The Balkans is an area of southeastern Europe situated at a major crossroads between mainland Europe and the Near East. The distinct identity and fragmentation of the Balkans owes much to its common and often violent history and to its very mountainous geography. The history of the Balkans is dominated by wars, rebellions, invasions, the fluidity of ethnic groups, the inability of different groups to cooperate as well as interference by and clashes between great empires.
Early history
- Main article: Prehistoric Balkans
Prehistoric Europe DanubianLinear Pottery CultureOld European culture
Chalcolithic civilization
Early cultures of the Balkans were predominantly agricultural. Archaeologists have identified several early culture-complexes, including the Cucuteni culture (4500 BC - 3500 BC), Vinča culture (5000 BC-3000 BC) and the Linearbandkeramic culture. A notable set of artifacts is the Tărtăria tablets, which appear to be inscribed with an early form of writing. Also deserving mention is the Butmir Culture, found on the outskirts of present day Sarajevo. Likely overrun by the Illyrians in the bronze age, the Butmir Culture developed unique ceramics. The discovery caused enough of a buzz in the archeological world that the International Congress of Archeology and Antrophology was held in Sarajevo in 1894.
Hallstatt
6th - 5th BC
Indo-Europeanization
- Main article: Indo-European invasion of Europe
Proto-Indo-European The Indo-European invasion began around 2500 BC, by conquering the local agricultural cultures, using the advantage of more advanced weapons and the use of horses.
The first Greek tribe to arrive in Greece were probably the Achaeans, around 1800 BC, meeting a presumably non-Indo-European people whom they called Pelasgians.
Myceneans also arrive in about 1600 BC and they were one of the earliest Indo-European civilizations in the Balkans, only to decline with the arrival of the Dorian Greeks around 1100 BC (see: Greek Dark Ages).
There exist two theories on the origin of the Illyrian tribes. One associates them with the Hallstatt culture an Iron Age people coming into the Western Balkans after 2000 BC and the other considers the Illyrians autochthonous.
Around 1500 BC Thracians settle in the Balkans. The Thracians were an Indo-European people, inhabitants of Thrace and adjacent lands (present-day Romania, Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, European Turkey, eastern Serbia and Macedonia). They spoke the Thracian language.
The Phrygians seem to have settled in the southern Balkans at first, centuries later continuing their migration to settle in Asia Minor.
Various hypotheses
The "Kurgan hypothesis" of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origins assumes gradual expansion of the "Kurgan culture" until it encompasses the entire pontic steppe, Kurgan IV being identified with the Yamna culture of around 3000 BC.
A modified form of Kurgan theory by JP Mallory, dating the migrations earlier to around 4000 BC and putting less insistence on their violent or quasi-military nature, is still widely held.
Colin Renfrew is the main propagator for a newer theory dating from 1987 according to which the Indo-Europeans were farmers in Asia Minor who expanded peacefully in South East Europe from around 7000 BC (wave of advance).
The Paleolithic Continuity Theory (PCT) suggests that the Indo-European languages originated in Europe and have existed there since the Paleolithic.
Classical antiquity
Odrysian empire
- Main article: Odrysian empire
The Odrysian empire was a union of Thracian tribes that was probably the first state to encompass a large part of the Balkans. It endured between the 5th century BC and the 3rd century BC.
Dacian kingdom
- Main article: Dacia
A kingdom of Dacia was in existence at least as early as the beginning of the 2nd century BC under King Oroles.
Greek city-states and their colonies
- Main article: Colonies in antiquity
The Greeks were among the first to establish a system of trade routes in the Balkans, and in order to facilitate trade with the natives, between 700 BC and 300 BC they founded several colonies on the Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus) coast and on the Danube.
Empire of Macedon
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. |
Illyrian kingdoms
The main Illyrian Kingdoms were the Ardians, Dardans, Dalmats etc.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. |
The Roman conquests
- Main article: The Balkans in the Roman period
The Balkans were conquered by the Romans during the empire's expansionist period, and remained part of it until the 3rd century AD. After that, invaders pushed south from outside the borders of Rome and gradually whittled away at its Balkan holdings.
Romanization
The Romanian (Vlach) people arose as the old Balkan populations were Romanized. Where this Romanization occured is debated (in Dacia, or in Moesia; some even suggest the Illyrian province).
The extinct Dalmatian language was a product of Romanization in the province of Illyria and Dalmatia.
Christianity during the Daco-Roman era
Head of the colossal statue. Musei Capitolini, Rome
Christianity first came to the area when Saint Paul and some of his followers traveled in the Balkans passing through Thracian populated areas. Saint Andrew also worked among the Dacians and Scythians, and had preached in Dobruja and Pontus Euxinus. In 46 AD, this teritory was conquered by the Romans and annexed to Moesia. In 106 AD the emperor Trajan invaded Dacia. Subsequently, missionaries, that consisted of colonists, Roman soldiers, and slaves came to Dacia to spread Christianity.
In the Third Century the number of Christians grew because the Goths, who came from north of the Danube, invaded the Roman-held Balkans. The Goths brought many Christian prisoners, captured in Asia Minor, to the Balkans which sped the expansion of Christianity.
When Emperor Constantine of Rome issued the Edict of Milan in 313, thus ending all Roman-sponsored persecution of Christianity, the area became a haven for Christians. Just twelve years later in 325, Constantine assembled the Council of Nicaea which made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. With this, the Roman temples that stood as a symbol to the "pagan" gods, were adapted and used as churches, such as at Porolissum and Densus in the Balkans.
see:
The Dark Ages and the Great Migrations
Nomadic peoples
Western Huns empire stretched in 434 AD from Central Europe to the Black Sea and from the Danube river to the Baltic. The Hunnish-Bulgar association existed throughout the period between 377-453 AD - the time of the Hunnish hegemony in Central Europe.
