The Influence of Western Political Thought in Bulgaria, 1850-1885

Abstract

IN the period between I850 and I885 the leaders of the Bulgarian people were faced with two main problems. Before the liberation of their country in I878 they were occupied with the struggle against the misrule of the Ottoman government. Between I878 and I885, hindered by the constant interference of the great powers, they worked to set up a form of government suitable to the traditions and ambitions of the country. During the revolutionary and constitutional struggles the political leaders of Bulgaria turned frequently to the great tradition of Western political thought for inspiration and guidance. From the bureaucratic models of Germany and Austria-Hungary, as well as from the more liberal tradition of Belgium, France, England, and Italy, they borrowed the political principles and institutions which were destined to characterize the Bulgarian scene both before and after the liberation. Although the Bulgarian provinces of the Ottoman Empire had never been completely shut off from Western Europe, it was not until the I840's that Western political ideas began to make an impression, and only after the Crimean War did they exert a determining influence on Bulgarian political thought. Before the mid-nineteenth century there were a number of channels through which political ideas were diffused. The mountain towns of central Bulgaria had developed a number of industries, such as rose oil, textiles, and sheep raising, which brought commercial contacts with the Danubian basin and beyond. Commerce with Southern and Western Europe had developed rapidly after the turn of the century, and a number of the earlier Bulgarian leaders were educated in European universities.2