History of the Balkans

The

Prehistory

Main article:

Prehistory of Southeastern Europe

Mesolithic

First human settlement in Europe is

due to its permanency, organisation, as well as the sophistication of its architecture and construction techniques.

Neolithic

.

The "

of around 3000 BC.

Yamnaya steppe pastoralists apparently migrated into the Balkans about 3000 to 2500 BCE, and they soon admixed with the local populations, which resulted in a tapestry of various ancestry from which speakers of the Albanoid, Hellenic, and other Paleo-Balkan languages emerged.^[5]

Panagyurishte treasure from Bulgaria

, dating from the 4th to 3rd centuries BC

At ca. 1000 BC,

Asia Minor

, now extinct as a separate group and language.

Antiquity

Iron Age

After the period that followed the arrival of the Dorians, known as the

) etc.

By the end of the 4th century BC,

resulted in the Achaemenids being forced to withdraw from most of their European territories.

The

, who were also ruled by kings.

Achaemenid Persian Empire (6th to 5th century BC)

Around 513 BC, as part of the military incursions ordered by

Following the

Although Persian rule in the Balkans was overthrown following the failure of Xerxes' invasion, the Macedonians and

Pre-Roman states (4th to 1st centuries BC)

Main articles:

Macedon

was killed by attacking Illyrians.

But in 358 BC,

an excuse to invade the Balkans.

In the

, with Scodra as its capital. Also, in 168 BC, by taking advantage of the constant Greek civil wars, the Romans defeated Perseus, the last King of Macedonia and with their allies in southern Greece, they became overlords of the region. The territories were split to Macedonia, Achaia and Epirus.

Roman period

Starting in the 2nd century BC, the rising Roman Republic began annexing the Balkan area, transforming it into one of the Empire's most prosperous and stable regions. To this day, the Roman legacy is clearly visible in the numerous monuments and artifacts scattered throughout the Balkans, and most importantly in the Latin-based languages used by almost 25 million people in the area (the Eastern Romance languages). However, the Roman influence failed to dissolve Greek culture, which maintained a predominant status in the Eastern half of the Empire, and continued to be strong in the southern half of the Balkans.

Beginning in the 3rd century AD, Rome's frontiers in the Balkans were weakened because of internal political and economic disorders. During this time, the Balkans, especially Illyricum, grew to greater importance. It became one of the Empire's four prefectures, and many warriors, administrators and emperors arose from the region. Many rulers built their residences in the region.^[17]

Though the situation had stabilized temporarily by the time of

] the entire Balkan region before moving westward to invade Italy itself.

By the end of the Empire the region had become a conduit for invaders to move westward, as well as the scene of treaties and complex political maneuvers by Romans, Goths and Huns, all seeking the best advantage for their peoples amid the shifting and disorderly final decades of Roman imperial power.

Rise of Christianity

.

In 106 AD the emperor

St. Sofia Church

, Sofia, Bulgaria.

The

. In 391, Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of Rome.

The

excommunicated

each other, the East-West Schism was actually the result of an extended period of estrangement between the two Churches.

The primary claimed causes of the Schism were disputes over papal authority—the Pope claimed he held authority over the four Eastern

). There were other, less significant catalysts for the Schism, including variance over

liturgical

practices and conflicting claims of jurisdiction.

Early Middle Ages

Eastern Roman Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Greek-speaking,

]

The magnitude of influence and contribution which the Byzantine Empire made to Europe and to Christendom has only begun to be recognised recently.^[

]

Byzantine culture is embodied in the Byzantine version of Christianity, which spread Orthodoxy and eventually led to the development of the so-called "Byzantine commonwealth" (a term coined by 20th-century historians) throughout Eastern Europe. Early Byzantine missionary-work spread Orthodox Christianity to various Slavic peoples, amongst several of which it still is a predominant religion. Jewish communities also spread through the Balkans at this time, while the Jews were primarily Romaniotes.^{[22][need quotation to verify]} In a Greek-influenced "Byzantine commonwealth", the Greek Christian culture and also the Romaniote culture influenced the emerging societies both of the Christian and of the Jewish communities of the Balkans and of Eastern Europe.^[23]

Throughout its history, Byzantium had fluctuating borders: the Empire often became involved in multi-sided conflicts with not only the Arabs, Persians and Turks of the east, but also with its Christian neighbours- the Bulgarians, Serbs, Normans and the Crusaders, which each at one time or another conquered large amounts of its territory. By the end, the Empire consisted of nothing but Constantinople and small holdings in mainland Greece, with all other territories both in the Balkans and in Asia Minor gone. The conclusion came in 1453, when Mehmet II successfully besieged the city and brought the Second Rome to an end.

