The Agrarian National Guard (Земеделска народна гвардия, ''Zemedelska narodna gvardiya''), unofficially known as the Orange Guard ( bg , Оранжева гвардия, ''Oranzheva gvardiya'') 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 Macedon ...

n paramilitary organization created by the

Bulgarian Agrarian National Union The Bulgarian Agrarian National Union Bulgarian Agrarian National U ...

(BANU). It operated during the premiership of the Agrarian politician

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, ...

, who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 1919 to 1923. The Guard not only functioned as Stamboliyski's bodyguard, but also carried out the government's radical land-reform policies. The militia earned its unofficial name, the Orange Guard, from the opposition – in reference to BANU's official color. It was divided in two parts – infantry and cavalry. The radical left-wing politician and one-time leader of the Radomir Rebellion of 1918,

Rayko Daskalov Rayko Ivanov Daskalov ( bg, Райко Иванов Даскалов) ( – 26 August 1923) was a Bulgarian interwar politician of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (BANU). One of the chief leaders of the republican Vladaya Uprising or ...

(who held several ministerial posts in the BANU government), personally commanded the Orange Guard, having suggested its formation. The militia became involved in a number of violent confrontations with the political opposition, such as quelling the large transport strike of 1919-1920 (organized by

Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

Anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...

and

Socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...

) and attacking the founding convention of the right-wing Constitutional Bloc in 1922. It also clashed with the

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр� ...

(IMRO). After Benito Mussolini staged his

March on Rome The March on Rome ( it, Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, ...

in October 1922, the National Alliance (a military-academic opposition group) considered launching a "March on Sofia", but abandoned the idea out of fear of Orange Guard retaliation. When the

Bulgarian coup d'état of 1923 Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

(led by the military and a coalition of right-wing parties, in cooperation with the IMRO) ousted the Agrarian government on 9 June 1923, most of the Orange Guard was concentrated in the capital of

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

. The attack came as a surprise to the peasant militiamen, who were quickly disarmed. The new Democratic Alliance government of

Aleksandar Tsankov Aleksandar Tsolov Tsankov ( bg, Александър Цолов Цанков; June 29, 1879 – July 27, 1959) was a leading Bulgarian politician during the interwar period between the two world wars. Biography A professor of political econom ...

later dissolved the organization. On orders of the IMRO leader

Todor Aleksandrov Todor Aleksandrov Poporushov, best known as Todor Alexandrov ( Bulgarian/ Macedonian: Тодор Александров), also spelt as Alexandroff (4 March 1881 – 31 August 1924), was a Bulgarian revolutionary, army officer, politician and t ...

, an IMRO agent assassinated Rayko Daskalov, the Orange Guard commander, on August 23, 1923 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

(where he had formed a BANU

government in exile A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile ...

References

{{reflist Agrarian politics Defunct organizations based in Bulgaria Military history of Bulgaria Military wings of political parties Socialism in Bulgaria

See also

References