Editing Bulgarian Armed Forces (section)

===World War II===
{{main|Bulgaria during World War II}}

The government of the [[Kingdom of Bulgaria]] under Prime Minister [[Bogdan Filov]] declared a position of neutrality upon the outbreak of World War II. Bulgaria was determined to observe it until the end of the war but it hoped for bloodless territorial gains, especially in the lands with a significant Bulgarian population occupied by neighbouring countries after the [[Second Balkan War]] and World War I. However, it was clear that the central geopolitical position of Bulgaria in the Balkans would inevitably lead to strong external pressure by both World War II factions. Turkey had a [[non-aggression pact]] with Bulgaria. On 7 September 1940 Bulgaria succeeded in negotiating a recovery of [[Southern Dobruja]] with the [[Treaty of Craiova]] (see [[Second Vienna Award]]). Southern Dobruja had been part of Romania since 1913. This recovery of territory reinforced hopes for resolving other territorial problems without direct involvement in the war. The country joined the [[Axis Powers]] in 1941, when [[Nazi Germany|German]] troops preparing to invade [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] and Greece reached the Bulgarian borders and demanded permission to pass through its territory.

[[File:376bombgroup-bulgaria-01-jun-1944.gif|thumb|right|The [[Bombing of Sofia in World War II]], 1944]]

On 1 March 1941, Bulgaria signed the [[Tripartite Pact]] and officially joined the Axis bloc. After a short period of inaction, the army launched an operation against [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] and Greece. The goal of reaching the shores of the [[Aegean Sea]] and completely occupying the region of Macedonia was successful. Even though Bulgaria did not send any troops to support the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]], its navy was involved in a number of skirmishes with the [[Soviet Black Sea Fleet]], which attacked Bulgarian shipping. Besides this, Bulgarian Armed Forces garrisoned in the Balkans battled various resistance groups. The Bulgarian government declared a token war on the United Kingdom and the United States near the end of 1941, an act that resulted in the [[Bombing of Sofia in World War II|bombing of Sofia]] and other Bulgarian cities by [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] aircraft.

Some communist activists managed to begin a guerrilla movement, headed by the underground [[Bulgarian Communist Party]]. A resistance movement called [[Fatherland Front (Bulgaria)|Otechestven front]] (Fatherland front, Bulgarian: Отечествен фронт) was set up in August 1942 by the Communist Party, the [[Zveno]] movement and a number of other parties to oppose the elected government, after a number of Allied victories indicated that the Axis might lose the War. In 1943 Tsar [[Boris III]] died suddenly. In the summer of 1944, after having crushed the Nazi defense around [[Iaşi]] and [[Chişinău]], the [[Soviet Army]] was approaching the Balkans and Bulgaria. On 23 August 1944 Romania quit the Axis Powers, declared war on Germany and allowed Soviet forces to cross its territory to reach Bulgaria. On 26 August 1944 the Fatherland Front made the decision to incite an armed rebellion against the government, which led to the appointment of a new government on 2 September. Support for the government was withheld by the Fatherland Front, since it was composed of pro-Nazi elements, in a desperate attempt to hold on to power. On 5 September 1944 the Soviet Union declared war and invaded Bulgaria.<ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+bg0054] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015203636/http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+bg0054|date=15 October 2017}}</ref> On 8 September 1944 the Bulgarian army joined the Soviet Union in its war against Germany.