User:Aleksdonev/Stefan Stambolov

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In this Bulgarian name, the patronymic is Nikolov and the family name is Stambolov.
Stefan Stambolov
Стефан Стамболов
9th Prime Minister of Bulgaria
In office
1 September 1887 – 31 May 1894
MonarchFerdinand
Preceded byKonstantin Stoilov
Succeeded byKonstantin Stoilov
Personal details
Born13 February 1854
Tırnovo, Ottoman Empire (now Veliko Tărnovo, present-day Bulgaria)
Died19 July 1895(1895-07-19) (aged 41)
Sofia, Principality of Bulgaria
Resting placeCentral Sofia Cemetery
Political partyLiberal Party, People's Liberal Party
OccupationStatesman, Poet

Stefan Nikolov Stambolov was a Bulgarian politician, revolutionary, journalist and poet, who served as prime minister of the Principality of Bulgaria from 1887 to 1894.

Born in Tarnovo in 1854, he briefly studied in Odesa and became active in the national awakening at a young age, becoming a leader of the Internal Revolutionary Organization and helping to prepare for the Stara Zagora and April Uprising. He served as a Russian war journalist during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Following the Liberation, he advanced through the ranks of the Liberal Party, eventually becoming President of the National Assembly in 1884.

Stambolov's decisive efforts contributed significantly to the defeat of the pro-Russian 1886 Bulgarian coup d'état and, as the most active member of the Regency, thwarted Russia's future attempts to influence in political life. He was appointed prime minister in 1887 and held the position until 1894. Under his leadership, the country was stabilised politically and economically, but he was chastised for his authoritarian policies and persecution of political opponents. Pro-Russian assassins killed Stambolov shortly after his fall from power.

Early life and education[edit]

Stefan Nikolov Stambolov was born on 30 January 1854[1] (O.S 12 February 1854) in Veliko Tarnovo. His father took part in the "Velchova Zavera" plot against Turkish control in 1835. Stambolov grew up around prominent revolutionaries like Hristo Ivanov, the priest Matey Preobrazhenski, and Hristo Karaminkov.

Stambolov was apprenticed to a skilled tailor in Tarnovo, but quickly switched to a school operated by Dr. Shishmanov, a well-known patriot and educator who had recently returned from Paris. Stambolov soon distinguished himself as an outstanding student, and even when the school was closed by Turkish authorities, he continued his study secretly, continuing with Shishmanov, until he was given a Tsarina scholarship to the theological seminary in Odesa. Stambolov had met radical intellectuals before leaving Tarnovo, and when he arrived in Odesa, he turned to the Populists rather than the scriptures, leading to his expulsion from the seminary and Russia.[2][3][4] He worked briefly as a teacher in Tarnovo in 1873 before travelling to Romania.

Revolutionary[edit]

Before the Liberation[edit]

During a general meeting of the BCCB in November 1876 - Stambolov is the penultimate in the back row.

In August 1874, Stambolov attended the General Assembly of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee as a Tarnovo Revolutionary Committee representative. In the fall of that year, he was dispatched by the BRCC to Bulgaria to reactivate the revolutionary committees that had been disbanded following Vasil Levski's death. In August 1875, Stambolov and Hristo Botev assembled a second general congress of the BRCC in Bucharest, which resolved on an insurrection in Bulgaria and dispatched him as an apostle to Stara Zagora. After the failed Stara Zagora revolt, he was compelled to return to Romania.[5]

Stambolov led the Giurgiu Committee in November–December 1875, which agreed to organise a second attempt at a general revolt in Bulgaria in the spring of 1876. He was named chief apostle of the Tarnovo revolutionary district.[6] He moved to the district around the end of January 1876. He first lived in Gorna Oryahovitsa, then in Samovodene, where he oversaw the preparations for the rebellion between Tarnovo and Ruse. His specific contribution was to agitate the public, pick insurgent leaders, gather cash, and organise the rebellion strategically, but his efforts to equip the population were mostly unsuccessful.[7] When he learned of the early breakout of the rebellion in Panagyurishte area, he hesitated and postponed his order for an insurrection in Tarnovo. The Turkish authorities thwarted his hopes of holding a revolutionary committee meeting. Between 25 April and 28, the police used their spy network to apprehend the conspiracy's leaders in Gorna Oryahovitsa, thereby putting an end to the rebellion throughout practically the whole district save for Byala Cherkva and Musina. Stambolov's effort to incite Samovodene to revolt was likewise unsuccessful, and he was forced to hide in the village for many months until crossing the Danube in August of that year.

