The Internal Dobrujan Revolutionary Organisation (; ) or IDRO was a Bulgarian nationalist and revolutionary organisation active in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Dobruja Dobruja or Dobrudja (; or ''Dobrudža''; , or ; ; Dobrujan Tatar: ''Tomrîğa''; Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and ) is a Geography, geographical and historical region in Southeastern Europe that has been divided since the 19th century betw ...

from 1923 to 1940. It was labeled a terrorist organization by the Romanian government, though in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

it was regarded as a liberation movement. The organisation was founded in 1923 under the leadership of Docho Mihaylov and on the basis of the Great Convention of Dobruja (Велик добруджански събор), a Bulgarian political organisation established in 1919 to fight against Romanian rule in

Southern Dobruja Southern Dobruja or South Dobruja ( or simply , ; or , ), also the Quadrilateral (), is an area of north-eastern Bulgaria comprising Dobrich and Silistra provinces, part of the historical region of Dobruja. It has an area of 7,412 square km an ...

. The IDRO detachments fought against the widespread brigandage in the region, as well as the Romanian administration in the region. Like the

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; ; ), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1893 in Salonica, it initi ...

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

and the

Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organisation The Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organisation (ITRO, , , ''VTRO'') was a Bulgarian revolutionary organisation active in Western Thrace, the eastern part of Greek Macedonia (to the Struma river) and southern Bulgaria between 1920 and 1934.

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

, IDRO demanded political autonomy of Dobruja under the mandate of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

raising the slogan for the establishment of an "autonomous Dobruja" under the supervision of the League of Nations and "Dobruja for the Dobrujans". In 1925, a left-wing organisation named the Dobrujan Revolutionary Organisation (Добруджанска революционна организация) seceded from the organisation under the influence of the

Bulgarian Communist Party The Bulgarian Communist Party ( Bulgarian: Българска комунистическа партия (БΚП), Romanised: ''Bŭlgarska komunisticheska partiya''; BKP) was the founding and ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria f ...

. This wing militated for a Soviet Republic of Dobruja, which would either be part of a "

Balkan Communist Federation In late 19th and throughout the 20th century, the establishment of a Balkan Federation had been a recurrent suggestion of various political factions in the Balkans. The concept of a Balkan federation emerged in the late 19th century among left-w ...

" or to become a Republic of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The division of IDRO significantly hampered the work of the organisation, although it continued its activity under different forms until 1940 when Southern Dobruja was restored to Bulgaria under the terms of the

Treaty of Craiova The Treaty of Craiova (; ) was signed on 7 September 1940 and ratified on 13 September 1940 by the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Romania. Under its terms, Romania had to allow Bulgaria to retake Southern Dobruja, which Romania had gained ...

References

Bibliography

Национално-освободително движение в Добруджа 1878-1940

* The Communist Party of Bulgaria; origins and development, 1883–1936, p. 200, Joseph Rothschild, Columbia University Press, 1959 * Communism in Rumania, 1944–1962, Ghița Ionescu, Greenwood Press, 1976, {{ISBN, 0-8371-8168-2, p. 25. Bulgarian revolutionary organisations 1920s in Bulgaria 1920s in Romania History of Dobruja Greater Romania Organizations established in 1923

See also

References

Bibliography