The collapse of the Yugoslav federation was due to various factors in various republics that composed it. Their numbers were about 18 000 in 1944. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia also suffered an economic hardship under internationally imposed economic sanctions. Most of the states in the Balkans are predominantly urbanized, with the lowest number of urban population as % of the total population found in Kosovo at under 40%, Bosnia and Herzegovina at 40% and Slovenia at 50%. [52][53] The practices of growing grain and raising livestock arrived in the Balkans from the Fertile Crescent by way of Anatolia and spread west and north into Central Europe, particularly through Pannonia. The Slavs migrated from Central Europe and Eastern Europe and eventually became known as South Slavs. Das Besondere an dieser Seite: Petroleum scarce reserves exist in Greece, Serbia and Albania. [45] Croatia, considered part of the Western Balkans, joined the EU in July 2013. [15] A third possibility is that "Haemus" (Αἵμος) derives from the Greek word "haima" (αἷμα) meaning 'blood'. That caused a war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, which—through the existing chains of alliances—led to the First World War. The Ottoman Empire was religiously, linguistically and ethnically diverse, and, at times, a much more tolerant place for religious practices when compared to other parts of the world. [9] Related words are also found in Turkic languages. Croatia joined the EU in 2013. Bulgaria was ill-prepared for a long war; absence of so many soldiers sharply reduced agricultural output. In building its maritime commercial empire, the Republic of Venice dominated the trade in salt,[28] acquired control of most of the islands in the Aegean, including Cyprus and Crete, and became a major "power" in the Near East and in all the Balkans. In 1912–1913 the First Balkan War broke out when the nation-states of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro united in an alliance against the Ottoman Empire. So Balkan is always the Other: it lies somewhere else, always a little bit more to the southeast, with the paradox that, when we reach the very bottom of the Balkan peninsula, we again magically escape Balkan. Edoardo Corradi, Rethinking Islamized Balkans, Balkan Social Science Review, vol. For Slovenes, it begins with Croatia, and we Slovenes are the last outpost of the peaceful Mitteleuropa. Wichtige Handelswege zwischen Okzident und Orient verliefen durch die balkanische Region und machten sie aber auch mehrere Male zum Schauplatz der Konfrontation … The Balkans (/ˈbɔːlkənz/ BAWL-kənz), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, are a geographic area in southeastern Europe with various definitions and meanings,[2][3] including geopolitical and historical. Current Trends in Altaic Linguistics; European Balkan(s), Turkic bal(yk) and the Problem of Their Original Meanings, Marek Stachowski, Jagiellonian University, p. 618. Studien-Verlag, 2004. S. 62 – 63 The Ottoman rulers exercised control chiefly in indirect ways. This very alibi confronts us with the first of many paradoxes concerning Balkan: its geographic delimitation was never precise. The Serbians were set up in defensive positions against the Austro-Hungarians. [16], The earliest mention of the name appears in an early 14th-century Arab map, in which the Haemus mountains are referred to as Balkan. [9][12] The multi-ethnic Achaemenid army possessed many soldiers from the Balkans. For Germans, Austria itself, on account of its historic connections, is already tainted by the Balkanic corruption and inefficiency. The Ten-Day War in Slovenia in June 1991 was short and with few casualties. Jahrhunderts viele Türken nach Kleinasien und Ostthrakien abwanderten oder vertrieben wurden, blieb ein Teil auch in ihren Siedlungsgebieten auf dem Balkan wohnen. Balkan countries control the direct land routes between Western Europe and South-West Asia (Asia Minor and the Middle East). On October 17, 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. Most serious (and real) cause of course, was the competition for power between the old and the new capitals of the Roman Empire (Rome and Constantinople). In the long-run, tensions between Russia and Austria-Hungary intensified, as did the nationality question in the Balkans. Greece is no longer Balkan proper, but the cradle of our Western civilization. They learned the art of horseback warfare from Turkic people. Turkey, often including its European territory, is also included in Western or Southwestern Asia. Er rückte nunmehr ins Zentrum des nach Osten „verschobenen“ Reiches und wurde zum Hinterland des neuen Zentrums. Bände 2–6. Venice became a fully imperial power following the Venetian-financed Fourth Crusade, which in 1203 captured and in 1204 sacked and conquered Constantinople, dividing the Byzantine Empire into several smaller states and established the Latin Empire. An Albanian population of the Greek North, the Cams, were forced to flee their lands because they collaborated with the Italians. [61] As examples, for Greeks, Constantine XI Palaiologos and Kolokotronis; and for Serbs, Miloš Obilić and Tzar Lazar; for Montenegrins, Đurađ I Balšić and Ivan Crnojević; for Albanians, George Kastrioti Skanderbeg; for ethnic Macedonians, Nikola Karev[62] and Goce Delčev;[62] for Bulgarians, Vasil Levski, Georgi Sava Rakovski and Hristo Botev and for Croats, Nikola Šubić Zrinjski. