Bulgaria DZI History and Civilizations flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Varna Necropolis

A Chalcolithic cemetery near Varna on the Black Sea, dated c. 4600–4200 BCE, famous for graves containing large quantities of worked gold and evidence of early social stratification.

Odrysian Kingdom

A powerful Thracian state formed in the 5th century BCE, centred in the southeastern Balkans, which maintained diplomatic relations with Athens and later with Macedon before Roman absorption.

Apollonia Pontica

A Greek colony on the western Black Sea coast, founded by Miletus in the 7th century BCE, on the site of modern Sozopol; it was a significant trading polis.

Province of Thracia

The Roman province created in 46 CE after the annexation of the Thracian client kingdom; it covered much of the southern Balkan peninsula and was governed from Perinthus.

Serdica

The Roman name of modern Sofia, an important provincial city on the Via Militaris; it hosted the Edict of Serdica in 311 CE and a church council in 343 CE.

Khan Asparuh

A Bulgar ruler who led his people across the Danube in the 670s and defeated a Byzantine army, leading to the recognition of a Bulgar state in 681 CE.

Council of Preslav

An 893 CE church council under Simeon I that replaced Greek clergy with Slavic-speaking ones and promoted the Cyrillic script in the Bulgarian state and church.

Samuel of Bulgaria

Tsar of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 1014, who moved the capital to Ohrid and resisted Byzantine expansion until his defeat by Basil II.

Battle of Kleidion

A 1014 CE battle in which Basil II defeated Samuel's army; the aftermath, including the blinding of prisoners, is traditionally linked to Samuel's death and Byzantine annexation.

Second Bulgarian Empire

The state proclaimed at Tarnovo in 1185 by the Asen brothers after a revolt against Byzantium; it lasted until the Ottoman conquest in the late 14th century.

Patriarchate of Tarnovo

The autocephalous Bulgarian church established when the Tarnovo archbishopric was raised to patriarchal rank in the 13th century, reflecting the Second Empire's political claims.

Paisius of Hilendar

An 18th-century monk whose 'Slavonic-Bulgarian History' (1762) is conventionally treated as the opening text of the Bulgarian National Revival and national self-assertion.

Bulgarian Exarchate

An autonomous Bulgarian church created by Ottoman firman in 1870 and recognized in 1872, ending Greek ecclesiastical control and strengthening national identity.

Vasil Levski

A revolutionary leader who organized the Internal Revolutionary Organization in 1869–1872, building a network of local committees before his capture and execution in 1873.

April Uprising

A Bulgarian revolt against Ottoman rule in 1876, organized by revolutionary committees and crushed with severe reprisals that drew European diplomatic attention.

Chitalishte

A Bulgarian community reading room and cultural centre, established from the 19th century, which hosted libraries, lectures and theatrical performances and supported national education.

Treaty of Berlin 1878

The settlement that revised the Treaty of San Stefano, creating an autonomous Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia while returning Macedonia and Thrace to Ottoman rule.

Tarnovo Constitution

The 1879 constitution of the Principality of Bulgaria, establishing a constitutional monarchy, a unicameral assembly and civil liberties; it was amended in 1893 and 1911.

Union of 1885

The unification of the Principality of Bulgaria with the autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia, recognized by the Treaty of Bucharest in 1886 after a brief war with Serbia.

Treaty of Neuilly

The 1919 peace treaty with Bulgaria after the First World War, which ceded territory to neighbouring states and imposed reparations, shaping interwar Bulgarian revisionism.

Bulgarian Agrarian Union

A peasant-based political party founded in 1899, led by Aleksandar Stamboliyski, which governed after 1919 and promoted rural cooperatives and land reform.

Balkan Wars

Two conflicts in 1912–1913 in which the Balkan League first took Ottoman territory and then fought over the division, leaving Bulgaria dissatisfied with its share.

Fatherland Front

A coalition dominated by the Communist Party that took power in Bulgaria after the Soviet advance of September 1944 and oversaw the abolition of the monarchy.

Dimitrov Constitution

The 1947 Bulgarian constitution, named after Georgi Dimitrov, which established a one-party socialist state and provided the legal basis for nationalization and collectivization.

Todor Zhivkov

Leader of the Bulgarian Communist Party from 1954 and head of state from 1971, removed by a Politburo coup on 10 November 1989 as the socialist bloc collapsed.

Bulgarian 1991 Constitution

The post-communist constitution adopted by the Grand National Assembly, establishing a parliamentary republic with a directly elected president and civil rights guarantees.

Bulgaria in the EU

Bulgaria joined the European Union on 1 January 2007 and NATO in 2004; it adopted the euro on 1 January 2026 after meeting the convergence criteria.

Columbian exchange

The post-1492 transfer of crops, animals, people and diseases between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia, which transformed diets, populations and economies on both sides.

Byzantine Empire

The Eastern Roman Empire, centred on Constantinople from 330 CE until 1453, whose legal, religious and administrative traditions influenced Bulgaria and other Orthodox states.

Source criticism

The method of assessing a source's authenticity, date, provenance and authorial purpose before using its content as evidence about past events.

Corroboration

The practice of testing a historical claim against independent sources; agreement across independent accounts strengthens a claim, while a single source leaves it uncertain.

Periodization

The division of the past into named periods such as 'Middle Ages' or 'National Revival'; these labels are analytical constructs whose boundaries vary by region and historian.