Other transient incursions were made by Goths, Gepids, Onogur, Avars. At one point the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths were Christians, but Arians. Ulfilas was the apostle to the Goths and he translated the Bible from Greek into the Gothic language, fragments have survived and are known as the Codex Argenteus. One hypotesis is that toghether with the above christianised people, the romanic population was also christianised.The creed of Ulfilas, as appended to a letter praising him written by his foster-son and pupil the Scythian Auxentius of Durostorum (modern Silistra) on the Danube, who became bishop of Milan, was a clear statement of central Arian tenets. It is very possible that the Gothic Alphabet of Wulfila to be basis for the creation of the Cyrillic Alphabet.(On May, 24th-26th 2003 the Balkan Media Academy organized in the Wulfila-House in Simeonovo, near Sofia an international seminar "The Gothic Alphabet of Wulfila (Ulphilas) - basis for the creation of the Cyrillic Alphabet" Main lecturers: Acad.Dr. Rossen Milev, Dr. Valentin Hristov) Goths history in Balkans is subject of controvercy. Some consider that Getae are the same with goths. Jacob Grimm stoutly maintained that Getae and Daci (Dacians) were identical with Goths and Danes "Spread over the plentiful space from the Danube to the neighborhood of the Scythian Black Sea, do there inhabit fierce and barbarous nations, which are said to have burst forth in manifold variety like a swarm of bees from a honeycomb or a sword from a sheath, as is the barbarian custom, from the island of Scania, surrounded in different directions by the ocean. For indeed there is there a tract for the very many people of Alania, and the extremely well-supplied region of Dacia, and the very extensive passage of Greece. Dacia is the middle-most of these. Protected by very high alps in the manner of a crown and after the fashion of a city. With Mars' forewarning, raging warlike peoples inhabit those tortuous bends of extensive size, namely the Getae, also known as Goths" - [From chapter 2, second paragraph in Gesta Normannorum by the chronicler Dudo of St.Quentin's]
The most known book regarding the Goths is an ancient book: Jordanes, THE ORIGIN AND DEEDS OF THE GOTHS, XI, 69
Traces of the migrating people
the Visigoths left traces primarily of their material culture, such as the great find at Sîntana de Mures in central Transylvania and the burial grounds at Spantov and Tîrgsor, south of the Carpathians on the Muntenian plain Vestiges of thе Goths in Bulgaria: Beroe (today Stara Zagora) - the monastery "St.Athanasius" near Zlatna Livada, region of Chirpan - Kireka - Madara - Pliska - Preslav - Shumen - the early christian centre near Chan Krum - Veliko Tarnovo - Nicopolis ad Istrum - Storgosia ( today Pleven) - the fortress of Sadovez. The Goths lived in Transylvania for about a century (from the end of the 3rd to the end of the 4th century;) the Gepidae, another Old-Germanic people, for more than two centuries (from the early 5th century to the end of the 7th).
Inscripions on a sword belonging to the goths in today Bulgaria ‘I do not wait Time, I am Time itself ‘
The Turkic Avars, subjugate the Slavs, in the 6th century, from the area spanning modern-day southern Poland. During 6th and 7th centuries together with the Slavs invaded the Eastern Roman Empire, settling in what is now Bosnia, Herzegovina, and the surrounding lands.
The Slavs, who had originated in areas spanning modern-day southern Poland, were subjugated by the Turkic Avars and together they invaded the Eastern Roman Empire in the 6th and 7th centuries. Split into various tribal divisions, the influence of this first wave can chiefly be seen in the gegographic terms bearing their namen. The Serbs and Croats came in a second wave, invited by Emperor Heraclius to drive the Avars from Dalmatia.
Two major historical theories address the issue of the original homeland of Slavs:
- the autochthonic theory assumes that Slavs had lived north of the Carpathian Mountains since 1000 BC.
- the allochthonic theory assumes that the Slavs came there in the 5th or 6th century AD.
At the time of the Slavic migration, the western, south-western region of the Balkan peninsula (Dalmatia, Illyria) was occupied mostly by Romanized Illyrians, with unromanized groups perhaps remaining in the interior.
The Slavic tribes called the Croats and the Serbs are recorded to have migrated southwards from areas of today's southeastern Poland into the Dinaric Alps between 610 and 641.
The names "Croat" and "Serb" are not of Slavic origin. Similar names have been found along the path of the migration of the Alans, a tribe of Iranian origin. According to various modern theories based mainly on philological and etymological evidence, these nomadic warriors probably subdued groups of Slavs and became their ruling caste or merged into them, with the resulting group retaining the Iranian name. During the Hunnic invasion in 375 AD, a group calling themselves the "White Croats" (as opposed to the Red Croats, who remained on the Don) retreated northwest over the Carpathians. There the White Croats intermingled with the Slavs of the central Slavic regions and adopted their language.
The migration of these tribes was triggered by the expansion of the Avar kingdom. After the decline of Avar power (after 627) the coastal city-states were nominally under Byzantine suzerainty, while the hinterland was ruled by the Croats in the northwest and the Serbs in the southeast.
In the 10th century, several Croatian dukes rose in prominence, forming the medieval Croatian state. They conquered surrounding districts, including Dalmatia; this fact was attested by Venetian contestation. In 1091, the Croatian ruling dynasty lost its last descendent, and after a decade of instability, Ladislaus I of Hungary and Coloman of Hungary occupied the whole of Croatia.
In the 12th century, Serbian dukes, starting with Stefan Nemanja, established control over several southern districts. The Serbian state expanded to the north and the south, reaching a peak under Stefan Dušan in the 14th century, when it was extended even further southward, into Epirus and Thessaly.
In the meantime, the dukes of Bosnia started building up their state in the 13th century, as did the dukes of Herzegovina. They developed independently from the Catholic Croats and Magyars to the northwest and the Orthodox Serbs to the southeast, even supporting their own Bosnian Church. The strongest Bosnian monarch was Tvrtko Kotromanić at the turn of the 14th century, who expanded his state westward to include all of Herzegovina and most of the Dalmatian coast.
Serbia eventually succumbed to the Ottoman Empire following a defeat in the Battle of Kosovo. Bosnia and Herzegovina followed half a century later, and another century later, most of Croatia was occupied by Turkish forces as well.
The Croats, Serbs and other southern Slavs speak South Slavic languages. There is particular controversy with regard to their modern-day languages where there is fragmentation that conflicts with genetic linguistics. See Serbo-Croatian language and differences in official languages in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia for details.
The Magyar leader Árpád is believed to have led the Hungarians into the Carpathian Basin (and the Pannonian plain) in 896. When entering the Carpathian basin, the Magyars found a largely Slavic population there, such as the Bulgarians, Slovaks, Slovenians, Croats, etc., and minor remnants of the Avars (in the southwest).
The Bulgars and Magyars shared a long-lasting relationship in Khazaria, either by alliance or rivalry.
There is some controversy about Szeklers (in English, Secui in Romanian). There is a theory about two Magyar migrations, one before Árpád and one which resulted in Szeklers and Arpad migration. There are theories suggesting Avar, Gepid, Scythian, or Hunnish ancestry.
