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.
Prehistory
Neolithic
,
Bulgaria, with some of
the world's oldest gold jewelry.]]
Archaeologists have identified several early culture-complexes, including the
Cucuteni culture (4500 to 3500 BC),
Starcevo culture (6500 to 4000 BC),
Vinča culture (5000 to 3000 BC),
Linear pottery culture (5500 to 4500 BC), and
Ezero culture (3300—2700 BC). The
Eneolithic Varna culture in
Bulgaria(4600-4200 BC
radiocarbon dating) produced the
world's earliest known gold treasure, communicated with the Mediterranean and had sophisticated beliefs about afterlife. A notable set of artifacts is the
Tărtăria tablets, which appear to be inscribed with
proto-writing. The
Butmir Culture (2600 to 2400 BC), found on the outskirts of present-day
Sarajevo, developed unique ceramics, and was likely overrun by the proto-
Illyrians in the
Bronze Age.
The "Kurgan hypothesis" of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origins assumes gradual expansion of the "Kurgan culture", around 5000 BC, until it encompassed the entire pontic steppe. Kurgan IV was identified with the Yamna culture of around 3000 BC.
Copper Age
Between the end of the 3rd millennium BC and the first half of the 2nd millennium BC,
proto-Greek-speaking tribes arrived on the Balkans. At
1000 BC Illyrian tribes appear in parts of Northern Albania and all the way aside
Adriatic Sea. Around
1000 BC,
Dacians and
Thracians appear in the Balkans, in
Thrace and adjacent lands (now
Romania,
Bulgaria,
Moldova, northeastern
Greece, European
Turkey, eastern
Serbia and
Republic of Macedonia). They spoke the
Thracian language, an
Indo-European language and had a remarkable culture, examples are
Thracian treasure.
, one of the items in the
Thracian Panagyurishte treasure, dating from the 4th to 3rd centuries BC]]
The
Phrygians seem to have settled in the southern Balkans at first, centuries later continuing their migration to settle in
Asia Minor, now extinct as a separate group and language...
Iron Age
After the period that followed the arrival of the Dorians, known as the
Greek Dark Ages or the
Geometric Period, the
classical Greek culture developed in the southern Balkan peninsula, the Aegean islands and the western Asia Minor Greek colonies starting around the 9–8th century BC and peaking with the democracy that developed in 6th and 5th century BC
Athens. Later,
Hellenistic culture spread throughout the empire created by
Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. The
Greeks were 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, Asia Minor,
Dalmatia, Southern Italy (
Magna Graecia) etc.
By the end of the 4th century BC Greek language and culture were dominant not only in the Balkans but also around the whole Eastern Mediterranean. In the 5th century, the Persians invaded the Balkans, in an attempt to capture Greece, and then proceed to the fertile areas of Europe. However, the fierce Greek resistance drove their multinational army back to Asia. The Balkans were to remain free from the Asian nations for at least another thousand years.
The other peoples of the Balkans organized themselves in large tribal unions, such as the Thracian Odrysian empire, created in the 5th century BC, with capital Seuthopolis, next to Stara Zagora in Bulgaria. Other tribal unions existed in Dacia at least as early as the beginning of the 2nd century BC under King Oroles. The Illyrian tribes were situated in the area corresponding to today's Adriatic coast. The name Illyrii was originally used to refer to a people occupying an area centered on Lake Skadar, situated between Albania and Montenegro (Illyrians proper). However, the term was subsequently used by the Greeks and Romans as a generic name to refer to different peoples within a well defined but much greater area. In the same way, the territory to the north of the Greek kingdom of Macedonia was occupied by the Paeonians, who were also ruled by kings, and who may have spoken some kind of Greek (this is uncertain, but their coins bore legends in that language).
Antiquity
Pre-Roman states (4th to 1st c. BC)
The Illyrian king, Bardyllis turned Illyria into a formidable local power in the 4th century BC. The main cities of the Illyrian kingdom were Scodra (present-day Shkodra, Albania) and Rhizon (present-day Risan, Montenegro). In 359 BC, King Perdiccas III of Macedon was killed by attacking Illyrians.
But in 358 BC, Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, defeated the Illyrians and assumed control of their territory as far as Lake Ohrid. Alexander himself routed the forces of the Illyrian chieftain Cleitus in 335 BC, and Illyrian tribal leaders and soldiers accompanied Alexander on his conquest of Persia.
After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the Greek states started fighting among themselves again (esp. Southern Greeks against Northern Greeks this time), while up North, independent Illyrian kingdoms again arose.
In 312 BC, King Glaukias seized Epidamnus. By the end of the 3rd century BC, an Illyrian kingdom based in Scodra controlled parts of northern Albania, Montenegro, and Herzegovina. Under Queen Teuta, Illyrians attacked Roman merchant vessels plying the Adriatic Sea and gave Rome an excuse to invade the Balkans.
