20 Output of Selected Industrial Products in Bulgaria, Selected Years, 1960-71 266
In mid-1973 Bulgaria was under the complete control of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BKP--see Glossary) as it had been since the latter days of World War II. As that war came to a close, the Kingdom of Bulgaria was occupied by the Soviet army and was governed by a coalition under the communist-dominated Fatherland Front. By 1947 the monarchy had been deposed, a new constitution had been promulgated, and the country had become the People's Republic of Bulgaria under the BKP. Todor Zhivkov, who became first secretary of the party in 1954, retained that position in 1973 and, with nineteen years' tenure, was senior in length of service among the top leaders of the Soviet-aligned, communist countries of Eastern Europe. Zhivkov, who weathered several years of intraparty struggles after assuming the secretaryship, has led an apparently stable regime since an abortive coup d'etat failed to dislodge him in 1965. The hallmark of Zhivkov's leadership has been his intense loyalty to the leaders of the Soviet Union.
Zhivkov's critics accuse him of what they call subservience to the Soviet Union, stating that he relies on Soviet backing to remain in power. His supporters, on the other hand, commend him for his loyalty to the Soviet Union, pointing out the historical affinity between the Bulgarians and the Russians that dates back to the nineteenth-century Russian role in the liberation of Bulgaria from 500 years of Turkish rule. Whether he should be condemned or praised for it, the fact is that Zhivkov has guided his ship of state in very close conformity with directions first taken by the Soviet Union.
Bulgaria, motivated mainly by irredentism, fought on the German side during both world wars. The lands that Bulgaria coveted and pressed ancient claims for were Macedonia (which had become part of Yugoslavia) and parts of Thrace (which had become Greek territory). Its claims to these lands date back to the glorious days of Bulgarian kingdoms in the Middle Ages, when its territory stretched from the Black Sea in the east to the Adriatic Sea in the west and from the Carpathian Mountains in the north to the Aegean Sea in the south. Five hundred years of Turkish rule failed to erase the Bulgarian ideas of territorial grandeur.