Bulgaria 1920–44

In the aftermath of World War I Bulgaria signed the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine on 27 November 1919. This formally ceded a number of territories to its neighbouring countries, including some on its border with the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and western Thrace, which went to Greece. Like ifs fellow Central Powers, Bulgaria was made to pay reparations to the tune of £100 million and forbidden from holding an army of more than 20,000 troops. The treaty was received so poorly in Bulgaria that it became known as the Second National Catastrophe (the first was defeat in the Second Balkan War of 1913). Bulgaria struggled to meet its reparation repayments as its national industries were weak. Successive government coups and plots against the tsar saw the country drift towards the right wing and it found itself aligned with Germany again by the outbreak of World War II. Bulgaria then occupied Thrace and Macedonia upon siding with Nazi Germany.