In the Illyrian Wars of 229 BC and 219 BC, Rome overran the Illyrian settlements in the Neretva river valley and suppressed the piracy that had made the Adriatic unsafe. In 180 BC, the Dalmatians declared themselves independent of the Illyrian king Gentius, who kept his capital at Scodra. The Romans defeated Gentius, the last king of Illyria, at Scodra in 168 BC and captured him, bringing him to Rome in 165 BC.
Four client-republics were set up, which were in fact ruled by Rome. Later, the region was directly governed by Rome and organized as a province, with Scodra as its capital.
Also, in 168 b.c, 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 lords of the region. The territories were split to Macedonia, Achaia and Epirus.
Roman period (1st to 6th c.)
Starting in the 2nd century BC the rising
Roman Empire 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. However, the Roman influence failed to dissolve Greek culture, which maintained a predominant status in the Eastern half of the Empire, and of course 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 political and economic disorders within the Empire. 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 residence in this part of the region. Though the situation had stabilized temporarily by the time of Constantine, waves of non-Roman peoples, most prominently the Thervings, Greuthungs and Huns, began to cross into the territory, first (in the case of the Thervingi) as refugees with imperial permission to take shelter from their foes the Huns, then later as invaders. Turning on their hosts after decades of servitude and simmering hostility, Thervingi under Fritigern and later Visigoths under Alaric I eventually conquered and laid waste 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
Christianity first came to the area when
Saint Paul and some of his followers traveled in the Balkans passing through Thracian and Greek populated areas. He spread Christianity to the Greeks at Beroia, Thessaloniki, Athens, Corinth and Dyrrachium.
Saint Andrew also worked among the Dacians and Scythians, and had preached in
Dobruja and
Pontus Euxinus. In 46 AD, this territory was conquered by the Romans and annexed to
Moesia. In 106 AD the emperor
Trajan invaded Dacia. Subsequently Christian colonists, soldiers and slaves came to Dacia and spread Christianity. In the 3rd century the number of Christians grew. 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
First Council of Nicaea. In 391, Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of Rome.
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 Greek Eastern Orthodoxy, following the dividing line of the Empire in Western Latin-speaking and Eastern Greek-speaking parts. 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. The primary claimed 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. 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).
There were other, less significant catalysts for the Schism, including variance over liturgical practices and conflicting claims of jurisdiction.
Middle Ages (7th to 14th c.)
Eastern Roman ("Byzantine") Empire
Byzantine Empire is the historiographical term used to describe the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. 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 retook and restored much of the territory once held by the unified Roman Empire, from Spain and Italy, to Anatolia. Unlike the Western 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. Its expert military and diplomatic power ensured inadvertently that Western Europe remained safe from many of the more devastating invasions from eastern peoples, at a time when the still new and fragile Western Christian kingdoms might have had difficulty containing it (this role was mirrored in the north by the Russian states of Kiev, Vladimir-Suzdal and Novgorod).
The magnitude of influence and contribution the Byzantine Empire made to Europe and Christendom has only begun to be recognised recently. The Emperor Justinian I's formation of a new code of law, the Corpus Juris Civilis, served as a basis of subsequent development of legal codes. Byzantium played an important role in the transmission of classical knowledge to the Islamic world and to Renaissance Italy. Its rich historiographical tradition preserved ancient knowledge upon which splendid art, architecture, literature and technological achievements were built. This is embodied in the Byzantine version of Christianity, which spread Orthodoxy and eventually led to the creation 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 whom it still is a predominant religion.
Throughout its history, its borders were ever fluctuating, often 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 all 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 in both the Balkans and Asia Minor gone. The conclusion was reached in 1453, when the city was successfully besieged by Mehmet II, bringing the Second Rome to an end.
Barbarian incursions
Coinciding with the decline of the Roman Empire, many ‘barbarian’ tribes passed through the Balkans, most of whom 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 along the coastal towns of the Adriatic and the major Greek cities in the south.
As the Byzantine Empire withdrew its borders more and more- in an attempt to consolidate its fledgling power- vast areas were de-urbanised, roads abandoned and native populations may have withdrawn to isolated areas such as mountains and forests. However some retained their own cultures and language: scholars theorise that the
Morlach/Vlach mountain tribes and
Albanians are descended from such people. The Latinised Illyrians of the Dalmatian coast also remained distinct from the Slavs of the hinterland for quite some time, but they too eventually assimilated with the main population.
The Avars were probably a Mongol or Turkic group, possibly with ruling core derived from Rouran which escaped Göktürks. They entered Pannonia in the 7th century AD, forcing the Lombards to flee to Italy. They continuously raided the Balkans, contributing to the general decline of the area which commenced centuries earlier. After their unsuccessful siege on Constantinople in 626, they limited themselves to Pannonia. They ruled over the Pannonian Slavs that had already inhabited the region. By the 10th century, the Avar confederacy collapsed due to internal conflicts, Frankish and Slavic attacks. The remnant Avars were subsequently absorbed by the Slavs and Magyars.