Barbarian incursions

Coinciding with the decline of the Roman Empire, many "barbarian" tribes entered or passed through the Balkans; most of them did not leave any lasting state. During these "Dark Ages", Eastern Europe, like Western Europe, regressed culturally and economically, although enclaves of prosperity and culture persisted in the coastal towns along the Adriatic and in the major Greek cities in the south.^[24] As the Byzantine Empire's borders shrank more and more, in an attempt to consolidate its waning power, vast areas were de-urbanised and roads abandoned; native populations may have withdrawn to isolated areas such as mountains and forests.^[24]

The first tribal barbarians to enter the Byzantine-era Balkans were the Goths. From northern East Germany, via Scythia, they pushed southwards into the Roman Balkans following the threat of the Huns. Roman Emperors eventually granted these Goths lands inside the Byzantine realm (south of the Danube), as foederati (allies). However, after a period of famine, the proto-Visigoths rebelled and defeated the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens in 378. The Visigoths subsequently sacked Rome in 410, and in an attempt to deal with them, the Western Roman Emperor Honorius granted them lands in Gaul.

The

Uralic ruling core that subsequently incorporated various Germanic, Sarmatian and Slavic tribes, moved west into Europe, entering Pannonia in 400–410 AD. The Huns may have triggered the great migration of Germanic peoples into western Europe.^[25]

From their Pannonian base, the Huns subdued many peoples and carved out a sphere of terror extending from Germany and the Baltic to the Black Sea. With the death of

Attila

in 454 AD, succession struggles led to the rapid collapse of Hun prestige and the subsequent fading of the Huns from European history.

The Ostrogoths freed themselves from Hunnish domination in 454 AD and became foedorati as well. The Ostrogoths, commissioned by the Byzantines, migrated westwards and established a state in Italy. In the second half of the 5th- and first half of the 6th-centuries, new Germanic barbarian tribes entered the Balkans. The Gepids, having lived in Dacia in the 3rd century with the Goths, settled Pannonia and eventually conquered Singidunum (Belgrade) and Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica), establishing a short-lived kingdom in the 6th century. The Lombards entered Pannonia in 550s, defeated the Gepids and absorbed them. In 569 the Lombards moved into northern Italy, establishing their own kingdom at the expense of the Ostrogoths.

Migration Period

The

migrated in successive waves from the 6th century onwards. The Slavs migrated from Eastern and Central Europe, those settling in the Balkans and eventually became known as South Slavs

. Most still remained subjects of the Roman Empire.

The

in the early 7th century AD. They launched continuous raids into the Balkan Peninsula, contributing to the general decline of the area that had begun centuries earlier. After their unsuccessful siege on Constantinople in 626, the Avars limited themselves to the Pannonian Plain. They ruled over the Slavs who already inhabited the region. By the 10th century, the Avar confederacy collapsed due to internal conflicts and to Frankish and Slavic attacks. The remnant Avars were subsequently absorbed by the West Slavs, Magyars and Romanians.

The

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

the Bulgars dispersed mostly to eastern Europe.

The

, probably served as the catalyst for them to move further west into Europe.

First Bulgarian Empire

In the 7th century, the First Bulgarian Empire was established by Khan Asparuh. It greatly increased in strength in the following centuries, stretching from the Dnieper to present-day Budapest and the Mediterranean. Bulgaria dominated the Balkans for the next four centuries and was instrumental in the adoption of Christianity in the region and among other Slavs. Bulgarian Tsar Simeon I the Great (r. 897–923), following the cultural and political course of his father Boris I (r. 852–889), ordered the creation of the Bulgarian alphabet, which was later spread by missionaries to the north, reaching the lands of present-day Russia.

