Evening star., 1941-09-22
BuIouriu's Choice

n
tween Bulgaria and Soviet Russia
have not yet been formally severed,
everything indicates that a formal
breach is imminent and that Bull
garia has definitely thrown in her
lot with Germany to the point OF
active military aid.
Bulgaria entered the Axis camp
last spring when the Sofia govern
ment permitted its territory to serve
as a springboard for the German
blitz campaign against Yugoslavia
and Greece. 1t likewise mobilized
its army and concentrated it on the
Turkish frontier, thereby acting as a
buffer and additional deterrent
against possible Turkish aid to the
hard-pressed Balkan states with
whom Turkey had been formally
allied. Ever since then, Bulgaria has
continued to allow the Germans full
use of its territory and its seaports
on the Black Sea- Yet, hitherto, it
has remained technically non-bel-
ligerent and its troops have taken no
part in the war.
The time seemingly now has. come
when Germany demands an active
instead of a passive role from it's
Axis associate; and, with Bulgaria
filled with German troops and eco
nomically tied tight to the Axis,
there would seem to be little chance
of refusal even if the government
were so inclined. But King Boris and
his Prime Minister, Bogdan Filov, are
apparently acting from choice as well
as from necessity. They represent
the political tradition which sided
with Germany in the Great War and
which sees in such an alignment the
best hope of an enlarged national
future.
In order to understand this atti-
tude, Bulgaria's tragic past should be
reviewed Liberated from the Turk
ish yoke by Russian aid in the 1870s,
the Gar of that day tried to make
it the leading Christian Balkan state.
This plan was whitfield down by Brit
ain, which feared that the new Bull
garia would be merely a Russian tool.
Bulgaria did remain the strongest
Balkan nation down to 1912, when
the Christian Balkan states combined
against Turkey and beat the decrepit
Ottoman Empire. However, the VIC
tors quarreled over the spoils, and
Bulgaria was defeated by a coalition
of its former allies, plus hitherto
neutral Rumania, which together de-
prived beaten Bulgaria of much
territory and reduced her to humil-
iating inferiority. Thirsting for re-
venge, Bulgaria joined Germany and
Austria in the Great War two years
later only to share their defeat and
be further reduced in strength. Le-
gally disarmed and helpless, Bulgaria
was thenceforth a minor factor in
Balkan affairs.
In this desperate situation, two
trends of thought became evident.
Traditional nationalists continued to
nurse schemes of revenge against
their Balkan foes and stood ready to
welcome aid against them from any
quarter. The other trend pinned it's
hope on the Bolshevik revolution in
Russia and was Communist in
character. Immediately after the
war Bulgaria, under Premier Stam-
buliski, seemed to be headed for
social revolution. However, a con-
Servative nationalist reaction soon
swept Stambuliski from power, and
has ever since kept control. Yet a
strong Communist faction survived,
and it is this rebellious element
which Russian agents dropping from
parachutes are seeking now to incite
to sabotage and possible revolt. Be-
sides these local Communists, there
Is traditional sympathy for Russia
among the Bulgarian peasantry,
which remembers that Czarist Russia
freed them from Turkish rule.
Obviously Bulgarian public opinion
by no means will be united if the
government orders an attack on
Soviet Russia, though there would be
much less opposition to action
against Turkey. However, the Bull
garians are disciplined people, and
the army presumably would obey.
Another chapter in Bulgaria's sad
history evidently is about to begin.