The Bulgars (also Bolgars or proto-Bulgarians), a people of Central Asia, most believed Turko-Altaian and Indo-Arian. The major Bulgar wave commenced with the arrival of Asparuh's Bulgars. Asparuh was one of Kubrat's, the Great Khan, successors. They had occupied the fertile plains 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 sovereignty 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 Kouber settled almost simultaneously in the Pelagonian plain in western Macedonia after spending some time in Panonia. Some Bulgars actually entered Europe earlier with the Huns. After the disintegration of the Hunnish Empire the Bulgars dispersed mostly to eastern Europe.
The Magyars, led by Árpád, were the leading clan in a ten tribe confederacy. They entered Europe in the 10th century AD, settling in Pannonia. There they encountered a predominantly Slavic populace and Avar remnants. The Magyars were a Uralic people, originating from west of the Ural Mountains. They learned the art of horseback warfare from Turkic people. They then migrated further west around 400AD, settling in the Don-Dnieper area. Here they were subjects of the Khazar Khaganate. They were neighboured by the Bulgars and Alans. They sided with 3 rebel Khazar tribes against the ruling factions. Their loss in this civil war, and ongoing battles with the Pechenegs, was probably the catalyst for them to move further west into Europe.
Even after the newcomers (i.e. Slavs, Magyars and Bulgars) to the Balkans established Kingdoms and Principalities recognised by the European theatre, invasions continued into Europe. Between the years 1000 to 1300 AD, nomadic Turkic peoples from the east entered the fringes of the Balkans. These included the Cumans and Pechenegs. Often allied with Byzantium (hired as mercenaries against the Rus at one time, Bulgars at another), they just as easily would break alliance and attack Byzantium. The situation was similar with their dealings with the Rus to the north. These steppe peoples ceased to exist as a formidable body after the Mongol invasion in the 12th century. Some of the westernmost regions of the Steppe land, i.e. the Moldavia region etc., escaped outright Mongol dominion. Here the people were largely assimilated by the Bulgarian, Hungarian and Romanian populace, adding to the ethnic milieu that is the Balkans.
Vlachs (Romanians, Aromanians, Morlachs, Istro-Romanians)
"Vlach", "Wallach", "Vlakh" and other variations of the term date back in time nearly 2,000 years and refer to a variety of Latin-speaking peoples whose origin is ultimately Latin colonizers and Latinized indigenous peoples.
The maximum extent of the Roman Empire in southeastern Europe occurred after 106 AD when conquest of the Dacians extended the empire from modern Greece to Romania. By all accounts, the Latin-speaking people of the Roman Empire represented both a variety of indigenous people as well as colonists who came into the region. Under barbarian pressure, the Roman Legions retreated from Dacia (modern Romania) in 271-275. According to Romanian historians, Roman colonists and the Latinized Dacians retreated into the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania after the Roman Legions withdrew from the area. This view is supported to the extent that archeological evidence does indicate the presence of a Romanised population in Transylvania by at least the 8th century.
By the late 4th century the Roman Empire was plagued by internal problems and by the incursions of various barbarian tribes. By the 7th and 8th Centuries, the Roman Empire existed only south of the Danube River in the form of the Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople. In this ethnically diverse closing area of the Roman Empire, Vlachs were recognized as those who spoke Latin, the official language of the Byzantine Empire used only in official documents, until the 6th Century when it was changed to the more popular Greek. These original Vlachs probably consisted of a variety of ethnic groups (most notably Thracians, Dacians, Illyrians) who shared the commonality of having been assimilated in language and culture of the Roman Empire with the Roman colonists settled in their areas.
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice controlled areas of the Balkans from the early Middle Ages until 1797.
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 Doge since that time bore the titles of Duke of Dalmatia and Duke of Istria.
In building its maritime commercial empire, the Republic dominated the trade in salt, 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.
Venice became a fully imperial power following the Venetian-financed Fourth Crusade, which in 1203 captured and in 1204 sacked Constantinople and established the Latin Empire. Venice subsequently carved out a sphere of influence in the Aegean known as the Duchy of the Archipelago, and also gained control of the island of Crete.
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 Thessalonica against the Ottomans (1423–1430). She also sent ships to help defend Constantinople against the besieging Turks (1453). After the city fell to Sultan Mehmet II, he declared war on Venice. The war lasted thirty years and cost Venice many of the eastern Mediterranean possessions.
Slowly the Republic of Venice lost nearly all possessions in the Balkans, maintaining in the 18th century only the Adriatic areas of Istria, Dalmatia and Albania Veneta. The venetian island of Corfu was the only area of Greece never occupied by the Turks.
In 1797 Napoleon conquered Venice and caused the end of the Republic of Venice in the Balkans.
Albania
The territory of actual Albania remained under Roman (Byzantine) control until the Slavic migrations of the 7th century, and was integrated into the Bulgarian Empire in the 9th century.
