GESHOV, IVAN EVSTATIEV

born , Feb. 20, 1849, Plovdiv, Rumelia died March 24, 1924, Sofia, Bulg. Bulgarian statesman and founder of the Bulgarian National Bank. He was prime minister from March 1911 to July 1913. After studies in England, Geshov took an active part in the Bulgarian struggle for national liberation from the Ottoman Empireespecially prior to the 1877 war and upon the 1885 unification of Bulgaria with Eastern Rumelia. Twice minister of finance (1886, 189499), he became the leader of the Populist Party (1901) and in 191113 presided over a coalition government that promoted the policy of the Balkan Alliance and waged the war with the Turks in 1912. In 1923 he joined the Democratic Party after the fall of Aleksandur Stamboliyski.