Wassil Radoslawow

Wassil Radoslawow

Vasil Christow Radoslavov ( Bulgarian Васил Радославов * 11. March 1854 in Lovech , † 21st October 1929 in Berlin ) was a Bulgarian politician and two-time prime minister .

Life

Studies and professional career

After completing school, Radoslawow studied law at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg , which he finished in 1882. As a result, he not only came under the influence of German culture, but also began his lifelong bond with Germany.

After completing his studies, he worked as a lawyer.

MP and Minister

Radoslawow was a co-founder of the Liberal Party (Bulgarian Либерална Партия) in 1879 . His actual career began in 1880 with the election to the National Assembly. However, he was only a member of parliament for a few months. From 1884 to 1887 he was again a member of parliament.

On June 29, 1884, Prime Minister Petko Karawelow appointed him Minister of Justice in his cabinet, to which he was a member until the coup of August 9, 1886 .

Prime Minister from 1886 to 1887 and party founder

On August 28, 1886 he became Prime Minister himself as successor to Karavelov . He held this office until July 10, 1887 and from November 18, 1886 also took over the office of Minister of Justice.

One reason for his resignation was allegations of corruption against members of his government. When the Liberal Party split for this reason, he founded his own Liberal Party (LPR) in 1887, which was also called Radoslavovists (Либералната партия - радославистка) after him , and which he chaired. The LPR was a party completely tailored to his person, advocating right-wing liberal and anti- Russian theses. In addition, the LPR sought complete independence from the Ottoman Empire , under whose suzerainty Bulgaria was still at that time.

From 1894 to 1896 and then again from 1899 to 1900 he was a member of the National Assembly again. At the same time he was again Minister of Justice in Konstantin Stoilov's cabinet from May 31 to December 9, 1894 . He was later from January 30, 1899 to November 27, 1900 Minister of the Interior in the governments of Dimitar Panayotov Grekov and Todor Ivanchev , who was a supporter of Radoslawow.

Prime Minister from 1913 to 1918 and during the First World War

In 1911 he was again elected a member of the National Assembly, in which he represented the interests of his LRP until 1919.

His anti-Russian and pro- German stance brought him to the attention of Tsar Ferdinand I , who on July 17, 1913 appointed him Prime Minister . At the same time he was Minister of the Interior until October 4, 1915, and Minister of Foreign Affairs from December 30, 1913 until the end of his term of office on June 21, 1918. In addition, from September 7, 1916 to June 21, 1918, he took over the office of Interior Minister again.

In the elections to the National Assembly in December 1913, the Bulgarian Social Democrats (Български социалдемократи) won the election, so that his government no longer had a majority in parliament. After parliament refused to approve the budget , the Tsar relieved the National Assembly of this task, leaving the National Assembly practically powerless.

From the beginning of his reign he continued the anti-Russian course he propagated, which he combined with a nationalist attitude. During the Second Balkan War of 1913, Bulgaria unsuccessfully attempted a war of aggression on Serbia . However, after the superior power against Bulgaria due to the declarations of war by Serbia, Greece , Montenegro , Romania and the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria had to capitulate on August 10, 1913 .

In the weeks of the beginning of the First World War , his government tried to join the German Empire . Due to his rapprochement with the Central Powers he was able to obtain a loan from the German Empire and Austria-Hungary . However, the Bulgarian Army did not initially take part in combat operations. After the success of the Central Powers, a secret treaty was signed on September 6, 1915 at the headquarters in Pszczyna . Because of this, Radoslawow declared on October 11 that Bulgaria would enter the First World War.

Initially, the army succeeded in invading and conquering Macedonia . The standstill at the front later led to war fatigue within the military leadership and the civilian population , which culminated in anti-war demonstrations in 1918 . This led in May 1918 to a separate peace between the Soviet Union and the Central Powers through the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk and on 7 May 1918 to a separate peace with Romania through the peace of Bucharest , which brought some territorial gains for Bulgaria. The territorial gains, however, only included small parts of the Dobruja , which, however, were regarded as too little.

For this reason, Tsar Ferdinand I dismissed Radoslawow on June 21, 1918 and instead appointed the former Prime Minister Aleksandar Malinov as his successor.

End of war and last years of life

In the following months, however, there were war losses and defeats on the part of Bulgaria, so that on September 29, 1918 the armistice of Thessaloniki with the Entente had to be concluded. A few days later, on October 3, Czar Ferdinand I resigned, and on the same day appointed his son Boris III. as his successor and went into exile in Germany. Radoslawow, who now feared being arrested and sentenced, also went into exile in Germany disguised as a German officer .

During the increasingly dictatorial reign of Prime Minister Aleksandar Stambolijski , he was sentenced to death in absentia in 1922. Shortly after he was pardoned in 1929 due to an amnesty , he died in Berlin .

Works

• Bulgaria and the world crisis. Ullstein publishing house, Berlin 1923.

literature

• Hans-Joachim Böttcher : Ferdinand von Sachsen-Coburg and Gotha 1861–1948 - A cosmopolitan on the Bulgarian throne . Osteuropazentrum Berlin - Verlag (Anthea Verlagsgruppe), Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-89998-296-1 .

Web links

Commons : Vasil Radoslavov  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Who's Who in First World War
• Newspaper article about Wassil Radoslawow in the press kit of the 20th century of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bulgaria 1879-1896
2. ↑ Bulgaria 1896-1914
3. ^ Declaration of Bulgaria's entry into the war on October 11, 1915
4. ↑ Bulgaria 1914-1918

predecessor	Office	successor
Nikola Genadiev	Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Bulgaria December 30, 1913 - June 21, 1918	Aleksandar Malinov