The territorial nucleus of the Albanian state formed in the Middle Ages, as the Principality of Arbër and the Kingdom of Albania. The first records of the Albanian people as a distinct ethnicity also date to this period. Most of the coast of Albania was controlled by the Republic of Venice from the 10th century until the arrival of the Ottoman Turks (Albania Veneta).
The area was conquered in the 15th century despite the long resistance of Skanderbeg by the Ottoman Empire and remained under Ottoman control as part of the Rumelia province until 1912, when the first independent Albanian state was declared. The formation of an Albanian national consciousness dates to the later 19th century and is part of the larger phenomenon of rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire.
Bosnia
The region of Bosnia had been part of the Serbian and Croatian kingdoms, whose borders were often fluctuant. However, by the high Middle Ages Croatia had been acquired by the Hungarian Kingdom, and the Serbian state to the southeast was in a period of stagnation. Control over Bosnia subsequently was contested between the
Kingdom of Hungary and the
Byzantine Empire, with the Byzantines initially claiming it.
Bosnia also fell temporarily under Bulgarian rule, the Byzantines temporarily established their authority in 1019. It then briefly fell under Croatian influence again in the 1060s, under Kresimir IV. Constantin Bodin from Doclea then conquered it and emplaced his own vassal to rule Bosnia. After his death in 1101, Bosnia's bans tried to rule for themselves. However, they would all too often find themselves in a tug-of-war between Hungary and the Byzantine Empire.
The first recorded Ban (viceroy) was Ban Borić, vassal to the Hungarian king. However, he was deposed when he backed the loser in a succession crisis over the Hungarian throne. In 1166, Byzantium reconquered Bosnia and emplaced their own vassal as Ban – Ban Kulin. He was a successful ruler. He propagated economic growth in Bosnia by signing trade treaties with the city of Ragusa. Secondly, after turning his back on the Byzantines, he allied himself with Hungary and his relative Stefan Nemanja of Serbia to drive the Byzantines out of the land, securing Bosnian independence from Byzantium (but thus returning it under Hungarian influence). He supported the Bosnian Church, a Christian offshoot labeled as heretical by both Orthodoxy and the Pope. Yet he swore to the Pope his devotion to Catholicism to avoid a religious ‘crusade’. After his death in 1204, he was succeeded by his son Stephan. Stephen was a staunch Catholic, and proved unpopular by the many Bosnian Church aligned nobles, who deposed him. They placed one Matej Ninoslav, a convert to the heretic sect, as Ban. However, he faced two foes simultaneously: Croat Herzog Coloman (backed by Hungary and the Pope) and Stephen's son Count Sibislav. Miraculously he held out, as Hungary had to pull out after being invaded by the Tartars. After he died, Hungary placed his cousin Prijezda on the throne. He was a Catholic that converted to Bogomilism, and then converted back to Catholicism. To prove his fidelity, he energetically persecuted the heretics.
After his death, Stephen I Kotroman became Ban.
However, he lost rule of Bosnia to Croatia's Subicic clan, who were given support by Angevin pretender to the Hungarian throne as a reward for backing him in his succession claim. However, Subicic rule was unpopular amongst the Bosnian people, thus they asked Stephen II Kotroman (son of Stephen I) to rule as their vassal. He aptly played Hungary and Venice against each other (regarding a conflict over the city of Zardar), becoming more and more independent.
By this time, the Bosnian state had already begun expanding, gaining lands north from Hungary, and seizing Zahumlje from a rebellious noble family (which had seized it from the Nemanjic rulers of Serbia. He then refused to return it to Serbia's king).
After his death in 1353, he was succeeded by his nephew Tvrtko. Although deposed after conflict with other nobles and troubled by his usurping brother, the Bosnian realm reached its zenith under his rule, gaining more lands to the north and south, including parts of Croatia and Dalmatia (including Travunia). The name Herzegovina was adopted for the newly won territories along the southern Dalmatian coast and adjacent littoral.
With the decline of Serbia, and the end of the Nemanjic dynasty, Tvrtko crowned himself on 26 October 1377 as Stefan Tvrtko I by the mercy of God King of Serbs, Bosnia and the Seaside and the Western Lands. He sent troops to fight alongside the remaining Serbian nobles, such as Lazar, in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. After his death, Bosnia's regional power declined, and was soon just another state to fall to the Turkish war machine.
