Germany’s Rhineland move cancels the old plan that France would fight on German soil.
1. The Bulgarian History Podcast episode 247, "The First Test," follows Bulgaria in spring 1936 as European rearmament, alliance shifts, and domestic electoral maneuvering collide.
2. Eric Halsey narrates the episode as the writer and producer, and Tsar Boris, Prime Minister Georgi Koysevanov, and former war minister Damian Velchev matter because each shapes Bulgaria’s attempt to stay neutral.
3. The episode asks whether Bulgaria can keep a non-party government alive while Germany, Italy, and Japan reshape the balance of power.
4. Germany’s remilitarization of the Rhineland ends the old assumption that France could quickly invade German territory if war came.
5. France’s defensive turn around the Maginot Line leaves the Little Entente of Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia with less practical backing.
6. Italy defeats Ethiopia in East Africa and then announces the Italian Empire, showing another revisionist power rewriting borders.
7. The Spanish Civil War begins in the summer, with Germany and Italy supporting the nationalists and the Soviet Union supporting the Republicans.
8. Bulgaria later bans its citizens from fighting in Spain, but the episode notes about 460 Bulgarians on the Republican side, including 360 from Bulgaria and 100 exiles in the Soviet Union.
9. Germany’s Minister of Economic Affairs visits Sofia and signs an agreement for 12.5 million marks of military equipment for the Bulgarian army.
10. Hitler and Mussolini then announce the Rome-Berlin Axis, and Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact.
11. Tsar Boris travels through Britain and France in late 1936 and early 1937, but both powers offer sympathy without concrete help for Bulgarian neutrality.
12. Boris quotes French and British condescension about Bulgaria’s military, and a French president reportedly says, "What a pity. Your country used to be famous for its excellent officer corps."
13. The Committee of Five, or Petorka, forms on 24 May 1936 from five banned parties and then asks Boris to restore civil political rights and parliamentary democracy.
14. Boris responds by proposing municipal elections first, and he explains that a smaller test will be less dangerous than immediate general elections.
15. The Tsankovists accept cabinet participation only if free and fair elections are held in late October 1936, but the government postpones them after the Interior Ministry survey shows weak prospects.
16. Boris then moves to municipal elections in March 1937, writing that he wants to see whether the people approve the non-party or half-partisan system.
17. The Petorka, joined by the Radical Party, the Democratic Party, and one smaller agrarian faction, organizes illegal meetings and a countrywide slogan campaign for the Ternovo Constitution.
18. The municipal election result gives the slogan about 22% overall and over 58% in Sofia, while the episode notes that many opposition-minded voters backed former party figures who still ran locally.
19. The episode has a chronological, explanatory style with long political context, direct quotations from Boris and Grof, and frequent comparisons between Bulgarian choices and European events.
20. Listeners interested in interwar Balkan politics, Bulgarian statecraft, and 1930s European diplomacy will get the most out of it; listeners wanting a short, action-heavy narrative may skip it.