In Romania, Stambolov served on the board of the Bulgarian Central Charitable Society and was the editor of Botev's publication, New Bulgaria.

After the Liberation[edit]

Stambolov in 1878.

At the end of August 1878, Stambolov became one of the founders of the Tarnovo Unity Committee, which sought to prevent Bulgaria's geographical fragmentation as decreed by the Great Powers at the Berlin Congress. The Tarnovo Committee established an organisational network throughout northern Bulgaria and worked with committees in the country's south to recruit volunteers, guns, ammunition, and food to help Macedonia's military campaign for freedom.[8]

As a member of parliament and a Liberal Party politician, Stambolov participated in the 1880 spring unification movement. Together with other political representatives in Sofia, he devised a plan for the unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia, which included organised agitation in southern Bulgaria and the preparation of the principality through a national militia law and a government loan. In May, he travelled to Sliven to help in the construction of a secret central committee of Rumelian public officials, but was instructed by the Sofia administration to limit its operations until diplomatic investigations in Europe were completed. The negative results of the probes consigned the action to failure.[9]

Stambolov was chairman of the National Assembly in early September 1885, and he was one of the first Principality of Bulgaria leaders to support the Unification, which was announced in Plovdiv by East Rumelian officers and Bulgarian Secret Central Revolutionary Committeemembers. He drafted the proclamation that, on 8 September Prince Alexander of Battenberg acknowledged the unification of the two Bulgarian territories and promised to protect it.[10] After the Serbo-Bulgarian War began, he volunteered for the army.

Political career[edit]

Early political career[edit]

Delegates from Macedonia and Thrace in the Constituent Assembly. Stambolov is in the center with a white cap.

Stefan Stambolov was already a prominent Liberal Party supporter at the Constituent Assembly (1879). He was elected to the first (1879), second (1880-1881), and fourth Ordinary People's Assembly, where he served as Speaker from 1884 to 1886.

In the summer of 1879, Stambolov was a leader of the agitation against the Conservative Party, and his writings in the newspaper "Tselokupnaya Bulgaria" contributed significantly to the Liberals' win in the legislative elections at the end of September. At the same election, he was elected as a deputy and confirmed by a majority of the National Assembly, despite the fact that he was still under the legal minimum age of 30. Stambolov was one of the intransigents that pushed Todor Burmov's administration to quit, blocked the establishment of a coalition ministry, and therefore prompted Prince Alexander Battenberg to dissolve the assembly early.[11]

During Alexander of Batenberg's authoritarian regime from 1881 to 1883, Stambolov fled to Tarnovo, where he earned widespread support and sought to rally Russian generals from the government to the cause of restoring the Tarnovo Constitution. When Prime Minister Leonid Sobolev visited the city in September 1882, he organised a demonstration of several thousand people in support of Russia and its constitution.[12] At the beginning of August 1883, Stambolov went to Sofia in an unsuccessful attempt to push through his own liberal-conservative reconciliation project, which called for a Grand National Assembly elected under the democratic electoral law of 1880 to make constitutional decisions and to keep Sobolev as prime minister. The idea was brushed aside by Prince Alexander Battenberg, who ended the plenipotentiary regime in accordance with party leaders Dragan Tsankov and Grigor Nachovich, removing the Russian officers from power despite the warning of Russia's diplomatic envoy in Sofia.[13]

Although he disagreed with Tsankov's ambitions to push conservative reforms to the constitution through the parliament elected during the plenipotentiary government, by the end of 1883, Stambolov thwarted the "irreconcilable" liberals' attempts to break the Liberal Party. Following the May 1884 elections, he unsuccessfully attempted to reconcile the differences between the moderate Tsankov and the leader of the "irreconcilables," Petko Karavelov. He turned down Tsankov's invitation to be elected speaker of parliament and backed Karavelov's candidature in the ultimate split between the party's two factions. He was chosen vice president, and after Tsankov resigned and Karavelov was appointed prime minister, he became speaker of the National Assembly.[13] Stambolov supported the legislative initiatives of the Karavelov government, including laws on state ownership and operation of the railways and the construction of the Belovo-Vakarel railway with funds from the fiscus and external loans.[14]

