Bulgarian Army

After the Liberation of Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Territorial Troops were established by order № 1 dated from July 15th 1878 and issued by the Russian high commissioner to Bulgaria, Price Alexander Dondukov-Korssakov.  Its core was the Bulgarian volunteer force, and it was established as a permanent army with obligatory military service. At a later stage, the latter becomes one of the basic principles underlying the Constitution of Turnovo. Within a short period of time four branches of services were formed: infantry, artillery, cavalry and sapper troops, and in 1879 the bases of the Navy were built.

At the end of 1878, the Bulgarian territorial troops includes 31 400 servicemen, equipped with arms, materials and munitions from the Russian army.  

In November 1879, a military school was founded in Sofia, in which 255 Bulgarian cadets enrolled. Apart from them, 132 Bulgarian young men were sent to study at Russian military schools, and in the town of Veliko Turnovo an educational team was constituted with the goal to prepare officer-candidates.

After the Constitution of Turnovo was adopted, Prince Alexander I Battenberg was promulgated as a ruler of the state, and the Bulgarian government was constituted, the independent life of the Principality of Bulgaria started as a separate state. By Decree № 23 from July 17th 1879, the Ministry of war was established. On December 17th 1879, “The Provisional Rules of the Bulgarian Troops” came into force, and played the role of the first law of the armed forces, which instead of “territorial force” were called “Bulgarian troops”.