Bosnia was centred between the Roman and Byzantine worlds. Consequently, neither Catholicism nor Eastern Orthodoxy was dominant. In fact, it had its own 'Bosnian Church' which was similar to both Catholicism and Orthodoxy, whilst incorporating local superstitious beliefs. It was branded as heretical by both Rome and Constantinople, and accused of being linked to the Bogomil sect. Much of the populace belonged to the local Bosnian church, yet its influence was not deeply rooted. Although Catholic at face value, the ruling Bans mostly tolerated, and some converted to the Bosnian church. The Pope, with the aid of Catholic Hungary, was often infuriated by the poor attempts of the Bans to quell the heretical sect, and sought to incite a religious Crusade on Bosnia. Ultimately, it was the lack of a strong and unified religious orientation that enabled Islam to take hold in such high numbers in Bosnia, whereas other Turk dominions held onto their Catholic or Orthodox faiths. With the Ottoman take-over, the Bosnian church ceased to exist, as its followers converted to Islam. The Bosnians that were Orthodox and Catholic remained so, but they were joined by a new religion – Islam. The 'ethnic' tensions that arose in modern times stem from this religious division.
Bulgaria
As from the beginning of the 7th 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, Bačka 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) because of the dominant Byzantine influence in Macedonia and Thrace. At the end of the 9th century Bulgars and Slavs lived as Bulgarians in most of Moesia, northern Thrace and upper inland Macedonia and spoke a Slavic language with a minor admixture of Bulgar words. The Indo European Bulgar language is now extinct.
's greatest territorial extent during the reign of Tsar Simeon I]]
In 886 AD, Bulgaria adopted the Glagolitic alphabet which was devised by the Saints Cyril and Methodius in the 850s. The Glagolitic alphabet was gradually superseded in later centuries by the Cyrillic alphabet, developed around the Preslav Literary School in Bulgaria in the beginning of the 10th century. Most characters in the Cyrillic alphabet were modified versions of Greek letters, as Greek letters were modified versions of the Phoenician alphabet, but those which had no Greek equivalents represented simplified Glagolitic letters.
The first mention of the slavic dialects that would later constitute the Bulgarian language as the "Bulgarian language" instead of the "Slavonic language" comes in the work of the Greek clergy of the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid in the 11th century, for example in the Greek hagiography of Saint Clement of Ohrid by Theophylact of Ohrid (late 11th century).
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 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 of Bulgaria. Very soon 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 final defeat at Kleidion in 1014, however, precipitated the fall of the whole of Bulgaria under Byzantine rule in 1018.
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Bulgarian state was restored by a revolt of the Asenides in Moesia in 1185. Thrace and Macedonia were restored by Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II and throughout the first half of the 13th century Bulgaria was again one of the powerful states in Southeastern Europe, taking advantage of the disastrous effects that the fourth crusade had over the Byzantine Empire. The Tatar raids and the series of mediocre rulers after Ivan Asen II, however, reduced Bulgaria to a narrow strip of land between the Balkan mountains and the Danube at the end of the 13th century. The royal dynasties of Terter and Shishman managed to restore some of the former might of the Bulgarians in the first half of the 14th century. The raids of the Ottoman Turks since the 1350s cut, however, short the Bulgarian territorial expansion; by 1396 the whole of Bulgaria was overrun by the Ottomans.
Croatia
The Croat tribes settled in the Roman provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia, where they established two Duchies. They soon found themselves surrounded by powerful and threatening neighbours: the Franks (and later Venetians) to the northwest, Avars (and later Magyars) in the northeast, Byzantines trying to maintain control of the Dalmatian coast, and Bulgarians to the southeast.
The Franks controlled the Pannonian duchy (which served as a Carolingian Mark). They recognised Byzantine authority over the Adriatic coast, while the Franks kept the adjacent littoral and Istria. Despite a short-lived rebellion by Duke Ljudevit Posavski, the Franks re-asserted their authority in the north. In 829, the Bulgarian Empire conquered the eastern parts of Pannonian Croatia and placed a local called Ratimir as Duke. The Frankish lord Ratbod recaptured most of the area in 838, although the eastern-most part (Syrmia) was kept by Bulgaria. The last known Pannonian Duke under Frankish fielty was Braslav.
Meanhile the Dalmatian Croats were struggling to establish their own rule over the coastal area, leading them into conflicts with Venice and Byzantium. Duke Mislav built up a vast navy and had supported the Slavic Pirates from Pagania in their disruption of Venetian trade. A Venetian expedition aimed at pacifying and subduing them was largely unsuccessful. They also came into conflict with Boris I of Bulgaria as he tried to expand Bulgaria's kingdom westward. His successor Trpimir succeeded in expelling the Bulgarians from Croatian lands, and consolidated his power in Dalmatia and moved inland to Pannonia and north-east Bosnia. Duke Muncimir managed to secure recognition of the Duchy as independent from Roman and Byzantine rule. He was succeeded by Tomislav in 910, who united the Croatian duchies to form the Kingdom of Croatia.
The founding of the Croatian Kingdom occurred sometime between 923 and 928, covering Dalmatia (including Pagania and Zahumlje at times), the majority of Bosnia (at the Kingdom's zenith) and Pannonia (which includes Slavonia). One of the successor Kings, Miroslav, was assassinated by one of his nobles. The ensuing power struggle destabilised the kingdom. This allowed the Paganian Dukes to claim independence from Croatia, the Dalmatian city-states were retaken by the Byzantines, and Slavonia and Srijem fell to the Magyars (although later lower Srijem was taken by Stefan Dragutin from Raska, and subsequently continued to be contested between Serbia and Hungary).
