Bulgaria's troops invaded Greece and Yugoslavia just after the governments of those countries surrendered. Bulgaria occupied the lands of modern North Macedonia and parts of Greece. (Both areas had been part of Bulgaria before the Balkan Wars.) The Bulgarian government also sent Jews to concentration camps and ghettoes in the Holocaust. The king of Bulgaria, Tsar Boris III, died after talking to Hitler in August 1943. Before the Tsar died, the Kingdom of Bulgaria had sent at least 11,343 Jews to the extermination camps.
In 1944 when it became clear that the Allied Powers would win the war, Bulgaria had to find another solution. Their leaders declared that they withdrew from the Axis forces and helped the German army leave the Balkans through Bulgaria. The Soviet Union didn't respect Bulgaria's claim to be neutral. The Red Army invaded Bulgaria in September 1944. At the same time, a new pro-Soviet government took power in Sofia. At this point, the Jews were released from the ghettoes and concentration camps in Bulgaria. The new government joined the Allies, and the military started to attack the German army, which the Bulgarian government had helped to leave Bulgarian lands.
The Soviets replaced the royal monarchy with Communism in 1947 before they withdrew from Bulgaria in 1949. For 40 years, under their leader Todor Zhivkov, Bulgaria was very close to the Soviet Union and followed their instructions. Bulgaria invaded Czechoslovakia to stop the Prague Spring in 1968.
Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, on 10 November 1989, the Bulgarian Communist Party gave up their rule and allowed the country to elect leaders of their own choice. But in a few years, Bulgaria had serious money problems under the new socialist government. Since that time Bulgaria has recovered in many ways and is much more stable. It is still one of the poorest countries in Europe. Problems in the administration, a weak court system, and organized crime are the biggest issues for Bulgaria.
Bulgaria's economy was dependent on the COMECON market. This was a group of communist countries (Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania) that agreed to work together. This group fell apart in 1989 with the fall of communism in Europe. While this was good for personal freedom, it was too much of a change for the businesses and jobs. Also, Yugoslavia, their neighbor, fell into a civil war as their country broke apart, and that did not help Bulgaria. Living standards fell by 40 percent as people lost their jobs and their savings were not worth much, and even some newborn babies were sent to orphanages when their parents could not take care of them.
In 1994 Bulgaria had a short economic boom. But that slowed down in 1996 from bad finance deals and other banking problems. In 1997 there was high inflation (the money could not buy as much as it did before). Retired people had little income (their pension did not go up as fast as inflation did) and their savings were not worth very much. Many retired people were begging in the streets for food. But since then the economy has grown steadily. People from outside the country started putting money into businesses and houses, and Bulgarians learned how to make their own businesses.
Today Bulgaria has Europe's lowest income and corporate tax, 10 percent for both individuals and businesses. This makes Bulgaria a very good place for business. Bulgaria also has skilled and educated workers. The average monthly salary in Bulgaria is still cheap at 400 euro or $541 USD.
The state no longer has free health care. This system has been replaced by an insurance plan that people pay for, and drug costs are based on income. Private health care is encouraged nowadays. Help for people who lose their jobs is no longer automatic, but some help is available, based on family status and length of unemployment.
The retirement age for men is 64 years and for women 61 years. It will be 63 years and 9 months for woman and 65 years and 3 months for man in 2032.
Since 1999, Bulgaria has been divided into 28 provinces or regions. Each province is named after its local capital. The provinces are divided into municipalities, there are 264 in total.
There are 6 Bulgarian development regions of 27 smaller provinces. See List of settlements in Bulgaria for a list of all large locations.
In Bulgaria there are 5,664,624 citizens of Bulgarians, 1,200,000 citizens of Turks and 800,000 Citizens of Roma/Gypsies.
Bulgaria is classified as a developing country by the EU.
Alps
The Alps (Italian: "Alpi", French: "Alpes", German: "Alpen", Bavarian: "Oipn", Romansh: "Alps", Slovene: "Alpe", Occitan: "Aups" or "Alps") is the greatest mountain range of Europe. It reaches from Austria and Slovenia in the east; through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany; to France in the west. The original meaning of the word was 'white'.
The highest mountain in the Alps is Mont Blanc, at , on the Italian–French border.
The Alps stretch from Austria and Slovenia in the east, through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west.
The mountains are divided into the Western Alps and the Eastern Alps. The division is along the line between Lake Constance and Lake Como, following the Rhine. The Western Alps are higher, but their central chain is shorter and curved; they are located in Italy, France and Switzerland.
The Eastern Alps (main ridge system elongated and broad) belong to Austria, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovenia and Switzerland. The highest peaks of the Western Alps are Mont Blanc, 4,808 metres (15,774 ft), Mont Blanc de Courmayeur 4,748 metres (15,577 ft), the Dufourspitze 4,634 metres (15,203 ft) and the other summits of the Monte Rosa group, and the Dom, 4,545 metres (14,911 ft). The highest peak in the Eastern Alps is Piz Bernina, 4,049 metres (13,284 ft). Perhaps the most famous location for tourist to the Alps are the Swiss Alps.
The main chain of the Alps follows the watershed from the Mediterranean Sea to the Wienerwald, defining the northern border of Italy. It then passes over many of the highest and most famous peaks in the Alps. From the Colle di Cadibona to Col de Tende it runs to the west before turning to the northwest and then, to the north, near the Colle della Maddalena. Upon reaching the Swiss border, the line of the main chain goes about northeast, a heading it follows until its end near Vienna.
The Alps do not make an impassable block; they have been traveled by for war and commerce, and later by pilgrims, students and tourists. Mountain passes give paths between mountains, for road, train or foot traffic. Some are famous, being used for thousands of years.
The Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA) has defined a list of 82 "official" Alpine 4,000-meter (13,123 ft) peaks. The list has many sub-peaks with little prominence, but good for mountaineering. Here are the twelve four-thousanders with at least 1 km prominence.
Karl Blodig was the first person to climb all the main four-thousand meter peaks, round 1900.
The reason mountains form is usually the moving together of continental plates of the Earth's crust. The Alps rose as a result of the slow but gigantic pressure of the African plate as it moved north against the stable Eurasian landmass. In particular, Italy (which had been a separate island) got pushed into Europe.
This all took place in the Tertiary period, mostly in the Miocene and Pliocene. That's about 35 to 5 million years ago.
The Alps are just a part of a larger orogenic belt of mountain chains, called the Alpide belt. It reaches through southern Europe and Asia from the Atlantic Ocean most of the way to the Himalayas.
A gap in these mountain chains in central Europe separates the Alps from the Carpathians off to the east. Subsidence is the cause of the gaps in between.