From Antiquity to Present

The origins

• 2000 BC - Occupation of the Bulgarian territory by the Thracians, people with Indo-European origins. Hunters and animal breeders, the Thracians created a rich civilisation of which is testified by treasures and tumulus. They have an important influence on the Greek culture, to which they bring the cult of Dionysus and the myth of Orpheus. The Thracians are the most numerous people after the Indians during this era.
  
• 4th century BC - Establishment of Greek trading posts on the coast of the Black Sea at Messemvria (Nessebar), Heliopolis (Obzor), Odessos (Varna), Anhialo (Pomorié), Appolonia (Sozopol)…
  
• 45 BC - The region is subdued by the Romans after decades of struggle. Under the reign of Claudius, the Roman provinces of Thrace and Moesia are formed.
  
• 395 - Thrace and Moesia are reattached to the Oriental Roman Empire to which they produce two emperors: Marcian (450-457) and above all Justinian the Great (527-565).
  
• 5th century AD- the beginning of the century is marked by the Slavic invasion. During the second half the Bulgarians appear (named also Proto-Bulgarians to distinguish them from the actual population which is a mix of the Thracians, Slaves and of course Proto-Bulgarians). According to historians, the Proto-Bulgarians were a part of the Sarmates tribe, formidable riders governed by the Khans and an aristocracy of boyars.
  

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The empires

• 632 – 651 – The Great Bulgaria, created by the Khan Kouber, is constituted by the association of all the tribes that lived between the Black Sea, the Azov Sea, and the Caspian Sea. The basis of the state is put in place with a strictly defined territory, a proper administration, uniform laws (probably based on the laws usually observed by the Bulgarian tribes) and its proper foreign politics. On the death of Khan Kouber, the unity of the Empire is not conserved; the populations disperse and the 4th migration starts which gives birth to the actual Bulgaria.
• 681 – Creation of the Bulgarian state by Khan Asparukh, son of Khan Koubrat which extends above the Danube.
  
• 700-720 – Reign of Khan Tervel. His great military strategy saves Byzantium from the Arab invasion which earns him the title of Caesar.
  
• 863 - Creation of the Glagolitic alphabet by Cyril and Methodius, which is adopted in Bulgaria and gives birth to the Cyrillic alphabet, named for its creator.
  
• 865 - The Bulgarian people convert to Christianity under the reign of Boris I who takes the title of Tsar which signifies emperor.
• 893-927 - Golden Age of the Bulgarian culture under the reign of Simeon I the Great. Simeon installs the capital in Veliki Preslav which becomes a prestigious artistic and intellectual centre. The “Grand Bulgaria” encompasses Serbia, Albania, Macedonia, a part of Romania, almost totality of Greece and the European territories of Turkey. Bulgaria is the largest kingdom in Europe and is rivals with Byzantium, which it besieges several times.
  
• 1018 - Bulgaria becomes a province of the Byzantine Empire after years of harsh combat.
  
• 1186 - – Ivan Assen and Peter, boyars of Turnovo, restore the independence of Bulgaria and found the Assen Dynasty followed by the second Bulgarian Empire.
• 1197-1207 - Reign of Tsar Kaloyan. His capital, installed in Turnovo, is nicknamed “the Second Constantinople.”
  
• 1218-1241 -Reign of Ivan Assen II. The Bulgarian territory includes Thrace, Macedonia, and Albania and extends from the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Adriatic.
  
• 1280 - The end of the Assen Dynasty entail a new territorial dislocation: the country is split into two kingdoms which have for capitals Veliko Turnovo and Vidin. In spite of the Turkish menace, the Bulgarian Empire remains divided, while the Boyars prune away at important domains.
• 1396 - After Veliko Turnovo, Vidin falls into the hands of the Turks leading to the collapse of the Christian states of the East.
  

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Under the Ottoman yolk

• Bulgaria disappears as a state and becomes the Turkish province Rumelia. Though it conserves its language and religion, it is submitted by its new masters to a heavy taxation and its children are requisitioned and enrolled in the Ottoman military corps. The Bulgarian culture finds refuge in the monasteries to wait for better days.
  
