# The Chronicle of Bulgaria: From the Thracian kurgans and Asparukh's khanate to the cradle of Cyrillic, five centuries under the Ottomans, and a hard road back to Europe. History of Bulgaria: From the Thracian kurgans and Asparukh's khanate to the cradle of Cyrillic, five centuries under the Ottomans, and a hard road back… Canonical: https://terralore.co/country/BGR/chronicle Updated: 2026-06-13 Founding: The First Bulgarian Empire founded by Khan Asparukh — 681. The Bulgarian state is conventionally dated to 681, when Khan Asparukh, leader of the Bulgars, settled in the lands south of the Danube and compelled the Byzantine emperor Constantine IV, whose army he had defeated, to recognise the new realm and pay it tribute. Asparukh established his capital at Pliska, northeast of modern Shumen, and a religious and ceremonial centre nearby at Madara, where the great rock relief of the Madara Rider was carved. The recognition by Constantinople, the dominant power of the age, made Bulgaria the first organised state to be acknowledged on Byzantine soil in the Balkans, and Bulgarians count 681 as the birth of their nation. That state would be subjugated by Byzantium in 1018, revive as a Second Empire at Tarnovo in 1185, and be extinguished by the Ottoman conquest completed in 1396, before a modern principality was reborn in 1878. Bulgaria is one of Europe's oldest states, founded in 681 when Khan Asparukh led his Bulgars across the Danube and wrung from Byzantium recognition of a realm south of the river. Under Boris I the country accepted Christianity in 864, and in the literary schools of Preslav and Ohrid the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius forged the Cyrillic script that Bulgaria gave to the wider Slavic and Orthodox world. The First Empire reached a golden age under Simeon the Great before falling to Byzantium in 1018; a Second Empire rose at Tarnovo in 1185, only to be overwhelmed by the Ottomans by 1396. Nearly five centuries of Ottoman rule were broken by a National Revival and the April Uprising of 1876, whose brutal suppression provoked the war that produced the short-lived Greater Bulgaria of the Treaty of San Stefano (1878), immediately dismembered by the Treaty of Berlin, the founding grievance of modern Bulgarian irredentism. Unification with Eastern Rumelia (1885) and independence (1908) were followed by the catastrophe of the Balkan Wars, two world wars in which Bulgaria nonetheless saved its own Jewish community, four decades of communism ended in 1989, and a return to Europe through NATO (2004) and the European Union (2007). This file carries the chronicle's sourced event record — every event with its year, summary and source keys (resolved under References below). The full reading narrative lives on the canonical page. ## Thracians, Asparukh's Khanate and the First Bulgarian Empire — c. 500 BCE – 1018 CE Before Bulgaria there were the Thracians; then in 681 Khan Asparukh founded a state south of the Danube that Byzantium was forced to recognise, and which rose under Simeon the Great to a golden age. - 4th–3rd c. BCE: **Thracian royal tombs of Kazanlak and Sveshtari** — The painted tholos tomb at Kazanlak and the richly sculpted tomb at Sveshtari, among the finest monuments of the Thracian civilisation, were later inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 and 1985. [unesco-kazanlak, unesco-sveshtari] - 681: **Foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire** — Khan Asparukh defeated the army of Emperor Constantine IV and forced Byzantium to recognise a Bulgar realm south of the Danube, with its capital at Pliska, the act conventionally regarded as the birth of the Bulgarian state. [bulgaria-first-empire-britannica, mfa-history, govbg-history] - 864: **Christianization under Boris I** — Boris I adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity for his court and people, anchoring Bulgaria to Constantinople and providing his Slav and Bulgar subjects with a unifying faith and church. [boris-britannica, mfa-history] - c. 886–900: **Cyrillic and the Preslav and Ohrid schools** — Boris I gave refuge to the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius, who in the literary schools of Preslav and Ohrid developed the Cyrillic script and a Slavonic Christian literature that spread across the Orthodox Slavic world. [boris-britannica, mfa-history] - 893–927: **The golden age of Simeon the Great** — Tsar Simeon I expanded Bulgaria toward three seas, took the title of tsar and raised the church to a patriarchate, presiding over a cultural golden age centred on his capital, Great Preslav. [simeon-britannica, mfa-history] - 1018: **Byzantine conquest of the First Empire** — After long wars the Byzantine emperor Basil II, the 'Bulgar-Slayer', destroyed Bulgarian resistance and annexed the realm, ending the First Bulgarian Empire and absorbing it into Byzantium. [simeon-britannica, govbg-history] Figures: - Khan Asparukh (c. 640 – c. 701) — Founder of the First Bulgarian Empire. Leader of the Bulgars who in 681 crossed the Danube, defeated Constantine IV and forced Byzantium to recognise a Bulgarian state south of the river, establishing his capital at Pliska and founding the realm Bulgarians regard as the birth of their nation. - Boris I (ruled 852 – 889) — Khan and prince who Christianized Bulgaria. Boris I adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity in 864 and sheltered the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, whose work in Bulgaria produced the Cyrillic script and a Slavonic literature, making his reign foundational for Bulgarian and wider Slavic civilisation. ## The Second Bulgarian Empire and the Ottoman Conquest — 1185 – 1396 A revolt at Tarnovo restored Bulgarian statehood and a second golden age of medieval art, before the Ottoman advance overwhelmed the country and inaugurated nearly five centuries of foreign rule. - 1185–1186: **Revolt of Asen and Peter restores the state** — The boyar brothers Asen and Peter rose against Byzantine rule and within a year won recognition of a restored Bulgarian realm, founding the Second Bulgarian Empire with its capital at Tarnovo. [mfa-history, govbg-history] - 1218–1241: **Ivan Asen II and the Second Empire's apogee** — Under Tsar Ivan Asen II Bulgaria reached its greatest extent and prosperity, dominating the Balkans and patronising an Orthodox cultural flowering centred on Tarnovo. [mfa-history] - 1259: **The frescoes of the Boyana Church** — The second-layer frescoes of the Boyana Church near Sofia, painted in 1259, rank among the masterpieces of medieval European art and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. [unesco-boyana] - 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. [mfa-history, bulgaria-19th-century-britannica] - 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. [govbg-history, mfa-history, bulgaria-19th-century-britannica] Figures: - Ivan Asen II (ruled 1218 – 1241) — Tsar of the Second Bulgarian Empire. The greatest ruler of the Asen dynasty, Ivan Asen II extended Bulgaria to its widest medieval bounds, dominated the Balkans and presided over a flowering of Orthodox culture and trade centred on his capital, Tarnovo. - Saint John of Rila (c. 876 – 946) — Hermit and patron saint of Bulgaria. An ascetic whose cell in the Rila mountains became, after his canonisation, the nucleus of Rila Monastery, the most important monastic centre of Bulgaria and a guardian of national culture through the centuries of foreign rule. ## Ottoman Rule and the National Revival — 1396 – 1878 Nearly five centuries under the sultans tested but did not extinguish Bulgarian identity; a National Revival rekindled it, and the bloody April Uprising of 1876 brought the great powers and a war of liberation. - 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. [bulgaria-19th-century-britannica, mfa-history] - 1762: **Paisius of Hilendar and the National Revival** — The monk Paisius of Hilendar completed his 'Slavonic-Bulgarian History', a passionate call to national pride conventionally taken as the start of the Bulgarian National Revival. [bulgaria-19th-century-britannica, ebsco-revolt] - 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. [bulgaria-19th-century-britannica] - 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. [ebsco-revolt, sanstefano-britannica] - 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. [sanstefano-britannica, sanstefano-encyclopedia, mfa-history] Figures: - Paisius of Hilendar (1722 – 1773) — Monk and father of the National Revival. A monk of the Hilendar monastery on Mount Athos whose 'Slavonic-Bulgarian History' of 1762 exhorted Bulgarians to cherish their language and glorious medieval past, igniting the cultural and national revival that led to liberation. - Vasil Levski (1837 – 1873) — Revolutionary, 'Apostle of Freedom'. The organiser of a network of secret revolutionary committees across Bulgaria, Levski sought a national rising against Ottoman rule. Captured and hanged by the Ottomans in 1873, he became the foremost martyr and hero of the Bulgarian liberation movement. ## San Stefano, Berlin and the Making of Modern Bulgaria — 1878 – 1912 The Greater Bulgaria of San Stefano was dismembered within months by the Treaty of Berlin, the founding grievance of Bulgarian nationalism, before unification and independence restored much of what was lost. - 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. [sanstefano-britannica, sanstefano-encyclopedia, bulgaria-treaties-britannica] - 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. [bulgaria-treaties-britannica, sanstefano-encyclopedia] - Sep 1885: **Unification with Eastern Rumelia** — A bloodless revolution united the autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia with the Principality of Bulgaria; Bulgaria secured the union by defeating Serbia in the ensuing war, recovering part of the San Stefano