Arbanon, ruled by the native

's sons Gjin and Demetrius succeeded their father and managed to retain a considerable degree of autonomy from the Byzantine Empire. However, c. 1216, Arbanon lost its great autonomy.

High Middle Ages

Republic of Venice

The Uprising of Asen and Peter was a revolt of Bulgarians and Vlachs^[31][32] living in Moesia and the Balkan Mountains, then the theme of Paristrion of the Byzantine Empire, caused by a tax increase. It began on 26 October 1185, the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki, and ended with the restoration of Bulgaria with the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire, ruled by the Asen dynasty.

In building its maritime commercial empire, the

.

Venice carved out a sphere of influence in the Aegean known as the

pretenders to it until the 14th century.

Late Middle Ages

Serbian Empire

In 1346, The

, lost most of the territory conquered by Dušan, hence his epithet. The Serbian Empire effectively ended with the death of Uroš V in 1371 and the break-up of the Serbian state.

In the 14th century,

on 29 May 1453, at the age of 21.

The Ottoman conquest of

.

League of Lezhë

The League of Lezhë, also commonly referred to as the Albanian League, was a military and diplomatic alliance of the Albanian aristocracy, created in the city of Lezhë on 2 March 1444. The League of Lezhë is considered the first unified independent Albanian country in the Medieval age, with Skanderbeg as leader of the regional Albanian chieftains and nobles united against the Ottoman Empire. Skanderbeg was proclaimed "Chief of the League of the Albanian People". The League's forces had victories against the Ottomans at Torvioll (1444), Mokra (1445), Otonetë (1446), Oranik (1448), a loss at Svetigrad (1448) victory in Polog (1453), victory at Krujë (1450), Albulena (1457), Ohrid (1464), Mokra (1462) and many others.

Skanderbeg's first big victory against the Ottomans was at the Battle of Torvioll, and the news of the victory of the Albanians over the Turks spread very quickly in Europe. In the two years that followed, the Albanian-Tetan coalition won over the Ottomans. On May 14, 1450, the first siege of Kruja began, which the Ottomans had to end the following year without success. In 1451, Skanderbeg formed an alliance with the Kingdom of Naples for the time being; however, the Albanians received no help from there. In 1452, the Ottomans were defeated at Mokrra and Meçadi. After the fall of Constantinople, Albanians received financial aid from Naples and Venice as well as from the Pope. Until 1462, Skanderbeg's troops were able to defeat the Ottomans every year without significantly weakening their superiority. Every year, the sultan was able to send a new army without difficulty. Only in 1460 and 1463 did ceasefires interrupt the fighting. In 1462, Skanderbeg succeeded in taking the important city of Ohrid. In 1466 the second siege of Kruje Castle was knocked down. However, the Ottomans founded the fortress Elbasan south in the valley of the Shkumbin and thus finally settled in Albania. In 1467 a third siege of Kruje failed. By 1468, the 10,000-strong Skanderbeg army could withstand the Ottomans. The Albanians received financial support from Venice and from the kings of Hungary and Naples. After Skanderbeg died in 1468, the Lezha League began to disintegrate. Following the Venetians, the Northern Albanians in particular continued the fight against the Ottomans. When Shkodra, which until then had been dominated by the Venetians, was taken by the Ottomans in 1479, the resistance collapsed, and the entire Albanian settlement area was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.

Adriatic region

From the 14th century, Venice controlled most of the maritime commerce of the Balkans with important colonial possessions on the Adriatic and Aegean coasts. Venice's long decline started in the 15th century, when it first made an unsuccessful attempt to hold

conquered Venice and caused the end of the Republic of Venice in the Balkans.

