The Bulgarian History Podcast · Eric Halsey

237 Looking Back on The Experiment, Part 1

·34 min·2 clips

The agrarians won 54% of the vote and 86.5% of the seats.

The series pauses its forward march for a familiar end-of-season recap. Season 10 opens in the early days of 1920, with Bulgaria still living in the wreckage of the First World War. Food is scarce. The Paris Peace Conference is just finishing up, and Bulgaria is still very much a defeated power. It is diplomatically isolated, economically battered, and politically unstable. Alexander Stambuliski governs with an agrarian base and some center-right allies. He has just crushed a conspiracy, which only shows how fragile the situation has become. The VMRO remains a constant threat. The episode follows the violence that comes after a difficult stretch of bombings, assassinations, and retaliatory arrests. At the same time, Stambuliski works to improve relations with Yugoslavia. He finally reaches Belgrade after trying for some time to arrange the visit. There he agrees to joint action against the VMRO. Bulgarian gendarmes then move against suspected sympathizers in the army and border police in southwestern Bulgaria. The VMRO answers by assassinating the officer leading that effort. The backlash brings arrests and killings of VMRO members. The interior minister is murdered soon after. By late 1921, Stambuliski declares enhanced martial law in the region. Cross-border attacks do ease, but the organization becomes even more determined to remove him. Domestic reform keeps moving anyway, from simpler spelling and grammar to longer compulsory schooling, new school buildings, labor service, and a more practical curriculum. The recap closes with the Orange Guard being stripped of weapons and soldiers loyal to the military league spreading back across the country, while the coup against Stambuliski waits just ahead and season 11 looms.

As heard by us

A dense, structured recap of Bulgaria's postwar turmoil as Stambuliski's government comes under mounting pressure.

Episode 237 gives a clear, orderly account of season 10, following Bulgaria from the hard aftermath of the First World War into the growing strain around Stambuliski's government.

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Why you'd press play

You want Bulgaria's postwar reforms to collide with armed backlash.

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