Petar Ganchev

Major General
Petar Ganchev
Major General Petar Ganchev
Петър Ганчев
	Ganchev (fourth from left) with German military officers and Prince Boris of Bulgaria on 16 November 1915
Born	8 January 1874; Veliko Tarnovo, Ottoman Empire
Died	1950 (aged 75–76); Geneva, Switzerland
	Military career
Allegiance	Bulgaria
Branch	Bulgarian Army
Service years	1893–1919
Rank	Major general
Conflicts	World War I Macedonian front; ;

Petar Ganchev (Bulgarian: Петър Ганчев; 8 January 1874 – 1950) was a Bulgarian military attaché. He helped negotiate Bulgaria's entry into World War I on the side of the Central Powers. He also attended the peace proceedings that resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

Biography

Petar Ganchev was born on 8 January 1874 in Veliko Tarnovo, Ottoman Empire. He entered military service in the Bulgarian Army in 1893.^{[better source needed]} Ganchev received part of his education in France and spoken fluent French.^: 25

Before World War I, Ganchev was a Bulgarian military attaché to Belgrade^: 73–74 and Berlin.^: 87 By 1915, Ganchev held the rank of colonel^: 87 and the position of General of the General Staff and Delegate of the Royal Bulgarian Government.^{: 746–748}

On 3 August 1915, Ganchev traveled to the military headquarters of the German Empire on behalf of Bulgarian prime minister Vasil Radoslavov to negotiate Bulgaria's entry into World War I. He was authorized to sign an agreement joining Bulgaria to the Central Powers if terms were favorable. Ganchev demanded 200 million Swiss francs, German military support, and various territorial claims for Bulgaria; among his territorial demands he made to the German military included concessions from the Ottoman Empire, all of the region of Macedonia, all Serbian territory up to the Morava River, and — if Greece entered the war on the side of the Allied Powers — Kavala and Serres.^: 87^: 61–62

On 6 September 1915, Ganchev, Erich von Falkenhayn, and Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf signed the Military Convention Between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria^{: 746–748}^: 491 that accepted most of Bulgaria's demands as well as included a clause that Bulgaria would gain Dobruja if Romania joined the Allies.^: 88^: 63 Bulgaria entered World War I on 11 October 1915 when it launched an invasion into Serbia.^: 90

From 1917 and 1918, Ganchev was one of two Bulgarian delegates that attended the proceedings that resulted in the signing of the Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers and the later Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.^: 13 Ganchev presided over the 1 February 1918 plenary session of the peace negotiations.^{: 131–132}

Towards the end of World War I, Ganchev was the commander-in-chief of Bulgarian forces on the Macedonian front. Ganchev was one of the signatories of the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine on 27 November 1919 that formally ended Bulgaria's participation in World War I.^: 25

By the time of Ganchev's retirement in 1919, he had obtained the rank of major general. Ganchev died in 1950 in Geneva, Switzerland.^{[better source needed]}