rose, and the
value of the currency declined. As a result, King Ferdinand was forced
to abdicate in 1918, shortly before the armistice was signed.

The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine was signed on November 27, 1919, ending
Bulgaria's role in the war and establishing her boundaries. Once more
Bulgaria had entered a war on the losing side, and once more its
irredentist ambitions had resulted in no territorial gains. At the end
of the war Bulgaria lost Thrace to Greece--thus failing in her attempts
to gain access to the sea--and a small area in the Rodopi (or Rhodope
Mountains) and a portion of its western frontier to Yugoslavia. As a
result of these losses, Bulgaria was left with a still greater sense of
frustration and hostility toward its Balkan neighbors.

THE INTERWAR YEARS

The period between the first and second world wars was one of political
unrest and Macedonian terrorism. The country was in an almost untenable
economic situation at the close of the war: prices skyrocketed, people
died of starvation, and strikes were almost continuous. Out of this
situation two extreme political groups grew up. On the extreme Right was
a faction of the IMRO, which at that time demanded the annexation of
Greek and Yugoslav Macedonia. On the Left was the Bulgarian Agrarian
Union, the only party at the time more popular than the Communists.

When Ferdinand was forced to abdicate, he was succeeded by his son,
Boris III. Real political power was, however, in the hands of Alexander
Stambolisky, the leader of the Bulgarian Agrarian Union. He led the
country as its prime minister from 1919 to 1923. When Stambolisky took
power, the peasants formed 80 percent of the population. Stambolisky and
the Bulgarian Agrarian Union were dedicated to improving the lot of
these people; in his words "to raising the standards both economic and
educational, of the desperately poor and depressed peasant class."

Stambolisky, on behalf of the peasant populism movement, made several
sweeping reforms. He instituted various social reforms, spread
education, and built roads. His strong dislike of the commercial and
professional classes in the cities led him toward the objective of a
peasant republic. When in power he instituted tax and land reforms and
radically altered the legal system. His domestic policies were not
popular with all strata of society; his foreign policies were even less
popular. He favored reconciliation with Yugoslavia over the Macedonia