While the moderate Prime Minister Lyapchev may have won the most recent election, his government struggles to combat radical factions determined to change Bulgaria's course at any cost.

Major Characters in this Episode:

Prime Minister Andrey Lyapchev

Dimitar Blagoev

Dimo Kazasov

Mara Buneva

Timeline for this episode:

• 1927, May 31st - The Entente decides to end the Military Control Commission in Bulgaria

• 1927, May - Founding of Zveno (link).

• 1927, June 3rd - VMRO operatives blow up the Skopje-Veles rail line.

• 1927, Oct 5th - Several VMRO members are shot in Shtip. Martial law is declared in Vardar Macedonia and the Bulgarian-Yugoslav border is closed (until Feb 5th 1929).

• 1927, Oct 8th - Martial law is declared in the Kyustendil and Petritch districts and the border guard is strengthened.

• 1927, Oct 12th - The Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organization (ITRO) dissolves under pressure from the Bulgarian authorities. Its members establish a Committee for the Freedom of Thrace.

• 1927, Nov 15th - The Bulgarian Union for Peace submits a petition to the League of Nations about the atrocities committed by Romanian authorities against Bulgarians in Southern Dobrudja.

• 1927, Nov 16th - The Metropolitan of Sofia founds the All Bulgarian Union “Father Paisi” to fight for the unification of all Bulgarians and against the Treaty of Neuilly.

• 1927, Nov 29th - A Bulgarian delegation in Dobruch (Southern Dobrudja) submits a protest memorandum to the Romanian Ministry of Interior complaining about the actions of Romanian colonists against Bulgarians in the region.

• 1927, Dec 8th - Jan 15th 1928 - BCP holds its second party conference in Berlin.

• 1927, Dec 9th - The Mollov-Kafantaris agreement is signed between Bulgaria and Greece. It lays out how Bulgarian properties in Greece and Greek properties in Bulgaria are to be liquidated.

• 1927, Dec 27th - General Ivan Valkov secretly issues an order to reorganize the Bulgarian army and begin to secretly accumulate weapons and reintroduce conscription.

• 1927, Trial of Bulgarian students in Skopje.

• 1928, Jan 21st - A Bulgarian named Mara Buneva shoots the legal advisor of the Serbian Police in Skopje.

• 1928, Jan 23rd - Playwright Ivan Grozev is nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

• 1928, Mar 1st - Crisis within the Democratic Conspiracy begins with the resignation of Kimon Georgiev from cabinet.

• 1928, Mar 10th - The League of Nations allows Bulgaria to take out an external loan to help stabilize its currency and economy.

Sources used in this episode:

• История на България в Дати by Vasil Katsunov, Plamen Mitev, Valeri Kolev, Evgenia Kalinova, and Iskra Baeva

• Crown of Thorns: The Reign of King Boris III of Bulgaria 1918-1943 by Stephane Groueff

• The Rose of the Balkans by Ivan Ilchev

• The Bulgarian Communist Party from Blagoev to Zhivkov by John D. Bell