Primary Documents - Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria's Abdication, 4 October 1918
Following the overwhelming
Allied victory in the Vardar Offensive of September 1918 and Prime Minister
Malinov's
decision to
negotiate an armistice,
Tsar Ferdinand's
position became untenable. At the insistence of the Allies he formally
abdicated on 4 October 1918.
Reproduced below is the text of Ferdinand's abdication.
Text of Tsar Ferdinand's Abdication
Sofia, 4 October 1918
By reason of a succession of events which have occurred in my kingdom and which demand a sacrifice from each citizen, even to the surrendering of one's self for the well-being of all, I desire to give as the first example the sacrifice of myself.
Despite the sacred ties which for thirty-two years have bound me so firmly to this country, for whose prosperity and greatness I have given all my powers, I have decided to renounce the royal Bulgarian crown in favour of my eldest son, his Highness the Prince Royal Boris of Tirnovo.
I call upon all faithful subjects and true patriots to unite as one man about the throne of King Boris, to lift the country from its difficult situation and to elevate new Bulgaria to the height to which it is predestined.
Source: Source Records of the Great War, Vol. VI, ed. Charles F. Horne, National Alumni 1923
'Strafing' is attacking ground troops by machine guns fired from low-flying aircraft.
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