Comparison between Royal Dictatorships of Bulgaria and Greece During the 1930s - Essay Example

Comparison between Royal Dictatorships of Bulgaria and Greece During 1930s The horrible WWI brought atrocious catastrophe in its wake. The world observed the awkward and fatal consequences of the war for the next two decades that put the economies and political stability of several European countries at grave jeopardy. The decade of 1930s was the most remarkable one in this regards, which created such a drastic and horrible situation that paved the way towards the commencing of another great war from 1939. Since Balkan region maintains distinguished place in the politics of Europe because of its unique culture, political rivalries, conflicts and ties, the significance of its geo-economic position and relations with other countries as well cannot be denied. Bojinovic views that while Balkan region had always been absorbed in its internal politics, it did not prove itself as cooperative towards the outer world. “Economically and culturally,” Bojinovic submits, “the Balkan states until the 20th Century were not intensely cooperating with the rest of Europe; only the mentioned coastal parts were connected with the West. As exposed above, the economic and socio-cultural element resulted in a perception of Balkans as ‘other Europe’–very different, even strange.” (Todorova 2001: p 25; quoted in Bojinovic, 2004: p 5) The present paper aims to make a comparative analysis of the nature of the political developments introduced and adopted by the two Balkan states, i.e. Bulgaria and Greece, during 1930s, for both these countries experienced monarchical dictatorship in their political systems during that era. Like other Balkan states, Bulgaria also witnessed grave financial crisis during 1920s, which lasted in 1930s too to a great extent. “Bulgaria might have escaped the usual turmoil, thanks to its stable peasant economy and the absence of large ethnic minorities. However, two elements led to crises and authoritarianism: rural-urban tensions and terrorism among Macedonian refugees.” (Retrieved from staff.lib.msu.edu) The main reason behind the financial turmoil was political uncertainty and dictatorial regime of Boris III, which put the future and growth of the country at stake in order to prolong his personal rule. Similarly, another Balkan state i.e. Greece underwent similar characteristics. Greece is regarded as one of the most primitive civilizations of the world, which had been source of wisdom, knowledge and inspiration for centuries. In modern times, she had to undergo continuous threat from the neighbouring countries, particularly from the Ottoman Empire. Situated at geo-strategically at a very important region, Greece had been bone of contention between the big powers of the world. Russia also had an eye on the region and always took plea of Ottoman atrocities, being committed on helpless Greek, while invading over Turkey. Greece was turned into a sandwich between the two alliances during WWI, and had to bear the brunt in the aftermath of the horrible war. Consequently, she also faced political turmoil, lawlessness, frequent change in governments, fragile democratic set up and conflict with Bulgaria, Turkey, Yugoslavia and Bosnia. The country experimented and experienced over twelve different governments within one and half decade only. Among these rulers, Venizelos was the most prominent leader of modern Greece, who made hard efforts in developing very intimate and friendly relations with all neighbours. But like all his predecessors, Venizelos also faced failure giving way to the royal dictatorship under George II. “Venizelos would rather declare a republic and be done with kings but knows that this would not be acceptable to the European powers. Despite the national triumph of Smyrna he loses the elections in November of 1920 and leaves the country.” (Retrieved from ahistoryofgreece.com) George II of Greece became king during WWI, but due to the reforms introduced by the democratic governments, he had to leave the country to seek asylum in France. George II was the king of Greece from 1922 to 1924 and from 1935 to 1947. But he returned after the toppling of the democratic government led by Ioannis Metaxas in 1935. The royal dictatorship of George II inflicted banishments in the country. The role of military and civil bureaucracy was made limited one. The freedom of thought and action was suppressed. The King introduced fascism in Greece and political leaders were arrested and banned. Almost same was the situation in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is one of the most important states of the entire Balkan region, which has played vital role in the politics of the entire region. It was dynamic leadership of Bulgaria that united the four tiny states against the mighty Ottoman Empire, and won decisive war in 1912 against the Ottoman Empire, and proved the empire as the sick-man of Europe in the aftermath of the war. “In the First Balkan War of 1912-13 Bulgarian forces defeat Ottoman armies in eastern Thrace and press on almost to Constantinople; they also conquer eastern Macedonia and the rest of Thrace.” (Quoted in dmorgan.web.wesleyan.edu) Later, when the Triple Entete and Triple Alliance were at daggers drawn at Balkan issue, Bulgaria showed her worth on important geo-political and strategic issues of the entire region. WWI had brought inflation, economic crises, political instabilities and disturbances all over Europe in its aftermath. Being a German ally in WWI, Bulgaria had to undergo grave consequences, and King Ferdinand abdicated in favour of his son Boris III. In such a precarious political turmoil, King Boris III rose to the occasion and came at the helm of the government. Having military and royal background, Prince Boris III was proclaimed as the King of Bulgaria in 1918. There had been complete chaos and disturbance all over Europe, the crises also aggravated in Bulgaria during 1920s and 1930s, which brought changes in the governments and political establishments. “The world economic crisis that began in 1929 devastated the Bulgarian economy: The social tensions of the 1920s were exacerbated when 200,000 workers lost their jobs, prices fell by 50 percent, dozens of companies went bankrupt, and per capita income among peasants was halved between 1929 and 1933. A wave of strikes hit Bulgaria in 1930-31, and in 1931 the Liapchev