Province of Bulgaria

The Province of Bulgaria (: Provinz von Bulgarien) is a province of the Duchy of Brunswick. The province is made up of the former. It is bordered by the provinces of Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, and Turkey. Its capital is.

History
Bulgaria was home to the Thracians around 3500 B.C. and their territory was incorporated into the Roman Empire in the first century. The decline of the empire left the region to be divided among the Goths, Huns, Bulgars, and Avars. The Bulgars crossed the Danube from the north in 679 and took control of the region, leaving only their name to outlast their language and culture. Orthodox Christianity was adopted by Boris I in 865. The Balkan Peninsula was conquered twice by the Bulgars- in 893 and 1280. The Ottoman Empire invaded in 1396 and Bulgaria became a Turkish province until 1878 when Russia forced Turkey to grant the province its independence. The Congress of Berlin intervened and prevented Russian-Bulgarian dominance and limited Bulgaria’s territory. The kingdom became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1908 and started the Balkan Wars to regain Balkan land. The Second Balkan War ended badly and Bulgaria lost all the territory gained through those wars. Bulgaria fought on the side of Germany in World War I in hopes of regaining the territory it lost but this was not to be. Bulgaria fought alongside Germany in World War II but switched sides when Russia declared war on them in 1944. This left them vulnerable to usurpers and the Bulgarian government fell to the Communists three days after they switched sides on September 9, 1944. The People’s Republic of Bulgaria was established in 1947. The Communists held majority of power from 1947 until 1989 when Peter Mladenov purged the Politburo. Mladenov resigned in 1990, the same year he ended the Communist monopoly on power with free elections. The first non-Communist Bulgarian government was formed in October 1991. A power struggle between parties ensued until the Simeon II National Movement elected the last Bulgarian Tsar, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Simeon II), as the Prime Minister almost six decades after he was dethroned at age 9.

Bulgaria became a province of the Duchy in 2009.