37 remembrance and justice 2 (36) 2020 EVGENIA KALINOVA, ISKRA BAEVA Sofa University “St. Kliment Ohridski” ORCID: 0000-0002-3439-420X ISKRA BAEVA Sofa University “St. Kliment Ohridski” ORCID: 0000-0002-4750-3081 The Role of an External Factor for the Establishment of the Communist Regime in Bulgaria – September 1944–1948 This study is an attempt at highlighting the role of an external factor, that is, the combined role of the policies of the Soviet Union, the United States, and Great Britain, regarding the establishment of a Communist regime in Bulgaria. First, we discuss the attitude of the three “Great Powers” to the Communist party coming to power on 9 September 1944. Second, we then outline their role in the process of asserting the Communists in the coalition government of Bulgaria from 9 September 1944 to the end of 1948, when the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) took full control of every sphere of Bulgarian political, economic, cultural and social life, closely following the Soviet (Stalinist) model of state socialism. Let us begin by clarifying the role of this external factor for the rise of the BCP to power on 9 September 1944. Bulgaria emerged from World War II as a defeated state. As an ally of Germany, in December 1941 it declared war on the United States and Britain. 1 On 5 September 1944 the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria, 2 which was still at that point unwilling to break of diplomatic relations with the Reich. Te three states prepared the text of the Armistice Agreement with Bulgaria, signed on 28 October 1944, and oversaw its implementation until the autumn of 1947, when the Peace Treaty with Bulgaria entered into force. Tus the fate of Bulgaria from the autumn of 1944 till 1948 1 V. Toshkova, SASHT i Bulgaria 1919–1989. Politicheski otnosheniya (Sofa, 2007), pp. 161–163; B. Filov, Dnevnik (Sofa, 1990), pp. 433–434. 2 L. Spasov, Bulgaria i SSSR 1917–1944 g. (Politiko-diplomaticheski otnosheniya) (Veliko Turnovo, 2008), pp. 484–487. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48261/PIS203603