he supervision of the
Ministry of National Defense, but top-level policymaking is a
prerogative of the BKP. The party maintains great influence in the armed
forces through the officer corps, 85 percent of which is made up of
party members. Those officers who are not party members usually belong
to the communist youth organization. Many career noncommissioned
officers are also party members and, for the conscript in the ranks,
political indoctrination is as regular as his military training.

CHAPTER 2

HISTORICAL SETTING

The history of Bulgaria is marked by four interrelated motifs or themes.
The first motif is that of regional rivalry coupled with irredentism.
The second is Bulgaria's strategic significance for the leading powers
of Europe and the varying relationships with those powers. The third
theme is Bulgaria's constant conflict between loyalty to, and alliances
with, the East--particularly Russia and the Soviet Union--on the one
hand and to the West--particularly Italy and Germany--on the other. The
fourth major theme in Bulgarian history is the influence exerted by
Russia (and the Soviet Union) on the internal and external affairs of
Bulgaria. This influence was intermittent from the late nineteenth
century until World War II but was constant after that war.

From its earliest history Bulgaria was in continual conflict with its
Balkan neighbors. The area that eventually became Bulgaria was the
object of regional disputes as early as the fourth century B.C. Later,
when that area was taken over by the Slavs in the sixth century A.D. and
the Bulgars in the seventh, a state evolved that proceeded to encroach
on the territory of the mighty Byzantine Empire itself. Despite
successful raids and conquests during the periods of the First Bulgarian
Kingdom and the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, Bulgaria was eventually
reduced to subject status by the Byzantines and later by the Ottoman
Turks. During Turkish rule the country was not only under constant
attack by neighbors but was also utilized by the Turks as a base for
Turkish expansion. When Bulgaria was finally liberated from the Turks by
the Russians, irredentism and regional rivalry became the prime focus of
its foreign policy. Macedonia, a much-valued land throughout Bulgarian
history, became the major object of Bulgaria's irredentist campaigns,
although eventually most of the land reverted to Serbia and was later
incorporated into Yugoslavia. Macedonia, in a