The Kingdom recovered much of its lands under Kresimir IV. During this time, he allowed the Vatican to influence Croatia more and more, in exchange for Papal recognition of the Croatian Kingdom. Despite being a Latin rite Christian state, for a time Croatia's religious practice showed many features of Orthodoxy: the priests wore beards, married women and preached in Slavic liturgy. This changed after the Synod of Split decreed Latin as the official liturgy language, and pro-Latin priests became dominant, although pockets of Slavic liturgy churches remained till the 16th century.
Kresimir was succeeded by his relative Zvonomir. After his death in 1091, Hungarian King Ladislaw I claimed the throne, as his sister Jelena was Zvonomir's widow. The Croatian dukes managed to maintain independence until King Kalman (Ladislaus’ successor) invaded Croatia. Rome recognised his sovereignty. Although his take-over was not complete, the nobles accepted union with Hungary after the death of Petar Svacic (the last Croatian king) in battle. This was supposedly decreed by the Pacta Conventa in 1102. Croatia was still considered a separate, albeit a vassal, kingdom.
The Dalmatian coast was always sought after, for its wealthy Latinised cities were centres of trade, culture and academia; and its coast provided access to important trade routes. Gradually, Byzantine influence -which was nominal at best- over the Latin cities of the coast faded away, being supplanted by that of Venice by 11th century AD. The Normans briefly held a few cities on the coast, and Hungary was often in conflict with Venice over Dalmatia. Ultimately, Venice remained as ruler of the Dalmatian coastal cities, even withstanding the Ottoman invasions. The southern city of Dubrovnik (Ragusa) managed to remain as an independent City-State - the Republic of Ragusa.
Union with Hungary brought Feudalism to Croatia's populace. Croatian provinces were ruled by local bans, appointed by the Hungary. The territory was split into two banates- that of Croatia (including Dalmatia and central Croatia) and Slavonia. Although some bans, such as the Subic family would attempt to assert their own control, Hungary would easily regain rule.
With the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans, Croatia fell after successive battles. The Battle of Mohács in 1526 ended Hungarian rule over Croatia, and most of Croatia was ruled by the Ottomans. The remaining part then received Austrian rule and protection. Croatia thus became a frontier of Christendom. The border areas became known as the Vojna Krajina (military frontier); and many Serbs, Vlachs, Croats and Germans inhabited this area that had previously become deserted. They served as a military guard, and in turn received much autonomy from the Habsburgs.
Romania
For a long time, Romanian lands were not consolidated provinces but mere collections consisting of a few villages each. At this time, the
Cumans settled in northeastern areas of Romania, and over time assimilated with the Romanians (Vlachs). At the same time, the
Magyars settled in the Carpathian basin, west of the Carpathian Mountains, and eventually consolidated into the Hungarian kingdom which included Transylvania. A revived,
Second Bulgarian Empire arose in 1115, with the help of Vlach fighters. This new kingdom extended some influence over the southern Romanian lands, however it was limited by the strength of the Hungarian Kingdom, the rise of independent Wallachian principality, and its own downfall in the 1240s.
The principality of
Walachia emerged as a unified, independent province in 1330, when
Basarab I defeated his liege Hungarian Charles I of Anjou.
Moldavia is said to have been founded by
Dragos, Knyaz of Maramures. He was sent by the Hungarian king to the area to effectively establish a buffer zone to protect Hungary from the tartar raids of 1240s. In 1359, after falling out with the Hungarian King, another Vlach voivode from Maramures crossed the Carpathians and took Moldavia for himself and removed Hungarian control. Wallachia and Moldavia steadily gained strength in the 14th century, a peaceful and prosperous time throughout southeastern Europe. The Eastern Orthodox patriarch in Constantinople established an ecclesiastical seat in Wallachia and appointed a metropolitan. The church's recognition confirmed Wallachia's status as a principality, and Wallachia freed itself from Angevin suzerainty in 1380. However, they were still heavily influenced by Hungary, as well as the Polish Kingdom.
Transylvania was not part of Hungary from the start. During the existence of the Transsylvanian principalit, the Hungarian nobles, Szekely and Saxon Germans had any privilege. Some Romanian lesser- nobles converted to Catholicism in an attempt to integrate into the Hungarian nobility.
In the 15th century, the Romanian principalities became tributary subjects to the Turks, though they were never outright conquered. In 1475, Stephen III ("the Great") of Moldavia scored a decisive victory against the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vaslui. With the fall of Hungary, Transylvania became a semi-independent territory vassal to the Turks.
