Kimon Georgiev Stoyanov ( bg, Кимон Георгиев Стоянов; August 11, 1882 – September 28, 1969) was a Bulgarian general who was the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

of the

Kingdom of Bulgaria The Tsardom of Bulgaria ( bg, Царство България, translit=Tsarstvo Balgariya), also referred to as the Third Bulgarian Tsardom ( bg, Трето Българско Царство, translit=Treto Balgarsko Tsarstvo, links=no), someti ...

from 1934 to 1935 and again from 1944 to 1946.

Life and career

Born in

Pazardzhik Pazardzhik ( bg, Пазарджик ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the capital of Pazardzhik Province and centre for the homonymous Pazardzhik Municipality. The Tatars founded Pazardzhik in t ...

, Georgiev graduated from the Sofia military academy in 1902. He participated in the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

as a company commander and in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as a commander of a battalion. In 1916 he lost an eye due to injuries received in action. He left the army in 1920 with the rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. Georgiev was one of the founders of the Military Union in 1919 and the People's Alliance in 1922. He participated in the organization of the 1923 coup d'état and after that became one of the leaders of the Democratic Alliance. He was the minister for railways, postal service and telegraphs in the first cabinet of

Andrey Lyapchev Andrey Tasev Lyapchev (Tarpov) ( bg, Андрей Тасев Ляпчев (Tърпов)) (30 November 1866 – 6 November 1933) was a Bulgarian Prime Minister in three consecutive governments. Early years Lyapchev was born in the Macedonian c ...

. In the 1930s he became one of the leaders of the right-wing military ''

Zveno Zveno ( bg, Звено, lit=link), ''Politicheski krŭg "Zveno"'', officially Political Circle "Zveno" was a Bulgarian political organization, founded in 1930 by Bulgarian politicians, intellectuals and Bulgarian Army officers. It was associated ...

'' ('Link') movement. Together with fellow officers he committed a coup d'état in May 1934 and became prime minister. He was also justice minister and for a short time minister of war and foreign affairs. He abolished all political parties and trade unions. Influenced by the Italian

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

, he introduced a

corporative Corporatism is a Collectivism and individualism, collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by Corporate group (sociology), corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guil ...

economic system. In 1935 Tsar

Boris III Boris III ( bg, Борѝс III ; Boris Treti; 28 August 1943), originally Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver (Boris Clement Robert Mary Pius Louis Stanislaus Xavier) , was the Tsar of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1918 until h ...

forced him to resign. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, when Bulgaria was fighting on the side of the

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

, he grew close to the left-wing forces in Bulgaria and in 1943 he joined the anti-Axis Fatherland Front (FF) as one of its leaders. In September 1944 the FF committed a coup d'état and Georgiev again became prime minister. In 1946 he was succeeded by the communist leader

Georgi Dimitrov Georgi Dimitrov Mihaylov (; bg, Гео̀рги Димитро̀в Миха̀йлов), also known as Georgiy Mihaylovich Dimitrov (russian: Гео́ргий Миха́йлович Дими́тров; 18 June 1882 – 2 July 1949), was a Bulgarian ...

and became vice-premier and Foreign Minister. Though

was disbanded in 1949, Georgiev continued holding ministerial posts in each cabinet until 1962. From 1962 until his death in 1969 he was a member of the Presidium of the National Assembly. Georgiev was twice awarded the title

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It repre ...

. He is known as ''stariya prevratadzhiya'' (стария превратаджия, in English, ''the old coup-maker'') in Bulgaria for having organised three coups: 1923, 1934 and 1944.

References

* Tasho Tashev, ''The Ministers of Bulgaria 1879–1999'', Sofia, AI "Prof. Marin Drinov"/Publishing house of the Ministry of Defense, 1999, / (in Bulgarian).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Georgiev, Kimon 1882 births 1969 deaths People from Pazardzhik Prime Ministers of Bulgaria Deputy prime ministers of Bulgaria Members of the National Assembly (Bulgaria) World War II political leaders Bulgarian military personnel of World War I Bulgarian military personnel of the Balkan Wars Bulgarian generals Politicians with disabilities Defence ministers of Bulgaria