Regency (1886–1887)[edit]

See also: Bulgarian Crisis (1885–1888)

The 1886 Bulgarian coup d'état finds Stambolov in Tarnovo. As President of the National Assembly and one of the most prestigious public figures of the time, his name was included in the composition of the government announced by the conspirators, but he declined to support them and instead led the viceroyalty, which brought back Prince Alexander Battenberg to Sofia with the help of South Bulgarian forces on 15 August 1886. This was against the wishes of Russian Emperor Alexander III, who finally compelled Battenberg to abdicate. Unable to keep the prince, Stambolov was assigned to the three-member regency, which administered the kingdom for nearly a year in the midst of an acute foreign and internal political crisis.[15]

As regent, Stambolov attempted to use Battenberg's abdication to improve Bulgarian relations with the Russian Empire,[16] but despite the Fourth Ordinary People's Assembly's message to the tsar pledging loyalty to Russia, he did not stop Vasil Radoslavov's government's repression of the Russophiles. This, along with Russia's efforts to dictate the conditions of the election of the Grand National Assembly and the new prince by diplomatic pressure and military demonstrations, resulted in a split in November of that year and pro-Russian rioting throughout the nation.[17] Ferdinand Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was elected prince at the end of June 1887, when Stambolov persuaded Radoslavov, who was a Batenberg supporter, to leave as prime minister.[18]

Term as prime minister[edit]

Statue of Stambolov in Veliko Tarnovo

Following the election of the prince, Stambolov led the administration of the People's Liberal Party, which he created. The tasks it set for itself included defending Bulgarian independence, pacifying the country, accelerating economic development, strengthening Bulgaria's international position, and defending the Bulgarian cause in the territories defined by the Treaty of San Stefano but outside the Bulgarian state.

Foreign policy[edit]

Ferdinand's accession to the throne brought about domestic stability, but Bulgaria's foreign status remained precarious due to Russia's harsh posture. At the beginning of 1888, the Russian government proclaimed that it would not pursue a coercive solution to the Bulgarian situation, but it also refused to recognise the prince's election by the Grand National Assembly. The other Great Powers followed Russia's lead and avoided open conflict with Saint Petersburg.[19][20] Stambolov's covert discussions with Russian delegates from 1888 to 1891 to replace the Prince with a widely accepted candidate failed owing to mutual distrust.[21]

As prime minister, Stambolov worked to protect Bulgarian interests in Macedonia within the framework of the Berlin Treaty, personally supervising and directing the efforts of foreign ministers Georgi Stranski and Dimitar Grekov.[22] Stambolov saw the biggest danger to Bulgarian national interests in the region as the demands of surrounding Balkan nations, rather than the Ottoman authority itself. As a result, he rejected offers from the Serbs (August 1889) and Greeks (June 1891) for an anti-Ottoman coalition and Macedonian division, preferring to negotiate with the Sublime Porte instead.[23][24] By combining his backing for the Bulgarian Exarchate with pressure on a number of issues in Bulgarian relations with the Ottoman Empire, he was able to create Bulgarian schools and clergy in the region. Sultan Abdul Hamid II provided berats for Bulgarian bishops in the Skopje and Ohrid dioceses in July 1890, after the Bulgarian prime minister's instruction to suspend payment of the East Rumelia debt to the Porte.[25] Stambolov's promise to end discussions over the lease of the Vakarel–Saranbey railway contributed to the issuance of berats for Veleshko and Nevrokopsko in April 1894. At the same time, the Sultan granted Bulgarian bishops and towns the ability to open schools and issue teaching permits in Macedonia.[26]

Domestic policy[edit]

Stambolov, as head of the government and interior ministry,[27] enforced authoritarian authority based on violent repression of the opposition, the use of courts for political prosecutions, and control over the army.

