The Union of Bulgarian National Legions was a fascist

Fascism

Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

 organization in Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

 that was formed in 1933.

Also known as the Legionnaires’ Association, the movement was founded and led by Hristo Lukov

Hristo Lukov

Hristo Nikolov Lukov was a Bulgarian general who led the Union of Bulgarian National Legions ....

, a Bulgarian army general who had commanded the 13th Division during the closing days of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. Initially identifying as an extreme monarchist group, it later sought unsuccessfully to work with the National Social Movement

National Social Movement (Bulgaria)

The National Social Movement was a minor Bulgarian political party formed in 1932 by Aleksandar Tsankov.Although a member of the governing People's Bloc of Nikola Mushanov, Tsankov had come to be a strong admirer of Adolf Hitler and as a result he set up the NSM to offer a version of Nazism...

 before finally emerging as a harassed opposition party that was largely supportive of Nazism

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

. In its early days it was known as the Union of Young National Legions and was nominally led by a three man group that included student leader Ivan Dochev

Ivan Dochev

Ivan Dimitrov Dochev was a Bulgarian far right politician active either side of the Second World War.-Early years:Born in Shumen the son of an army colonel, Dochev worked in the civil service from 1926 to 1932 when he went to Sofia University to study law and politics...

.

The movement was initially small, although it did gain some support from Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 and experienced some growth during the Second World War as a result. The movement floundered after the assassination

Assassination

To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

 of its leader by a Communist conspiracy group on February 13, 1943 and it did not survive the war. However Dochev and a number of other leading members would re-emerge in the anti-communist exile group the Bulgarian National Front

Bulgarian National Front

The Bulgarian National Front was an anti-communist political movement active amongst emigrant Bulgarian populations...

.