Evening star., 1943-05-06
BuIquriu's Dilemma

BulgarlaS internal situation Is
hard to evaluate Much unrest OBJ
viouSly exists. That is proved by
recent assassinations of high officials
and wholesale arrests made by the
government in reprisal This is ad-
mltted from Axis sources. Yet cur
rent press dispatches from Turkey
suggesting that Bulgaria is on the
verge of an anti-AXis revolution
should be treated with caution. The
short Turko-Bulgarian frontier is
tightly closed and reliable advices
are scanty. In default of reliable
current information, the soundest
method is to survey the basic factors
in Bulgaria's S national life and policy
as a guide to what may be expected.
Modern Bulgaria is a sad case of
national Illustration. No part of the
Balkans was so thoroughly subjected
to the Turkish yoke. Lying nearest
to the seat Of Ottoman power in Is
tanbul, it was the last Balkan coun-
try to be liberated, and the liberia
ton was accomplished by Russia in
a war designed to break Turkish
power and establish Russian prepon-
derance in the Balkans. AS a means
to this end, Russia set up a Big
Bulgaria" counting on it's attitude
to support Russian policy.
However, this drastic program
reused the uncompromising opposi-
ton Of Great Britain and Austria
Hungary, who were ready to fight
Russia rather than accept what they
deemed the destruction of the bal
ance Of power IN Eastern Europe and
the Mediterranean The crisis was
Settled by the famous Berlin Con-
gresS of 1878, wherein Big Bull
garia' was whitfield down to minor
proportions. This started the new
country off on the wrong foot. The
Bulgarians began their national life
with shattered hopes and burning
resentment that many of their COM
patriots. especially in Macedonia,
were left under Turkish rule Dour
and stubborn by nature, the Bulgar-
ianS SWOre to realize by their own
efforts the dream of Balkan primacy
that had been shattered by interna-
tional diplomacy. They thought their
time had come when they allied
themselves with the other Christian
Balkan States and beat Turkey in
the First Balkan War of 1912. But
the yictors quarrelled over the spoils
Bulgaria was beaten in a second war
with her former allies and saw them
become more powerful while she got
almost nothing out of the whole en-
terprise Still more embittered, the
BulgarS joined the Central Powers
in the First World War which broke
out next year But she had joined
the losing side and emerged from
the Versailles settlement still further
weakened while the other Balkan
States were so strengthened as to
dwarf Bulgaria into relative insig-
nificance.
Now history has repeated. Bull
garia has joined the Axis, and has
been rewarded by obtaining from it
Macedonia and Thrace, the lands it
most coveted That happened when
Germany and Russia were at peace.
Bulgaria'S dilemma really began
when Germany and Russia fell out
1t has been a cardinal principle of
Bulgarian foreign policy never to be
hostile to Russia, it's liberator. Rus
sian influence has always been strong
in Bulgaria. This largely accounts
for the spread of Communistic ideas
among a land-owning peasant folk.
Axis pressure has been unable to get
single Bulgarian soldier to fight
on the Eastern Front. The Bulgarian
Government has done its best to fight
a localized war in the Balkans. sup
plying troops to hold down the
Greeks and Yugoslavs and garrison
the Turkish frontier In that way,
Bulgaria could realize it's territorial
ambitions at slight cost to itself
However, darkening prospects for
the Axis, Russia growing power. and
the unpleasant consequences of be-
ing again on the losing side, combine
to make the Bulgarians increasingly
uneasy AS yet there is no definite
proof that Bulgaria is ready to break
with the Axis, even if that were mill
tarily possible for the moment Yet
an Allied invasion of the Balkans
might crack Bulgarian morale
which is becoming unstable.