Description
Book SynopsisHow Russia Lost Bulgaria looks at the rapid breakdown in Russo-Bulgarian relations in the years following the Russian liberation of Bulgaria in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. Initially, the Russian Empire and the Principality of Bulgaria were close allies, bound together by sentiment, by geopolitical reality, and by strong administrative links the Bulgarian Minister of War was a Russian general on detached duty from the Imperial Army, to pick just one example. Yet by 1886, only eight years later, relations degenerated to such a point that a Russian-backed coup overthrew the Bulgarian monarch. The two countries would cut diplomatic relations for years. How Russia Lost Bulgaria argues that the behavior of Russian military and diplomatic agents in Bulgaria caused this rapid turnabout. These agents acted in a tactless, obnoxious fashion that offended the pride and sensibilities of both local Bulgarian politicians and of the German-born, Russian-appointed Prince Alexander von Battenbe
Trade Review"Rekun gives us a close study of the deteriorating relationship between the first ruler of post-Congress Bulgaria, Prince Alexander of Battenburg, and the new country’s Russian patrons, the removal of Alexander through a Russian-inspired coup, and the subsequent failure of a rather ham-fisted Russian diplomacy to reconcile its imperial objectives with Bulgarian populist nationalism. This book offers a careful narrative of the decade following the creation of modern Bulgaria in 1878 that is well-informed by both Russian and Bulgarian archival research and a detailed understanding of the personalities and politics of the time—in the Balkans and in the larger European sphere—as well as a fresh, on the ground, perspective on the familiar contradictions of late-nineteenth-century nationalism and pan-Slavism. A finely polished work, it will be both of interest to historians and scholars of International Relations and accessible to undergraduate students." -- Howard Malchow, Tufts University
Table of ContentsChapter 1: A History of Bulgaria until 1878 Chapter 2: Setting up the State, 1878-1879 Chapter 3: The First Troubled Year, 1879-1880 Chapter 4: Assassination, Ultimatum, Coup, 1880-1881 Chapter 5: Simmering Resentment, 1881-1882 Chapter 6: The Nadir, 1882-1883 Chapter 7: The Unification of Bulgaria, 1883-1885 Chapter 8: The Final Act, 1886
