Ivan Evstratiev Geshov ( bg, Иван Евстратиев Гешов) (20 February 1849 OS.html" ;"title="Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in Eastern Europe">OS">Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in Eastern Europe">OS– 11 March 1924) was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

n politician who served as Bulgarian Prime Minister. He was born in

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the ...

to a family of merchants originally from Karlovo. Geshov was educated at the Bulgarian Sts. Cyrill and Methodius High School in

, as well as at

Owens College Owens may refer to: Places in the United States * Owens Station, Delaware * Owens Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota * Owens, Missouri * Owens, Ohio * Owens, Virginia People * Owens (surname), including a list of people with the name * Ow ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

(1866-1869), where he studied logic and political economy under

Stanley Jevons William Stanley Jevons (; 1 September 183513 August 1882) was an English economist and logician. Irving Fisher described Jevons's book ''A General Mathematical Theory of Political Economy'' (1862) as the start of the mathematical method in eco ...

. Geshov first came to political attention through his involvement in the campaign for Bulgarian independence from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

. He wrote a series of letters against the Ottomans and was sentenced to death, although this was later commuted to exile in

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

. He was pardoned in 1878 after independence was gained and returned to Bulgaria to become involved in the government of

Eastern Rumelia Eastern Rumelia ( bg, Източна Румелия, Iztochna Rumeliya; ota, , Rumeli-i Şarkî; el, Ανατολική Ρωμυλία, Anatoliki Romylia) was an autonomous province (''oblast'' in Bulgarian, '' vilayet'' in Turkish) in the Ott ...

, taking on a number of roles including

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

for the region. As governor of the

Bulgarian National Bank The Bulgarian National Bank ( bg, Българска народна банка, Bohlgarska narodna banka, ), or BNB, is the central bank of the Republic of Bulgaria. Headquartered in Sofia, the bank was established in 1879. It is the 13th oldest ...

from 1883 onwards he became recognized as one of the country's leading economic minds and was eventually appointed Finance Minister in the government of Vasil Radoslavov in 1886. In this role, and subsequent spells as Finance Minister, he tended to follow

protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulation ...

in order to build up Bulgaria's fairly backward economy. However he was opposed to the policies of

Stefan Stambolov Stefan Nikolov Stambolov ( bg, Стефан Николов Стамболов) (31 January 1854 OS– 19 July 1895 OS) was a Bulgarian politician, journalist, revolutionary, and poet who served as Prime Minister and regent. He is consider ...

, at the time one of the country's regents, and resigned in 1887, largely over the pro-

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

stance of Stambolov. After a break from political life, he returned as Finance Minister in the government of

Konstantin Stoilov Konstantin Stoilov ( bg, Константин Стоилов) (23 September 1853 O.S. – 23 March 1901 O.S. ) was a leading Bulgarian politician and twice Prime Minister. Simeon Radev described him as the most European-like of all Bulgaria ...

in 1894, a position he held for three years. In 1901 he became President of the Sabranie (Assembly) and that same year was elected leader of the People's Party, following the death of Stoilov. In 1908, he took part in the so called "Geshoff incident". Geshov finally formed a government on 29 March 1911, heading a moderate coalition of nationalists and

Stoyan Danev Stoyan Petrov Danev ( bg, Стоян Петров Данев) (28 January 1858, in Şumnu, Ottoman Empire (today Shumen) – 30 July 1949) was a leading Bulgarian liberal politician and twice Prime Minister. A legal graduate of both the Univ ...

's Russophile faction. As Prime Minister he supported the introduction of the

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

electoral system. He also supported the policy of working through the

Balkan League The League of the Balkans was a quadruple alliance formed by a series of bilateral treaties concluded in 1912 between the Eastern Orthodox kingdoms of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, and directed against the Ottoman Empire, which a ...

and led the country through the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

against

. However, he resigned on 30 May 1913, the day that the Treaty of London was signed to end the War, as he opposed the Tsar's policy of making war on the Balkan League allies. Despite this, it had been Geshov's government that gave the Tsar the power to sign treaties in the first place. Geshov remained in politics as a member of the parliament, joining the Democratic Party in 1923 after the fall of the government of

Aleksandar Stamboliyski Aleksandar Stoimenov Stamboliyski ( bg, Александър Стоименов Стамболийски; 1 March 1879 – 14 June 1923) was the prime minister of Bulgaria from 1919 until 1923. Stamboliyski was a member of the Agrarian Union, ...

, but he played no further roles in government. Outside politics he fulfilled a number of roles, including editor of the ''Maritsa'' newspaper, founder of the Study Society and the Scientific and Literary Society and chairman of the Bulgarian

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

(1899-1924) and the

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (abbreviated BAS; bg, Българска академия на науките, ''Balgarska akademiya na naukite'', abbreviated ''БАН'') is the National Academy of Bulgaria, established in 1869. The Academy ...

(1911-1924).

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Geshov, Ivan Evstratiev 1849 births 1924 deaths Politicians from Plovdiv People's Party (Bulgaria) politicians Prime Ministers of Bulgaria Foreign ministers of Bulgaria Finance ministers of Bulgaria Members of the National Assembly (Bulgaria) Members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Governors of the Bulgarian National Bank Bulgarian expatriates in the United Kingdom Bulgarian people of the Balkan Wars Recipients of Bulgarian royal pardons