Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944

The Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944, also known as the 9 September coup d'état (Деветосептемврийски преврат, Devetoseptemvriyski prevrat) and called in pre-1989 Bulgaria the National Uprising of 9 September or the Socialist Revolution of 9 September was a change in the Kingdom of Bulgaria's administration and government carried out on the eve of 9 September 1944. The government of Prime Minister Konstantin Muraviev was overthrown and replaced with a government of the Fatherland Front led by Kimon Georgiev. While the Soviet Union supported the coup, their forces (the Third Ukrainian Front) were not directly involved in it, as they had only entered northeastern Bulgaria at this point. Following that date, large-scale political, economic and social changes were introduced to the country, with Bulgaria quitting the Axis and coming into the Soviet sphere of influence.

Background
On 26 August 1944, the government of Ivan Bagryanov had orally declared Bulgaria's neutrality in the war under the threat of the Red Army's offensive in neighbouring Romania. At the same time, in Egypt the government had entered separate peace talks with the United Kingdom and the United States, hoping to secure the dispatch of British and American troops in Bulgaria. On that same day, the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Workers' Party (BWP) proclaimed the assumption of power by means of a popular uprising to be its official task.

A government of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (BANU) "Vrabcha 1", until then in opposition, was formed on 2 September 1944, headed by Konstantin Muraviev. It continued the peace talks, declared its support for democratic reforms and ordered the withdrawal of German Army troops from Bulgaria. At the same time, the guerrilla actions of the partisans did not cease, the alliance with Nazi Germany was not disbanded and no attempts were made to normalize the relations with Moscow, forcing the Soviet Union to treat the new government with suspicion. On 5 September 1944, the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria.

On 5 September, the Central Committee of the BWP and the general staff of the Popular Liberation Revolutionary Army commenced the planning of a coup d'état. The plan was further detailed on 8 September. According to the plan, the coordinated actions of the partisans, the BWP combat groups and the pro-Fatherland Front army detachments would assume power and effective control of government during the night of 9 September. The stated goal of the coup d'état was the "overthrowing of the fascist authorities and the establishment of popular-democratic power of the Fatherland Front".

Unrest began all around Bulgaria on 6 September and 7 September, with the strikes of the Pernik miners and the Sofia tram employees, as well as the general strikes in Plovdiv and Gabrovo. The prisons in Pleven, Varna and Sliven had their political prisoners released; 170 localities were entered by partisan detachments between 6 September and 8 September. In many cities and villages, the strikes and meetings grew into armed clashes with the police, with victims on both sides. On 8 September, the Red Army entered Bulgaria meeting with no opposition on the order of the new Bulgarian government.

Coup d'état
On the eve of 9 September, army units together with Fatherland Front detachments captured key locations in Sofia, such as the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the post, the telegraph, the radio, the railway station, etc. Early in the morning, the new Prime Minister Kimon Georgiev informed the people on the radio of the shuffle:

With the complete awareness that it is a true and full voice of the popular will, the Fatherland Front assumes in that fateful hour and difficult conditions the government of the country in order to save it from destruction.

On 9 September, on the order of the Popular Liberation Revolutionary Army commander-in-chief Dobri Terpeshev, all partisan units descended from the mountains and assumed power in the villages and cities. In most places, this was not met with much resistance, but in other cases army and police detachments loyal to the old government put up violent resistance to the Fatherland Front forces. In Sofia, Plovdiv, the region of Pernik, Shumen and Haskovo, the old regime's supporters were defeated by military means, with the army coming under the effective control of the Fatherland Front. The establishment of the new leadership happened at the latest in Haskovo, where partisans and other antifascists seized the artillery barracks on 12 September, but suffered many casualties, as the negotiations with the commanding officers failed to reach a compromise.

As of 9 September, the Red Army had not reached Sofia but remained in northeastern Bulgaria. As the Bulgarian communists were capable of assuming power without any aid, the Red Army commanders decided not to hurry with a seizure of the capital.

New government
The Fatherland Front government included representatives of the BWP, BANU "Pladne", the Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party (Wide Socialists) and Zveno. The former Prime Minister Konstantin Muraviev was arrested, as were Tsar Simeon II's regents, members of the former government, and some army detachment heads. On 10 September, the police was abolished and replaced with a popular militia consisting mainly of recent partisans; 8,130 political prisoners were released from the prisons, and the concentration camps of the former regime (e.g. Gonda voda, Krasto pole, Lebane) were closed down. The fascist organizations were banned, as were their publications. The former regents, Prince Kyril, Bogdan Filov, and Nikola Mihailov Mihov, were executed in February. On 15 September 1946, a referendum was held and monarchy was abolished.

Aftermath
After 9 September 1944, the Bulgarian Army joined the Third Ukrainian Front and contributed to the defeat of Nazism in Europe, helping drive out the Germans from much of Yugoslavia and Hungary, reaching as far as Klagenfurt in Austria by April 1945. Although Bulgaria was not recognized as a true member of the Allies, it still managed to retain Southern Dobruja which it had acquired in 1940 per the Treaty of Craiova.