WWI Factions: The Bulgarian Army

Faction, the Bulgarian Army, the First World War. After the Balkan Wars from 1912 through 1913, the size of the Bulgarian Army was increased. When the war erupted in Europe in August 1914, Bulgaria declared neutrality after the memory and exhaustion of the Balkan Wars. Many saw it as an opportunity to reverse the disastrous territory losses after the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913. While Tsar Ferdinand and Prime Minister Vasil Radoslavov favored the central powers, many Bulgarians hailed pro-Russian sentiments. Bulgarian males aged 20 to 46 were eligible to serve in the army via conscription, and in peacetime the Bulgarian Army stood at 85,000 strong. On September 6, 1915, Bulgarian representatives signed an alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Lacking any major arms industry, the Bulgarian Army would heavily rely on Germany's to supply weapons and munitions. Concentrating on the Balkan front, the army took part in the invasion of Serbia in October 1915 alongside its German and Austro-Hungarian allies. The invasion would overwhelm the Serbs, who had to retreat across the Albanian mountains to the Adriatic Sea. Bulgarian troops later successfully defended against an Allied attempt to assist and link up with the Serbs, launched from Salonika in December 1915. German high command would not allow the Bulgarian Army to pursue the retreating British and French troops into neutral Greece territory at the time. But this decision was reversed in 1916, when Greece was now in the war. During springtime, the Bulgarian Army launched an offensive eventually occupying parts of northern Greece. From 1916, food shortages were affecting the army, and by 1918, the situation was at a crisis point and morale was low. The French, British, Italian, Serbs, and Greek troops broke through the Macedonian front on September 15, 1918, during the Vardar offensive, forcing the Bulgarian Army to go on the retreat until the armistice was signed on September 30th, 1918. 1.2 million men served in the Bulgarian Army in the First World War, with an estimated 100,000 killed. Watch our other videos to learn more. Get your copy of Simple History World War One, available on Amazon now. Thank you for all your support on the Simple History YouTube channel. If you enjoy the channel, please consider supporting us at Patreon.