Provisional Russian Administration in Bulgaria

The Provisional Russian Administration in Bulgaria (Russian: Временное русское управление в Болгарии, Bulgarian: Временно руско управление в България) was an interim government established for Bulgarian territories liberated by the Imperial Russian Army during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. This administration was established in the beginning of the war in April 1877. The Treaty of Berlin (1878) provided for the termination of the Temporary Russian Governance activity since the establishment of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia, in connection with which it was abolished in May 1879.[1] The main objectives of the Temporary Russian administration was to establish peaceful life and preparation for a revival of the Bulgarian state.

The building in Plovdiv, where the Temporary Russian Governance was located since May till October 1878

The memorial tablet

The Western parts of nowadays Bulgaria which had been liberated by the Serbian Army were under Provisional Serbian Administration from 19 December 1877 to 5 June 1879.[2][3]

The organization and activities

The Temporary Russian Governance initially was headed by Russian emperor's commissioner prince Vladimir Cherkassky, as chief of the "First office of civil governance of liberated Trans-Danubian lands." After his death in March 1878 this post had been held by prince Alexander Dondukov-Korsakov.[1] From 20 May to 10 October 1878, the Commissioner's residence located in Plovdiv, and then was moved to Sofia.

The guidance of the Civil Administration presided by the chancellery of Russian emperor's commissioner jointly with established in 1878 the Board of government over areas. Besides Russian officers and officials, many Bulgarians were included there, among of which were Dragan Tsankov, Petko Karavelov, Stefan Stambolov, Dimitar Grekov, Dimitar Petkov, Todor Ikonomov, Konstantin Stoilov.[1] The Russian administration tried to prepare as many staff as possible to create a state mechanism for future Bulgarian states. So, initially seven provinces were headed by Russians and only one - by Bulgarian, but in six provinces the vice-governors were Bulgarians. At the local level Russians created a government system: in the districts (uezds) there were formed elective administrative councils and judicial committees, in the villages - councils of elders. There were drafted the Constitution project. The administration made preparations for the elections to the Constituent Assembly.[4]

In the spring and summer of 1878 Bulgarian militia (opalchentsi) was transformed into regular military units and formed the Bulgarian Territorial Troops.[5][6]

Many young Bulgarians were sent to the Russian military schools, and the most capable ones - also in military academies. After a short time in Bulgaria, the Russians established a local military school. To speed up the formation and training of a new army, the administration had decided to detach Russian officers and instructors from the lower ranks from the Danubian army to the Bulgarian units. Also, the Russian army encouraged the military training of the rural population in Russian units and Bulgarian voluntary detachments (which were called druzhinas) by all ranks. Such measures formed a mobilization reserve for the Bulgarian army. The Russian army had also delivered a significant amount of equipment and supplies to the Bulgarians. Russia actively contributed to the establishment of the Navy in Bulgaria.[7]

To train officers, capable young Bulgarians were detached both in Russian military schools and in the newly created Military school in Sofia.[7]

The occupation debt

Costs incurred by the Russian exchequer for maintenance of the Temporary Russian Governance had to be reimbursed by the future Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia. The sum accrued this way was called the "occupation debt". Bulgarians paid it irregularly, and its final settlement has taken almost half a century.

The Principality of Bulgaria serviced the debt from 1883 until 1885, when relations between Bulgaria and Russia were severed after Bulgarian unification with Eastern Rumelia, which had not been approved by Russia, and the following Serbo-Bulgarian War, prior to which Russia had withdrawn its military officers, who had until that moment commanded all larger units of Bulgaria's young army.