The collapse in ties with Russia is a significant component in this development. Stambolov hoped that by removing political Russophilism and restoring public order, he might prevent foreign involvement aimed at modifying Bulgaria's political authority and constitution.[28][29] On the eve of the September 1887 parliamentary elections, followers of previous prime minister Petko Karavelov, who refused to recognise Prince Ferdinand, were subject to repression. After securing a majority in the National Assembly, the government stopped all opposition newspapers, with the temporary exception of Vasil Radoslavov's pro-prince press arm. The press regime was only partially liberalised in 1892 due to foreign policy considerations.[30]

Interrupted during the 1887 election campaign, martial law in the country was prolonged at the end of that year by the Law for the Extermination of Robbery, however the Russophiles' armed operations faded with the loss of Nabokov's and Boyanov's chetas.[31]

The suppression of the opposition worsened following the unsuccessful murder of the prime minister, which killed finance minister Hristo Belchev in March 1891. Following the killing, there were widespread arrests and a trial that ended in four death sentences and imprisonment for Stambolov's political opponents, including Petko Karavelov and Trayko Kitanchev.[32]

The Church, which refused to recognise the reluctance from Russia and Ferdinand, was also persecuted. At the end of 1888, Stambolov disbanded the Holy Synod in the capital and forcefully transported the bishops to their dioceses. The war erupted in 1892-1893 in response to constitutional reforms that permitted the eventual heir to the throne to practise a faith other than Eastern Orthodox. Stambolov then threatened to suspend the Exarchate's upkeep, and Kliment of Tarnovo was imprisoned in the Glozhene Monastery.[33]

Following the defeat of the regents' coup d'état in 1886, Russophile commanders were expelled from the army. However, its support for the Stambolov government remained questionable. Stambolov, fearing the power of Major Hristo Popov, one of the counter-coup leaders, conducted a trial against him in 1888 and dismissed him from duty on the grounds of material abuse. Dissatisfaction among officers with the constrained stance on the Macedonian subject manifested itself in the Kosta Panitza plot, which was discovered at the beginning of 1890.[34] To keep the army on his side, Stambolov relied on the collaboration of his war ministers, Colonel Sava Mutkurov (until 1891) and his successor, Mihail Savov. The struggle with Savov, followed by his dismissal from the government in early 1894, strengthened Prince Ferdinand's influence through Colonel Racho Petrov, the new minister of war.[35]

Economic policy[edit]

The Stambolov government's foreign policy orientation towards Austria-Hungary and Great Britain enabled it to significantly expand expenditure on modernising the army, administration, and road infrastructure through loans from these two nations. During Stambolov's rule, the railways connecting Sofia to Vienna and Constantinople, as well as Yambol to Burgas, were finished, and work on trains connecting the city to Northern Bulgaria and Macedonia began. The ports of Varna and Burgas were also repaired and enlarged. The government and the National Assembly fostered the growth of mining and other sectors through statutory concessions, as well as light industry through a specific statute requiring the army to be supplied locally. These initiatives also resulted in the establishment of 80 new factories between 1887 and 1894.[36][37]

Final years of rule[edit]

Stambolov became embroiled in a public controversy in early 1894 after Maria Milkova, wife of Captain Todor Matrov and sister-in-law of war minister Mikhail Savov, accused the prime minister of having an affair with herself and Savov's wife on 11 March 1894. The war minister summons Stambolov to a duel, after which he is ousted from the ministry. In officer circles, the case has sparked significant feelings of animosity towards the government leader. The situation was exacerbated by the disclosure of private communication in the newspapers, prompting Stambolov to quit many times until being accepted by Prince Ferdinand on 20 May. Contrary to contemporaneous researchers like Georgi Markov, the prince was at the centre of the plot. Ferdinand hoped that by eliminating Stambolov, he would strengthen his position in the nation and obtain respect from Russia.[38]

Death[edit]

After Stambolov was removed from power, Prince Ferdinand and the new administration of Konstantin Stoilov continued to dread his influence and sought ways to discredit him. On 24 August 1894, he was temporarily jailed for denouncing the prince in an interview with a German newspaper, and after being released, he was stoned in the street by government supporters. Racho Petrov, the military minister, organised an inquiry to determine whether Stambolov was responsible for the assassination attempt on himself in 1891, in which the finance minister Hristo Belchev was killed. The inquiry was closed at the end of the year after no proof was discovered.[38]

