page_title: Bulgaria during World War I
section_title: Bulgaria in the aftermath of the Balkan Wars
hierarchical_section_title: Bulgaria during World War I / Background / Bulgaria in the aftermath of the Balkan Wars
caption_attribution_description: English: Bulgarian Prime Minister Vasil Radoslavov (1854-1929) Български: Васил Радославов (1854-1929)
context_page_description: The Kingdom of Bulgaria participated in World War I on the side of the Central Powers from 14 October 1915, when the country declared war on Serbia, until 30 September 1918, when the Armistice of Thessalonica came into effect.
  After the Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913, Bulgaria was diplomatically isolated, surrounded by hostile neighbors and deprived of Great Power support. Negative sentiment grew particularly in France and Russia, whose officials blamed Bulgaria for the dissolution of the Balkan League, an alliance of Balkan states directed against the Ottoman Empire. Bulgarian defeat in the Second Balkan War in 1913 turned revanchism into a foreign policy focus.
  When the First World War started in July 1914, Bulgaria, still recovering from the economic and demographic damage of the Balkan Wars, declared neutrality. Strategic location and a strong military establishment made the country a desired ally for both warring coalitions, but its regional territorial aspirations were difficult to satisfy because they included claims against four Balkan countries.
context_section_description: The outcome of the Second Balkan War negated almost all of the territorial gains that Bulgaria secured during the First Balkan War. The failed effort to bring all Bulgarians under a single national government led to a massive influx of over 120,000 Bulgarian refugees from Eastern Thrace and the parts of Macedonia that remained under Serbian and Greek rule. The Radoslavov government faced the uneasy task of integrating the new population and the acquired territories that were not ceded back, as well as rebuilding the economy and the military potential of the country.
  Internal bickering within the People's Liberal Party (one of the three governing coalition parties) and the lack of a majority in parliament forced the dissolution of the legislative body. General elections were called for the pre-war borders of Bulgaria in November 1913 and held for the first time under nationwide proportional representation. The government parties gained only 97 seats as compared to the 107 seats of their opponents, which prompted a new resignation of the government in December. Tsar Ferdinand held consultations with several important politicians, but once again preferred to appoint a government with Radoslavov as prime minister and dissolve the newly elected parliament. When the next elections were held in March 1914, the population of the new territories was allowed to participate even though many participants had not yet received Bulgarian citizenship. During the campaign, the spokesmen of the opposition parties were practically prevented from campaigning in these lands on the grounds of the alleged threat to their safety. Ottoman officials, however, were allowed to visit the local Muslim populations and urge them to vote for the government. Despite these and other extreme measures, the liberal parties gained 116 seats, as many as their opponents, and their numbers were increased by another 16 following the completion of the verification process. The government was finally able to focus its attention on more pressing internal and external matters. Radoslavov, however, remained handicapped by this fragile majority and was often forced to compromise with his coalition partners, falsify election results or simply neglect parliament.
caption: Vasil Radoslavov (c.1915). Prime minister from 1913 to 1918.
exif: {}