Procrustean Bed of Military Control in the Monograph of Bulgarian Historian Vladimir Stanev

Abstract

The monograph of the Bulgarian historian V. Stanev, which was published in 2018, reviews to the main events in the history of Bulgaria, when, after the defeat in First World War, the national armed forces was under the strict control of the Committes set up by the countries-winners for Bulgaria's compliance with the military decrees of Neuilly peace treaty of 1919. Vladimir Stanev, relying on a wide source base and rich factual material, traces the circumstances of the formation of military control, the tasks, which it solved, the modification of its structure and the response to this process in Bulgarian society. The author pays much attention to the fact, that the desire of the allied winners to secure in this way long-term military and political advantages both in the Balkans and in Europe, met with stubborn opposition from the army as well as Bulgaria’s leadership and ordinary people of Bulgaria. V. Stanev repeatedly emphasizes the importance of the national army as a stronghold of statehood. According to V. Stanev, inter-allied military control played an ambiguous role in the domestic and foreign policy life of Bulgaria, and the study of its consequences has not yet been completed.