Ferdinand I (of Bulgaria)

Ferdinand I (of Bulgaria) was born on 26 February 1861 in Vienna, Austria.¹ He was the son of Augustus (of Saxe-Coburg) and Clementine (of France).¹ Ferdinand I (of Bulgaria) married Mary Louise (of Parma), daughter of Robert I (of Parma) and Maria Antonia (of Portugal), in 1893.¹ Ferdinand I (of Bulgaria) died on 10 September 1948 in Coburg, Germany, at age 87.¹
In 1878, Russia forced Turkey to give Bulgaria its independence after the Russo-Turkish War ( 1877-78), but the European powers, fearing Russia's and Bulgaria's dominance in the Balkans , intervened at the Congress of Berlin (1878), limited Bulgaria's territory, and fashioned i t into a small principality ruled by the nephew of the Russian czar, Alexander of Battenburg. Alexander was succeeded in 1887 by Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who declared a king dom independent of Russia on Oct. 5, 1908. In the First Balkan War (1912-13), Bulgaria and th e other members of the Balkan League fought against Turkey to regain Balkan territory. Angere d by the small portion of Macedonia it received after the battle-it considered Macedonia an i ntegral part of Bulgaria-the country instigated the Second Balkan War (June-Aug. 1913) agains t Turkey as well as its former allies. Bulgaria lost the war and all the territory it had gai ned in the First Balkan War. Bulgaria joined Germany in World War I in the hope of again gain ing Macedonia. After this second failure, Ferdinand abdicated in favor of his son in 1918. Bo ris III squandered Bulgaria's resources and assumed dictatorial powers in 1934-35. Bulgaria f ought on the side of the Nazis in World War II, but after Russia declared war on Bulgaria o n Sept. 5, 1944, Bulgaria switched sides. Three days later, on Sept. 9, 1944, a Communist coa lition took control of the country and set up a government under Kimon Georgiev.¹ Ferdinand I's father Augustus (of Saxe-Coburg) died in 1881.¹ Ferdinand I (of Bulgaria) became the father of Boris III (of Bulgaria) on 30 January 1894.¹ Ferdinand I (of Bulgaria) became the father of Nadezhda (of Bulgaria) in 1899.¹ Ferdinand I (of Bulgaria) became a widower with the death of his wife, Mary Louise (of Parma) in 1899.¹ Ferdinand I's mother Clementine (of France) died in 1907.¹ Ferdinand I's son Boris III (of Bulgaria) died on 28 August 1943 in Sofia, Bulgaria.¹