Concise History and Timeline of Bulgaria
4,000 BC First known inhabitants were Thracians who lived in the area of Varna on the Black Sea
359-336BC Philip II ruled the Kingdom of Macedonia
585BC The Greeks, Byzantines and Turks settled in the area
15 BC The Romans had begun to extend their empire to include Bulgaria
50-100AD - The spread of Christianity
476 AD The Roman Empire collapsed
650 The Bulgars founded a kingdom in the south-eastern Balkans that became known as Bulgaria
864 Khan Boris of the Bulgarians is baptized as an Orthodox Christian; the Bulgarians adopt Christianity from Constantinople
867 Basil I becomes the Byzantine emperor and establishes the Macedonian dynasty
1014 Oct 6, The Byzantine Emperor Basil earned the title "Slayer of Bulgers" after he ordered the blinding of 15,000 Bulgarian troops
1878 Mar 3, Russia and the Ottomans (Turkish Empire) signed the treaty of San Stefano and lost its possession of Bulgaria and Romania
Russians gained influence over the Ottoman Empire and an autonomous Bulgarian state was created
1885 Nov 17, The Serbian Army, with Russian support, invade Bulgaria but re repulsed by the Bugarians led by Stefan Stambolov
1885 Nov 26 Bulgaria moves into Serbia
1886 Mar 3, The Treaty of Bucharest concludes the Serb - Bulgarian war
1886 The Cathedral of the Assumption was built in Varna
1894 Jan 30 - Boris III czar of Bulgaria (1918-43) was born (1894 - 1943)
1903 Sep 8 - Monastir Massacre when between 30,000 and 50,000 Bulgarian men, women and children were massacred in Monastir by Turkish troops seeking to check a threatened Macedonian uprising
1908 Sep 22 - Bulgaria declared independence from Ottoman Empire (Turkey)
1912 Oct 17 - Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on Turkey starting the First Balkan War
1913 Mar 26 - The Bulgarian capture of Adrianople, ending the First Balkan War
1913 Jun 30, Fighting broke out between Bulgaria and ex-allies Greece and Spain starting the Second Balkan War
1913 Aug 10, The Treaty of Bucharest ended the Second Balkan War
1914 - 1918 First World War - Bulgaria fights on the losing side
1919 Nov 27, Bulgaria signed peace treaty with Allies and recognizes Yugoslavian independence
 1930 Oct 4, King Boris Cobourgh-Gotha III married Giovanna of Savoy, the daughter of King Vittorio Emanuele
1933 Feb 27, Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag, caught fire. The Nazis blamed the Communists and used the fire as a pretext for suspending civil liberties and increasing their power
1939-1945 World War 11
1943 Dec 10, Allied forces bomb Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria
1943 King Boris Cobourgh-Gotha III dies shortly after he yielded to pressure from Adolph Hitler to ally with Nazi Germany
August 1945 The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Prince Simeon accedes to the thrown
1946 Sep 8 Bulgaria abolishes the Bulgarian monarchy
1950 Feb 21 The United States formally broke relations with Bulgaria
1955 May 14 Representatives from eight Communist bloc countries: Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland & Romania, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland
1971 May 18 Bulgarian constitution is created based on Communism
1989 Nov - Communist ruler Todor Zhivkov was thrown out of office after a 35-year Bulgarian dictatorship
1990 Feb 3 The Bulgarian parliament elected Andrei Lukanov to replace a hard-line Communist as Bulgarian premier.