The Bulgarian rulers managed during the war to prevent Bulgaria from becoming a battleground, and if it were not for the misguided decision of the rulers to declare war on England and the USA, Bulgaria could have avoided the devastating bombardments in 1943–1944.
For its role as a German satellite, Bulgaria received the territories it had justly claimed. Yet, Germany did not want to solve Bulgaria’s territorial issues. It preferred to keep the Bulgarian rulers at bay by giving Bulgaria the new territories to administer only with the intention of redrawing the borders after the end of the war. One can only guess if Bulgaria would have been satisfied then with respect to all its claims. Keeping in mind that it was not playing its role of a satellite exactly as they would have liked in Berlin, I doubt that the Germans would have agreed to all Bulgarian territorial claims.
The turning point of the war in 1943 cooled the enthusiasm of the Bulgarian pro-German politicians, and the death of Tsar Boris confused them still more since it happened after a visit to Hitler, giving grounds for rumors of a forced death. On their part, the Germans also spread versions about the death of the Tsar. Consequently, there are doubts about his death even today. Known historic materials give grounds to draw the conclusion that the death of Tsar Boris was most probably natural and the result of a still more complicated situation. The Tsar, who had always kept to the policy of maneuvering and waiting, understood that Germany was gradually but surely losing the war. Bulgaria was inevitably to follow it, making the road to salvation seem more and more impossible to travel. It is most probably this conclusion and the great tension that led to the death of the Tsar. It is difficult to say what his fate would have been had he lived to the time of the radical change that took place on September 9, 1944.
The Bulgarian Communists who made the political, social and economic changes on September 9th can take no practical credit for this change. Bulgaria turned out to be a pawn of the Great Powers which predetermined its fate for the ensuing four and a half decades by deciding that Bulgaria would be within the Soviet sphere of influence. This period is subject to strenuous research on the part of historians and is evaluated in contradictory ways. Future historians will give the most correct evaluation of the regime after 1944. The Bulgarian army contributed to the defeat of Nazism, and the tens of thousands of killed and wounded Bulgarian warriors allowed for more favorable treatment of the country after the end of the war. Bulgaria even retained South Dobrudzha — a territory it acquired months before its entry into the Trilateral Pact. This territory was conceded by Romania which at the end of the war was also a defeated German satellite. What would have been the situation concerning this piece of land had Romania been on the side of the Allies?
In my opinion, during the Second World War Bulgaria had a reasonable foreign policy considering there were not many alternatives. Naturally, I do not deny in any way that the rulers had pro-German inclinations and strong anti-Soviet feelings. They could not have avoided Bulgaria’s inclusion in the Trilateral Pact, but it was not necessary to make the big mistake of declaring war on Great Britain and the USA. It is quite questionable whether Bulgaria could have left the German orbit earlier. If it had made a more decisive attempt to do this in the spring and summer of 1944, this could have cost the country dearly. The Germans would have hardly hesitated to replace the members of the Government by extreme supporters of the Third Reich.
During the years of the Second World War, Bulgaria attempted to develop a reasonable foreign policy, but we should not underestimate the fact that it is a small country and that it is among the countries which lost the First World War. Had it not been for the blunder of the rulers in December 1941, the country could have avoided the destructive bombardments by the Allies.