Bulgarian nationalism in the 19th century: A theoritical approach

This study aims to examine Bulgarian nationalism, which has started to develop since the 19th century, in the context of Miroslav Hroch's three-phase "small nations typology", which has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. According to this typology, Hroch defined 4 types for small European nationalisms; the integrated type, the belated type, the insurrectional type and the disintegrated type. According to Hroch, Balkan nationalisms can be examined within the framework of 'the insurrectional type'. Miroslav Hroch's theory has attracted considerable attention in the nationalism studies, however its applicability is not examined with the micro studies. Hence, this study aims to contribute to the Balkan nationalism literature by investigating applicability of Hroch's theory on the Bulgarian nationalism. The main purpose of the study is to reveal the internal and external factors affecting Bulgarian nationalism, taking into account the importance of the external effects created by the Great Powers, especially Russia, as well as the internal socio-economic cultural developments such as the intellectualbourgeoisie-press in the emergence of the Balkan nationalisms, which are defined as the insurrectional type. In the study, on the one hand, internal and external factors affecting Bulgarian nationalism were discussed within the theoretical framework, on the other hand, the emergence of the Bulgarian identity, the background that enabled the transformation of this identity into a national vii identity and the conditions that enabled this movement to reach independence were examined. The time span that the study focuses on is the period from the beginning of the 19th century, the beginning of the cultural phase of Bulgarian nationalism, to 1908, when Bulgaria officially declared its independence. In this study, the typology of small nations consisting of A, B and C phases was used as a theoretical framework to periodize the Bulgarian national movement and to what extent this typology could be applied to Bulgarian nationalism was questioned. While the small nations typology provides a useful framework for analyzing Balkan nationalisms, it is emphasized that the special dynamics of Bulgarian nationalism and the international conjuncture should also be taken into account. Keywords: Bulgarian Nationalism, Bulgaria, Miroslav Hroch, Small Nations Typology.