Рачо Петров](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Racho///Petrov.jpg) Name: Racho Petrov · Рачо Петров
Order 1: 12th
Office 1: Prime Minister of Bulgaria
Term Start 1: 25 January 1901
Term End 1: 5 March 1901
Monarch 1: Ferdinand
Predecessor 1: Todor Ivanchov
Successor 1: Petko Karavelov
Term Start 2: 19 May 1903
Term End 2: 5 November 1906
Monarch 2: Ferdinand
Predecessor 2: Stoyan Danev
Successor 2: Dimitar Petkov
Order 3: Chief of the General Staff
Term Start 3: 9 September 1885
Term End 3: 29 April 1887
Monarch 3: Alexander
Predecessor 3: Office Established
Successor 3: Stefan Paprikov
Term Start 4: 23 October 1887
Term End 4: 15 April 1894
Monarch 4: Ferdinand
Predecessor 4: Stefan Paprikov
Successor 4: Nikola Ivanov
Order 5: War Minister
Term Start 5: 10 July 1887
Term End 5: 1 September 1887
Monarch 5: Ferdinand
Predecessor 5: Danail Nikolaev
Successor 5: Sava Mutkurov
Term Start 6: 27 April 1894
Term End 6: 29 November 1896
Monarch 6: Ferdinand
Predecessor 6: Mihail Savov
Successor 6: Nikola Ivanov
Order 7: Minister of Interior
Term Start 7: 10 December 1900
Term End 7: 4 March 1901
Monarch 7: Ferdinand
Predecessor 7: Vasil Radoslavov
Successor 7: Mihail Sarafov
Order 8: Minister of Foreign Affairs
Term Start 8: 21 January 1901
Term End 8: 4 March 1901
Monarch 8: Ferdinand
Predecessor 8: Dimitar Tonchev
Successor 8: Stoyan Danev
Term Start 9: 18 May 1903
Term End 9: 4 November 1906
Monarch 9: Ferdinand
Predecessor 1 0: Stoyan Danev
Successor 1 0: Dimitar Petkov
Birth Date: 3 March 1861
Birth Place: Shumen, Ottoman Empire
Death Date: January 22, 1942
Death Place: Belovo, Bulgaria
Allegiance: Bulgarian Army
Serviceyears: 1878–1917
Branch: Infantry
Rank: General of the Infantry
Battles: Serbo-Bulgarian War · First Balkan War · Second Balkan War · World War I · Balkans Campaign
:::

Racho Petrov Stoyanov (3 March 1861 – 22 January 1942) was a leading Bulgarian general and politician. Petrov was born in Shumen. A talented soldier, he was appointed Chief of General Staff at the age of 24 and was Minister of Defence at 27. His stature was increased by the leading role he took in suppressing an army mutiny in 1887. He married Sultana Pantaleeva Minchovich in 1887, with whom he had 3 children. After an unhappy marriage, they divorced in 1919. Both Petrov and his wife were personally close to Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria and in 1891 he was promoted by Ferdinand to the rank of colonel, the first officer to hold that rank in Bulgaria. Petrov also attended Ferdinand's wedding to Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma in Italy in 1893. Ferdinand's decision in 1894 to place Petrov in charge of the army completely, and thus outside the command of Prime Minister Stefan Stambolov, precipitated the resignation of the latter. As a politician, he twice served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria, initially as the non-party head of an interim administration in 1901, the only task of which was to organize the next election. He returned as prime minister for a longer period from 1903 to 1906, having been appointed for fear of war after a Bulgarian insurrection in Ottoman Macedonia. His government was particularly concerned with military matters and oversaw an armament program and extensive modernization of the Bulgarian army. During the Second Balkan War Petrov, by then a Lieutenant General, took command of the 3rd Army, leading it at the Battle of Bregalnica, a Serbian victory. During the First World War he served as head of the newly established Macedonian Military Inspection Oblast from December 1915 until October 1916.