| rdfs:comment
| - Vidin emerged at the place of an old Celtic settlement known as Dunonia. The settlement evolved into an Roman fortified town called Bononia. The town grew into one of the important centers of the province of Upper Moesia, encompassing the territory of modern northwestern Bulgaria and eastern Serbia. Roman rule lasted until 46 AD. At the decline of the empire, the Goths, Huns, Bulgars, and Avars invaded. The Bulgars, who crossed the Danube from the north in 679, took control of the region. In 865, the area adopted Orthodox Christianity. The Bulgars twice conquered most of the Balkan peninsula between 893 and 1280.
|
| abstract
| - Vidin emerged at the place of an old Celtic settlement known as Dunonia. The settlement evolved into an Roman fortified town called Bononia. The town grew into one of the important centers of the province of Upper Moesia, encompassing the territory of modern northwestern Bulgaria and eastern Serbia. Roman rule lasted until 46 AD. At the decline of the empire, the Goths, Huns, Bulgars, and Avars invaded. The Bulgars, who crossed the Danube from the north in 679, took control of the region. In 865, the area adopted Orthodox Christianity. The Bulgars twice conquered most of the Balkan peninsula between 893 and 1280. In the Middle Ages Vidin used to be an important Bulgarian city. In 1003 it was seized by Basil II after an eight month siege because of the betrayal of the local bishop. From the mid 13th century onwards it was ruled by the Shishman family. In 1356, Tsar Ivan Alexander isolated Vidin from the Bulgarian monarchy and appointed his son Ivan Stratsimir as absolute ruler of Vidin's new city-state - the Tsardom of Vidin. In 1365, it was occupied by Magyar crusaders. The Hungarian occupation was short-lived, and in 1369, a united Slavic Bulgarian empire drove out the Hungarian military, but in 1393 the whole of Bulgaria, along with the rest of the surrounding region, fell to the Ottoman Empire. This brought an end to Bulgaria's medieval state empire. Vidin's independence did not last long. In 1396, Stratsimir contributed soldiers to assist the Slavic nations' bid to overturn the Ottoman Empire. Following defeat at the hands of the Ottomans outside the city of Nicopolis, Vidin finally fell under the sphere of the Ottomans as a punishment for their role in the hostilities. Ottoman rule was harsh and inescapable and it would remain part of the Ottoman Empire until 1878, when Russia forced the Turks to give Bulgaria its independence. But the European powers, fearing Russia's and Bulgaria's dominance in the Balkans, intervened at the Congress of Berlin, limiting Bulgaria's territory and fashioning it into a small principality ruled by Alexander of Battenburg. In the late years of Ottoman rule, Vidin was also the centre of Turkish rebel Osman Pazvantoğlu's breakaway state. During the Serbo-Bulgarian War in 1885, the town was besieged by a Serbian army. Although vastly outnumbered, the Bulgarians defeated the enemy who suffered a humiliating defeat. In the First Balkan War, Bulgaria and the other members of the Balkan League fought against Turkey to regain Balkan territory. Angered by the small portion of Macedonia it received after the battle the country instigated the Second Balkan War against Turkey as well as its former allies, losing badly. Bulgaria joined Germany in World War I in the hope of again gaining Macedonia. After this second failure, Ferdinand abdicated in favor of his son. Boris III squandered Bulgaria's resources and assumed dictatorial powers in 1934–1935. Bulgaria fought on the side of the Nazis in World War II, but after Russia declared war on Bulgaria on Sept. 5, 1944, Bulgaria switched sides. Three days later, a Communist-dominated coalition took control of the country. The Communist party increased its membership from 15,000 to 250,000 during the following six months. However, Bulgaria did not become a people's republic until 1946. It came under the Soviet sphere of influence, with Georgi Dimitrov as the foremost Bulgarian political leader. The country then installed a Soviet-type planned economy. By the mid 1950s standards of living rose significantly, and in 1957 collective farm workers benefited from the first agricultural pension and welfare system in Eastern Europe. Todor Zhivkov dominated the politics of the country from 1956 to Doomsday, thus becoming one of the most established Warsaw Pact leaders. Zhivkov asserted Bulgaria's position as the most reliable Soviet ally, and increased its overall importance in the Comecon.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)