territory. [bulgaria-treaties-britannica, bulgaria-19th-century-britannica] - 1903: **Diplomatic relations with the United States** — The United States established diplomatic relations with Bulgaria in 1903, the first US diplomatic agent presenting his credentials in Sofia on 19 September of that year. [stategov-bulgaria] - 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. [govbg-history, stategov-bulgaria] Figures: - Ferdinand I (1861 – 1948) — Prince and Tsar of Bulgaria. Elected prince in 1887, Ferdinand proclaimed Bulgaria's full independence in 1908 and assumed the title of tsar. His pursuit of the San Stefano frontiers drew Bulgaria into the Balkan Wars and the First World War, after which he abdicated. - Stefan Stambolov (1854 – 1895) — Statesman and prime minister. A revolutionary of the liberation era who became the dominant statesman of the young principality, Stambolov consolidated the 1885 union with Eastern Rumelia and steered Bulgaria toward independence before his fall and assassination. ## The Balkan Wars, the World Wars and the Saving of the Jews — 1912 – 1944 Victory over the Ottomans turned to catastrophe in a war over Macedonia; allied to the Axis, Bulgaria regained Southern Dobruja and yet refused to surrender its own Jewish citizens to the Holocaust. - 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. [balkan-wars-britannica] - 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. [second-balkan-war-britannica, balkan-wars-britannica] - 7 Sep 1940: **Treaty of Craiova returns Southern Dobruja** — By the Treaty of Craiova, Romania ceded Southern Dobruja back to Bulgaria, restoring the 1912 frontier, the one Axis-era border change that was not reversed after the Second World War. [craiova-britannica, bnr-craiova] - Mar 1941: **Bulgaria joins the Axis** — Bulgaria adhered to the Tripartite Pact in March 1941 and joined the German-led attack on Yugoslavia and Greece, occupying parts of Macedonia and Thrace it had long claimed. [bulgaria-wwii-britannica, ushmm-bulgaria] - Mar–May 1943: **Deportations and the rescue of Bulgaria's Jews** — Bulgaria deported over 11,000 Jews from occupied Thrace and Macedonia to Treblinka, but protests led by Dimitar Peshev and the Orthodox Church forced Tsar Boris III to cancel the deportation of the roughly 48,000 Jews of Bulgaria proper, who survived. [ushmm-bulgaria, bulgaria-wwii-britannica] Figures: - Dimitar Peshev (1894 – 1973) — Deputy speaker of the National Assembly. Peshev led a parliamentary revolt in March 1943 that, with the support of the Orthodox Church and public opinion, forced the government to halt the planned deportation of Bulgaria's Jews to the death camps, helping save tens of thousands of lives; he was later honoured as Righteous Among the Nations. - Boris III (1894 – 1943) — Tsar of Bulgaria. King during the interwar dictatorship and the Second World War, Boris III aligned Bulgaria with the Axis and regained Southern Dobruja, yet under domestic pressure cancelled the deportation of the kingdom's Jews. He died suddenly in 1943 shortly after meeting Hitler. ## Communism, 1989 and the Return to Europe — 1944 – present Soviet occupation brought four decades of communist rule under Todor Zhivkov; its peaceful end in 1989 opened a difficult transition that led Bulgaria into NATO and the European Union. - 9 Sep 1944: **Communist seizure of power** — As Soviet forces entered Bulgaria, a Communist-led Fatherland Front took power, beginning the communist era and the country's incorporation into the Soviet sphere. [bulgaria-communist-britannica, govbg-history] - 1946: **People's Republic proclaimed** — A referendum abolished the monarchy and Bulgaria was proclaimed a People's Republic, a one-party communist state allied to the Soviet Union. [bulgaria-communist-britannica] - 10 Nov 1989: **Fall of Todor Zhivkov** — The veteran communist leader Todor Zhivkov was ousted by his own party amid the collapse of the Soviet bloc, opening the way to a multi-party system and Bulgaria's first free elections in 1990. [bulgaria-communist-britannica, govbg-history] - 29 Mar 2004: **Accession to NATO** — Bulgaria became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in the alliance's largest wave of enlargement, anchoring the country in the Euro-Atlantic security community. [nato-enlargement, govbg-history] - 1 Jan 2007: **Accession to the European Union** — Bulgaria joined the European Union on 1 January 2007, completing its return to Europe after the fall of communism and the hardships of transition. [eu-bulgaria, govbg-history] Figures: - Todor Zhivkov (1911 – 1998) — Communist leader of Bulgaria. Bulgaria's dominant figure from 1954, Zhivkov led the country as the Soviet Union's closest ally for over three decades, presiding over industrialisation and repression alike before being swept aside in November 1989. - Zhelyu Zhelev (1935 – 2015) — First democratically elected president. A dissident philosopher whose book on totalitarianism