Two events on July 23 reveal how Bulgarian history is shaped as much by the choices countries decline to make as the ones they embrace.
July 23, 1879 — Bulgaria and Britain Open Relations
Bulgaria established diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom, as British diplomatic agent and consul general Lord William Palgrave presented his credentials to Prince Alexander of Battenberg in Sofia. The exchange formalized ties between the newly liberated principality and one of Europe’s great powers.
The timing carried an irony: it was that same power that had, only the year before at the Congress of Berlin, played a decisive role in shrinking Bulgaria’s borders out of concern over Russian influence in the Balkans.
July 23, 1914 — Bulgaria Declines an Alliance
Thirty-five years later, as the outbreak of what would become the First World War spread across Europe, Russia proposed a military alliance to Bulgaria. Still nursing grievances from its defeat in the Second Balkan War the previous year, Bulgaria declined the offer, citing a policy of neutrality.
The decision only delayed the inevitable: within a year, Bulgaria would abandon neutrality and join the Central Powers, hoping to reverse its recent territorial losses — with consequences that would outlast the war itself.
Discover more of July’s history in Bulgaria: July 22 | July 24 | July 25. Explore the country itself through our Bulgaria From Above aerial photography and our travel guides to Bulgaria.
