Bulgaria

History of Bulgaria
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Bulgaria
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Ancient Bulgaria
2100BC-2000BC Gold treasures that were founded in the territory of Bulgaria are evidence of Thracians, the first inhabitants of the Bulgarian lands.
585 BC Byzantines, Greeks and Turks settled in the area.
117 The Romans settled in some of the later Bulgarian towns. They built the Trimontium amphitheatre in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
650 The tribe of the Khazars, due to an aggressive expansion of their lands, brought the Bulgars near what would later become Bulgaria
681 The first Bulgarian Kingdom was established by Khan Asparuch.
First Bulgarian Kingdom
811 The Bulgarians defeated the Byzantines in the Battle at Pliska when Khan Krum killed Emperor Nicephorus I and made himself a goblet out of his skull.
864 Khan Boris I of the Bulgarians was baptised as an Orthodox Christian and the Bulgarians adopt Christianity from Constantinople.
886 Cyril and Methodius brothers presented Bulgarians with their alphabet.
927 One of the greatest Bulgarian monarchs, Simeon I, died in the eve of his invading Constantinople. During his rule Bulgaria flourished, its territories spread on almost all of the Balkan Peninsula.
1014 After he ordered the blinding of 15,000 Bulgarian soldiers during a battle, Byzantine Emperor Basil II was titled “Slayer of Bulgars”
1018 Bulgaria fell in Byzantine rule.
Second Bulgarian Kingdom and the Ottoman rule
1118 The Second Bulgarian Kingdom was established after the rebel of the Asenev Brothers-Petar and Asen who freed Bulgaria of Byzantine rule.
12-14th Century Bulgaria flourished under the reign of the Asenev Dynasty when it once more reaches territorial greatness bordering on three seas.
1396 Bulgaria fell into Ottoman rule during which Bulgarians suffered fiercely from violence and persecutions on the Ottoman part.
1850 Ivan Vazoz, Bulgarian Shakespeare, was born.
1867 Khristo Botev, one of the most famous Bulgarian poets and heroes, promoted Bulgarian liberation, following the example of the greatest hero of the liberation movement - Vasil Levski. Botev founded his death fighting for freedom in 1876, at the age of 28.
Liberation and the beginning of the 20th Century
1878 March 3 Bulgaria was liberated from Ottoman Rule with the signing of the San Stefano treaty, ending the Russian-Ottoman war.
1885 The union of the two divided parts of the Bulgarian Kingdom which had not been united with the San Stefano treaty but were now.
1912 Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declared war on Turkey. This war was known as the First Balkan War. In December the same year it ended.
1913 Second Balkan War between Bulgaria on one side and Serbia and Greece on the other. In it Bulgaria was defeated. As a result Bulgaria suffered great territorial losses.
1914-1918 During the First World War Bulgaria was fighting on German side and after it again suffered major losses.
1939-1945 No Bulgarian Jews were killed during the Holocaust.
1946 Monarchy ended in Bulgaria, beginning of the Communist era.
1989 Communist era ended with the fall of dictator Todor Zhivkov.
Post Communist Era and the 21st Century
1990-1997 The Communist party still governed Bulgaria and almost led it to bankruptcy.
1996 King Simeon II returned to Bulgaria after a decade-long exile forced on him by the communist party when he was 9 years old. He wished to run for president but since he hadn't lived in the country in the last 5 years, wasn't allowed to.
1997 Bulgaria had a democrat president and a democrat government.
2001 King Simeon is elected prime-minister.
2001 Georgi Parvanov, a socialist, is elected president.
2002 Pope John Paul II visited Bulgaria, the first non-Catholic country he ever visited.
2004 Bulgaria joins NATO.
2007, January 1 Bulgaria joins EU.
2007 Bush visits Bulgaria.
2007 July 24 Five Bulgarian nurses come back to Bulgaria after 8.5 years in a Libyan prison where they were held under false charges.