EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
The Bulgarian Army was formed as one of the important national institutions after the Liberation. It was supported by Bulgarian taxpayers and was entrusted with the task of protecting the nation-state in the powder keg called the Balkan Peninsula.
Some of the truest heroes, before whom we rightly bow our heads, served in the Bulgarian army. Part of it are also many nameless soldiers who fell on the battlefields for the unification of the Bulgarian tribe. The fate of these two groups is paradoxical and sad, because behind their exploits many wicked people, cowards, cronies and various abusers of public finances find justification for their existence. The latter are the ones we are talking about in this article.
The Army - a Dirty Budget Tale
The first intervention of the army to uphold national unity was in 1885. After the Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia, the country was attacked in the back by the disgruntled western neighbor and the Bulgarian army defeated the aggressors. The Serbo-Bulgarian War is also notable for the fact that its monetary cost – approx. 32 million gold leva – was borne by the regular budget. The Prime Minister was the liberal Petko Karavelov, who managed the complex situation without transferring burdens to future generations.
In the following decades, until the beginning of the Balkan War in 1912, budgetary discipline in the otherwise supposedly disciplined military department disappeared. The army became the most greedy consumer of public funds. Much more money was spent on its equipment, maintenance and rearmament than on the construction of infrastructure facilities (which in itself has a controversial economic effect -see here) and compared to education. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Ministry of War absorbed the largest share of the expenditure part of the state budget. This ministry spent the most money on salaries, without the civil servants there being the most numerous. There are a total of 7,662 of them, and the amount for their salaries is over 15.2 million leva per year. In second place in this indicator is the Ministry of Education. There are a total of 9,048 civil servants there, for whose salaries about 10 million leva are paid annually.
Apart from forming the largest part of the expenditure budget, military expenses are almost not subject to parliamentary control. With the motive of not affecting the “dignity of the uniform”, the expenses of the military enjoy practical inviolability. Already at the end of the 19th century, it was clear among the military themselves that accountability in the Bulgarian army was such that it “represents a complete seduction and a complete temptation”.
In the form of super-credits, the Ministry of War receives funds that are not provided for in the regular budget of the country, and which, after the funds under them are spent, the National Assembly usually approves. Therefore, Kiril Popov wrote in 1906: "For a number of years now, the military budget has been shown to be consciously and systematically reduced and has always been supplemented afterwards through super-credits." Many violations are allowed in the implementation of the regular budgets of the Ministry of War - paragraphs are mixed up, credits are exceeded, etc. The Ministry of War is not the only one that commits such violations, but it is the undisputed leader.
Abuses – from material to criminally insane
The huge expenses for the army imply public procurement for the supply of weapons, ammunition, etc. The expenditure of public resources for such purposes, in turn, leads to corruption. The abuses associated with the Bulgarian army have many faces. They include the “innocent” use of the free labor of ordinary soldiers by officers, the transformation of the so-called. vestovoi into personal servants, exemption from compulsory military service for pay, etc. At the beginning of the 20th century, the “Charles and Jean” affair became famous. In it, the Prime Minister Gen. R. Petrov (pseudonym Charles) and the Minister of War Gen. M. Savov (pseudonym Jean) received bribes from a large company in order to place a solid order for the supply of ammunition.
General Racho Petrov is distinguished by his ability to use his position as Prime Minister to profit from Bulgaria's foreign loans. The latter are bonds, and the bonds are traded and have a market price that depends on the ability to service the loans. In the event of a military threat or some other problem, it is clear to players on international markets that Bulgaria will have difficulties servicing its loans and the price of the bonds falls. Conversely, in the event of stability and peace, the price of the bonds increases. Professor Ivan Shishmanov, who was an enlightened minister in Gen. Petrov's office, recalls that the Prime Minister "often rattled his sword and issued threatening notes in order to create panic on the stock exchanges and to benefit himself, because he himself played with securities." The scheme is simple - when the price of the bonds falls, they are bought, and when it increases, they are sold, and the profit remains in the hands of the general.
Every ministry has unaccounted funds. Their purpose is to be used to cover urgent needs that, for various reasons, cannot be made public. There is information that Gen. M. Savov, as Minister of War, uses them as a supplement to his salary. So, why not…
Abuses do not only bring financial troubles. On June 16, 1913, Gen. M. Savov, as assistant commander-in-chief under the influence of Tsar Ferdinand, ordered the Bulgarian army to simultaneously attack the armies of the former allies Serbia and Greece. The government headed by Dr. Stoyan Danev was not informed at all. Thus began the Inter-Allied War, which grew into the Second Balkan War. Bulgaria found itself in a state of war with all its neighbors. A small detail – in June 1913, General Savov was investigated for abuses and was highly dependent on the will of the monarch. The day of June 16, 1913, is rightly defined as “criminal insanity”.
The cost of human life and coups
The army, due to its nature, is not an institution in which human life is particularly valued. In the Bulgarian army, its value is indeed very low. According to reports by sanitary officers at the end of the 19th century, mortality and morbidity among conscripts in the army were higher than among young men outside the army. During the First World War, foreign officers were struck by the fact that some of their Bulgarian colleagues did not particularly regret the lives of their charges, i.e. the "merit" of having monuments to those who died in the wars in every Bulgarian village does not belong only to the enemies.
After the end of World War I, in 1919, by virtue of the Treaty of Neuilly, the conscript army was abolished and replaced by a professional one. The number of people under arms was severely limited. Reports of abuses did not disappear, but they decreased proportionally with the reduction of the army.
The army became an extremely important and dangerous factor in domestic political life. The clumsy intervention of the army in politics dates back to August 1886. Then Russophile officers deposed Prince Alexander I and plunged the country into a severe crisis. However, this was only a prelude. From 1919 to 1944, Bulgaria was often in a state of civil war. Much of the blood shed in this war was the dubious merit of the Bulgarian army. In the 1920s, almost all social and political groups who wanted to limit the destructive influence of the communists relied on it. Ultimately, the army participated in the implementation of three coups - in 1923, 1934 and 1944. The first overthrew a populist but democratically elected government, the second destroyed political parties and cleared the way for the establishment of a monarchical authoritarian regime, and the last played an important role in the rise of the communists to power.
An attempt at taking stock
As an institution, the army seems to be liked by those who believe that the social order is subject to a single authority, and who regret the lack of a strong hand. Many of the army men turn out to be the most ordinary opportunists, “apartment owners” in the words of Tsar Boris III, who see in the army a means of securing income and public prestige. The historical experience of the first Bulgarian capitalism shows that the army resembles a child who first ruins, then brings severe troubles and finally physically destroys its parents. And the heroes that were mentioned at the beginning – they are not just army men, they are heroes whose names should not be misused.
