Bulgaria and Türkiye compared

Entangled histories

11 events in which either nation’s sourced chronicle names the other — including under earlier names of the same state. Each is the same record, with the same sources, as on its own chronicle; nothing here was written for this page.

1. 1393

   Fall of Tarnovo to the Ottomans

   The Ottoman army captured the Bulgarian capital of Tarnovo, breaking the heart of the Second Empire as the Ottomans absorbed the Bulgarian lands.

   War & Rupture · from the Bulgaria chronicle · The Second Bulgarian Empire and the Ottoman Conquest · History of Bulgaria, Bulgaria: Ottoman rule, National Revival and the end of the 19th century

2. 1396–1878

   Nearly five centuries of Ottoman rule

   Bulgaria was governed for almost five hundred years as an Ottoman province, its medieval state destroyed but its language and identity preserved chiefly through the Orthodox Church and its monasteries.

   Politics & Power · from the Bulgaria chronicle · Ottoman Rule and the National Revival · Bulgaria: Ottoman rule, National Revival and the end of the 19th century, History of Bulgaria

3. 1396

   Ottoman conquest completed

   With the subjection of the last Bulgarian territories by 1396, the Second Bulgarian Empire ended and Bulgaria passed under Ottoman rule that would last nearly five centuries.

   War & Rupture · from the Bulgaria chronicle · The Second Bulgarian Empire and the Ottoman Conquest · About Bulgaria: History, History of Bulgaria, Bulgaria: Ottoman rule, National Revival and the end of the 19th century

4. 1870

   Creation of the Bulgarian Exarchate

   An Ottoman decree established an autonomous Bulgarian Exarchate, separating the national church from Greek ecclesiastical control and giving institutional form to the awakening nation.

   Religion · from the Bulgaria chronicle · Ottoman Rule and the National Revival · Bulgaria: Ottoman rule, National Revival and the end of the 19th century

5. Apr 1876

   The April Uprising and the 'Bulgarian Horrors'

   A rising organised by Bulgarian revolutionaries was crushed with massacres of civilians at Batak and elsewhere; reported across Europe as the 'Bulgarian Horrors', it inflamed opinion and helped precipitate the Russo-Turkish War.

   War & Rupture · from the Bulgaria chronicle · Ottoman Rule and the National Revival · Bulgarian Revolt Against the Ottoman Empire, Treaty of San Stefano

6. 1877–1878

   Russo-Turkish War and liberation

   Russia's war against the Ottoman Empire ended Ottoman rule over Bulgaria; the Treaty of San Stefano of 3 March 1878 restored a Bulgarian state, a date Bulgarians commemorate as Liberation Day.

   Independence · from the Bulgaria chronicle · Ottoman Rule and the National Revival · Treaty of San Stefano, San Stefano, Treaty of (1878), History of Bulgaria

7. Jul 1878

   Treaty of Berlin dismembers the state

   The Congress of Berlin revised San Stefano, splitting Greater Bulgaria into a small autonomous principality, the separate province of Eastern Rumelia, and Macedonia left under Ottoman rule, the foundational grievance of Bulgarian nationalism.

   Politics & Power · from the Bulgaria chronicle · San Stefano, Berlin and the Making of Modern Bulgaria · Bulgaria: Treaties of San Stefano and Berlin, San Stefano, Treaty of (1878)

8. 3 Mar 1878

   Treaty of San Stefano creates 'Greater Bulgaria'

   The Russo-Ottoman treaty created a large autonomous Bulgarian principality reaching from the Danube to the Aegean and embracing most of Macedonia, an expansive state soon known as Greater Bulgaria.

   Independence · from the Bulgaria chronicle · San Stefano, Berlin and the Making of Modern Bulgaria · Treaty of San Stefano, San Stefano, Treaty of (1878), Bulgaria: Treaties of San Stefano and Berlin

9. 22 Sep 1908

   Proclamation of independence

   Prince Ferdinand proclaimed Bulgaria's full independence at Tarnovo and took the title of tsar, ending Ottoman suzerainty; the United States recognised the kingdom's independence in 1909.

   Independence · from the Bulgaria chronicle · San Stefano, Berlin and the Making of Modern Bulgaria · About Bulgaria: History, A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations: Bulgaria

10. 1912

    First Balkan War

    Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro of the Balkan League drove the Ottoman Empire almost entirely out of Europe, with Bulgarian armies bearing the heaviest fighting in Thrace.

    War & Rupture · from the Bulgaria chronicle · The Balkan Wars, the World Wars and the Saving of the Jews · Balkan Wars

11. Jun–Aug 1913

    Second Balkan War and the loss of Macedonia

    Bulgaria attacked its former allies over the division of Macedonia and was crushed by Serbia, Greece, Romania and the Ottomans; the Treaty of Bucharest left most of Macedonia to its rivals and Southern Dobruja to Romania.

    War & Rupture · from the Bulgaria chronicle · The Balkan Wars, the World Wars and the Saving of the Jews · Second Balkan War, Balkan Wars