The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1912-12-26
~ III t'*@
BU|[CARS' Third
| POWER AMONG !
! Thrice Risen From the
! Oppressed and the
: Lowly Masses.

~HE quick ascendancy Of Bulga-
:. ria into the society of powerful
nations is the third evolution
which has elevated the Bulgars
from among the oppressed and the low
" masses. Twice before Bulgaria has
existed as free and independent ma
ton, and each time she has known
the glories of worldwide influence. In
the past her territory was far greater
than the present Bulgaria and perhaps
greater than will be the new Bulgaria
recreated from the tumbling ruins Of
the Ottoman empire. ....
Bulgarian traditions extend to A. D.
$40, when tribe called Bulgarians ap-
peared from the direction of the Dan
ube, under the leadership of Asparuch.
They were not Slavs, and history has
not determined if they were Uralhans.
Finnish, Tartars or Turks.
But these Bulgarians who settled
south Of the Danube were a powerful
tribe, and their desire to conquer was
backed by a strong system Of state Or
ganization. Asparuch knew how to or
ganize his forces into a government,
and it was under him that the first
semblance of government appeared
among the Bulgarians. His people be-
came military and accustomed to dis
cipline and to leadership. Those fac
tors were absent from the Balkan Sla-
vonic tribes and were necessary for the
single tribal, territorial and political
whole found in the Bulgarians under
Asparuch. e.
This state organization was effected
on the ruins of numerous tribes which
had lived in the Balkan peninsula for
generations. History says the Slavs
reached and settled, that county first
In the third century and that even
then they found the ruins Of towns and
roads left by the Romans. But those
early occupants of the territory left no
descendants, and the first traditions of
the land really sprang from the Bulga-
rians under Asparuch.
Adoption Of Christianity.
An epoch in the early career of the
Bulgars was marked when they and
the Slavs, in the reign Of Boris, adopt
ed Christianity in 1884, This faith was
adopted for purely political reasons.
and it had great influence internally
and externally. ..
Internally it brought about a close
union between the Bulgars and the
Slavs; and by means Of a common lit
erature it placed on an equality the
habits, customs and language Of both.
Externally Bulgaria appears as an
empire in the congress of nations. On
the geographical maps of that day
Bulgaria Is shown as an empire ex-
tending across the Balkan peninsula
and down nearly to the Bosporus
Following the adoption of Christian
1ty there is no mention in historical
records Of tribal or racial division be-
tween the invaders and the conquer
OTIS. The cOnQuerOrS cOntented them
selves with establishing a great Bull
garian state, and they adopted the
language of mixed mass Of people
and assimilated the races.
Simeon the Great, son of Boris, be-
came the first czartof Bulgaria, and
with him occurs the first mention Of
such a title. At the same time the
frst Bulgarian archbishop was created
patriarch, and there history records
the division between and cooperation
OF the state and church. These titles,
however, were not recognized by the
Byzantine empire, then the greatest
on the earth, until the reign of Peter,
son of Simeon
Arrogant In Snccess