Early modern period

Ottoman Empire

Further information:

Growth of the Ottoman Empire

Much of the Balkans was under Ottoman rule throughout the

The social structure of the Balkans in the late 18th century was complex. The Ottoman rulers exercised control chiefly in indirect ways.[37] In Albania and Montenegro, for example, local leaders paid nominal tribute to the Empire and otherwise had little contact. The Republic of Ragusa paid an annual tribute but otherwise was free to pursue its rivalry with the Republic of Venice. The two Romance-speaking principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia had their own nobility, but were ruled by Greek families chosen by the Sultan. In Greece, the elite comprised clergymen and scholars, but there was scarcely any Greek aristocracy.^[38]

A million or more Turks had settled in the Balkans, typically in smaller urban centers where they were garrison troops, civil servants, and craftsmen and merchants. There were also important communities of Jewish and Greek merchants. The Turks and Jews were not to be found in the countryside, so there was a very sharp social differentiation between the cities and their surrounding region in terms of language, religion and ethnicity. The Ottoman Empire collected taxes at about the 10% rate but there was no forced labor and the workers and peasants were not especially oppressed by the Empire. The Sultan favoured and protected the Orthodox clergy, primarily as a protection against the missionary zeal of Roman Catholics.^[38]

The rise of Nationalism under the Ottoman Empire caused the breakdown of millet concept. With the rise of national states and their histories, it is very hard to find reliable sources on the Ottoman concept of a nation and the centuries of the relations between House of Osman and the provinces, which turned into states. Unquestionably, understanding the Ottoman conception of nationhood helps us to understand what happened in the Balkans in the late Ottoman period.

• Bulgarian National Revival and National awakening of Bulgaria (18-19th century)
• Serbian Revolution (1804–1815/1817/1833)
• Greek War of Independence (1821–1832)
• Albanian National Awakening (1830-1912)
• Bosnian uprising
  (1831–1832)
• Aromanian question (1815–1905)
• Unification of Moldavia and Wallachia and Romanian War of Independence (1859–1878)

and Serbia in 1878.

Congress of Berlin

The

, who led the Congress, undertook to adjust boundaries to minimize the risks of major war, while recognizing the reduced power of the Ottoman Empire, and balance the distinct interests of the great powers.

As a result, Ottoman holdings in Europe declined sharply; Bulgaria was established as an independent principality inside the Ottoman Empire, but was not allowed to keep all its previous territory. Bulgaria lost

The results were at first hailed as a great achievement in peacemaking and stabilization. However, most of the participants were not fully satisfied, and grievances regarding the results festered until they exploded into World War in 1914. Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece made gains, but far less than they thought they deserved. The Ottoman Empire, called at the time the "sick man of Europe," was humiliated and significantly weakened, rendering it more liable to domestic unrest and more vulnerable to attack. Although Russia had been victorious in the war that caused the conference, it was humiliated at Berlin, and resented its treatment. The Habsburg Empire gained a great deal of territory, which angered the

In the long-run, tensions between Russia and Austria-Hungary intensified, as did the nationality question in the Balkans. The congress was aimed at the revision of the Treaty of San Stefano and at keeping Constantinople in Ottoman hands. It effectively disavowed Russia's victory over the decaying Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War. The Congress of Berlin returned to the Ottoman Empire territories that the previous treaty had given to the Principality of Bulgaria, most notably Macedonia, thus setting up a strong revanchist demand in Bulgaria that in 1912 was one of many causes of the First Balkan War.

The Balkan Wars were two wars that took place in the Balkans in 1912 and 1913. Four Balkan states defeated the Ottoman Empire in the first war; one of the four, Bulgaria, was defeated in the second war. The Ottoman Empire lost nearly all of its holdings in Europe. Austria-Hungary, although not a combatant, was weakened as a much enlarged Serbia pushed for union of the South Slavic peoples.^[41] The war set the stage for the Balkan crisis of 1914 and thus was a "prelude to the First World War."^[42]

World War I was ignited from a spark in the Balkans, when a

Following the assassination, Austria-Hungary sent Serbia an ultimatum in July 1914 with several provisions largely designed to prevent Serbian compliance. When Serbia only partially fulfilled the terms of the ultimatum, 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 strategies, 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 was the development in Germany giving the Dual-Monarchy a "blank cheque" to pursue a military strategy that ensured 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 they 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 12 August 1914.

The Serbians were set up in defensive positions against the Austro-Hungarians. The first attack came on 16 August, 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 (6 September to 11 November) and at Kolubara from 16 November to 15 December.

In the autumn, with many Austro-Hungarians tied up in heavy fighting with Serbia, Russia was able to make huge inroads into Austria-Hungary capturing

with Italian assistance and continued to fight against the central powers.