Bulgars and Bulgarians
The Bulgars (also Bolgars or proto-Bulgarians), a people of Central Asia, probably originally Pamirian, came to the Balkans in the late 7th century. They had occupied the fertile planes of the Ukraine for several centuries until the Khazars swept their confederation in the 660s and triggered their further migration. One part of them — under the leadership of Asparuh — headed southwest and settled in the 670s in present-day Bessarabia. In 680 AD they invaded Moesia and Dobrudja and formed a confederation with the local Slavic tribes who had migrated there a century earlier. After suffering a defeat at the hands of Bulgars and Slavs, the Byzantine Empire recognised the sovereignity of Asparuh's Khanate in a subsequent treaty signed in 681 AD. The same year is usually regarded as the year of the establishment of Bulgaria (see History of Bulgaria). A smaller group of Bulgars under Khan Kuber settled almost simultaneously in the Pelagonian plain in western Macedonia after spending some time in Panonia.
As from the beginning of the 9th century, the fledgling Bulgarian state started to play a more and more important role in the European Southeast. After defeating the Avars in 804, Khan Krum added to Bulgaria Transylvania, eastern Panonia, Backa and Srem. His descendants, Omurtag, Malamir and Presian, continued the Bulgarian territorial expansion southward conquering the inland parts of Thrace and Macedonia. The addition of these territories strengthened additionally the Slavic element in the Bulgar state and helped the assimilation of the Bulgars by the Slavs. By the middle of the 9th century, the Bulgars and the Slavs had already to a large extent coalesced to one people — the Bulgarians — through mixed marriages (even in the royal dynasty, Omurtag was not already married to a Slavic woman but also gave two of his sons Slavic names) and as a result of the laws of Khan Krum and the abolition of the autonomy of the Slavic tribes undertaken by Omurtag. The process of coalescence was additionally strengthened by the en masse conversion to Christianity under Boris I Michael (864) and the establishment of the autonomous Bulgarian Church in 870.
In 893 the vernacular of the Bulgarian Slavs was adopted as the official language of the Bulgarian state and church. The following years saw the brilliant military victories of Simeon the Great against the Byzantines which resulted in an additional territorial expansion and the recognition of the autocephaly of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and of the title of Tsar for Simeon's successor, Peter I. The state got weakened, however, in the middle of the 9th century as a result of barbaric raids from the north and the Bogomil heresy. After an assault by the Rus' in 969, eastern Bulgaria and the capital of Preslav became subdued by Byzantine Emperor John Tzimisces in 972. The Bulgarians managed to maintain an independent state in the west for some time due to the efforts of Samuil who even managed to recover eastern Bulgaria and conquer Serbia in the 990s. A defeat at Kleidion in 1014, however, precipateted the fall of the whole of Bulgaria under Byzantine rule in 1018.
The Carps
Carps were free dacians.
Vlachs
Vlachs (also called Wlachs, Wallachs, Olahs) are the Romanized population in Central and Eastern Europe, including Romanians, Aromanians, Istro-Romanians and Megleno-Romanians, but since the creation of the Romanian state, this term was mostly used for the Vlachs living south of the Danube river. They are descendants of the Roman colonists or of the Romanized Dacian, Thracian and Illyrian local population (see Origin of Romanians for more about the dispute about the origin).
Vlachia and Transilvania were under Bulgarian admistration for a period of time ended by the tataric invasion in Bulgaria, after which it became a separate state. Similar to the Goths invasions no major traces were left.
see also: Romanian language Paleo-Balkan languages External link:
Middle Ages and the Early Modern period
The Balkans was a confluence of great powers, a buffer between occident and orient. Various wars, rebellions, invasions, and disputes between different ethnic groups were supported by at least one great power, with at least one other great power opposed.
Eastern Roman Empire
[[1]]
- Main article: Byzantine Empire
The Eastern Roman Empire (also known as Romania) was the eastern half of the Roman empire after it was legally divided into two parts. The Western empire held some of the old Roman places, such as parts of Italy. The Eastern Roman Empire had its capital at Constantinople (formerly Byzantium or Byzantion), and its core territory was the south-eastern Balkan peninsula. During most of its history the Eastern Roman empire controlled many provinces in the Balkans and in Asia Minor. The Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian for a time reconquered and restored much of the territory once held by the unified Roman empire, from Spain and Italy, to Anatolia.
Unlike the Roman Empire, which met a famous if rather ill-defined death in the year 476 AD, the Eastern Roman Empire came to a much less famous but far more definitive conclusion at the hands of Mehmet II and the Ottoman Empire in the year 1453.
The Roman Empire collapsed from the inside when Rome was sacked, thus putting an end to the classical age. Its holdings would gradually be given over to various kings and chiefs. To this day, the dominions of the Roman Empire have never been fully reunified.
By contrast, the Eastern half of the empire, which gradually evolved into a medieval power which has often been called the Byzantine empire (and in which Greek eventually became the dominant language) was gradually whittled away over the years. Its nemesis was the Ottoman Empire, with which it shared a somewhat transitory boundary. Over time, it lost piece after piece of territory to invaders, and was actually invaded (and the capital sacked) by the crusaders at one point.
By the end, the empire consisted of nothing but Constantinople, with all other territories in both the Balkans and Asia Minor gone. The conclusion was reached in 1453, when the city was successfully sieged by Mehmed II, bringing to an end the age of Rome.
Ottoman Empire
- Main article: Ottoman Empire
Ottomans
The Ottomans were one of the most powerful and influential civilizations of the modern period. The Ottoman Empire (1299 to 1923), created by Turkish tribes in Anatolia, persisted until the 20th century and did not end until after World War I when Turkey adopted a more European style secular government (under Kemal Atatürk). The Empire was at its height in the 16th century when it reached levels of artistry, cultural importance, and military dominance not seen for many years. The Empire began to crumble in the 19th century after a long slow decline facing new feelings of freedomism, along with the colonisation of some of its former territory by newer, more modern forces such as the French and British Empires.
The conquest and the resistance
- Main article: Ottoman wars in Europe
The Ottoman conquest of the Balkans was characterised by centuries of bloody struggle for freedom and protracted periods of stalemate with the Habsburgs along the border in Hungary as well as anti-Turkish propaganda in Europe, and with the invasions from the east.
- In 1389 there was the battle between the Serbs and the Turks on the blackbird field, in which the Serb ruler Prince Lazar was defeated.
- Battle of Nicopolis: in 1394 Beyazid I is defeated by Mircea cel Batran
- 1443 Murad II is defeated at Snaim
- Vaslui in 1475 defeat of the Mehmet II by Stefan cel Mare
- Battle of Kosovo (1448) the christian coalition defeated by Ottomans. The Ottoman army numbers twice the number of Serbs. The Serbs kill twice their number before being beaten.