On 15 July 1895 Stefan Stambolov was attacked in the street by Mihail Stavrev and other Macedonians close to Naum Tyufekchiev. After 3 days, he passed away from his injuries.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Куманов, Милен (2018). Стефан Стамболов: от „Не щеме ний богатство“ до „Зелен листец“. София: Захари Стоянов. p. 10. ISBN 978-954-09-1180-9.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference eb-6-397 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Detrez, Raymond (1997). Historical dictionary of Bulgaria. Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-8108-3177-3.
  4. ^ Crampton 1983, p. 125.
  5. ^ Косев 1996, pp. 225–227, 240–245.
  6. ^ Косев, Константин (1996). История на Априлското въстание 1876 г. София: Университетско издателство „Св. Климент Охридски“. pp. 202–203, 206.
  7. ^ Kosev 1996, pp. 225–227, 240 – 245.
  8. ^ Statelova, Elena (1995). Съединението на Княжество България и Източна Румелия 1885 година [Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia 1885]. София: Издателство „Просвета“. ISBN 954-01-0672-9. Стр. 16
  9. ^ Staletova 1995, pp. 26–29.
  10. ^ Радев 1990, p. 526.
  11. ^ Радев, Симеон (1990). Строителите на съвременна България. Том 1 (PDF). София: Български писател. pp. 178–180, 184–188. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  12. ^ Радев 1990, pp. 345–346.
  13. ^ a b Радев 1990, pp. 409, 426–430.
  14. ^ Радев 1990, pp. 440–441.
  15. ^ Стателова, Елена (1999). История на България. Том 3. София: Издателска къща „Анубис“. ISBN 954-426-206-7. Стр. 91 – 93
  16. ^ Staletova 1999, p. 94.
  17. ^ Staletova 1999, pp. 94–97.
  18. ^ Стателова 1999, pp. 102–103.
  19. ^ Staletova 1999, pp. 105, 109.
  20. ^ Tankova, 1994 & 125 – 127, 145 – 146, pp. 125–127, 145–146.
  21. ^ Спасов, Людмил (2003). Държавният национализъм на Стефан Стамболов. Във: Александров, Емил (ред.). История на българите. Том IV: Българската дипломация от Древността до наши дни. София: Издателство „Знание“. pp. 269–271. ISBN 954-621-213-X.
  22. ^ Tankova, 1994 & 127, 154, pp. 127, 154.
  23. ^ Tankova 1994, pp. 158–159.
  24. ^ Спасов & 2003 274.
  25. ^ Tankova 1994, pp. 136–139, 145–151.
  26. ^ Tankova 1994, pp. 171–175.
  27. ^ Стателова & 1999 122.
  28. ^ Staletova 1999, p. 105.
  29. ^ Popov, 1995 & 94 – 95, p. 94–95.
  30. ^ Staletova 1999, pp. 106–107, 123.
  31. ^ Staletova 1999, p. 107.
  32. ^ Staletova 1999, pp. 117–118.
  33. ^ Staletova, 1999 & 111 – 112, 121 – 123, pp. 111–112, 121–123.
  34. ^ Staletova, 1999 & 107 – 108, 113 – 114, pp. 107–108, 113–114.
  35. ^ Staletova 1999, p. 126.
  36. ^ Staletova 1999, pp. 118–119.
  37. ^ Попов, Радослав (1995). История на България (681 – 1960). Том 2. София: Издателство „Аргес“. pp. 75–77, 107–108.
  38. ^ a b Марков, Георги (2003). Покушения, насилие и политика в България 1878 – 1947. София: Военно издателство. pp. 54–58. ISBN 954-509-239-4.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Kosev, Konstantin et al. History of the April Uprising 1876, Sofia, University Press "Sv. Kliment Ohridski, 1996.
  • Statelova, Elena
    • The Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia 1885. Sofia, Prosveta Publishing House, 1995. ISBN 954-01-0672-9.
    • History of Bulgaria. Volume 3. Sofia, Anubis Publishing House, 1999. ISBN 954-426-206-7.
  • Pantev, Andrey. The Bulgarian Crisis 1886 - 1887. A Short History of Bulgaria. Sofia, Science and Art Publishing House, 1983.
  • Radev, Simeon
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