The West-European Proposals of 1875–1876 for Redrawing the Political Map of the Balkans and Bulgaria’s Place in Them

After the outbreak of yet another crisis on the Balkans in the summer of 1875, a number of proposals for a lasting resolution of the conflict were drafted in Western Europe. Many of these came to the conclusion that new, adequately delineated national borders were what was needed to pacify and stabilize the region. The proposals in question were drawn up by various analysts and journalists, as well as statesmen. It is of great importance to Bulgaran historiography to determine what exactly was Bulgaria’s place in them. The majority of the proposals covered in this article (which I have selected as a kind of “statistical sample” representative of the predominant Western European attitudes of the time) can be viewed as unfavorable to Bulgarian interests since they all advocate the partition of the Bulgarian state and/or the establishment of a Bulgaria with an exceedingly diminished territory. These proposals foreshadow quite accurately what would eventually become of the Balkans, namely the thoroughgoing balkanization of the peninsula as per the Treaty of Berlin