Who are the FYROMians?

[poiuytrewq0987]

Yes, things got nasty when the Greek and Serb propaganda increased in response to the cultural and political activities and achievments of the local Macedonian Bulgarians in the second half of the XIX c.- the establishment of the Exarchate, the numerous Bulgarian language schools built by local, municipal, school boards of trustees, etc.

Keep in mind that there was no Bulgarian state for most of this period, it was the grassroot movement known as Bulgarian national revival that accomplished all this. There was however Greek and Serbian states, hence the better means for waging a good propaganda.

Bulgaria did become very powerful during her early years but it all collapsed when Greece and Serbia teamed up to stop Bulgaria from becoming too strong. That is a fact. Bulgaria could have allied with Romania but not sure why they didn't.

[purple]

Weren't Macedonians Bulgarians in disguise?

[пустиняк]

IF you mean Slavic population of Macedonia they are descendants of Bulgarian not of Serbs Albos or ancient Macedonians.
You should add option only Bulgarians

[morski]

Bulgaria was promised Macedonian and Thracian territories in exchance for joining the Central Powers. If you didn't then Serbia might not have ended up backstabbed again and causing more chaos in Macedonian territories.

Hm, I just now realized what a nasty insinuation you made here... It's really the Everest of hypocrisy on the Serbian part to claim we backstab them as a national pastime or smth, when the reallity is they backstabbed us in our most dire of moments as a young country.

On 6 September 1885, Bulgaria and the semi-autonomous Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia declared their unification in the city of Plovdiv. Eastern Rumelia, whose population was predominantly ethnic Bulgarian, had been an artificial creation of the Berlin Congress seven years earlier. The unification took place against the will of the Great Powers, including Russia. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had been expanding its influence in the Balkans and was particularly opposed. Bulgaria's western neighbor Serbia also feared this would diminish its position in the Balkans. In addition, Serbia's ruler Milan Obrenović IV was annoyed that Serbian opposition leaders like Nikola Pašić, who had escaped persecution after the Timok Rebellion, had found asylum in Bulgaria.

Lured by Austria-Hungary's promises for territorial gains from Bulgaria (in return for concessions in the Western Balkans), Milan IV declared war on Bulgaria on 14 November 1885. The military strategy relied largely on surprise, as Bulgaria had moved most of its troops near the border with the Ottoman Empire, in the southeast.

The pretext became a minor border dispute, known as the Bregovo Dispute. The river Timok, which formed part of the border between the two countries, had slightly changed its course over the years. As a result, a Serbian border guardhouse near the village of Bregovo had found itself on the Bulgarian bank of the river. After some denied requests from Bulgaria to evacuate the guardhouse, Bulgaria expelled the Serbian troops by force.

As it happened, the Ottomans did not intervene and the Serbian army's advance was stopped after the Battle of Slivnitsa. The main body of the Bulgarian army traveled from the Ottoman border in the southeast to the Serbian border in the northwest to defend the capital Sofia. After the defensive battles at Slivnitsa and Vidin (the latter's defence was organized by Atanas Uzunov), Bulgaria began an offensive which took the city of Pirot. At this point, the Austro-Hungarian Empire stepped in, threatening to join the war on Serbia's side if the Bulgarian troops did not retreat. No territorial changes were made to either country, but the Bulgarian unification was recognized by the Great Powers. However, the relationship of trust and friendship between Serbia and Bulgaria, built during their long common fight against Ottoman rule, suffered irreparable damage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbo-Bulgarian_War

When we were expecting a strike from the Ottomans our Slavic, Orthodox brothers instead of helping us did guess what... back... waaait for it... stabbed us.

And the other Slavic, Orthodox brother(Russia) was so selfishly following his own interests that they called back all their officers serving in the young Bulgarian army, thus leaving us with mostly captains leading it, hence the war was dubbed "War of the captains".

[Trun]

Russia has always been supporting Serbia against us- in 1885, in the Second Balkan war, in the World wars...one of those who most vigorously opposed the idea for Great Bulgaria after the First Balkan war was Russia. They were so much afraid if Bulgaria becomes too strong and commits rivalry for Constantinopol, because Ferdinand has a visible interests concerning the city.

[morski]

Russia has always been supporting Serbia against us- in 1885, in the Second Balkan war, in the World wars...one of those who most vigorously opposed the idea for Great Bulgaria after the First Balkan war was Russia. They were so much afraid if Bulgaria becomes too strong and commits rivalry for Constantinopol, because Ferdinand has a visible interests concerning the city.

Ferdinand was only one man. Our grand strategy was all Bulgarians in one state. Fuck Constantinople! Even if at some point we did manage to take it I doubt we'd have tried to hold it at all costs.

[Trun]

That is why Ferdinand is one of the most hated people in our history. He has his own goals different from the dream of Bulgarians. He wanted Thessaloniki and Constantinople in order to be accepted as a great ruler and to leave a trace in the history...but he overestimated the power of Bulgaria and didn't refer to the history. Thessaloniki and Constantinople have never been Bulgarian so Bulgaria mustn't have any ambitions on them. He must have been satisfied with the parts of Aegean Macedonia and Thrace we had and wait for possible better solution of the Vardar Macedonia question in the future.

[Dorian]

I agree with the majority of voters ,pure slavs.