Bulgarian irredentism

Bulgarian irredentism is a term to identify the territory associated with a historical national state and a modern

nationalist movement in the 19th and 20th centuries, which would include most of Macedonia, Thrace and Moesia

History

The larger proposed Bulgarian state was suggested under the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878.

The issue of irredentism and nationalism gained greater prominence after the Treaty of San Stefano. It established a Principality of Bulgaria, with territory including most of

Eastern Thrace, and nearly all of Macedonia. This treaty laid grounds for much of the later claims for a Greater Bulgaria. However, the Treaty of San Stefano was a preliminary one, and the borders of the newly created Bulgaria were established in the Treaty of Berlin. It saw the previous territory divided in three – the Principality of Bulgaria, the autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia

, and Macedonia, which remained under Ottoman control.

In the early 20th century, control over Macedonia was a key point of contention between Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria,

Macedonian Campaign of World War I

(1915–1918).

Just before entering

Eastern Macedonia and parts of Western Thrace, as well as Yugoslav Macedonia (Vardar Macedonia).^[2] With the exception of Southern Dobruja, these concessions were reversed with the Allied victory (i.e. at the Paris Peace Conference

of 1947).