• 1595 -  Insurrection of Turnovo. Its failure opens a period of increased repression, accompanied by a politic of forced conversion: We see the origin of the Pomaks, the Islamist Bulgarians.
• 1688 - The Bulgarians rise up once again against the Ottomans. The failure of this new insurrection drives them to pass their hopes of liberation to the Russians.
  
• 1850 – 1870 - The national conscience wakes up, notably thanks to the writings of the monk Paissii and the monasteries which serve as a refuge for revolutionaries. Vassil Levski organises a network of clandestine committees to fight for liberation.
  
• April 1876 - April Uprising broke out and was crushed with a blood bath (30,000 Bulgarians were massacred) attracts the indignation of Europe.
  
• 1877-1878 - The Tzar Alexander II of Russia declares war on the Turks. The Bulgarian volunteers join their Russian and Romanian friends. After harsh combat, the Russian victory leads to the liberation of the Bulgarians.
  

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The Unification Wars

• 3 March 1878 - Treaty of San-Stefano: Bulgaria finds itself with the frontiers of the 14th century, covering the largest part of Macedonia. However, under the pressure of the large European powers during the Congress of Berlin of July 13, 1878, Bulgaria is divided into 3 parts (the Principality of Bulgaria; the Eastern Rumelia, and Macedonia and Thrace of Adrianople) to avoid the creation of a too powerful state in the Balkans.
  
• 1885 - Alexander I, the head of the Bulgarian Principality, annexes the Eastern Rumelia.
  
• 1908 - The prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, grandson of Louis-Philippe, profits from the annexation of Bosnia by Austrio-Hungary to take the title of Tsar of the Bulgarians and the name of Ferdinand I. Bulgaria becomes an independent state.
  
• October 1912- Mai 1913 - First Balkan War. The Turks, crushed, sign the Treaty of London which takes from them all the territories situated to the west of the Enos-Midia Line, but leaves them the control of the straits.
  
• June-July 1913 - Second Balkan War. The winners of the first war argue about the remains of the Turkish Empire. The Bulgarians attach the Greco-Serbian Coalition, but attacked by the Romanians and the Turks, they are defeated. Bulgaria looses a large part of its territories won during the 1st war: it yields southern Dobrudja to the Romanians, restores Adrianople (Edirne) to the Turks, whereas Macedonia is split between Serbia and Greece.
  
• Autumn 1915 - Bulgaria takes the side of the central empires during the First World War which promise it the restitution of all its territories. The Bulgarian troops occupy Macedonia and Dobrudzha.
• September-October 1918 - The Bulgarians are constrained by the Armistice of September 29. The Kniaz Ferdinand abdicates in favour of his son Boris III. The Neuilly Peace Treaty takes from Bulgaria the access to the Aegean Sea.
  
• 1941 - Bulgaria enters in the Second World War on the side of the Axis powers, Germany, Italy, and Japan. However, Sofia was the only ally of Hitler to refuse to send its Jewish citizens to concentration camps, and no confrontation took place on Bulgarian soil, at the time governed by Boris III. Equally, Bulgaria proclaims itself neutral in the German-Soviet conflict. It therefore recovered southern Dobrudja and the totality of the Greek and Serbian Macedonia.
• 1944 - After the conferences of Yalta and of Potsdam which marked the end of the war, Bulgaria is placed under the Soviet sphere of influence. The Red Army occupies Bulgaria.

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““The 16th Republic of the USSR””

• 1946 - Proclamation of a People’s Republic in Bulgaria. The country aligns totally with the USSR.
  
• 1953 - 1989 - For 36 years Bulgaria is placed under the domination of the Communist party and one man, Todor Zhivkov, at the time chief of state and of the party.
  

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On the road to democracy

• 1991 – 1992 – Adoption of a new democratic constitution and the first free presidential elections.
  
• 1999 - At the summit of Helsinki, start of the negotiations for the entry of Bulgaria into the European Union, planned for 2007. Bulgaria displays its will to adhere to the NATO.
• 26 March 2003 - Bulgaria officially becomes a part of NATO.
  
• 25 April 2005 - Bulgaria signs the adhesion treaty of the European Union.
   
• 1 January 2007 – Together with  Romania, Bulgaria joins the 25 members of the EU

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