- On August 13, 1595, at Călugăreni, near the river of Neajlov, a Turkish army led by Sinan Pasha was defeated by Mihai The Brave.
See also:
- History of the Ottoman Empire
- History of Ottoman Albania
- Ottoman Greece
- Early Ottoman Sarajevo
- Late Ottoman Sarajevo
The East-West Schism, known also as the Great Schism (though this latter term sometimes refers to the later Western Schism), was the event that divided Christianity into Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Though normally dated to 1054, when Pope Leo IX and Patriarch Michael I excommunicated each other, the East-West Schism was actually the result of an extended period of estrangement between the two Churches. The primary causes of the Schism were disputes over papal authority—the Pope claimed he held authority over the four Eastern patriarchs, while the patriarchs claimed that the Pope was merely a first among equals—and over the insertion of the filioque clause into the Nicene Creed. There were other, less significant catalysts for the Schism, including variance over liturgical practices and conflicting claims of jurisdiction
Habsburg Empire
- Main article: Habsburg Monarchy or
- Main article: Austria-Hungary
The Habsburg Empire constituted a great region in Europe from the late Middle Ages until World War I. It was named after the Austrian royal family who ruled it and its capital city was Vienna. The Habsburg Empire grew to include what are today Hungary, the Czech lands, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and parts of Italy, Poland, and Romania. The Habsburg Empire (Austria-Hungary after 1867) became a major player in the Balkans. For many years the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburgs vied for control of the Balkans and chequing each others' expansion for many years. In the 19th century, as Ottoman power waned, the Habsburgs became more important, although at the same time the nation states of the area, Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia arose and became of force in their own right. Russia was also a factor in the Balkans, though they generally acted as an agent for other Slavic countries rather than as a direct occupier.
Rise of Independence
The Ottoman (Turkish) Empire was losing influence, status and territory throughout the 19th century, known as the 'sick man of Europe'; and the future division of the Ottoman empire was proving a source of great friction between the 'Great Powers'. It was a multi-national empire and the subject peoples of this Empire did not want their fate to be decided by other world powers as the Ottoman dynasty collapsed. Towards the end of the 19th century Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians and Magyars began to demand the right to set up their own independent states ruled by people of their own nationality, culture and religion.
(some mention of the interference or interest of the 'Great Powers'?)
1804 First Serbian Uprising and 1815 Second Serbian Uprising
First Serbian Uprising was an uprising at the beginning of the 19th century in which Serbs living in Belgrade Pashaluk in the Ottoman Empire, led by Karadjordje, managed to liberate the Pashaluk for a significant time, which eventually led to the creation of modern Serbia.Though ultimately unsuccessful, this first Serbian Uprising paved the way for the Second Serbian Uprising of 1815, which eventually succeeded in Serbia.
1821 revolt
- In 1821 the Greek revolution, striving to create an independent Greece, broke out on Rumanian ground, supported by the princes of Moldavia and Muntenia.
- A secret Greek nationalist organisation called the Friendly Society (Filiki Eteria) was formed in Odessa during 1814. On March 25 (now Greek Independence Day) 1821 of the Julian Calendar/6 April, 1821 of the Gregorian Calendar the Orthodox Metropolitan Germanos of Patras proclaimed the national uprising. Simultaneous risings were planned across Greece, including in Macedonia, Crete and Cyprus. The revolt began in March 1821 when Alexandros Ypsilantis, the leader of the Etairists, crossed the Prut River into Turkish-held Moldavia (Today Romania) with a small force of troops.With the initial advantage of surprise, and aided by Ottoman inefficiency, the Greeks succeeded in liberating the Peloponnese and some other areas. Saint Gregory V, the Patriarch of Constantinople was Martyred by the Turks in 1821 in reaction to the Greek War of Independence.
On January 22, 1822, Korinth, the key to the isthmus, passed into the Greeks' hands, and only four fortresses--Nauplia, Patras, Koron, and Modhon--still held out within it against Greek investment. Not a Turk survived in the Peloponnesos beyond their walls, for the slaughter at Tripolitza was only the most terrible instance of what happened wherever a Moslem colony was found. In Peloponnesos, at any rate, the revolution had been grimly successful.
In 1832 A Greco-Turkish settlement was finally determined by the European powers at a conference in London; they adopted a London protocol (February 3, 1830), declaring Greece an independent monarchical state under their protection. (Greece has lost 50000 people and Otomans 15000, Russia 10000 and Egipt 5000)
- Also in 1821 the upraising was supported by the Wallachian uprising of 1821.
The movement, which was started about the same time by the ennobled peasant, Tudor Vladimirescu, for the emancipation of the lower classes, soon acquired, therefore, an anti-Greek tendency. Vladimirescu was assassinated at the instigation of the Greeks; the latter were completely checked by the Turks, who, grown suspicious after the Greek rising and confronted with the energetic attitude of the Rumanian nobility, consented in 1822 to the nomination of two native boyards, Jonitza Sturdza and Gregory Ghica, recommended by their countrymen, as princes of Moldavia and Wallachia. The iniquitous system of 'the throne to the highest bidder' had come to an end. The Phanariote regime in Romania (Wallachia and Modavia) ended after the uprising of 1821 Tudor Vladimirescu
- Relations between Greece and Turkey have been marked by mutual hostility ever since Greece won its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1832.
See:
1829 Adrianople peace
The 1829 Treaty of Adrianople (called also Treaty of Edirne), was settled between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Turkey gave Russia access to the mouths of the Danube and additional territory on the Black Sea, opened the Dardanelles to all commercial vessels, commerce is liberated for cereals,live stocks and wood, granted autonomy to Serbia, promised autonomy for Greece, and allowed Russia to occupy Moldavia and Walachia until Turkey had paid a large indemnity.
1831 Bosnian Rebellion
The Ottoman Sultans attempted to implement various economic reforms in the early 19th century in order to address the grave issues mostly caused by the border wars. The reforms, however, were usually met with resistance by the military captaincies of Bosnia. The most famous of these insurrections was the one by captain Husein Gradaščević in 1831. Gradaščević felt that giving autonomy to the eastern lands of Serbia, Greece and Albania would weaken the link between Bosnia and the Ottoman Empire. He raised a full-scale rebellion in the province, joined by thousands of native Bosnian soldiers who believed in captain's prudence and courage, calling him Zmaj od Bosne (the Bosnian dragon). Despite winning several notable victories, notably at the famous Kosovo polje, the rebels were eventually defeated in a battle near Sarajevo in 1832 after Gradaščević was betrayed by Herzegovinian nobility. Husein-kapetan was banned from ever entering the country again, and was eventually poisoned in Istanbul. Bosnia and Herzegovina would remain part of the Ottoman empire until 1878. Before it was formally occupied by Austria-Hungary, the region was de facto independent for several months.