In 1890, it had sent a service payment, but regular payments were resumed only in 1896. Finally the "occupation debt" was paid off by the Principality of Bulgaria in 1902 at the expense of a large foreign loan issued by a bank Paribas.[8]

The occupation debt of Eastern Rumelia passed to the Principality of Bulgaria after the unification of Bulgaria in 1885. Its repayment was postponed many times until 1912, when Bulgaria and Russia agreed on a plan to repay the debt. The plan was never realized because after the beginning of the First World War the two countries were adversaries. After the war, the debt was written off by agreement between the Cabinet of Aleksandar Stamboliyski and the Bolshevik government of the Soviet Union.[8]

Sources

Българските държавни институции 1879-1986. София: ДИ „Д-р Петър Берон“. 1987. pp. 54–55.
ЗА ПРОПАГАНДНАТА УПОТРЕБА НА ПРАЗНИКА by Petko Hristov (in Bulgarian)
Ethnologia Balkanica by Marin Drinov and Waxmann Verlag, page 71
Болгария от освобождения до середины XX столетия
Попов, В., Иванова, Ц., Велкова, Й. Българската земска войска 1878–1879 г., София, 1959, Държавно Военно Издателство, с. 60
"Bulgarian Army/Official site of Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria". Archived from the original on 2011-03-25. Retrieved 2013-05-04.
Создание болгарской национальной армии
Аврамов, Румен (2007). Комуналният капитализъм: Т.I. София: Фондация Българска наука и култура / Център за либерални стратегии. pp. 491–492. ISBN 978-954-90758-7-8.

Bibliography

Овсяный, Н. Русское управление в Болгарии в 1877-78-79 гг. Т. I. Заведывавший гражданскими делами при Главнокомандовавшем Действующей армии д.с.с. князь В. А. Черкасский. СПб, 1906
Овсяный, Н. Русское управление в Болгарии в 1877-78-79 гг. Т. II. Российский Императорский Комиссар в Болгарии, генерал-адъютант князь А. М. Дондуков - Корсаков. СПб, 1906
Овсяный, Н. Русское управление в Болгарии в 1877-78-79 гг. Т. II. Восточная Румелия и Адрианопольский санджак. СПб, 1907

gollark: It just detects 10 words, I think.

gollark: The regex was very lazy.

gollark: * typerace

gollark: It assumed it was a typeface.

gollark: ++magic py len(bot.guilds)

Diplomacy of the Great Powers (1871–1913)
Great powers	Austria–Hungary France Germany Italy Japan Russia United Kingdom United States
Alliances	Triple Alliance Dual Alliance Triple Entente Franco-Russian Alliance Entente Cordiale Anglo-Russian Convention Anglo-Japanese Alliance League of the Three Emperors Eight-Nation Alliance
Trends	European balance of power Ottoman decline Eastern Question Spread of nationalism Sovereign debt Revanchism Pax Britannica New Imperialism Scramble for Africa Egyptian Lever In Asia The Great Game Meiji period Pan-Slavism Balkan League Great Game The Great Rapprochement Second Industrial Revolution Industrial warfare
Treaties and agreements	Treaty of Versailles (1871) Treaty of Frankfurt Treaty of Berlin Reinsurance Treaty Treaty of Paris Treaty of Björkö Taft–Katsura Agreement Hague Conventions Martens Clause Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905 Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty Racconigi agreement
Events	Unification of Germany Unification of Italy Congress of Berlin Berlin Conference Weltpolitik Naval arms races Anglo-German Dreadnought German Naval Laws Austro-Italian Fashoda Incident Annexation of Hawaii Venezuela Naval Blockade First Moroccan Crisis Algeciras Conference Second Moroccan Crisis Treaty of Fez Bosnian Crisis July Crisis
Wars	Russo-Turkish Anglo-Egyptian First Sino-Japanese Spanish–American Banana Wars Philippine–American Boxer Rebellion Second Boer Russo-Japanese Italo-Turkish Balkan Wars First Second Albanian Revolts First Second Third