was banned, Zhelev became Bulgaria's first non-communist head of state in 1990 and its first directly elected president in 1992, guiding the early years of democratic transition. Machine-readable claims — every event above as an addressable claim ID (TL:BGR:event::) with its sources and a ready citation string: https://terralore.co/country/BGR/chronicle.claims.json ## References - [bulgaria-first-empire-britannica] Bulgaria: The first Bulgarian empire — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Bulgaria/The-first-Bulgarian-empire - [boris-britannica] Boris I — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Boris-I - [simeon-britannica] Simeon I — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Simeon-I - [bulgaria-19th-century-britannica] Bulgaria: Ottoman rule, National Revival and the end of the 19th century — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Bulgaria/Bulgaria-at-the-end-of-the-19th-century - [sanstefano-britannica] Treaty of San Stefano — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-San-Stefano - [bulgaria-treaties-britannica] Bulgaria: Treaties of San Stefano and Berlin — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Bulgaria/Treaties-of-San-Stefano-and-Berlin - [balkan-wars-britannica] Balkan Wars — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/topic/Balkan-Wars - [second-balkan-war-britannica] Second Balkan War — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Second-Balkan-War - [craiova-britannica] Treaty of Craiova — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/topic/Treaty-of-Craiova - [bulgaria-wwii-britannica] Bulgaria: World War II — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Bulgaria/World-War-II - [bulgaria-communist-britannica] Bulgaria: The early communist era — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Bulgaria/The-early-communist-era - [rila-britannica] Rila Monastery — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rila-Monastery - [mfa-history] History of Bulgaria — Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria · https://www.mfa.bg/en/about_bulgaria/history - [govbg-history] About Bulgaria: History — Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria (gov.bg) · https://www.gov.bg/en/About-Bulgaria/HISTORY - [ushmm-bulgaria] Bulgaria — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia · https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/bulgaria - [sanstefano-encyclopedia] San Stefano, Treaty of (1878) — Encyclopedia.com · https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/modern-europe/turkish-and-ottoman-history/treaty-san-stefano - [ebsco-revolt] Bulgarian Revolt Against the Ottoman Empire — EBSCO Research Starters · https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/bulgarian-revolt-against-ottoman-empire - [stategov-bulgaria] A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations: Bulgaria — U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian · https://history.state.gov/countries/bulgaria - [bnr-craiova] Treaty of Craiova and the return of South Dobruja — Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) · https://bnr.bg/en/post/100437047/bnr-80-years-in-80-yeeks-treaty-of-craiova-and-return-of-south-dobruja - [nato-enlargement] Enlargement and Article 10 (Bulgaria, 2004) — North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) · https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_52044.htm - [eu-bulgaria] Bulgaria: an EU country — European Union (european-union.europa.eu) · https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/eu-countries/bulgaria_en - [macedonia-dispute] North Macedonia's EU Accession and Bilateral Conditionality with Bulgaria — SAIS Review of International Affairs (Johns Hopkins SAIS) · https://saisreview.sais.jhu.edu/exiting-the-bulgarian-labyrinth-safeguarding-north-macedonias-eu-accession-from-entrenched-bilateral-conditionality/ - [unesco-boyana] Boyana Church — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/42/ - [unesco-kazanlak] Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/44/ - [unesco-sveshtari] Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari — UNESCO World Heritage Centre · https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/359/ - [wikipedia-first-bulgarian-empire] First Bulgarian Empire — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Bulgarian_Empire - [wikipedia-second-bulgarian-empire] Second Bulgarian Empire — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bulgarian_Empire - [statedept-bulgaria] A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition: Bulgaria — U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian · https://history.state.gov/countries/bulgaria Citation template: Terralore, "The Chronicle of Bulgaria: From the Thracian kurgans and Asparukh's khanate to the cradle of Cyrillic, five centuries under the Ottomans, and a hard road back to Europe.", terralore.co/country/BGR/chronicle, retrieved .