The onset of the Cold War was a period critical for the formation of national identity in the latter twentieth century. As the country was faced with stark dilemmas regarding its overall political development, its position in and relations with Europe were tested to breaking point. With the European context being fundamentally redefined, Bulgaria's choices were overshadowed and, indeed, restricted by the attitudes of the great powers of the day. In addition, the latter's policies projected a particular perception of Bulgaria to the outside world.

The Historical Setting

Bulgaria can hardly be plausibly presented as something other than Balkan at core: after all, the eponymous mountain range runs through the middle of the country. Neither can Bulgaria be dissociated from the imperial legacy of Byzantium, the Ottomans and most recently, the Soviet Union, all of which gave the peninsula its distinctive attributes. In both geographic and historical terms, Bulgaria has indeed been at the heart of the tumultuous Balkans. It itself has contributed to the image of the Balkans as ridden with controversy and war.

The region's centrality for the outbreak of the First World War sealed the prevalent popular perception, which was more often than not upheld by diplomatic and other informed opinion. While the role of the Balkans in the Second World War was not as notorious, their eventual plunge in the conflict can be seen as due in equal measure to the aggressiveness of the Axis powers and the stir of long-unresolved indigenous issues.