Bulgarian Historiography of Soviet-Bulgarian relations in the Second Half of 1930s - First Half of 1940s

Abstract

An attempt is made to analyze the results of numerous studies of the Soviet-Bulgarian relations before and during the Second world war conducted in the Bulgarian historical science. The author highlights the stages in the development of historiography of this problem. The review of the main directions of historiographical developments in this area is made. The evolution of estimates of various events of the specified chronological period in the historical literature from 1950s to 2000s is considered. The author highlights a range of issues that still remain debatable: the question on determining the political regime of Bulgaria, on the role of the Comintern in its collapse and in the development of Soviet-Bulgarian relations, on the role of the Red Army in the development of events in Bulgaria in September 1944, etc. It is concluded that there are still many “white spots” in so studied as it seems Soviet-Bulgarian relations on the eve and during the Second World War. The author argues that even the questions of this problem developed by the domestic and Bulgarian historians still require a balanced scientific approach.

Keywords

• bulgaria
• soviet union
• world war ii
• historiography
• soviet-bulgarian relations