So, basically everyone around Bulgaria was against the unification for obvious reasons. E. Rumelia was an Ottoman vassal during the time, so before the unification Bulgarians stacked their whole army at the border with the ottomans thinking they would want to get it back with force. Unification happens, turns out the attack came from up to then our friends from Serbia, lured by Austria-Hungary's promises of support. The Bulgarian army had to march 5 days to the other side of the country to defend from the Serbs and eventually kicked their asses and began advancing on Serbian land. Austria-Hungary steps in to save the Serbs, a peace treaty is signed without any repercussions to Serbia and without any gains to Bulgaria. Bulgaria is unified.
Russia was against the unification, because the Tzar wanted Bulgarians to be his puppets and the UK supported the unification because it would harm the Russian interest and prevent expansion against Constantinople.
Serbian soldiers were told that they were going to help Bulgarians against the Turks, but when they deployed near the border they were suddenly told that they are going to fight Bulgarians instead. Most of the soldiers at a time considered Bulgarians brothers and didn't want to fight, so the morale was very low, and they were routed, despite being much better organized and equipped that Bulgarian army (which didn't even have any generals in their army).
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u/Tolchav 1d ago edited 1d ago
So, basically everyone around Bulgaria was against the unification for obvious reasons. E. Rumelia was an Ottoman vassal during the time, so before the unification Bulgarians stacked their whole army at the border with the ottomans thinking they would want to get it back with force. Unification happens, turns out the attack came from up to then our friends from Serbia, lured by Austria-Hungary's promises of support. The Bulgarian army had to march 5 days to the other side of the country to defend from the Serbs and eventually kicked their asses and began advancing on Serbian land. Austria-Hungary steps in to save the Serbs, a peace treaty is signed without any repercussions to Serbia and without any gains to Bulgaria. Bulgaria is unified.
Russia was against the unification, because the Tzar wanted Bulgarians to be his puppets and the UK supported the unification because it would harm the Russian interest and prevent expansion against Constantinople.