Editing Axis powers (section)

===Bulgaria===
{{Main|Bulgaria during World War II}}
[[File:Bulgarian army 1941.jpg|thumb|Bulgarian soldiers in [[Vardar Macedonia]] during the Balkans campaign]]

The [[Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946)|Tsardom of Bulgaria]] was ruled by [[Boris III of Bulgaria|Тsar Boris III]] when it signed the Tripartite Pact on 1 March 1941. Bulgaria had been on the losing side in the First World War and sought a return of what the Bulgarian leadership saw as lost ethnically and historically Bulgarian territories, specifically in [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]] and [[Thrace]] (divided between the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]], the [[Kingdom of Greece]], and Turkey). During the 1930s, because of traditional right-wing elements, Bulgaria drew closer to Nazi Germany. In 1940 Germany pressured Romania to sign the [[Treaty of Craiova]], returning to Bulgaria the region of [[Southern Dobrudja]], which it had lost in 1913. The Germans also promised Bulgaria – if it joined the Axis – an enlargement of its territory to the borders specified in the [[Treaty of San Stefano]].

Bulgaria participated in the [[Axis invasion of Yugoslavia]] and Greece by letting German troops attack from its territory and sent troops to Greece on April 20. As a reward, the Axis powers allowed Bulgaria to occupy parts of both countries{{snd}}southern and south-eastern Yugoslavia ([[Vardar Banovina]]) and north-eastern Greece (parts of [[Greek Macedonia]] and [[Greek Thrace]]). The Bulgarian forces in these areas spent the following years fighting various nationalist groups and [[resistance movement]]s. Despite German pressure, Bulgaria did not take part in the [[Operation Barbarossa|Axis invasion of the Soviet Union]] and actually never declared war on the Soviet Union. The [[Bulgarian Navy]] was nonetheless involved in a number of skirmishes with the Soviet [[Black Sea Fleet]], which attacked Bulgarian shipping.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Bulgarian government declared war on the [[Allies of World War II|Western Allies]]. This action remained largely symbolic (at least from the Bulgarian perspective), until August 1943, when Bulgarian air defense and air force attacked Allied bombers, returning (heavily damaged) from a mission over the Romanian oil refineries. This turned into a disaster for the citizens of [[Sofia]] and other major Bulgarian cities, which were heavily bombed by the Allies in the winter of 1943–1944.

On 2 September 1944, as the [[Red Army]] approached the Bulgarian border, a new Bulgarian government came to power and sought peace with the Allies, expelled the few remaining German troops, and declared neutrality. These measures however did not prevent the Soviet Union from declaring war on Bulgaria on 5 September, and on 8 September the Red Army marched into the country, meeting no resistance. This was followed by the [[Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944|coup d'état of 9 September 1944]], which brought a government of the pro-Soviet [[Fatherland Front (Bulgaria)|Fatherland Front]] to power. After this, the Bulgarian army (as part of the Red Army's [[3rd Ukrainian Front]]) fought the Germans in Yugoslavia and Hungary, sustaining numerous casualties. Despite this, the [[Paris Peace Treaties, 1947|Paris Peace Treaty]] treated Bulgaria as one of the defeated countries. Bulgaria was allowed to keep [[Southern Dobruja]], but had to give up all claims to Greek and Yugoslav territory.