Bugarska je zabila nož u leđa Srbima još 1875-78.
no, the "nož u leđa" was even earlier, in 1867-68, by Serbia:
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(pages 24-26 from
P.P. Субаев, Имперская политическая традиция в Юго-Восточной Европе как идеологическая предпосылка Балканских войн 1912-1913 гг., в: "
Модернизация vs. война. Человек на Балканах накануне и во время Балканских войн (1912-1913)", Р. Гришина, A. Шемякин (отв. ред.), Москва, 2012), my translation from Russian:
...
In connection with the preparation of an anti-Turkish union between Serbia, Greece and Monte-Negro and in order to attract the Bulgarian national movement a project for the creation of an "
Yugoslav kingdom", to be led by Serbia, was created in Belgrade. At its initial stages it had the support of the Russian diplomacy (N.P. Ignatiev). The Serbo-Bulgarian contacts bore fruits and a "
Programme for political relation of the Serbo-Bulgarians (Bulgaro-Serbians) or about their cordial relations" was signed by representatives of the Serbian government and by Bulgarian émigrés in Bucharest on January 14 (26) 1867. The Serbo-Bulgarian Programme was the culmination of the "brotherly feelings" of these two peoples. In view of its extreme importance we include its main articles:
Article 1. The Slav peoples of Serbia and Bulgaria, united by blood and religion and coming from one root and inhabiting neighbouring territories, are called by the providence to live from now on under one government and under one banner.
Article 2. In the meanwhile, until they do form a united community and until they reach their aim which means a united existence, these two brotherly nations will assume for the future the name Serbo-Bulgarians or Bulgaro-Serbians, and their common motherland will be called Serbo-Bulgaria or Bulgaro-Serbia.
Article 3. His Highness Prince Michail, who proved his patriotism many times, is declared as the supreme head of the nation and commander in chief of its army.
Article 4. The national banner will be formed by combining the colours from the banners of Serbia and Bulgaria.
The idea of a united Serbo-Bulgarian state was developed further in Bucharest in April 1867 at the joint session of representatives of the various fractions of the Bulgarian national movement and of Serbian representatives when they agreed on a "
Protocol for the creation of an Yugoslav kingdom". It included joint military actions for the liberation of Bulgaria and for the creation of a united Slav state, the prototype of the future Balkan Federation, after a victory over the Turks. Until then the union of people was regarded as am Empire of the South Slavs (
l'Empire des Slaves du Sud) [19].
The idyll of Slavic brotherhood, however, did not exist for long. At the end, the Serbian government did not sign the "
Protocol". The reason for the crisis in the Serbo-Bulgarian relations was the accomplished by then Serbo-Greek political collusion. A collusion at the expense of the Bulgarian people. The negotiations between Serbia and Greece led to the signing, on August 2 (14) 1867 in Athens, of a treaty for a union and joint military actions against the Ottoman empire. A military convention was signed in the spring of 1868 [20]. According to Serbo-Greek treaty the Balkan territories inhabited by Bulgarians had to be divided between the two countries: the territory to the west of the river Iskar would go to Serbia whilst central and southern Macedonia and Thracia would go to Greece. But this is not all...
At the same time in April 1867, when the Serbian delegates and the Bulgarian émigrés were working on the principles for uniting both peoples, prince Michail Obrenovich paid a visit to Bucharest where he informed king Carol Hohenzollern about this project. Romania agreed to join the anti-Turkish union and the future Balkan confederation [21]. A Serbo-Romanian agreement was signed on January 20 1868. Both sides agreed to act jointly for the liberation of the Christian peoples of the Balkans from the Turks. The agreement was secret. Its publication a quarter of a century later by E. Engelhart caused a shock. The union of peoples was definitively replaced by a union of monarchies. Bulgaria and its lands were to be subjected to a new division by the allies.
According to the agreement of 1868 the Danube delta and the territory of Bulgaria from the line Rushchuk-Varna to the Black sea would go to Romania. Old Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and the western part of Bulgaria would go to Serbia [22].
The composition of the participants of the Athenian (1867) and of the Bucharest (1868) projects for partitioning of the territory of Bulgaria completely foreshadows the coalition and its agreements that was formed by the Balkan allies of Bulgaria in the summer of 1913, on the eve of the Second Balkan war. The similarity is not a coincidence at all. It speaks that such a future – the achievement of their geopolitical aims at the expense of Bulgaria (and of the Bulgarian people even prior to the restoration of its statehood) – existed originally in the political calculations and in the diplomatic practice of the Bulgarian neighbours: Serbia, Greece, Romania. This moment is of principal importance for the understanding of all subsequent history of diplomatic relations and wars between Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece and their geopolitical projects for redistribution and reorganization of the Balkans.
The Russian historiography is reluctant and very sparing when talking about the plans for partitioning of the region between Serbia and Greece. It claims that the essence of the question is the partitioning of Macedonia only [23]. This is not just a narrowing of the problem but its fundamental substitution. It was not just Macedonia that was partitioned by the Christian allies of the First Balkan union, but the whole of Bulgaria! Bulgaria as the equal and the most-suffered in historical aspect potential participant of an anti-Turkish coalition. The preconditions for the future Second Balkan war were directly formulated by the agreements between the participants of the First Balkan union.
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