2007 Bulgaria joins the EU

2004 Bulgaria joins NATO

2001 Former king, Simeon II, is elected prime minister

1990 Zhelyu Zhelev is first democratically elected president of Bulgaria

1989 – 90 Communist regime collapses; first parliamentary elections won by the Bulgarian Socialist Party

1946 The People’s Republic of Bulgaria proclaimed

1941 Bulgaria joins the axis powers in WWII

1934 Coup d’etat by right-wing Zveno group

1912 – 13 The Balkan Wars

1885 Treaty of Berlin overturned; Bulgaria is reunified

1877 – 78 Russian-Turkish War; Treaty of Berlin signed

1876 April Uprising in Koprivshtitsa

1762 Bulgarian national revival begins

1205 Latin Byzantine emperor Baldwin of Flanders is captured after invading Bulgaria and is captured after invading Bulgaria and is imprisoned in Veliko Turnovo.

1185 – 1396 Second Bulgarian Empire

1014 15,000 Bulgarian soldiers are captured and blinded by Byzantine Emperor Basill ll ‘the Bulgar Slayer’ and sent back to Tsar Samuel

971 Bulgarian capital at Pliska falls to Byzantines

863 Sts Kiril and Metodii create Cyrillic alphabet

681 – 1018 First Bulgarian Empire

46 AD Tharce made a Roman province

4000 – 1000 BC Thracians dominate the region

6000 BC Neolithic settlements established