1848 Revolution
In the Austrian Empire -- Germans, Czechs, Italians, Poles, Serbs, Croats, Slovaks, Romanians, and Hungarians, pushed for self-determination. On the meeting of the peoples of the Empire that was held in Bratislava (then Pressburg), many nationalities including Serbs pleaded for the acknowledgement of their nation, education in their language, and their separate region. Lajos Kossuth, the leader of Hungary, told them that "the only nation that exists in the Hungarian Kingdom is the Magyar nation" and that "the rebels should be punished by sword". The frustration of revolutionary impulses throughout the empire led to increased national tensions in the next 25 years.
The European revolution of 1848 eroded relations between the Serbs and their neighbors and between Hungarians and their neighbors. As part of their revolutionary program, the Hungarians threatened to Magyarize the Serbs in Vojvodina. Some Serbs there declared their independence from Hungary and proclaimed an autonomous Vojvodina; others rallied behind the Austrian-Croatian invasion of Hungary. The Serbs nearly declared war, but Russians and Turkish diplomacy restrained them.
See:
Russian defeat in Crimea: the Balkan implications
The Crimean War was provoked by Russian tsar Nicholas I's continuing pressure on the dying Ottoman Empire, and by Russia's claims to be the protector of the Orthodox Christian subjects of the Ottoman sultan. Britain and France became involved in order to block Russian expansion and prevent Russians from acquiring control of the Turkish Straits and eastern Mediterranean. Russia was defeated in the Crimean War (1853-1856). The peace Congress in Paris (February-March 1856) decided that Wallachia and Moldavia, which had been under Ottoman suzerainty, were now placed under the collective guarantee of the seven powers that signed the Paris peace treaty. These powers then declared that local assemblies be convened to decide on the future organisation of the two principalities. The Treaty of Paris also stipulated: the retrocession to Moldavia of Southern Bessarabia, which had been annexed in 1812 by Russia (the Cahul, Bolgrad and Ismail counties); freedom of sailing on the Danube; the establishment of the European Commission of the Danube; the neutral status of the Black Sea. The result was the union of Wallachia and Moldavia. see also:
1877 War
The War
.jpg)
In early 1877, Russia came to the rescue of beleaguered Serbian and Russian volunteer forces when it went to war with the Ottoman Empire. Within one year, Russian troops were nearing Constantinople, and the Ottomans surrendered. Russia's nationalist diplomats and generals persuaded Alexander II to press the Ottomans into signing the Treaty of San Stefano in March 1878, creating an enlarged, independent Bulgaria that stretched into the south-western Balkans. When Britain threatened to declare war over the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano, an exhausted Russia backed down. At the Congress of Berlin in July 1878, Russia agreed to the creation of a smaller Bulgaria. See: Russian history, 1855-1892
- On 4 April/ 16 April 1877, Romania and Russia signed a treaty at Bucharest under which Russian troops were allowed to pass through Romanian territory. About 120,000 soldiers were massed in the south of the country to defend against an eventual attack of the Ottoman forces from south of Danube. On 12 April/24 April 1877, Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire and its troops entered Romania.
In 1877, following the Russian-Romanian-Turkish war, Romania was recognized independent by Treaty of Berlin, 1878 and acquired Dobruja, though she was forced to surrender southern Bessarabia to Russia.
Impact in the Balkans
In February 1878 the Russian army had almost reached Constantinople, but disturbed the city might fall, the British sent a fleet to warn off the Russians. The presence of the British fleet combined with the fact that the Russians had suffered such enormous losses (by some estimates about 200,000 men) caused Russia to settle for the Treaty of San Stefano (March 3), by which Turkey recognized the independence of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and the autonomy of Bulgaria. Alarmed by the extension of Russian power into the Balkans and apprehensive of the eventual fall of Constantinople to the Russians, the Great Powers modified the provisions of the treaty in the Congress of Berlin.
See :Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78
After 1877, Magyar dominance faced challenges from the local majorities of Romanians in Transylvania and in the eastern Banat, of Slovaks in today's Slovakia, of Croats and Serbs in the crownlands of Croatia and of Dalmatia (today's Croatia), in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the provinces known as the Vojvodina (today's northern Serbia). The Romanians and the Serbs also looked to union with their fellow-nationalists in the newly-founded states of Romania (1877 - )and Serbia, respectively.
see : Austria-Hungary
Secularisation in Balkans
Romania
The law of monastery estates, secularizing monastic assets (1863). Probably more than a quarter of Romania's farmland was controlled by untaxed Greek Orthodox "Dedicated Monasteries," which supported Greek monks in shrines like Mount Athos and Jerusalem but were a substantial drain on state revenues. Cuza got his parliament's backing to expropriate these lands, with the backing of the parliament. He offered compensation to the Greek Orthodox Church, but the Patriarch refused to negotiate. This was a mistake: after several years, the Romanian government withdrew its offer and no compensation was ever paid. State revenues thereby increased without adding any domestic tax burden.
Orthodoxy
In hierarchical Christian churches, especially Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, autocephaly is the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. In 1922 August, the ecumenical patriarch in Constantinople recognized the Autocephalous Albanian Orthodox Church. An independent Bulgarian Church was established in 1870 but was almost immediately declared schismatic by the Patriarch of Constantinople. The schism was lifted and its patriarchal dignity was restored as late as 1945. 1879 the Patriarchate of Constantinople recognized the Serbian church as autocephalous The Romanian Orthodox Church has been fully Autocephalous since 1885. The Church of Greece, has been autocephalous since 1833. In July 17, 1967 the Holy Synod proclaimed the Macedonian Orthodox Church as autocephalous. No other Orthodox Church has, however, recognised its autocephaly as yet.
The Pig War
Main Article: Bosnian crisis
- The means adopted by the governments of Vienna and Budapest to nullify the plans of Serbian expansion were generally to maintain the political emiettement of the Serb race, the isolation of one group from another, the virtually enforced emigration of Slavs on a large scale and their substitution by German colonists, and the encouragement of rivalry and discord between Roman Catholic Croat and Orthodox Serb. No railways were allowed to be built in Dalmatia, communication between Agram and any other parts of the monarchy except Fiume or Budapest was rendered almost impossible; Bosnia and Hercegovina were shut off into a watertight compartment and endowed with a national flag composed of the inspiring colours of brown and buff.It was made impossible for Serbs to visit Montenegro or for Montenegrins to visit Serbia except via Fiume, entailing the bestowal of several pounds on the Hungarian state steamers and railways.