Yugoslav Committee, a political interest group formed by South Slavs from Austria-Hungary during World War I, aimed at joining the existing south Slavic nations in an independent state.^[45] From this plan, a new kingdom eventually was 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.

Bulgaria, the most populous of the Balkan states with 7 million people sought to acquire Macedonia but when it tried it was defeated in 1913 in the Second Balkan War. In 1914 Bulgaria stayed neutral. However its leaders still hoped to acquire Macedonia, which was controlled by an ally, Serbia. In 1915 joining the Central Powers seemed the best route.^[46] Bulgaria mobilized a very large army of 800,000 men, using equipment supplied by Germany. The Bulgarian-German-Austrian invasion of Serbia in 1915 was a quick victory, but by the end of 1915 Bulgaria was also fighting the British and French—as well as the Romanians in 1916 and the Greeks in 1917. Bulgaria was ill-prepared for a long war; absence of so many soldiers sharply reduced agricultural output. Much of its best food was smuggled out to feed lucrative black markets elsewhere.^[47]

By 1918 the soldiers were not only short of basic equipment like boots but they were being fed mostly corn bread with a little meat. Germany increasingly was in control, and Bulgarian relations with its ally the Ottoman Empire soured. The Allied offensive in September 1918, which failed in 1916 & 1917 was successful at Dobro Pole. Troops mutinied and peasants revolted, demanding peace. By month's end Bulgaria signed an armistice, giving up its conquests and its military hardware. The Czar abdicated and Bulgaria's war was over. The peace treaty in 1919 stripped Bulgaria of its conquests, reduced its army to 20,000 men, and demanded reparations of £100 million.^[47]

The war had enormous repercussions for the Balkan peninsula. People across the area suffered serious economic dislocation, and the mass mobilization resulted in severe casualties, particularly in Serbia where over 1.5 million Serbs died, which was approx. ¼ of the total population and over half of the male population. 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

, later Yugoslavia, 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 and Eastern Banat to Romania
• The incorporation of Serbia, Montenegro,
  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 World War I and World War II, in order to create nation-states the following population movements were seen:

• In the interwar period, almost 1.5 million Greeks were removed from Turkey; almost 700,000 Turks removed 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 removed from Greece; 35,000 Greeks were removed from Bulgaria. Although no agreement on exchange of population between Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was ever reached because of the latter's adamant refusal to recognise any Bulgarian minority in its eastern regions, the number of refugees from Macedonia and Eastern Serbia to Bulgaria also exceeded 100,000. Between the two world wars, some 67,000 Turks emigrated from Bulgaria to Turkey on basis of bilateral agreements.
• 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.^[48]

World War II in the Balkans started from the Italian attempts to create an

. Then demanded Greece to surrender in October 1940. However, the defiance of the Greek prime minister Metaxas on 28 October 1940, started the Greco-Italian war. After seven months of hard fighting, with some of the first Allied victories and the Italians losing nearly one third of Albania, Germany intervened to save its ally. In 1941, it invaded Yugoslavia with the forces they later used against the Soviet Union.

After the fall of

.

With help from Italy, they succeeded in conquering Yugoslavia within two weeks. They then joined forces with Bulgaria and invaded Greece from the Yugoslavian side. Despite Greek resistance, the Germans took advantage of the Greek army's presence in Albania against the Italians to advance in Northern Greece and consequently conquer the entire country within 3 weeks, with the exception of Crete. However, even with the fierce Cretan resistance, which cost the Nazis the bulk of their elite paratrooper forces, the island capitulated after 11 days of fighting.

On 1 May the Balkan frontiers were once again reshuffled, with the creation of several puppet states, such as Croatia and Montenegro, the Albanian expansion into Greece and Yugoslavia, Bulgarian annexation of territories in the Greek North, creation of a Vlach state in the Greek mountains of Pindus and the annexation of all the Ionian and part of the Aegean islands into Italy.

With the end of the war, the changes of the ethnic composition reverted to their original conditions and the settlers returned to their homelands, mainly the ones settled in Greece. An Albanian population of the Greek North, the Cams, were forced to flee their lands because they collaborated with the Italians. Their numbers were about 18 000 in 1944.

