concept
Bulgarian-Rumelian Unification Crisis of 1885
the Balkan crisis
also: Bulgaria and Rumelia
The September 1885 revolt of Eastern Rumelia and its declared union with the Principality of Bulgaria, which triggered fears of a wider Balkan war among the Great Powers -- the live news story behind Grisha and Nyanin's dinner-table geopolitical panic.
Reading notes
- Psychopaths §4 Bulgaria and Rumelia
The 1885 unification crisis: on 18 September 1885 Eastern Rumelia (an Ottoman autonomous province) rose up and declared union with the Principality of Bulgaria, triggering fears of a wider Balkan war among the Great Powers -- the news story dominating Russian papers as Chekhov wrote this sketch.
- Psychopaths §4 Greece and Serbia will rise up, Turkey too
Serbia in fact invaded Bulgaria in November 1885 (the Serbo-Bulgarian War) fearing the union upset the regional balance of power; Greece separately mobilized against the Ottomans over its own territorial claims -- both real anxieties Grisha inflates into panic.