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the Greek states started fighting among themselves again, while up north independent Illyrian polities arose again. [73] Most UN member states recognise Kosovo. 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. Over the centuries forests have been cut down and replaced with bush. The Slavs, known as the Sklavenoi, migrated in successive waves. There they encountered a predominantly Slavic populace and Avar remnants. [58][59] The Bulgars and Slavs arrived in the 6th-century and began assimilating and displacing already-assimilated (through Romanization and Hellenization) older inhabitants of the northern and central Balkans, forming the Bulgarian Empire. Historians state the Balkans comprise Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia. The long-lasting wars resulted in a United Nations intervention and NATO ground and air forces took action against Serb forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. 55 million (32 million only the peninsula's part) The local Romans and Romanized remnants of the Iron Age populace of the Balkans began their assimilation into mainly the Slavs and Greeks, however, notable Latin-speaking communities are known to have survived. [99], a Only the European part of Istanbul is a part of the Balkans. Greece has been a member of the European Union since 1981. After the Western Roman Empire's collapse the territory of what is today, Bosnia and Herzegovina: The territory was divided between Croatia and Serbia in the Early Middle Ages. Throughout history, many other ethnic groups with their own languages lived in the area, among them Thracians, Illyrians, Romans, Celts and various Germanic tribes. Bulgaria, without being admitted to the Congress, lost more than 70% of its territory, and over 50% of its ethnic population remained outside its borders—which caused a number of uprisings and brought the country into subsequent Balkan wars. Being the Macedonian part of Yugoslavia (see Vardar Macedonia), the federated Republic under the Yugoslav identity had the name Republic of Macedonia on which it declared its sovereignty in 1991. The Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878) was a meeting of the leading statesmen of Europe's Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire. 1330–1365 km). This was quickly reversed from the aftermath. The current territory of Italy includes only the small area around Trieste inside the Balkan Peninsula. Das Besondere an dieser Seite: Greece is also an official member of the Eurozone, and the Western European Union. Yugoslavia was not an isolated case of ethnic tension. On January 7–9, 1945, Yugoslav authorities killed several hundred of declared Bulgarians in Macedonia as collaborators, in an event known as the "Bloody Christmas". Elsewhere, land cultivation is mostly unsuccessful because of the mountains, hot summers and poor soils, although certain cultures such as olive and grape flourish. [23] Through such policies and Yugoslavian maps the term was elevated to the modern status of a geographical region. [20][21] In a sense of a Greek-influenced "Byzantine commonwealth", the Greek Christian culture and also the Romaniote culture have influenced the emerging cultures both the Christian and the Jewish cultures of the Balkans and of Eastern Europe.[22]. Giovanni I Castriota (in albanese Gjon Kastrioti, in tedesco Johannes; anche Ivan; Distretto di Mat – 2 maggio 1437; secondo altre fonti nel 1442), padre dell'eroe nazionale albanese Giorgio Castriota Scanderbeg, fu un principe albanese, che governò il principato Castriota nel nord dell'odierna Albania dal 1389 fino alla sua morte nel 1437. In the second half of the 5th- and first of the 6th century, new Germanic barbarian tribes entered the Balkans. The Sephardi Jewish cemetery in Sarajevo has tombstones of a unique shape and inscribed in ancient Ladino. Beginning in the 3rd century AD, Rome's frontiers in the Balkans were weakened because of internal political and economic disorders. free encyclopedia Balkan peninsula (as defined geographically, by the Danube-Sava-Kupa line) The Balkans and parts of this area are alternatively situated in Southeast The Uprising of Asen and Peter was a revolt of Bulgarians and Vlachs[26][27] living in Moesia and the Balkan Mountains, then the theme of Paristrion of the Byzantine Empire, caused by a tax increase. Early Byzantine missionary work spread Orthodox Christianity to various Slavic