This latest volume presents 69 generals of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom who took part in building the Bulgarian Army and in the five wars for national liberation and unification during the period from 1878 to 1946, and in the social and political life of Bulgaria.
Referring to a huge volume of documents – from archives or scientific publications, memoirs, recollections, periodicals, etc., we began this ambitious study with the desire to bring out of oblivion the names of most of the generals who have remained outside scholarly and public attention due to the fact that they were not on high positions during the wars of the early XX century or because they were born later. By doing so, we do not diminish the importance of those who crossed the lands of Southeastern Europe, caught in the hurricane called war, whose names have long been part of the national narrative of our modern and contemporary history.
Our interest in the generals of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom is provoked not only from all obvious and often described reasons – they are at the head of the army in battles and in the efforts to build our new army. Many of them have long been a measure of values, qualities and willpower. And also, because before becoming generals, they were lieutenants, captains, majors… with a different start in life – with diverse origins, family and social backgrounds, different level of education and paths in the years. All of them with will and dedication, walked the long and difficult road of a military career during the eventful life of Bulgaria from 1878 to 1946. An exceptional time when theory rushed to catch up with the practice of victories and mistakes in our national existence that acquired the outlines of an unending war, waged again and again, resumed after brief pauses for recovery and rearmament.
Some of the generals, being born later, did not participate in Bulgaria’s wars but became victims of another kind of “war,” waged against their own by the new regime established after the coup in 1944 – they were tried by the People’s Court or arrested without trial and sentence, ending up in prisons and communist camps.
This book is a kind of collective portrait of the upper echelon of the Bulgarian Army, whose building took place in a time and place in which there were no easy political or military solutions to unresolved centuries-old geopolitical questions and ambitions.
The purpose of the book is not to seek measures of the role of the generals during this period, for it remains shrouded in our contemporary political biases and limits, burdened by our capacity to bear defeat, suffering, and the guilt of our unfulfilled national ideals.
Through its pages, we only remind ourselves how important it is whom and when we follow and choose as a hero and what a deep mark this leaves on our lives, on our journey of self-discovery as a people, and on the understanding of our heritage.
We believe that today when the confrontation between global powers is deepening and rivalry between regional entities is sharpening, the book you hold in your hands will help us look beyond political interests and emotions at the Bulgarian Army as the guarantor of our sovereignty and not to forget or overlook the will and dedication of those who serve Bulgaria.