As the Zveno and Military League government focuses on implementing its reforms, it suddenly finds that it has been outplayed by an unlikely opponent.

Major Characters in this Episode:

Adolf Hitler

Tsar Boris III

Kimon Georgeiv

General Vatev

King Aleksander of Yugoslavia

Prince Paul of Yugoslavia

Petko Zlatev

Timeline for this episode:

• 1934, Jul 30th - Internal and external opponents of the Nazis in Germany are murdered in the Night of the Long Knives.

• 1934, Aug 2nd - Hitler officially becomes Fuhrer of Germany.

• 1934, Aug 3rd - Municipal reform begins, initially with municipalities deprived of autonomy and transformed into arms of the central government. They are also consolidated into about ⅓ their previous number.

• 1934, Aug 19th - A referendum approves Hitler’s consolidation of power as dictator.

• 1934, Aug 23rd - Mass arrests of Macedonian activists, though 10 leaders including Mihailov, go into hiding and escape the country. Authorities seize 47 machine guns, 11,000 rifles, 15 assault rifles, 637 pistols, 3 grenade launchers, 7,800 hand grenades, and 71,000 cartridges.

• 1934, Aug-Oct - State monopolies are established for essential goods including cereals and alcohol.

• 1934, Sep 1st - A new law for the Protection of the Security of the State is implemented, directed against all armed national liberation movements and including up to 10 year prison sentences.

• 1934, Sep 9th - The Directorate of Professions is established to manage trade unions.

• 1934, Sep 13th - A law is implemented to create 7 official trade unions along corporatist lines for areas like peasants, workers, merchants, etc.

• 1934, Sep 27th-29th - King Aleksander of Yugoslavia visits Sofia and Plovdiv.

• 1934, Sep - Ivan Mihailov flees to Turkey.

• 1934, Oct 9th - King Aleksander of Yugoslavia is assassinated by the VMRO with the help of the Ustasha in Marseille France.

• 1934, Nov - An agreement is signed between several legal and illegal Agrarian parties to oppose the non-party government.

• 1934, Dec 31st - A census is completed.

• 1934, Estimates are that between 1923 and 1934 Macedonian groups were responsible for over 800 murders. That’s about one every 5 days for 11 years.

• 1935, Jan 11th - The government begins establishing the Bulgarian Worker’s Union, a new trade union that all workers in the country are required to be members of. This is initially resisted by members of the former trade unions and Communist party, but they eventually begin to work within it to increase their influence.

• 1935, Jan 12th - Prime Minister Georgiev establishes the Supreme Council for National Defense

• 1935, Jan 22nd - The Georgiev government falls after anti-monarchists within its coalition make demands its moderate and pro-monarchist factions cannot abide. A new cabinet is formed with direct involvement from Tsar Boris.

Sources:

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

• The Rose of the Balkans by Ivan Ilchev

• History of the Balkans: Twentieth Century by Barbara Jelavich

• Crown of Thorns by Stephane Groueff

• The Balkans by Misha Glenny

• Bulgaria 1879-1946: The Challenge of Choice by Tatiana Kostadinova

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

• Yugoslav Communism and the Macedonian Question by Stephen E. Palmer Jr. and Robert R. King

• A Concise History of Bulgaria by R.J. Crampton

• Aleksandur Stamboliiski: Bulgaria by R.J. Crampton\