On 7–9 January 1945 Yugoslav authorities killed several hundred of declared Bulgarians in Macedonia as collaborators, in an event known as the "Bloody Christmas".

The Greek Civil War was fought between 1944 and 1949 in Greece between the armed forces of the Greek government, supported at first by Britain and later by the United States, against the forces of the wartime resistance against the German occupation, whose leadership was controlled by the Communist Party of Greece. Its goal was the creation of a Communist Northern Greece. It was the first time in the Cold War that hostilities led to a proxy war. In 1949, the partisans were defeated by the government forces.

During the

governments. The nationalism was not dead after World War II. Yugoslavia was not an isolated case of ethnic tension. For example: in Bulgaria, 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, or to leave the country. 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.^[49] However, despite being under communist governments, position. The only non-communist countries were Greece and Turkey, which were (and still are) part of NATO.

Religious persecutions took place in Bulgaria, directed against the Christian Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches as well as the Muslim, Jewish and others in the country. Antagonism between the communist state and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church eased somewhat after Todor Zhivkov became Bulgarian Communist Party leader in 1956 for "its historic role in helping preserve Bulgarian nationalism and culture".^[50]: 66

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 a period of political and economic instability and tragic events. The same was the case in most of former Yugoslav republics.

The collapse of the Yugoslav federation was due to various factors in various republics that comprised it. In Serbia and Montenegro, there were efforts of different factions of the old party elite to retain power under new conditions along, and an attempt to create Greater Serbia by keeping all Serbs in one state.^[51] In Croatia and Slovenia, multi-party elections produced nationally inclined leadership that followed in the footsteps of their previous Communist predecessors and oriented itself towards capitalism and secession. Bosnia and Herzegovina was split between the conflicting interests of its Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks, while Macedonia mostly tried to steer away from conflicting situations.

An outbreak of violence and aggression came as a consequence of unresolved national, political and economic questions. The conflicts caused the death of many civilians. The real start of the war was a military attack on Slovenia and Croatia taken by Serb-controlled JNA. Before the war, JNA had started accepting volunteers driven by ideology of Serbian nationalists keen to realise their nationalist goals.^[52]

The Ten-Day War in Slovenia in June 1991 was short and with few casualties. However, the Croatian War of Independence in the latter half of 1991 brought many casualties and much damage on Croatian towns. As the war eventually subsided in Croatia, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina started in early 1992. Peace only came in 1995 after such events as the Srebrenica massacre, Operation Storm, Operation Mistral 2 and the Dayton Agreement, which provided for a temporary solution, but nothing was permanently resolved.

The economy suffered an enormous damage in all of Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the affected parts of Croatia. The

and others.

The wars caused large population migrations, mostly involuntary. 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. Because it was a conflict fueled by

died before his trial could be concluded.

Initial upsets on

. This was quickly reversed from the aftermath.

2000 to present

Greece has been a member of the European Union since 1981. Greece is also an official member of the Eurozone, and the Western European Union. Slovenia and Cyprus have been EU members since 2004, and Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007. Croatia joined the EU in 2013. North Macedonia also received candidate status in 2005 under its then provisional name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, while the other Balkan countries have expressed a desire to join the EU but at some date in the future.

Greece has been a member of NATO since 1952. In 2004 Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia became members of NATO. Croatia and Albania joined NATO in 2009.

In 2006, Montenegro declared independence from the state of Serbia and Montenegro.

On 17 October 2007 Croatia became a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2008–2009 term, while Bosnia and Herzegovina became a non-permanent member for the 2010–2011 period.

Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008. To this day, it is partially recognized country.