(The Balkans by Forbes and Hogarth and Mitrany and Toynbee [2]
- The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary in October, 1908, led to a controversy between the Dual Monarchy and Turkey. It also led to international complications which for several weeks early in 1909 threatened to end in a general European war. This was the Bosnian crisis.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. |
Main article: Balkan Wars
First Balkan War
During the course of the Balkan wars the Balkan League (Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Bulgaria) first conquered Ottoman-held Macedonia and most of Thrace and then fell out over the division of the spoils, Bulgaria suffering defeat at the hands of her former allies and losing much of what she had been promised in the initial partition scheme.
The wars were an important precursor to World War I, to the extent that Austria-Hungary took alarm at the great increase in Serbia's territory and regional status. This concern was shared by Germany, which saw Serbia as a satellite of Russia. Many Germans and also viewed Serbs as part of a sub-human race which threatened Germanic civilization; this view was later espoused by Adolf Hitler. Serbia's rise in power thus contributed to the two Central Powers' willingness to risk war following the assassination in Sarajevo of the Archduke Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914.
Tensions among the Balkan states over their rival aspirations in Macedonia subsided somewhat following intervention by the great Powers in the mid-1900s aimed at securing both fuller protection for the province's Christian majority and protection of the status quo. The question of Ottoman rule's viability revived, however, after the Young Turk revolution of July 1908 compelled the Sultan to restore the suspended Ottoman constitution.
Serbia looked to Kosovo and the south, Greeks officers secured the appointment of a sympathetic government which they hoped would resolve the Cretan issue in Greece's favour and reverse their defeat of 1897 and Bulgaria, which had secured Ottoman recognition of her independence in April 1909 and enjoyed the friendship of Russia, also looked to districts of Ottoman Thrace and north-eastern Macedonia for expansion. In March 1910, an Albanian insurrection broke out in Kosovo. In August 1910 Montenegro followed Bulgaria's precedent by becoming a kingdom.
Montenegro started the first Balkan war by declaring war against the Ottomans on October 8, 1912. The Greeks took Thessaloniki, then Albania, Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace fell to the allies and the Ottomans were pressed to maintain the defense of Constantinople. The Treaty of London ended the First Balkan War on May 30, 1913. But disputes over territory remained unresolved
Battles of the First Balkan War
- 1912 Battle of Lemnos (Oct 8)- Greek Marines Occupy the Ottoman held port of Moudros on the Island of Lemnos
- 1912 Battle of Sarantaporo (Oct 9)- Greeks defeat Ottomans near Koritza
- 1912 Battle of Giannitsa (Oct 19)- Greeks defeat Ottoman Turks in Central Macedonia
- 1912 Battle of Kumanovo (Oct 23)- Serbians defeat Ottomans in N.Macedonia
- 1912 Battle of Kirk Kelesse (Oct 24)- Bulgarians defeat Ottomans in E.Thrace
- 1912 Battle of Pente Pigadia (Oct 24th-30th)- Greeks defeat Ottomans in seven day battle near Bizani
- 1912 Battle of Prelep (Oct 27)- Serbians defeat Ottomans
- 1912 Battle of Lule-Burgas (Oct 31-Nov 3)- Bulgarians compel Ottomans to full retreat toward the lines of Tchataldja, 30 km from Constantinople and the last line of defense for the Ottoman Capital
- 1912 Battle of Vevi (Nov 2)- Successful Turkish counter offensive against Greek positions
- 1912 Battle of Monastir (Nov 16-19)- Decisive and final defeat in Macedonia of the Ottomans by the Serbians
- 1912 Naval Battle of Dardanelles (Dec 3)- Greek navy defeats Ottoman fleet & forces it to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles straits
- 1913 Naval Battle of Lemnos (Jan 1-18)- Greek navy defeats Ottoman fleet near the Island of Lemnos in final naval engagement of the war
- 1913 Battle of Bizani (Feb 20-21) Greeks defeat last operational Ottoman army in the Balkans and capture city of Ioanina
- 1912-1913 Adrianople (Mar 6)- Fall of the city to the combined forces of Bulgaria & Serbia and the capture of Turkish Gen Ghazi Shulkri Pasha
Second Balkan War
In the second Second Balkan war Bulgaria was defeated by Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania and the Ottomans and signed an Armistice on July 31, 1913. The final territorial adjustments were made in the Treaty of Bucharest.
Timeline June 1913
- Conclusion of a secret Serbian-Greek alliance and military protocol directed against Bulgaria
- The Bulgarian Army urges a quick attack on Serbia and Greece, confident of an easy victory
- Montenegro announces that it will side with Serbia in the event of a Serbian-Bulgarian war
- Romania warns Bulgaria that it will not remain neutral in a new Balkan war
- Tsar Ferdinand orders the Bulgarian army to attack without informing his cabinet - his generals are instructed to ignore any halt orders.Bulgaria attacks Greek and Serbian forces in Macedonia.
July 1913
- The Serbs counterattack and gain the initiative, breaking the Bulgarian lines and pushing northeastwards
- Greek forces push back the Bulgarians
- Romania declares war on Bulgaria and immediately crosses the Danube with 150,000 men, meeting no Bulgarian resistance
- The Ottoman Empire declares war on Bulgaria, and advances into Thrace
- The Turks reoccupy Adrianople and eastern Thrace without meeting Bulgarian resistance
- Romania agrees to an armistice with Bulgaria
- A Balkan peace conference is held in Bucharest - on Jul.31, an armistice is signed
- Serbian victory was a severe setback for Austria -and the German involvement in the Balkans has begun
Battles
- 1913 Battle of Kilkis-Lahanas (Jun 19-21) Greeks defeat Bulgarians in the three day battle for Kilkis
- 1913 Battle of Kalimantsi (Jul 15-18)- Bulgarian defensive victory against the Serbs
- 1913 Battle of Kresna Gorge (29 July)- Inconclusive ten day Battle between Bulgaria and Greece
- Second Balcanic WAR KIA:
- Turkey: 20,000-30,000
- Bulgaria: 18,000-20,000
- Serbia: 18.500-19,000
- Greece: 2,000-2,500
- Romania: 1,500-2,000
Urlanis estimated in Voini I Narodo-Nacelenie Europi (1960) that in the first and second Balkan war there were 122,000 KIA, 20,000 DOW, and 82,000 dead of disease.
