Bribery as a Method of Foreign Office’s Bulgarian Policy (January – September 1915)
Keywords:
Bulgaria, Great Britain, Foreign Office, First World War, diplomacy, corruption, bribery
Abstract
The article is concentrated on the problem of environment where British diplomats were working, and reasons for which they used or did not used the bribery in the secret diplomacy. In order to shed light on them, the discovery is showing activities on the diplomatic front (the question of the territorial compansations, the Macedonian question) and on the theatres of combat operations (the Eastern front, the Dardasnelles operation), and also the priorities of foreign policy of the Bulgarian leadership.
The research shows that at the beginning of the year British diplomacy in Bulgaria remained undefined; in the March-May the British side was sure that effects of Dardanelles operation are enough to force Bulgaria to propose cooperation by herself. Only in July-September after military and diplomatic defeats the Foreign Office intensified in bribery and attempt to outrun Central Powers in this regard.
Using bribery by London in Bulgarian diplomacy is compared with activity of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Russian diplomats spent more attention to the financing pro-Russian press and clubs, which anyway was insufficient. At the same time, British diplomats always raised the issue of bribery for politicians not for press.
The «declosiers affair» was an important episode in bribing Bulgaria. It was an operation for buying Bulgarian harvest. The Great Britain took part in it. The operation did not produced necessary results and did not sway Bulgaria on Entente’s side.
Finally, the Great Britain did not benefit from bribery in Bulgaria. In contrast, the Central Powers managed to bribe Bulgarian press, politicians and government and to bite Entente’s propositions in buying the harvest.
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References
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Adamov, Ye. A. 1935a. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya v epokhu imperializma: dokumenty iz arkhivov tsarskogo i Vremennogo pravitelstv 1878–1917 gg. [International relations in the era of imperialism: documents from the archives of the tsarist and Provisional governments of 1878–1917.]: Seriya 3: 1914–1917. T. 8: Ch. 1: 24/11 maya – 16/3 oktyabrya 1915 g. / podgot. k pech. Ye. A. Adamov pri uchastii B. G. Veber i S. R. Dimant. 1935, 578 s. (In Russian).
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Buchanan, G. 1923. My mission to Russia and other diplomatic memories. London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne: Cassel and Company Limited, 253 p.
Churchill, W. S. 1927. The World Crisis – 1915. London: Thornton Butterworth Ltd, 563 p.
Crampton, R. J. 1987. A Short History of Modern Bulgaria. Cambridge, London, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne, Sydney: Cambridge University Press, 221 p.
Georgiev, B. H. 2018. Problemite v otnosheniyata mezhdu d-r Vasil Radoslavov i tsar Ferdinand v godinite na Parvata svetovna voyna [Problems in the relationship between Dr. Vasil Radoslavov and Tsar Ferdinand in the years of the First World War]. Bulgaria – Germania. Parvata svetovna voyna. Pouki za badeshteto. Varna: Visshe voennomorsko uchilishte “Nikola Yonkov Vaptsarov”, s. 65–86. (In Bulgarian).
Ilchev, I. 1990. Bulgaria i Antantata prez Parvata svetovna voyna [Bulgaria and Entente during the First World War]. Sofia: Nauka i izkustvo. 318 s. (In Bulgarian).
Lloyd George, D. War Memoirs. Vol. I. London: Ivor Nicholson & Watson, 1933, 529 p.
Mykolenko, D. V. 2015. Korupciya u Bolgariyi yak proyav polity`chnoyi spadshhy`ny`. Stefana Stambolova na zlami XIX–XX stolit` [Corruption in Bulgaria as a manifestation of Stefan Stambolov’s political legacy at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries]. URL: http://www.historians.in.ua/index.php/en/doslidzhennya/1607-dmytro-mykolenko-koruptsiia-u-bolharii-iak-proiav-politychnoispadshchyny-stefana-stambolova-na-zlami-khikh-khkh-stolit (Date of the application: 29.12.2019). (In Ukrainian).
Mykolenko, D. V. 2018. Polity`chna spadshhy`na Stefana Stambolova u bolgars`komu derzhavotvorenni (1895–1920 rr.) [The Political Legacy of Stefan Stambolov in the Bulgarian State-Making (1895–1920)]. Doctor’s thesis. Xarkiv: Xarkivs`ky`j nacional`ny`j universy`tet imeni V. N. Karazina, 452 s. (In Ukrainian).
