Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1913-01-03
Bulgaria, For Third Time,
Has Risen To World Po;Uey

Greek general John Tsymich. ook To
t"onStantinople the crown of the enemy
of the ~Hyzantines. Boris H.. and de-
prived Dam,ian. the bulgarian Pa
triarch. III his see.
Bulgaria. ut that time. lacked fur
seeing statesmen. Sh. became II selfish
power Within herself n against all
others. There wa" competition for
emolu,nent Within herself and the
ByZantines did not find great difficulty
i'm destroying his disorganized state.
In the year lO1s. the Emperor Basil.
OF R~yzantiuim. known as slayer of the
Bulgarians," put an end TO Bulgarian
existence, particularly in the west. to-
ward the Adriatic. This war continued
for % years. and then for 1O7 years
Bulgaria and the Bulgarians remained
under the rule of the Byzantines.
Weakness Develops.
Byzantium. however. was YEA in
herself. She did not continue III a
position to cope with dangerous and
difficult problems. since her own rulers
were not firmly fixed pon their seats
and because of internal jealousies and
discussions. Here it was said that
graft weakened the Byzantines. just as
it is said to have made their success
sOrs, the Turks. weak in the present
wal with the Balkan allies.
Dollars Asen and Peter. descendants
of the first Tsa of Bulgaria, made a
SucceSS1ul reNOlutlOn III IlFHONO Ill tne
early part of the 10Th century. obtained
independence of the Bulgars and pro-
claimed the second Bulgarian empire.
Asen l and his successors, notably
Asen II. generally increased the pow
ers and territory Of III second Bull
garia, waging victorious wars with the
Greeks and the Crusaders and EXTEND
ing the boundaries of the empire still
more widely than in the time of Boris
III. They annexed Moesia. Thracia.
Macedonia and Albania rs fan as Dur
azzo, which is now the Adriatic port OF
contention between the erVian and
the Austrians-
But the second Bulgarian empire was
as weak as the first in lacking any
definite state policy. Apparently it's
leaders were fighting for -aggrandize-
ment without knowing why. They
formed no alliance. There was no
higher inspiration than rehabilitation
and revenge which prompted their war
like moves. Therefore. it vas in h
| position of being strong and agrees
sive when the throne was held by a
strong and aggressive tsar and weak
and Intellectual when the ruler was in
capable.
The unstable internal condition of the
country was aggravated by the many
wars and expeditions which were car
rjed on without definite purpose. These
weakened it and prepared it for catas-
tfOpAe. IneSe 1aCJS lea TO Cne eStaD-
lishment of a strong Servian kingdom.
which made it's capital at Uskub, un-
der the Servian 81 Doushan, in the
first half OF the 14th century. This
division of wv made it eas for the
Turks TO Bulgaria and later
the whole Balkan peninsula.
Bulgaria then disappeared as an in
dependent nation for five centuries. un-
til the domination of the Turkish ems
pire was broken down by the efforts
of the Russians and the Roumanians.
Then the Berlin treaty gave Bulgaria
practical liberty. and in 1908 Ferdin-
and declared the absolute independence
of the Bulgarians and proclaimed him
self tsar. Until then he had been n
prince. The title tsar is clearly traced
through 1900 ears from Caesar. One
form of 1T is kaiser.
For nearly 400 years the Bulgarians
have been preparing for the war with
Turkev. The result of this training IL
seen in the third appearance of the
great Bulgarian empire under Tsar
I! Ferdinand.