The Question of Independent Bulgaria’s Borderlines during Dragan Tsankov and Marko Balabanov’s Mission to Western Europe and Russia in 1876

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Abstract:

The question of independant Bulgaria’s borders during Dragan Tsankov and Marko Balabanov’s mission is one of the least researched topics. This article examines its place and significance among the other matters discussed during their mission. Analysis shows that it must have been one of the most important questions since it was raised during many of the meetings attended by the delegates, usually in connection with the topic of the Bulgarian nation’s ethnic boundaries. It is readily clear that the borderlines question invited some deep divisions between the superpowers, owing to their contradictory interests as well as those of the Balkans’ peoples and countries. While the western powers and Russia were virtually unanimous that the Bulgarians would have to be granted administrative autonomy at the least, the question of the limits to such an autonomy was a very different matter and was yet to be defined. The fact that the delegates hadn’t prepared a proposal which clearly delinianated what were the political borders desired by Bulgarians complicated matters still further. All these raised a great many doubts regarding the Bulgarians’ future and complicated the improvement of their living conditions at the time.

Keywords:

mission; Dragan Tsankov; Marko Balabanov; Europe; negotiations; borders of independent Bulgaria

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