Ethnic exchange and expulsions
- 50,000 Bulgarians were expelled from Greek Macedonia (the prefectures of Kilkis, Serres and Drama) during the Second Balkan War;
- Additional 100,000 Bulgarians were expelled or fled from the Greek and Serbian parts of Macedonia between the end of the Balkan Wars and the beginning of WWI;
- 100,000 Turks fled or were expelled from Macedonia during or immediately after the Balkan Wars;
- 150,000-160,000 Greeks fled or were expelled from Thrace under Bulgarian and Turkish control in 1913 and 1914;
- 51,000 Bulgarians fled from Eastern Thrace during the Second Balkan War;
- 40,000-50,000 Turks fled from Western Thrace and the Rhodopes after they were placed under Bulgarian control in 1913;
- The 1913 Convention of Adrianople, annexed to the Peace Treaty between Bulgaria and Turkey, provided for an exchange of ethnic Turks and Bulgarians in a 15 kilometer strip; 49,000 Turks resettled from Bulgaria into Turkey and 47,000 Bulgarians from Eastern Thrace and Asia Minor settled in Bulgaria;
- In all 250,000 Bulgarians, 150,000-160,000 Greeks and 190,000-200,000 Turks participated in the ethnic exchange between 1912 and 1915.
The Balkans in modern times
World War I in the Balkans
World War I (then known as the Great War) started when Serb assassin Gavrilo Princip assassinated the heir to the Austrian throne, Franz Ferdinand. The assassin was a member of a Serbian nationalist group called the Young Bosnia. Following the assassination, Austria-Hungary sent Serbia an ultimatum in July 1914, which Serbia did not accept; but did not reject. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July, 1914.
Many members of the Austro-Hungarian government, such as Conrad von Hötzendorf had hoped to provoke a war with Serbia for several years. They had a couple of motives. In part they feared the power of Serbia and its ability to sow dissent and disruption in the empire's "south-Slav" provinces under the banner of a "greater Slav state." Another hope was that they could annex Serbian territories in order to change the ethnic composition of the empire. With more slavs in the Empire, some in the German dominated half of the government, hoped to balance the power of the Magyar dominated Hungarian government. Until 1914 more peaceful elements had been able to argue against these military stategies, either through strategic considerations or political ones. However, Franz Ferdinand, a leading advocate of a peaceful solution had been removed from the scene, and more hawkish elements were able to prevail. Another factor in this were developments in Germany which gave the Dual-Monarchy a "blank cheque" to pursue a military strategy assured of Germany's backing.
Austro-Hungarian planning for operations against Serbia was not extensive and they ran into many logistical difficulties in mobilizing the army and beginning operations against the Serbs. They encountered problems with train schedules and mobilization schedules which conflicted with agricultural cycles in some areas. When operations began in early August Austria-Hungary was unable to crush the Serbian armies as many within the monarchy had predicted. One difficulty for the Austro-Hungarians was that the had to divert many divisions north to counter advancing Russian armies. Planning for operations against Serbia had not accounted for possible Russian intervention, which the Austro-Hungarian army had assumed would be countered by Germany. However, the German army had long planned on attacking France before turning to Russia given a war with the Entente powers. (See: Schlieffen Plan) Poor communication between the two governments led to this catastrophic oversight.
As a result Austria-Hungary's war effort was damaged almost beyond redemption within a couple of months of the war beginning. The Serb army, which was coming up from the south of the country, met the Austrian army at the Battle of Cer beginning on August 12, 1914.
The Serbians were set up in defensive positions against the Austro-Hungarians. The first attack came on August 16th, between parts of the 21st Austro-Hungarian division and parts of the Serbian Combined division. In harsh night-time fighting, the battle ebbed and flowed, until the Serbian line was rallied under the leadership of Stepa Stepanovic. Three days later the Austrians retreated across the Danube, having suffered 21,000 casualties against 16,000 Serbian casualties. This marked the first Allied victory of the war. The Austrians had not achieved their main goal of eliminating Serbia. In the next couple of months the two armies fought large battles at Drina (September 6 to November 11) and at Kolubara from November 16 to December 15.
In the autumn, with many Austro-Hungarians tied up in heavy with Serbia, Russia was able to make huge inroads into Austria-Hungary capturing Galicia and destroying much of the Empire's fighting ability. It wasn't until October 1915 with a lot of German, Bulgarian, and Turkish assistance that Serbia was finally occupied, although the weakened Serbian army retreated to Corfu with Italian assistance and continued to fight against the central powers.
The Serbian Army also penetrated the Serbo-Croatian speaking lands of Croatia, Dalmatia, Bosnia etc. The Serbian prime minister announced that Serbia would fight for the unification of all slavs in a single state. From this plan, a new kingdom would eventually be born: The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians.
Montenegro declared war on 6 August 1914. Bulgaria, however, stood aside before eventually joining the Central Powers in 1915, and Romania joined the Allies in 1916. In 1916 the Allies sent their ill-fated expedition to Gallipoli in the Dardanelles, and in the autumn of 1916 they established themselves in Salonika, establishing front. However, their armies did not move from front until near end of the war, when they marched up north to free territories under rule of Central Powers.
(more will be added later)
Consequences of World War I
The war had enormous repurcussions for the Balkan peninsula.People across the area suffered serious economic dislocation, and the mass mobilization resulted in severe casualties, particularly in Serbia. In less-developed areas World War I was felt in different ways: requisitioning of draft animals, for example, caused severe problems in villages that were already suffering from the enlistment of young men, and many recently created trade connections were ruined.
The borders of many states were completely redrawn, and the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later Yugolsavia, was created. Both Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were formally dissolved. As a result the balance of power, economic relations, and ethnic divisions were completely altered.
Some important territorial changes include:
- the addition of Transylvania to Romania
- The incorporation of Serbia, Montenegro, Slavonia, Croatia, Vojvodina, Carniola, part of Styria, most of Dalmatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.
- Istria, Zadar, and Trieste became part of Italy,
Between WWI and WWII, in order to create nation-states the following population movements were seen:
- in the interwar period, 1.5 million Greeks were cleansed from Turkey; 400,000 Turks cleansed from Greece
- The 1919 Treaty of Neuilly-Sur-Seine provided for the reciprocal emigration of ethnic minorities between Greece and Bulgaria. between 92,000 and 102,000 Bulgarians were cleansed from Greece; 35,000 Greeks were cleansed from Bulgaria, 67,000 Turks cleansed from Bulgaria
- Under the terms of 1940 Treaty of Craiova, 88,000 Romanians and Aromanians of Southern Dobruja were forced to move in Northern Dobruja and 65,000 Bulgarians of Northern Dobruja were forced to move in Southern Dobruja.