Since the 2008 economic crisis, the former Yugoslav countries began to cooperate on levels that were similar to those in Yugoslavia.^{[citation needed]}

The 2021 Balkan non-papers are published, The first non-paper called for the "peaceful dissolution" of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the annexation of Republika Srpska and great parts of Herzegovina and Central Bosnia into a Greater Serbia and Greater Croatia, leaving a small Bosniak state in what is central and western Bosnia.^[53][54]

• Albania: The proto Albanians were likely a conglomerate of
  EU
  .
• Bosnia and Herzegovina: The territory was divided between Croatia and Serbia in the Early Middle Ages. "Bosnia" itself was a Serbian polity according to the DAI. Bosnia, along with other territories, became part of Duklja in the 11th century. In time, Bosnia became separated under its own ruler. After 1101, Bosnia was detached from Duklja, and subsequently came under Hungarian suzerainty, as was the case with Croatia. Byzantine rule interrupted Hungarian rule, and under Byzantine suzerainty, the Banate of Bosnia came to existence. The later ban became a Hungarian nominal vassal. The Bosnian Church was a Christian church in Bosnia deemed heretical, which some rulers were adherents of. The rulers empowered themselves through trade with Ragusa, and gained lands from Serbia (Herzegovina). Bosnia reached its zenith under the rule of Tvrtko who took more lands, including parts of Dalmatia, and crowned himself as king in 1377. After the Ottoman conquest of Serbia, Bosnia followed. The Sanjak of Bosnia was established, and the local population was subject of Islamization during the following centuries by the Ottoman Empire which guaranteed more rights to Muslims. The ethnic tensions that arose in modern times stem from this religious division. Austria-Hungary took over Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878 and annexed it in 1908. It was subsequently joined to Yugoslavia. After the Bosnian War, the state received international independence for the first time.
• Bulgaria: The
  Boyars continued to rule for the next three centuries. Bulgarian language
  continued to be used as the official language north of the Danube until the 19th century.
• Croatia: Following the settlement of Slavs in the Roman provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia, Croat tribes established two duchies. They were surrounded by the Franks (and later Venetians) and Avars (and later Magyars), while Byzantines tried to maintain control of the Dalmatian coast. The
  Croatian War
  .
• Greece: The oldest civilization of
  Thessalians, etc.) created the Mycenaean greek civilisation on the mainland (1600–1100 BC).^[56]
  The scope of Greek habitation and rule has varied throughout the ages and as a result the history of Greece is similarly elastic in what it includes.
• Montenegro: In the 10th century, there were three principalities on the territory of Montenegro:
  independence referendum held on 21 May 2006
  , Montenegro became independent.
• North Macedonia: North Macedonia officially celebrates 8 September 1991 as
  Yugoslavia.^[57] The anniversary of the start of the Ilinden Uprising (St. Elijah's Day) on 2 August is also widely celebrated on an official level as the Day of the Republic
  .
• Serbia: Following the settlement of Slavs, the Serbs established several principalities, as described in the DAI. Serbia was elevated to a kingdom in 1217, and an empire in 1346. By the 16th century, the entire territory of modern-day Serbia was annexed by the Ottoman Empire, at times interrupted by the Habsburg Empire. In the early 19th century the Serbian Revolution re-established the Serbian state, pioneering in the abolition of feudalism in the Balkans. Serbia became the region's first constitutional monarchy, and subsequently expanded its territory in the wars. The former Habsburg crownland of Vojvodina united with the Kingdom of Serbia in 1918. Following World War I, Serbia formed Yugoslavia with other South Slavic peoples which existed in several forms up until 2006, when the country retrieved its independence.

