History of the Bulgarians

Jireček graduated from the University of Prague in 1877. He worked in Bulgaria as secretary of the Ministry of Public Education (1879-81) and as minister of public education and president of the Council on Educational Affairs (1881-84). He was a professor at the University of Prague from 1884 to 1893, and after 1893, professor at the University of Vienna. He developed a strong research interest in Bulgaria during his studies at Charles University in Prague. Later, in 1879-1884, Jireček lived in Bulgaria and was appointed to different administrative positions, helping the young state to build its governmental and academic institutions. Thus, in 1881-1882 he served as Minister of Education. Still, even before his arrival in Bulgaria, Jireček had published valuable studies on ancient historical geography of the region.

Jireček’s dissertation, “The History of Bulgaria” (1876), was the first work to give a broad view of the historical development of Bulgaria from ancient times until 1875. Jireček is the author of many works on the history of the Southern Slavs. They are written from a positivist perspective and are valuable in the critical treatment of the questions they pose.