomans. After the Serbo-Bulgarian War and unification with Eastern Rumelia in 1885, the Bulgarian principality proclaimed itself a fully independent kingdom on 5 October (22 September O.S.), 1908, during the reign of Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. Ferdinand, of the ducal family of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, became the Bulgarian Prince after Alexander von Battenberg abdicated in 1886 following a coup d'état staged by pro-Russian army-officers. (Although the counter-coup coordinated by Stefan Stambolov succeeded, Prince Alexander decided not to remain the Bulgarian ruler without the approval of Alexander III of Russia.) The struggle for liberation of the Bulgarians in the Adrianople Vilayet and in Macedonia continued throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, culminating with the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising organised by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization in 1903. Bulgarians overrun a Turkish position at bayonet-point during the First Balkan War of 1912–1913, Painting by Jaroslav Vešín. Regional and general wars Main articles: First Balkan War, Second Balkan War, Bulgaria during World War I, and Bulgaria during World War II In the years following the achievement of complete independence Bulgaria became increasingly militarised, and was refered to by some historians as "the Prussia of the Balkans"[41] In 1912 and 1913, Bulgaria became involved in the Balkan Wars, first entering into conflict alongside Greece, Serbia and Montenegro against the Ottoman Empire. The First Balkan War (1912–1913) proved a success for the Bulgarian army, but a conflict over the division of Macedonia arose between the victorious allies. The Second Balkan War (1913) pitted Bulgaria against Greece and Serbia, joined by Romania and Turkey. After its defeat in the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria lost considerable territory conquered in the first war, as well as Southern Dobrudzha and parts of the region of Macedonia. During World War I, Bulgaria found itself fighting again on the losing side as a result of its alliance with the Central Powers. The Bulgarian army suffered 300,000 casualties, including 100,000 killed.[17] Defeat in 1918 led to new territorial losses (the Western Outlands to Serbia, Western Thrace to Greece and the re-conquered Southern Dobrudzha to Romania). The Balkan Wars and World War I led to the influx of over 250,000 Bulgarian refugees from Macedonia, Eastern and Western Thrace and Southern Dobrudzha. A Bulgarian sentry at his post, Sofia, 1942 Following the loss in World War I, in the 1920s and 1930s the country suffered political unrest, which led to the establishment of military rule, eventually transforming into a royal authoritarian rule by King Boris III (reigned 1918–1943). After regaining control of Southern Dobrudzha in 1940, Bulgaria became allied with the Axis Powers, although it declined to participate in Operation Barbarossa (1941) and never declared war on the USSR. During World War II, Nazi Germany allowed Bulgaria to occupy parts of Greece and of Yugoslavia, although control over their population and territories remained in German hands. Bulgaria became one of only three countries (along with Finland and Denmark) that saved its entire Jewish population (around 50,000 people) from the Nazi camps through different rationales and the continued postponement of compliance with German demands.[42] However, the Nazis deported almost the entire Jewish population of the Bulgarian-occupied Yugoslav and Greek territories to the Treblinka death camp in occupied Poland. In the summer of 1943, Boris III died suddenly, and the country fell into political turmoil as the war turned against Nazi Germany and the communist movement gained more power.[43] In early September 1944, the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria and invaded it, meeting no resistance. This enabled the Workers' Party to seize power and establish a communist state. The new régime turned Bulgaria's forces against Germany. Despite its support of the Allied forces, the country left World War II on the losing side. The People's Republic of Bulgaria Main article: People's Republic of Bulgaria The Fatherland Front, a Communist-dominated political coalition, took over the government in 1944 and the Communist party increased its membership from 15,000 to 250,000 during the following six months. It established its rule with the coup d'état of September 9 that year. However, Bulgaria did not become a people's republic until 1946. It fell under the Soviet sphere of influence, with Georgi Dimitrov (Prime Minister 1946 to 1949) as the foremost Bulgarian political leader. The country installed a Soviet-type planned economy, although some market-oriented policies emerged on an experimental level[44] under Todor Zhivkov. By the mid 1950s standards of living rose significantly, and in 1957 collective farm workers benefited from the first agricultural pension and welfare system in Eastern Europe.[45] Todor Zhivkov dominated the country from 1956 to 1989, thus becoming one of the most established Eastern Bloc leaders. Zhivkov asserted Bulgaria's position as the most reliable Soviet ally, and increased its overall importance in the Comecon. His daughter Lyudmila Zhivkova became very popular in the country by promoting national heritage, culture and arts on a global scale.[46] On the other hand, a forced assimilation campaign of the late 1980s directed against ethnic Turks resulted in the emigration of some 300,000 Bulgarian Turks to Turkey.[47][48] The People's Republic ended in 1989 as many Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, as well as the Soviet Union itself, began to collapse. Opposition forced Zhivkov and his right-hand man Milko Balev to give up their power on 10 November 1989. The Republic of Bulgaria In February 1990 the Communist Party voluntarily gave up its monopoly on power, and in June 1990 free elections took place, won by the moderate wing of the Communist Party (renamed the Bulgarian Socialist Party — BSP). In July 1991, the country adopted a new constitution that provided for a relatively weak elected President and for a Prime Minister accountable to the legislature. The 1990s featured high unemployment, unstable (and often high) inflation rates and discontent of the market system. Since 1989, Bulgaria has held multi-party elections and privatized its economy, but economic difficulties and a tide of corruption have led over 800,000 Bulgarians, most of them qualified professionals, to emigrate i