See also:
- Treaty of Trianon
- Little Entente
- League of Nations
- Aftermath of World War I
- Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) with an estimate of 250.000 casualties. as in "Secondary Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century"
World War II in Balkans
Consequences of World War II
- Yalta Conference
- Western betrayal
- Operation Keelhaul
- Greek Civil War - The Greek Civil War was a war fought between 1944 and 1949 in Greece. On one side were the armed forces of the Greek government, supported at first by Britain and later by the United States. On the other side were the forces of the wartime resistance against the German occupation, whose leadership was controlled by the Communist Party of Greece.
- After World War II, when the cession of the Cadrilater by Romania to Bulgaria was confirmed, 110,000 Romanians were compelled to move north of the border, while 65,000 Bulgarians living in southeastern Romania shared an opposite fate. (As in Purdue university study: ETHNIC CLEANSING AND THE NORMATIVE TRANSFORMATION OF INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY
Balkans during the Cold War
During the Cold War, most of the countries in the Balkans were ruled by Soviet-supported communist governments. The nationalism was not dead after WWII. Yugoslavia was not an isolate case of ethnic tension. For exemple: beginning in 1984, the Communist government led by Todor Zhivkov began implementing a policy of forced assimilation of the ethnic Turkish minority. Ethnic Turks were required to change their names to Bulgarian equivalents. Those who refused to assimilate lost their jobs and were denied access to education. At the same time, Mosques were closed and Moslem practices as regards burial and circumcision were prohibited - those who disobeyed were imprisoned. In 1989, a Turkish dissident movement was formed to resist these assimilationist measures. The Bulgarian government responded with violence and mass expulsions of the activists. In this repressive environment, over 300,000 ethnic Turks fled to neighboring Turkey. as in ETHNIC CLEANSING AND THE NORMATIVE TRANSFORMATION OF INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY However, despite being under communist governments, Yugoslavia (1948) and Albania (1961) fell out with the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia, led by marshal Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), first propped up then rejected the idea of merging with Bulgaria, and instead sought closer relations with the West, later even joining many third world countries in the Non-Aligned Movement. Albania on the other hand gravitated toward Communist China, later adopting an isolationist position.
The only non-communist countries were Greece and Turkey, which were (and still are) part of NATO.
Religious prosecutions
The Greek Catholic Church was the second largest denomination in Romania (approximately 1.5 million adherents out of a population of approximately 15 million) in 1948 when Communist authorities outlawed it and dictated its forced merger with the Romanian Orthodox Church. At the time of its banning, the Greek Catholic Church owned more than 2,600 churches, which were confiscated by the State and then given to the Orthodox Church, along with other facilities. Other properties of the Greek Catholic Church, such as buildings and agricultural land, became state property.
The late 1980s and the early 1990s brought the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. As westernization spread through the Balkans, many reforms were carried out that led to implementation of market economy and to privatization, among other capitalist reforms.
In Albania, Bulgaria and Romania the changes in political and economic system were accompanied by general tumult and tragic events. To this day, most of the former Yugoslav republics, except for Slovenia and Croatia, live in relative poverty.
Yugoslav wars
- Main article: Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav federation also collapsed in the early 1990s, followed by an outbreak of violence and aggresion, in a series of conflicts known alternately as the Yugoslav War(s), the War in the Balkans, or rarely the Third Balkan War (a term coined by British journalist Misha Glenny). The disintegration of Yugoslavia was particularly the consequence of unresolved national, political and economic questions, the efforts of different factions of the old party elite to retain power under new conditions along with the attempt to create a Greater Serbia. The conflicts caused the deaths of many innocent people.
The ten-days war in Slovenia in June 1991 was short and with few casualties. However, the war in Croatia in the latter half of 1991 brought many casualties and much damage. As the situation calmed down in Croatia, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) started in early 1992. Peace would only come in 1995 after such events as the Operation Storm, Srebrenica massacre and the Dayton Agreement.
The economy suffered an enormous damage in all of BiH and in the affected parts of Croatia. Also many large historical cities were devastated, for example Sarajevo, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Mostar, Šibenik and others.
The wars caused large migrations of population. With the exception of its former republics of Slovenia and Macedonia, the settlement and the national composition of population in all parts of Yugoslavia changed drastically, due to war, but also political pressure and threats.
Initial upsets on Kosovo did not escalate into a war until 1999 when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) was bombarded by NATO for several months and Kosovo made a protectorate of international peacekeeping troops.
Ethnic cleansing
During the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, the breakup of Yugoslavia caused large population transfers, mostly unvoluntary. Because it was a conflict fueled by ethnic nationalism, people of minority ethnicities generally fled towards regions where their ethnicity was in a majority.
The phenomenon of "ethnic cleansing" was first seen in Croatia but soon spread to Bosnia. Since the Bosniaks had no immediate refuge, they were arguably hardest hit by the ethnic violence. United Nations tried to create safe areas for the Bosniak populations of eastern Bosnia but in cases such as the Srebrenica massacre, the peacekeeping troops failed to protect the safe areas resulting in the massacre of thousands of Bosniaks.
The Dayton Accords ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, fixating the borders between the two warring parties roughly to the ones established by the autumn of 1995. One immediate result of the population transfer following the peace deal was a sharp decline in ethnic violence in the region. See Washington Post Balkan Report for a summary of the conflict, and FAS analysis of former Yugoslavia for population ethnic distribution maps.
A massive and systematic deportation of Serbia's Albanians took place during the Kosovo War of 1999, with around 800,000 Albanians (out of a population of about 1.5 million) forced to flee Kosovo. This was quickly reversed at the war's end, but thousands of Serbs were in turn forced to flee into Serbia proper. A number of commanders and politicians, notably Serbia's former president Slobodan Milosevic, have been put on trial by the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for a variety of war crimes, including deportations and genocide.
Current state and perspectives
Since 2000, all Balkan countries are friendly towards the EU and the USA.
Greece has been a member of the European Union since 1981. Slovenia and Cyprus since 2004. Bulgaria and Romania are set to become members in 2007. Croatia is also expected to become part of these organizations, however due to lack of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in a manhunt for fugitive general Ante Gotovina, in March 2005 its entrance has been postponed. Turkey initially applied in 1963 and as of 2004 accesion negotiations have not yet begun, although some customs agreements have been signed. In 2004 Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia also became members of NATO.
All other Balkan countries have expressed a desire to join the EU but at some date in the future.
Reference
- Jelavich, Barbara. History of the Balkans. Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1983.