A professor of political economy at Sofia University from 1910 onwards,[2] he took a leading role in deposing Aleksandar Stamboliyski in 1923.

[2] His actions led to Comintern denouncing the government as a "victorious Bulgarian fascist clique", whilst he later turned his attentions on the Agrarian Peoples Union[clarification needed], who were also suppressed, albeit less ferociously[4] A brief invasion by Greek troops followed, and although they did not stay long following condemnation by the League of Nations, the country was left crippled by debt.

[6] The movement proved relatively unimportant (although it did represent a further fragmentation of the governing coalition), lacking the support of Zveno and failing to secure Nazi approval, which was primarily reserved for the Union of Bulgarian National Legions.

[2] Nonetheless, Tsankov was appointed by the Nazis in 1944 as prime minister of the Bulgarian government-in-exile set up in Germany in response to Kimon Georgiev's Fatherland Front government.

[7] This was even though Tsankov had been a signatory, one of only two from the right-wing opposition, to Dimitar Peshev's letter calling for an end to the deportation of Jews.