The Comintern's orders are clear. The Bulgarian Communist Party is to mount an uprising to overthrow the newly installed fascist regime of Alexander Tsankov. But do they have any chance of success?

Major Characters in this Episode:

Prime Minister Alexander Tsankov

Georgi Dimitrov

General Ivan Vukov

Timeline for this episode:

• 1923, June 16th - The Russian Civil War ends.

• 1923, Jun 25th - Cabinet ministers from the Geshov, Danev, Malinov and Kosturkov government are released from prison.

• 1923, Jun - The IDRO is established.

• 1923, Jul 9-10th - The first meetings of the Economic Council are held. Private capital protests the restrictions on foreign exchange trading. This ultimately causes a sharp decline in the Lev exchange rate.

• 1923, Jul 14th - Illegal Soviet agents are arrested including many at the Red Cross.

• 1923, Jul 19th - The Constitutional Bloc dissolves under pressure from the military, VMRO, and government.

• 1923, July 21st - The decision to move the Bulgarian theological seminary to the Rila Monastery and give its building in Sofia to the Faculty of Agronomy is reversed, though the two organizations will share the space for just over two more years.

• 1923, July 24th - The Treaty of Lausanne replaced the Treaty of Sèvres.

• 1923, July 24th - The Democratic and Radical Democratic parties unite to form the Union of Democracy.

• 1923, Aug 5-7th - The Central Committee of the BCP meets and decides, under pressure from the Comintern, to mount an uprising against the government.

• 1923, Aug 6-8 - The People’s Agreement meets to discuss transforming itself into a political party.

• 1923, Aug 10th - The Democratic, Radical Democratic, and United People’s Progressive Parties unite with the People’s Agreement to form the Union of Democracy. Alexander Malinov resigns from the Democratic Party in protest. The unification of the various organs of the parties including their youth wings occurs over the coming months.

• 1923, Aug 11th - The government allocates 30 million leva to help refugees as well as disabled people, orphans, and widows from the wars.

• 1923, Aug 15th - The BCP and VMRO come to an agreement by which the VMRO will remain neutral in the coming uprising in exchange for the uprising excluding Pirin Macedonia.

• 1923 Aug 22 - Sep 7th - Georgi Dimitrov publishes a series of articles proposing the creation of a united front against the Tsankov regime composed of agrarians, broad socialists, and communists. The Communists and Broad Socialists refuse while the Agrarians have no leaders capable of accepting.

• 1923, Aug 26th - Agrarian leader Raiko Daskalov is murdered by VMRO agents in Prague, where he led a government in exile.

• 1923, Aug - Italian members of a delegation delineating the Greek-Italian border are murdered, leading to a diplomatic showdown with Greece.

• 1923, Sep 10th - The Tsankov government, aware an uprising is in the works, arrests 2,000-2,500 Communist party members. In response, some BCP leaders call for a general strike, but others cancel the order.

• 1923, Sep 13th - An uprising led by communists breaks out around Stara Zagra and continues for 8 days.

• 1923, Sep 17th - The Thracian Revolutionary Organization holds a secret congress in Haskovo.

• 1923, Sep 18th - The government is granted permission from the Inter-Allied Military Technical Commission to convene 3,000 riot police to suppress the ongoing communist riots around Stara Zagora.

• 1923, Sep 22-30th - Communist uprisings break out in north-western Bulgaria and are brutally put down by the government. Its leaders, Vasil Kolarov and Georgi Dimitrov, escape to Yugoslavia.

• 1923, Sep 22nd - The National Liberal Party announces it is leaving the governing coalition.

• 1923, Oct 10th - Former Minister of Agriculture Spas Duparinov is shot after allegedly attempting to escape a prison convoy.

• 1923, Oct 15th - Exiled leaders of the BCP form a Central Committee in Vienna.

• 1923, Oct 29th - The Republic of Turkey is established.

• 1923, Oct 30th - Dr. Nikola Genadiev, leader of the National Unity Party, is killed.

• 1923, Nov 8-23rd - The 6th conference of the Balkan Communist Federation is held in Moscow. It positively accesses the recent uprising and calls for the BCP to prepare another one. It also declared that the populations of Thrace, Macedonia, and Dobrudja are independent peoples.

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

• Aleksandur Stamboliiski by R.J. Crampton

• Peasants in Power by John D. Bell

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

• The Balkans by Misha Glenny