Ferdinand Of Bulgaria I ^2,3

  General Notes:

[Europe_New.FTW] [royalfam.ged] In 1878, Russia forced Turkey to give Bulgaria its independence after the Russo-Turkish War 1877-78, but the European powers, fearing Russia's and Bulgaria's dominance in the Balkans , intervened at the Congress of Berlin 1878, limited Bulgaria's territory, and fashioned i t into a small principality ruled by the nephew of the Russian czar, Alexander of Battenburg. Alexander was succeeded in 1887 by Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who declared a king dom independent of Russia on Oct. 5, 1908. In the First Balkan War 1912-13, Bulgaria and th e other members of the Balkan League fought against Turkey to regain Balkan territory. Angere d by the small portion of Macedonia it received after the battle-it considered Macedonia an i ntegral part of Bulgaria-the country instigated the Second Balkan War June-Aug. 1913 agains t Turkey as well as its former allies. Bulgaria lost the war and all the territory it had gai ned in the First Balkan War. Bulgaria joined Germany in World War I in the hope of again gain ing Macedonia. After this second failure, Ferdinand abdicated in favor of his son in 1918. Bo ris III squandered Bulgaria's resources and assumed dictatorial powers in 1934-35. Bulgaria f ought on the side of the Nazis in World War II, but after Russia declared war on Bulgaria o n Sept. 5, 1944, Bulgaria switched sides. Three days later, on Sept. 9, 1944, a Communist coa lition took control of the country and set up a government under Kimon Georgiev.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Record Change, 15 Dec 2001. ^2,3

Ferdinand married Mary Louise Of Parma, daughter of Robert Of Parma I and Maria Antonia Of Portugal, in 1893 ².^,3 (Mary Louise Of Parma was born in 1870 in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy ^2,3 and died in 1899 ^2,3.)