Ivan Geschow

Ivan Ewstratiew Geschow ( Bulgarian Иван Евстратиев Гешов ; born February 20, 1849 in Plovdiv , † March 11, 1924 in Sofia ) was a Bulgarian politician and Prime Minister .

Ivan Evstratiev Geschow

Life

Studies and first political activities

Geschow completed his school education at Greek and Protestant institutions. He then completed from 1869 to 1872 a degree in finance and political science at Owen's College in Manchester .

While still a student he became politically active, in letters to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in favor of Bulgaria's independence from the Ottoman Empire. After his return to Plovdiv he took part in the April uprising in 1876 as a correspondent for the "Times" and as editor of the daily Maritsa . For this reason, he was initially sentenced to death, but later pardoned due to protests by the English and American consuls for exile to Aleppo in Syria .

Bulgarian independence and minister

After Bulgaria's (limited) independence on July 8, 1879, he was finally pardoned, which enabled him to return to Bulgaria. At the time he began his political career from 1879 to 1880 as President of the Parliament of Eastern Rumelia Oblast , whose Finance Minister he was from 1882 to 1883. He then became director of the Bulgarian National Bank . As such he was also involved in the conclusion of the Peace of Bucharest on March 3, 1886, which led to the end of the Serbian-Bulgarian War .

On August 28, 1886, he was appointed finance minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Vasil Radoslawow . In this office, which he also held under Radoslawov's successor Konstantin Stoilow until September 1, 1887, he soon became the country's leading economic thinker and at the same time a pioneer of a protective tariff policy to secure Bulgaria's economy. However, in Stefan Stambolow he had a strong opponent of his political ideas, so that ultimately both Stoilow and he himself had to cede power to Stambolow.

Only after the end of Stambolov's term of office on May 31, 1894 was he again appointed Minister of Finance by Prime Minister Stoilov. During his term of office, which lasted until September 7, 1897, he was also Minister of Commerce and Agriculture and the founder and chairman of the first agricultural and industrial fair in Plovdiv .

Member of Parliament, Speaker of Parliament and Chairman of the Party

In 1894 he was also elected a member of the National Assembly for the first time, to which he was a member until 1899. In 1901 he was re-elected as a member of the National Assembly, of which he was a member until 1923. On February 22, 1901, he was elected President of the National Assembly. He held this office until October 25, 1901.

After Stoilow's death in April 1901, he was also his successor as chairman of the People's Party .

Prime Minister from 1911 to 1913

On March 29, 1911, he became Prime Minister of Tsar Ferdinand I, succeeding Aleksandar Malinov . During his tenure, he was foreign minister and minister of religion.

In this role he was a supporter of the political views of the Balkan Federation , which started the First Balkan War against the Ottoman Empire in 1912 . After the Treaty of London , which ended the Balkan War, was concluded on May 30, 1913 , he resigned from his post as Prime Minister because he rejected the Tsar's war intentions against the other member states of the Balkan League.

Successor as Prime Minister was then Stojan Danew , whom he in turn succeeded on June 26, 1913 as President of the National Assembly. However, this time he held the post of President of Parliament for less than a month until July 23, 1913.

He then withdrew from politics except for his parliamentary mandate. After the fall of the government of Aleksandar Stambolijski , he joined the Malinov- led Democratic Party (Demokratičeska Partija) in 1923 .

Honorary positions and publications

In addition to his political career, he was also the founder of the Student Society and the Scientific and Literary Society.

From 1899 until his death he was president of the Bulgarian Red Cross and from 1898 to 1911 first chairman of the Literary Society, from which the Academy of Sciences emerged , of which he was also president until his death.

Geschow was also the author and co-editor of several works on political topics such as:

• L'Alliance Balkanique. Paris 1915.
• La genèse de la guerre mondiale; la debacle de l'Alliance balkanique. Bern 1919.
• Mémoire address à la conference de la paix. Paris 1919.

Web links

Commons : Iwan Geschow  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Biographical information in rulers.org
• Biography on the National Bank's website (PDF file; 120 kB)
• Biography on the homepage of the Ministry of Finance
• Bulgaria 1896-1914

Individual evidence

1. ^ President of the National Assembly
2. ^ President of the National Assembly
3. ^ History of the Bulgarian Red Cross
4. ^ History of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
5. ↑ Overview of the publications by Iwan Geschow

predecessor	Office	successor
Aleksandar Malinov	Prime Minister of Bulgaria 1911–1913	Stoyan Danew
Aleksandar Malinov	Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Bulgaria March 29, 1911-14. June 1913	Stoyan Danew
Wasil Drumew	Chairman of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences 1898–1924	Ljubomir Miletich