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roddy-bg My name is Radostina Georgieva, "Roddy".
I live in California.
I enjoy travelling, reading books, listening to music, going to the movies.
I am constantly looking for ways to challenge myself, learn, and grow.

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The initial accumulation of capital began to set in: contracting, money-lending, embezzlement of publicfunds, land speculation, foreign trade deals, etc. A large number of big dealers in farm produce, usurers, landowners and landlords grew up from the ranks of the pre-war rich Bulgarians. The formation of the industrial bourgeoisie started in the second half of the 1890s. Bourgeois class organizationswere also set up (stable political parties, organizations such as the Union of Bulgarian Industrialists, etc.).

The development of industry, trade and banking in rural and backward Bulgaria, after centuries of foreign oppression, depended almost in full on the enterprise, the protection and the aid of the state, which was the reason why all bourgeois parties fawned upon the king, deviating from the party programme principles. Political power gave birth to the Bulgarian bourgeoisie, which singled out from among its ranks the leaders of the political parties, such as Dr. Konstantin Stoilov and Mihail Madjarov of the Popular Party, Stefan Stambolov, Vassil Radoslavov and Dimiter Petkov of the various Liberal factions, etc. The Democratic Party led by Al. Malinov had a more specific role to play: until 1912 it represented the interests of the petty and middle bourgeoisie. These parties did not have a stable membership; it actually fluctuated from one to the other, depending on which one of them was in power. The skirmishes for more parliamentary seats fanned bribes, demagogy and unscrupulousness.

The progress of the Bulgarian bourgeoisie was accompanied by economic bondage to the Western countries. Foreign capital (German, French, Belgian and mixed) penetrated intensively into Bulgaria, especially between 1905 and 1912 and between 1919 and 1928. The development of capitalist relations brought Bulgaria a certain amount of economic and political prosperity. By the turn of the century the country caught up with and, in certain industrial branches, even outstripped the neighbouring Balkan countries. Dozens of new industrial enterprises were commissioned - textile, beer and liquor brewing, leather-tanning and fur-making and the transport system doubled in size. By force of a number of objective circumstances the Bulgarian bourgeoisie failed to grow into a political and economic power. In their foreign policy the often superseding governments and the king resorted to various deals seeking the support of a great power to help attain the national unification of the Bulgarians. These governments did, however, take some relatively independent steps such as the Unification of Bulgaria in 1885 and, later on the 1908 declaration of Bulgaria's independence.

 
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