peoples, amongst whom it still is a predominant religion. She also sent ships to help defend Constantinople against the besieging Turks (1453). Though normally dated to 1054, when Pope Leo IX and Patriarch of Constantinople Michael I Cerularius excommunicated each other, the East-West Schism was actually the result of an extended period of estrangement between the two Churches. Most of the Balkan nation-states emerged during the 19th and early 20th centuries as they gained independence from the Ottoman Empire or the Austro-Hungarian empire: Greece in 1821, Serbia, and Montenegro in 1878, Romania in 1881, Bulgaria in 1908 and Albania in 1912. Venice seized a number of locations on the eastern shores of the Adriatic sea before 1200, partly for purely commercial reasons, but also because pirates based there were a menace to its trade. The Achaemenid Persian Empire incorporated parts of the Balkans comprising Macedonia, Thrace, Bulgaria, and the Black Sea coastal region of Romania between the late 6th and the first half of the 5th-century BC into its territories. Serbia was elevated to a kingdom in 1217, and. In the 7th century the Bulgaria was established by Khan Asparuh. [d] Popolazione. Another hope was that they could annex Serbian territories in order to change the ethnic composition of the empire. Archaeological evidence indicate a Romanized population in Transylvania by at least the 8th century. Iron ore is rare, but in some countries there is a considerable amount of copper, zinc, tin, chromite, manganese, magnesite and bauxite. Fleming, Katherine Elisabeth. [5][9] Darius's highly regarded commander Megabazus was responsible to fulfill the conquers in the Balkans. After their unsuccessful siege on Constantinople in 626, they limited themselves to Central Europe. Lampe, John R., and Marvin R. Jackson (1982). German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, 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. The often relentless bora wind is also being harnessed for power generation. The first such barbarian tribe to enter the Balkans were the Goths. However, the regions of Trieste and Istria are not usually considered part of the Balkans by Italian geographers, due to their definition of the Balkans that limits its western border to the Kupa River.[34]. As a result, Austria-Hungary's war effort was damaged almost beyond redemption within a couple of months of the war beginning. [46], The term is criticized for having a geopolitical, rather than a geographical meaning and definition, as a multiethnic and political area in the southeastern part of Europe. Kurgan IV was identified with the Yamna culture of around 3000 BC. A smaller group of Bulgars under Khan Kouber settled almost simultaneously in the Pelagonian plain in western Macedonia after spending some time in Panonia. [38] Following the assassination, Austria-Hungary sent Serbia an ultimatum in July 1914 with several provisions largely designed to prevent Serbian compliance. The peace treaty in 1919 stripped Bulgaria of its conquests, reduced its army to 20,000 men, and demanded reparations of £100 million.[41]. It is safer to speak of Proto-Thracians from whom there developed in the Iron Age ...". The last Latin emperor, Baldwin II, went into exile, but the imperial title survived, with several pretenders to it, until the 14th century. [5][6] However, the outcome of the Greco-Persian Wars resulted in the Achaemenids being forced to withdraw from most of their European territories. In the southern part and on the coast there is evergreen vegetation. However, most of the participants were not fully satisfied, and grievances regarding the results festered until they exploded into World War in 1914. From their base, the Huns subdued many people and carved out a sphere of terror extending from Germany and the Baltic to the Black Sea. See also the Black Sea regional organizations, The region is inhabited by Albanians, Aromanians, Bulgarians, Bosniaks, Croats, Gorani, Greeks, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs, Slovenes, Romanians, Turks, and other ethnic groups which present minorities in certain countries like the Romani and Ashkali. 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. During most of its history it controlled provinces in the Balkans and Asia Minor. [24] After the dissolution of Yugoslavia beginning in June 1991, the term "Balkans" acquired a negative political meaning, especially in Croatia and Slovenia, as well in worldwide casual usage for war conflicts and fragmentation of territory (see Balkanization).[23][24]. 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. [31], The social structure of the Balkans in the late 18th century was complex. Here are all the known Nations of Antiquity to the Present ! Cornelissen, Christoph, and Arndt Weinrich, eds. [9] There is also a claim about an earlier Bulgar Turkic origin of the word popular in Bulgaria, however it is only an unscholarly assertion.