Serbia
The Serbs eventually settled over lands that would become the medieval principalities (
Zhupanates) of
Raska
Rascia was the most dominant Serb stat. Apart from occasional brief unifications, the stat was mostly independent. There was constant power struggles between the various princes. This disunity halted any consolidation of power and often resulted in interference from foreign rulers (Byzantine Greece, Venice, Hungary, Bulgaria, even the Normans). Despite this fact, the cultural achievements that arose from these states were very significant, and forged a proud Serbian national identity.
The Serbs (all Serb tribes) were Christianised after their arrival on the Balkans by Byzantine Greek missionaries, but not all Serb tribes took on the new faith, however by 840s the Serbs were predominantly Christian, finalized by the missions of Saints Cyril and Methodius. After the Great Schism of 1054, eastern areas were influenced by Greek Orthodox church, whereas the Adriatic areas were Latin Rite.
Early on all states recognised Byzantine suzerainty, although in practice Byzantine rule was limited to the coastal areas. In 925 AD, the Serb lands were invaded by Tsar Simeon I the Great of the Bulgarian Empire. In 927 Časlav Klonimirović unified Raska with Doclea, Zachlumje, Travunia and Pagania. They ousted the hostile Bulgarians and re-established Serbian independence. The death of Čáslav in 960 brought the end of the House of Vlastimirovic, as well as Serbian unity. The Byzantines easily re-asserted their authority over the Serbian lands, and ruled the area for almost 100 years.
The decline of Raska's power saw the rise of Doclea as the centre of Serbian rule and culture. A Travunian noble family won the succession struggles, creating a personal union between the states of Doclea, Travunia and Zahumlje. The first such prince was Predimir.
Kingdom of Serbia
Out of the succession crisis arose one
Stefan Nemanja, son of a Zachlumian ruler. He created a newly unified Serb state centred on Raska, and incorporated Zeta, Zahumlje, and new territories to the south (including Kosovo). Nemanja asserted the practice of Orthodox rite Christianity in his realm, which meant conversion of many of Doclea's people, and erected many monasteries.
He also maintained good relationship with the Pope, marrying one of his nieces. From this time onwards, Doclea was ruled by the next-in-line to the Grand throne, as a vassal to Raska, and began to be referred to as
Zeta. In the Byzantine Empire, his son Sava managed to secure the autocephalous status for the Serbian Church and became the first Serbian orthodox archbishop in 1219.
Serbia continued to expand, winning new territory to the north; including the city of Belgrade, Srem region and northern Bosnia. Medieval Serbia enjoyed a high political, economic, and cultural reputation in Europe. It reached its apex in the mid-14th century, during the rule of Tzar Stefan Dušan, conquering Macedonia and most of Greece. He crowned himself Emperor of Serbs, Greeks and Tribals in 1346 in Skopje. During Dusan's campaigns, the Ottomans raided Europe for the first time, being used as mercenaries by the ousted Byzantine Emperor (he would soon realise that they would not leave after their tasks were complete). Dusan's aim was to capture Constantinople and abolish the defunct Byzantine Empire, and create a new unified Orthodox Empire centred on Serbia. However, he died in his own lands before he could begin his march. After his death his successor Uros the Weak lost central authority, and died childless in 1371.
Power was divided between local despots. During the Battle of Maritza in 1371 (where a 70, 000 coalition of Serbs and Bulgarians lost to the Ottomans), the majority of Serbia's nobility were killed. Despot Lazar continued to rule over Serbia, as he did not participate in the battle. In the Battle of Kosovo (1389), Lazar led a final coalition of some 15 to 30, 000 troops. Whether the battle was a victory, draw or loss, it left Serbia incapable of raising any further armies. Eventually all of Serbia fell to Turkey by 1459.
Zeta continued to be ruled by the Balšić and then the Crnojevic families until loss of rule in the 16th century. Part of the land was incorporated into Ottoman rule, as the Sanjak of Montenegro. Part proudly remained independent as a new theocratic state ruled by the Vladikas (Prince-Bishops).
Montenegro
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476), the romanised Illyrians of the southern coast of Dalmatia survived the barbarian invasions of the Avars in the 6th century and were only nominally under the influence of the Serbs in the 7th and 8th centuries. In the last centuries of the first millennium, these Romanised Illyrians started to develop their own neo-Latin language, called Dalmatian language, around their small coastal villages that were growing with maritime commerce.
Venice started to take control of the southern Dalmatia around the 10th century, assimilating quickly the Dalmatian language into the Venetian language. But only in the 14th century the Republic of Venice was able to create a territorial continuity around the Bay of Kotor (Cattaro).
The Republic of Venice dominated the coasts of today's Montenegro from 1420 to 1797. In those four centuries the area around the Cattaro (Kotor) became part of the Venetian albania-montenegro, called in those centuries Albania veneta.
