Leonid Nikolayevich Sobolev (russian: Леонид Николаевич Соболев) (9 June 1844 – 13 October 1913) was an

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

general and politician. A veteran of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, General Sobolev was the main proponent of the strand of Russian foreign and military policy that saw for the Russians a duty to expel 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) ...

from

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and to take the

Bosphorus The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...

for Russia in order to ensure full access to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

. Recognising that the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

maintained a policy of preventing this Sobolev advocated mobilising forces near

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

in order to distract British attention from the Ottomans and give a Russia a free hand in that region. Sobolev was one of two young

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n generals appointed to the

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 Macedon ...

n cabinet in April 1882 by

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

. Sobolev was appointed both

Prime Minister of Bulgaria The prime minister of Bulgaria ( bg, Министър-председател, Ministar-predsedatel) is the head of government of Bulgaria. They are the leader of a political coalition in the Bulgarian parliament – known as the National Assemb ...

and Minister of the Interior, with his fellow Russian general Aleksandr Kaulbars as Minister of War.R. J. Crampton, ''Bulgaria'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 110. Sobolev awarded the other cabinet posts to members of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

and won their favour by endorsing laws to reduce the size of the

National Assembly of Bulgaria The National Assembly ( bg, Народно събрание, Narodno sabranie) is the unicameral parliament and legislative body of the Republic of Bulgaria. The National Assembly was established in 1879 with the Tarnovo Constitution. Ordi ...

and limit the franchise to educated property owners, measures that ensured the Liberals were all but eliminated. Sobolev however irked his Bulgarian allies when he dismissed the state as "just another

Khanate A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire. Mong ...

", comparing it to the

Khanate of Bukhara The Khanate of Bukhara (or Khanate of Bukhoro) ( fa, , Khānāt-e Bokhārā; ) was an Uzbek state in Central Asia from 1500 to 1785, founded by the Abu'l-Khayrid dynasty, a branch of the Shaybanids. From 1533 to 1540, Bukhara briefly became its ...

where he had been governor. He further annoyed the newly elected Conservative Assembly members with his aristocratic manner and his over-the-top attempts to bribe them, which even included leaving confectionery on each member's desk.Crampton, ''Bulgaria'', p. 111. Soon Sobolev was at loggerheads with the Assembly over the presence of a force of Russian Dragoons in Bulgaria and over ownership of the railways. Eventually, with the aid of pro-Russian Orthodox leader Metropolitan Mileti of Sofia, Sobolev forced the resignation of his nemesis

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 Bulgarian ...

, the Minister for Foreign and Religious Affairs, although Stoilov's departure prompted two other leading Conservatives to also quit the cabinet. With the government in ruins Sobolev turned to the Liberal leader

Dragan Tsankov Dragan Kiriakov Tsankov ( bg, Драган Киряков Цанков) (9 November 1828 – 24 March 1911) was a Bulgarian politician and the first Liberal Party Prime Minister of the country. He was born in Svishtov. Tsankov was initially a ...

for a new coalition but he had another agenda in mind. Tsankov won the support of both Alexander and the assembly for a

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

restoration after convincing all parties that Russian influence had become too strong. Outmanoeuvred Sobolev resigned on 7 September along with Kaulbars leaving the premiership to Tsankov.Crampton, ''Bulgaria'', pp. 112–113.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sobolev, Leonid 1844 births 1913 deaths 19th-century people from the Russian Empire 19th-century Bulgarian people Imperial Russian Army generals Prime ministers of Bulgaria Finance ministers of Bulgaria Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Bulgaria Bulgarian people of Russian descent