Byzantine culture

Bulgarian culture

Serbian culture

Sources and further reading

Secondary sources

• Calic, Marie-Janine. The Great Cauldron: A History of Southeastern Europe (2019) excerpt
• Carter, Francis W., ed. An historical geography of the Balkans (Academic Press, 1977).
• Castellan, Georges (1992). History of the Balkans: From Mohammed the Conqueror to Stalin. East European Monographs.
  ISBN 978-0-88033-222-4
  .
• ISBN 0-472-08149-7
  .
• ISBN 0-472-08260-4
  .
• Forbes, Nevill, et al. The Balkans : a history of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Rumania, Turkey (1915) summary histories by scholars online free
• Gerolymatos, André (2002). The Balkan wars: conquest, revolution, and retribution from the Ottoman era to the twentieth century and beyond. Basic Books.
  OCLC 49323460
  .
• Glenny, Misha (2012). The Balkans: Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers, 1804-2011. Penguin Publishing Group.
  ISBN 978-1-101-61099-2
  .
• Hall, Richard C. ed. War in the Balkans: An Encyclopedic History from the Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Breakup of Yugoslavia (2014)
• Hatzopoulos, Pavlos. Balkans Beyond Nationalism and Identity: International Relations and Ideology (IB Tauris, 2007).
• Hupchick, Dennis P. (2004) [2002]. The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism. Palgrave Macmillan.
  ISBN 978-1-4039-6417-5
  .
• Hösch, Edgar (1972). The Balkans: a short history from Greek times to the present day. Crane, Russak.
  ISBN 978-0-8448-0072-1
  .
• Jeffries, Ian, and Robert Bideleux. The Balkans: A Post-Communist History (2007).
• ISBN 9780521274586
  .
• Jelavich, Barbara. History of the Balkans, Vol. 1: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (1983)
• ISBN 9780521274593
  .
• Mazower, Mark (2007). The Balkans: A Short History. Random House Publishing Group.
  ISBN 978-0-307-43196-7
  .
• McCarthy, Justin (2010). Population History of the Middle East and the Balkans. Gorgias Press.
  ISBN 978-1-61719-105-3
  .
• ISBN 978-0-521-43991-6
  .
• Pavlowitch, Stevan K. (2014). A History of the Balkans 1804-1945. Taylor & Francis.
  ISBN 978-1-317-90016-0
  .
• Pavlowitch, Stevan K. Serbia: The history of an idea. (NYU Press, 2002).
• Pavlowitch, Stevan K. The improbable survivor: Yugoslavia and its problems, 1918-1988 (1988). online free to borrow
• Pavlowitch, Stevan K. Tito—Yugoslavia's great dictator : a reassessment (1992) online free to borrow
• Schevill, Ferdinand. The History of the Balkan Peninsula; From the Earliest Times to the Present Day (1966)
• Stanković, Vlada, ed. (2016). The Balkans and the Byzantine World before and after the Captures of Constantinople, 1204 and 1453. Lexington Books.
  ISBN 978-1-4985-1326-5
  .
• Stavrianos, L.S. The Balkans Since 1453 (1958), major scholarly history; online free to borrow
• Sumner, B. H. Russia and the Balkans 1870-1880 (1937)
• Wachtel, Andrew Baruch (2008). The Balkans in World History. Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-988273-1
  .
• Ziemann, Daniel (2016). Das Erste bulgarische Reich. Eine frühmittelalterliche Großmacht zwischen Byzanz und Abendland [The First Bulgarian Empire. An early medieval great power between Byzantium and the Occident] (PDF). Online handbook on the history of South-East Europe. Volume I: Rule and politics in Southeastern Europe until 1800 (in German). Regensburg: Institute for East and Southeast European Studies of the Leibniz Association.

Historiography and memory

See also: List of Slavic studies journals

• Cornelissen, Christoph, and Arndt Weinrich, eds. Writing the Great War - The Historiography of World War I from 1918 to the Present (2020) free download; full coverage for Serbia and major countries.
• Fikret Adanir and Suraiya Faroqhi. The Ottomans and the Balkans: A Discussion of Historiography (2002) online Archived 2020-06-07 at the Wayback Machine
• Bracewell, Wendy, and Alex Drace-Francis, eds. Balkan Departures: Travel Writing from Southeastern Europe (2010) online
• Fleming, Katherine Elisabeth. "Orientalism, the Balkans, and Balkan historiography." American historical review 105.4 (2000): 1218-1233. online
• Kitromilides, Paschalis. Enlightenment, Nationalism, Orthodoxy: Studies in the Culture and Political Thought of South-eastern Europe (Aldershot, 1994).
• Tapon, Francis (2012). The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us. WanderLearn Press.
  ISBN 9780976581222
  .
• Todorova, Maria. Imagining the Balkans (1997). excerpt
• Uzelac, Aleksandar. "The Ottoman Conquest of the Balkans. Interpretations and Research Debates." Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 71#2 (2018), p. 245+. online

Primary sources

• ISBN 9780884020219
  .
• Scholz, Bernhard Walter, ed. (1970). Carolingian Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard's Histories. University of Michigan Press.
  ISBN 978-0472061860
  .

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