The Bulgarians

The purpose of this series is to find the true level of national identity within the European Union, probing whether a given state nationality will prevail, whether that nationality is sufficiently stable, and, if not, whether a consolidation process, forming a single pan-European nationality, exists and can replace the state nationality system. This series clarifies the role that each European group might play within the EU, if at all. This series about five European groups in the eastern and northern regions of Europe -- the Dutch, the Poles, the Hungarians, the Bulgarians, and the Swedish -- provides the reader with a fresh outlook on each of these groups. Consequently, it may shed light on the European Union and its future political and sociological prospects as it deals with typical behavioural patterns within each group, how those patterns have been created, and in what way and to what extent history has shaped that group to be unique. Each of these groups experienced foundational events that have affected its members' motives -- motives that may influence the future of the European Union. This series ties those groups' specific histories with the overall course of European history. It specifies which motives the members of the various groups have engendered in the course of their histories and explains how those motives can be expected to affect the future of the European Union. One of the arguments put forward by this series is that the two "World Wars" were, in reality, one European civil war, albeit in conjunction with relatively marginal events outside of Europe. Thus, like other civil wars, it served as an economic catalyst for Europe and helped to shape a new pan-European national identity.