Today 100 Years Ago: 15 April 1925

Looking Back a Century

Each day the headlines of 2025 hurtle past us in augmented-reality flashes and push-notifications, but slow the scroll for a moment and step back exactly 100 years. Mid-April 1925 found the world between wars, electrified by radio, and wobbling on political fault-lines. One of those fault-lines split wide open in Bulgaria.

1. Terror in Sofia – The St Nedelya Church Assault (16 April 1925)

[STORY_1_IMAGE]
Holy Thursday should have been solemn but peaceful in Sofia. Instead, mourners gathered in St Nedelya Cathedral for the funeral of General Konstantin Georgiev—themselves unaware they were walking into a trap. Members of the military wing of the Bulgarian Communist Party had packed explosives into the church’s roof. At 3:20 p.m. the charge detonated, collapsing the central dome.

• Immediate toll: Roughly 150 killed (some estimates go higher) and more than 500 injured, making it one of the deadliest terrorist attacks of the inter-war era.
• The plot: Assassinate key figures of Bulgaria’s political and military elite in one stroke, destabilising the monarchy and sparking revolution.
• Aftermath: Within hours Sofia was under martial law. Tsar Boris III’s government unleashed a sweeping crackdown—hundreds of suspected communists were arrested or executed without trial.

1925 vs 2025 – A Quick Side-Mirror

• Information flow: News of the blast spread by telegraph and the still-new medium of radio—rumour often outran fact. In 2025 we’d see livestreams from inside the cathedral before the dust settled, along with instant fact-checking (and, unfortunately, disinformation deep-fakes).
• Counter-terror tools: Today’s forensic teams would laser-scan the scene and trace explosive precursors within hours. In 1925 investigators relied on eyewitness testimony and fragments of bomb-wire stuffed into burlap sacks.
• Political ripple: Both eras wrestle with striking the balance between security and civil liberties. Bulgaria’s 1925 response tipped hard toward repression; modern democracies still debate where that line should be drawn.

Why This Still Matters

St Nedelya reminds us that the inter-war decade wasn’t only jazz and Art Deco; it was also a laboratory for modern political violence. Many of the emergency-powers laws first tested in Sofia a century ago echo in today’s counter-terror legislation worldwide.

Take a quiet moment in 2025—perhaps while your newsfeed loads—and picture the cathedral’s shattered frescoes lit by late-afternoon sun. History is no fixed museum piece; it’s a warning flare still bright enough to read by.