Notovich, F. I. 1947. Diplomaticheskaya borba v gody pervoy mirovoy voyny [Diplomatic struggle during the First World War]. Moskva, Leningrad: Izdatelstvo AN SSSR, Tom 1. Poterya soyuznikami Balkanskogo poluostrova, 748 s. (In Russian).
Notovich, F. O. 1935a. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya v epokhu imperializma: dokumenty iz arkhivov tsarskogo i Vremennogo pravitelstv 1878–1917 gg. [International relations in the era of imperialism: documents from the archives of the tsarist and Provisional governments of 1878–1917.]: Seriya 3: 1914–1917. T. 7: Ch. 1: 14 yanvarya – 23 maya 1915 g. / podgot. k pech. F. O. Notovich pri uchastii L. A. Teleshevoy i S. A. Levinoy. Moskva, Leningrad: Gos. sots.-ekon. izd-vo, 568 s. (In Russian).
Notovich, F. O. 1935b. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya v epokhu imperializma: dokumenty iz arkhivov tsarskogo i Vremennogo pravitelstv 1878–1917 gg. [International relations in the era of imperialism: documents from the archives of the tsarist and Provisional governments of 1878–1917.]: Seriya 3: 1914–1917. T. 7: Ch. 2: 14 yanvarya – 23 maya 1915 g. / podgot. k pech. F. O. Notovich, pri uchastii L. A. Teleshevoy i S. A. Levinoy. M.; L.: Gos. sots.-ekon. izd-vo, 535 s. (In Russian).
Popov, A. L. 1935. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya v epokhu imperializma: dokumenty iz arkhivov tsarskogo i Vremennogo pravitelstv 1878–1917 gg. [International relations in the era of imperialism: documents from the archives of the tsarist and Provisional governments of 1878–1917.]: Seriya 3: T. 6: Ch. 2: 5 avgusta 1914 g. – 13 yanvarya 1915 g. / podgot. k pech. A. L. Popov pri uchastii B. Ya. Galinoy i V. V. Altmana, XVI, 388 c. (In Russian).
Puankare, R. 2002a. Na sluzhbe Frantsii 1914–1915: Vospominaniya. Memuary [Poincare R. In the service of France 1914–1915: Memoirs. Memoirs]. Moskva: ACT; Minsk: Kharvest, 784 s. (In Russian).
Puankare, R. 2002b. Na sluzhbe Frantsii 1915–1916: Vospominaniya. Memuary [Poincare R. In the service of France 1914–1915: Memoirs. Memoirs]. Moskva: ACT; Minsk: Kharvest, 592 s. (In Russian).
Robbins, K. 1971. British Diplomacy and Bulgaria 1914–1915. The Slavonic and East European Review, vol. 49, No. 117, pp. 560–585.
Ronge, M. 1939. Razvedka i kontrrazvedka [Intelligence and counterintelligence]. Moskva: Voenizdat NKO SSSR, 244 c. (In Russian).
Savinsky, A. 1917. Recollections of a Russian diplomat. London: Hutchinson, 316 p.
Sazonov, S. D. 2002. Vospominaniya [Memoirs]. Minsk: Kharvest, 368 s. (In Russian).
TNA. The National Archives of the UK. CAB 37/123/30. 3 pp.
TNA. The National Archives of the UK. CAB 37/131/2. 18 pp.
TNA. The National Archives of the UK. CAB 37/135/9. 11 pp.
TNA. The National Archives of the UK. CAB 42/2/3. 7 pp.
TNA. The National Archives of the UK. CAB 42/3/5. 10 pp.
TNA. The National Archives of the UK. CAB 42/3/7. 7 pp.
TNA. The National Archives of the UK. CAB 42/3/19. 11 pp.
TNA. The National Archives of the UK. CAB 42/4/21. 85 pp.
TNA. The National Archives of the UK. FO 800/43. 325 ff.
Vinogradov, V. N. 2002. Za Balkanskimi frontami Pervoy mirovoy voyny [Beyond the Balkan Fronts of the First World War]. Otv. redaktor V. N. Vinogradov. Moskva: Izdatelstvo “Indrik”, 504 s. (In Russian).
Zayonchkovskiy, A. M. 2002. Pervaya mirovaya voyna [The First World War]. Sankt-Peterburg: OOO “Izdatelstvo Poligon”, s. 878. (In Russian).
Published
2020-12-07
How to Cite
Грачов, А. (2020). Bribery as a Method of Foreign Office’s Bulgarian Policy (January – September 1915). Drinovsky Sbornik, 13, 148-156. https://doi.org/10.7546/DS.2020.13.16
Section
Статті
