For bulgaria history the Bulgarian tourist board calls it as Europe’s oldest civilization. Bulgaria history experienced very early colonization and it was influenced by the Greeks, Romans, Bulgars of central Asia, Slovak locals and the Ottoman Empire who invaded it and occupied it. In the history of bulgaria the first Bulgarian Kingdom was founded by Khan Asparouh in 681. It was situated in what is now north-east Bulgaria, and was inhabited by Slavs from the Byzantium Empire, and Bulgarians who came from an ancient Bulgarian state situated on the Volga River. The creation of the Slavonic alphabet by brothers Cyril and Methodius in 863 and the establishment of Christianity (East Orthodox) as a state religion in 864 contributed to the development of the Bulgarian nationality and created conditions for the flourishing of Bulgarian literature and culture. History of bulgaria saw the country fighting on the losing side of the First World War, an unavoidable achievement which was repeated during the Second World War and ended with the Soviet Union influence in 1946.
Breif History of Bulgaria saw from this period onwards that the country became a satellite of the Soviet Union, remaining so throughout the Cold War period. Todor Zhivkov, the head of the Bulgarian Communist Party, ruled the country for much of its time under communism, and during his 27 years as leader of Bulgaria, democratic opposition was crushed, agriculture and industry were nationalized, and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church fell under the control of the state.
History has seen the country emerging from the pain of communism, and then it experienced a period of social and economic unrest that culminated in a severe economic and financial crisis in late 1996-early 1997. With the help of the international community, a number of reforms were initiated that helped stabilize the country’s economy and put Bulgaria on the Euro-Atlantic path. Bulgaria officially became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on March 29, 2004 and hopes for a full membership in the European Union by 2007. It’s now been a democratic country for more than 15 years. |