Bulgarian Declaration of Independence

Bulgarian Declaration of Independence
The declaration (manifesto) of independence
Created	5 October [O.S. 22 September] 1908
Purpose	To announce the de jure independence of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire

The de jure independence of Bulgaria (Bulgarian: Независимост на България, Nezavisimost na Balgaria) from the Ottoman Empire was proclaimed on 5 October [O.S. 22 September] 1908 in the old capital of Tarnovo by Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, who afterwards took the title "Tsar".

Bulgaria had been a widely autonomous principality since 3 March [O.S. 19 February] 1878, when it was liberated from Ottoman rule in the wake of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78). Although it was still technically under the suzerainty of the Sublime Porte, this was a legal fiction that Bulgaria only acknowledged in a formal way. It acted largely as a de facto independent state. On 18 September [O.S. 6 September] 1885, it had unified with the Bulgarian-majority Ottoman autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia. After the Liberation, Bulgaria's main external goal was the unification of all Bulgarian-inhabited areas under foreign rule into a single Bulgarian state: the main targets of Bulgarian irredentism were Macedonia and southern Thrace, which continued to be part of the Ottoman realm. In order to join an anti-Ottoman alliance and claim those territories by war, however, Bulgaria had to proclaim its independence first. This would constitute a violation of the Treaty of Berlin's terms, an act unlikely to be approved by the Great Powers.