government was defeated in what would be the last open election with proportional representation of parliamentary seats.” (Retrieved from lcweb2.loc.gov) There were roots of democratic system in Bulgaria, but King Boris III left no stone unturned for obtaining powers and strengthening royal dictatorship. “Bulgaria remained a petty bourgeois country within an underdeveloped Capitalism, its agriculture fragmented, with scanty resources and primitive equipment. Therefore, the crisis affected primarily agriculture, from the small farmers to the hardest hit. Industrial production began to drop, and a number of enterprises cut back or discontinued production.” (1985: p 221) King Boris III dictated Lyapchev’s government for making policies. Consequently, the government increased taxes and reduced payments, which led to strike and created difficulties for the future governments. The government became unpopular and Malinov’s Democratic Party took lead. Opposition alliance BAU formed govt. under Dimiter Gichev, which was overthrown in 1931 and replaced by Mushanov, his popular bloc aimed to abolish dictatorship, restoration of democracy and economic situation of public. Political amnesty was granted, workers’ lot was improved. On the one hand, Bulgaria had been undergoing military and economic sanctions imposed by the Allied Forces in the aftermath of WWI, and on the other side, Greece declared war on Bulgaria in 1925. Though the conflict was mediated by the League of Nations, yet tension remained intact even in 1930s. King Boris was strictly against the military intervention in the country, but he had to support the same under serious political crises. Military interference challenged his personal powers reducing him to a nominal head only. But he was able to resume all powers again in 1934, and took complete control of the country affairs. He introduced very strict policies in the country under his regime. “In 1925, Greece declared war. Despite the intervention of the League of Nations, the turmoil continued until 1934, when Boris helped the military establish a dictatorship. The following year, he assumed control of the country, ruling as an absolute monarch.” (Economic expert.com) The royal dictatorship of King Boris III encouraged the unification of different factions and groups including Agrarians, Macedonian extremists and Socialists. In addition, he held elections in the country and handed over the powers to the head of majority party named Aleksandar Stamboliyski. The royal dictatorship of King Boris III gallantly fought the case of Bulgaria through the platform of the League of Nations against the invading Greek forces, though the conflict remained valid till 1934. The royal dictatorship successfully took the political leaders and military personnel under its sway, and got full control of the helm of the government. “Boris chose not to restore the traditional political supremacy of the subranie and ignored demands by many public figures to write a new Bulgarian constitution. In 1936 a broad coalition, the Peoples Constitutional Bloc, brought together nearly all leftist and centrist factions in a nominal opposition that had the blessing of the tsar.”(Retrieved from country-data.com) Hence, he imitated the footprints of dictators including Napoleon, Hitler and others. Conclusion: By critically examining the medieval era history of the globe at large, it becomes evident that an overwhelming majority of the third world countries had been prey to the awkward clutches of tyrannical colonial rule of the big European powers from seventeenth century till the end of WWII, where the great powers inflicted their sovereignty over the weak and helpless third world states by turning them as their subsidiaries. Consequently, the poor African, Asian and East European states had to launch long and continuous struggle against the foreign rule in order to win freedom from them. Weak defence system, inapposite strategic position, insufficient ammunition and lack of proper industrial developments invited foreign invasions in such regions. But the most fundamental reason behind these foreign invasions and subsequent rules included the dictatorial and monarchical state of affairs, as the third world countries seldom observed democratic state of governments, and hence did not allow the masses to participate in the electing of their leaders and forming of the government of their own choice. Hence, the foreign invasion by the big powers challenges the democratic governments in third world countries at large. REFERENCES: Crampton, R. J. (1997) A Concise History of Bulgaria Cambridge University Press pp 159-167 Browning, Robert. (1985) The Greek World: Classical, Byzantine and Modern Thames, & Hudson. Publishers pp 309-321 Information Bulgaria: A Short Encyclopaedia of Peoples Republic Bulgaria. (1985) The Bulgarian Academy of Science Pergamon Press Oxford pp 215-235 Bulgaria: the Crises of the 1930s Political Disorder and Diplomatic Isolation (Quoted in http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field (DOCID+bg0048) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,802945,00.html King Boris III of Bulgaria (Quoted in http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Boris:III:of:Bulgaria.htm) Bulgaria: the Royal Dictatorship. (http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-1877.html) http://www.idec.gr/iier/new/3rd%20Panhellenic%20Conference/BOJINOVIC-%20UDOVIC-%20THE%20BALKANS%20ROLE%20AS%20A%20PART%20OF%20THE%20MEDITERRANEAN%20REGION.pdf Guide to territory and governance in the Balkans during and after the Balkan Wars and World War I: Non-independent territories (e.g. Bessarabia, Croatia) are grouped under the country to which they belonged in the 1920s. (Quoted in http://dmorgan.web.wesleyan.edu/balkans/wwone.htm) Twenty-Five Lectures on Modern Balkan History: Lecture 18: Balkan politics drifts to the Right (Retrieved from staff.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lect18.ht) http://www.eliznik.org.uk/EastEurope/History/index.htm http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=ipnGTe89lC8C&pg=RA2-PA324&lpg=RA2-PA324&dq=royal+dictatorship+in+Albania&source=bl&ots=rRlsJLcC7U&sig=FUAs90HdLOGU0JKiGKULed1l4UM&hl=en&ei=mjISS5qNMo7o7APP-_HYBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=royal%20dictatorship%20in%20Albania&f=false http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Zog#Relations_with_Italy Read More