Armed conflicts involving Russia (incl. Imperial and Soviet times)
Internal	Razin's Rebellion Bulavin Rebellion Pugachev's Rebellion Decembrist revolt Russian Civil War August Uprising Coup d'état attempt (1991) 1993 Russian constitutional crisis First Chechen War War of Dagestan Second Chechen War Insurgency in the North Caucasus
Pre-17th century	Muscovite–Volga Bulgars war (1376) First Muscovite–Lithuanian War (1492–1494) Russo-Swedish War (1495–1497) Second Muscovite–Lithuanian War (1500–1503) Third Muscovite–Lithuanian War (1507–08) Fourth Muscovite–Lithuanian War (1512–1522) Fifth Muscovite–Lithuanian War (1534–1537) Russo-Crimean Wars Russo-Kazan Wars Russo-Swedish War (1554–1557) Livonian War Russian Conquest of Siberia (1580–1747) Russo-Swedish War (1590–1595) Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618) and the Time of Troubles Ingrian War Smolensk War Russo-Persian War (1651–1653) Sino-Russian border conflicts (1652–1689) Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) Deluge Second Northern War Russo-Turkish War (1676–1681) Russo-Turkish War (1686–1700)
18th–19th century	Great Northern War Russo-Turkish War (1710–11) Russo-Persian War (1722–23) Russo-Persian Wars War of the Polish Succession (1733–1738) Austro-Russian–Turkish War (1735–1739) War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743) Seven Years' War Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) Bar Confederation Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792) Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790) Russo-Polish War (1792) Kościuszko Uprising Russo-Persian War (1796) War of the Second Coalition War of the Third Coalition Russo-Persian War (1804–1813) War of the Fourth Coalition Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812) Anglo-Russian War Finnish War War of the Fifth Coalition French invasion of Russia War of the Sixth Coalition War of the Seventh Coalition Russian conquest of the Caucasus Caucasian War Russo-Circassian War Murid War Russo-Persian War (1826–1828) Russo-Turkish War (1828–29) November Uprising Hungarian Revolution of 1848 Crimean War Amur Acquisition January Uprising Russian conquest of Central Asia Russian conquest of Bukhara Khivan campaign of 1873 Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) Boxer Rebellion Russian invasion of Manchuria
20th century	Russo-Japanese War Russian Invasion of Tabriz, 1911 World War I Russian Civil War Ukrainian–Soviet War Finnish Civil War Heimosodat Soviet westward offensive of 1918–19 Estonian War of Independence Latvian War of Independence Lithuanian–Soviet War Polish–Soviet War Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan Red Army invasion of Armenia Red Army invasion of Georgia Red Army intervention in Mongolia Urtatagai conflict (1925–1926) Sino-Soviet conflict (1929) Soviet–Japanese border conflicts Soviet invasion of Xinjiang Xinjiang War (1937) World War II Soviet invasion of Poland Winter War Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940) Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina Continuation War Eastern Front (World War II) Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran Soviet–Japanese War Guerrilla war in the Baltic states Ili Rebellion First Indochina War Korean War Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Eritrean War of Independence War of Attrition Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia Sino-Soviet border conflict Vietnam War Ogaden War South African Border War Soviet–Afghan War Nagorno-Karabakh War Transnistria War Georgian Civil War Tajikistani Civil War
21st century	Russo-Georgian War Russo-Ukrainian War Annexation of Crimea War in Donbass Intervention in Syria
Military history of Russia Russian Winter Russian Revolution Cold War Sphere of influence

Provisional Russian Administration in Bulgaria

The organization and activities

The occupation debt

Sources

Bibliography

External links

See also

Part of a series on the
History of Bulgaria

Odrysian kingdom 460 BC – 46 AD Roman times 46–681 Dark Ages 6th–7th cent. Old Great Bulgaria 7th cent. First Bulgarian Empire 681–1018 Christianization Golden Age 896–927 Cometopuli dynasty 968–1018 Byzantine Bulgaria 1018–1185 Second Bulgarian Empire 1185–1396 Second Golden Age 1230–1241 Mongol invasion 1274–1300 Recovery and expansion 1300–1371 Bulgarian–Ottoman wars 1371–1396 Ottoman Bulgaria 1396–1878 Resistance after 1413 National Revival 1762–1878 Establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate 1870 April Uprising 1876 Liberation War 1877–1878 Third Bulgarian State 1878–present Serbo-Bulgarian War 1885 Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising 1903 Balkan Wars 1912–1913 World War I 1915–1918 World War II 1941–1945 Communist era 1946–1990 Transition era since 1990
List of monarchs Military history Struggle for Macedonia 1893–1945
Main category Bulgaria portal