When the Turks started to conquer the Balkans in the 15th century, many Christian Serbs took refuge inside the venetian Dalmatia. By the end of the 17th century the romance speaking population was already a minority (but still in 1880 there were in the city of Cattaro, according to the Austrian census, 930 ethnic Italians, or 32% of a total population of 2910 people).
in 1862]]
In 1516, the secular montenegrin prince Đurađ V Crnojević abdicated in favor of the Archbishop Vavil, who then formed Montenegro into a theocratic state under the rule of the prince-bishop (vladika) of Cetinje, a position transmitted from 1697 by the Petrović-Njegoš family of the Riđani clan, from uncle to nephew as the bishops were not allowed to marry. Petar Petrović Njegoš perhaps the most influential vladika, reigned in the first half of the 19th century. In 1851 Danilo Petrović Njegoš became vladika, but in 1852 he married, threw off his ecclesiastical character, assuming the title of knjaz (Prince) Danilo I, and transformed his land into a secular principality.
Following the assassination of Danilo by Todor Kadic, in 1860, the Montenegrins proclaimed Nicholas I as his successor on August 14 of that year. In 1861–1862, Nicholas engaged in an unsuccessful war against Turkey, Montenegro holding onto its independence only by the skin of its teeth.
He was much more successful in 1875. Following the Herzegovinian Uprising, partly initiated by his clandestine activities, he yet again declared war on Turkey. Serbia joined the Montenegrin kingdom, but it was defeated by Turkish forces in 1876 only to try again the following year after Russia decisively routed the Turks. Montenegro was victorious throughout, though. The results were decisive; were added to Montenegro's territory by the Treaty of Berlin; that the port of Bar and all the waters of Montenegro were closed to the ships of war of all nations; and that the administration of the maritime and sanitary police on the coast was placed in the hands of Austria.
The reign of Nikola I (1860–1918) saw the doubling of Montenegro's territory and international recognition of her independence (1878).
Kingdom of Doclea (Zeta)
Doclea, ruled by the Montenegrin Vojislavljević dynasty, asserted its independence from Byzantine Empire after several conflicts, and supported the uprising of neighbouring slavs against the Byzantines.In 1050 AD, Mihailo Voislavljevic re-took Raska from the Byzantines and made himself grand Prince of Raska, and placed his brother Radoslav as Prince of Zeta. He received royal insignia from Pope Gregory XII in 1077. He was proclaimed King of Dioklitia. (at its Zenith, Doclea had pushed into Dalmatia, even capturing Ragusa)
Doclea reached its zenith under Constantin Bodin, taking advantage of the war between Normans and Byzantium. He established vassalage in Bosnia and Raska. After his death in 1101, there was a dynastic struggle for succession (lasting almost 100 years), weakening the power of Doclea, with secession of Bosnia and Zahlumje from Doclean control. The Byzantine Empire again enforced their rule over this land.
The Ottoman Empire (15th to 19th c.)
The Ottomans were one of the most powerful and influential civilizations of the post-medieval period. Created by
Turkic tribes in Anatolia, the people of those tribes were used as mercenaries since the 10th century by the Byzantine Empire.
The Ottoman Empire (1299 to 1923) 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).
Ottoman rule over the Balkans was characterized by centuries of bloody struggle for freedom and protracted periods of stalemate with the Habsburgs along the border areas of Hungary, Croatia and Serbia. Anti-Turkish propaganda and outrage against the Islamic oppressors was at its peak in the early 20th century.
===National Awakening in the Balkans===
The word 'awakening' should be taken with a caveat, since it assumes a dubious belief that 'nation' is inherent in human identity, and merely needs 'awakening' if dormant.
The rise of Nationalism under the declining Ottoman Empire caused the break-down 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 Ottoman and provinces, which turned into states. Unquestionably, understanding of Ottomans concept of nation helps us to understand what happened during the decline period of the Ottoman Empire.
The Serbs were the first people to be liberated from the Ottomans, although the liberated part was mostly a by-product of the Austrian infiltration to the region. In 1821, the Greeks were the first to defy the Sultan's authority. After a long, bloody struggle, that originated in Moldavia, as a diversion, and followed by the main revolution in the Pelloponese, the latter, along with the Northern part of the gulf of Corinth became the first parts of the Ottoman empire to be completely liberated from the Ottoman oppression in 1829. Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Montenegro followed in the 1870s. The bloody suppression of the April Uprising in Bulgaria, became occasion of the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878).
Congress of Berlin
, At the Congress of Berlin (1878) the tall
Bismarck on the right is shaking hands with
Gyula Andrássy and
Pyotr Andreyevich Shuvalov; on the left are
Alajos Károlyi,
Alexander Gorchakov and
Benjamin Disraeli]]
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. In the wake of the
Russia's smashing victory in a war with Turkey, 1877–78, the urgent need was to stabilize and reorganize the Balkans, and set up new nations. 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.
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 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 causes a number of uprisings and entering the country in subsequent Balkan wars. Bulgaria lost Eastern Rumelia, which was restored to the Turks under a special administration; Macedonia, East and Western Thrace which were returned outright to the Turks, who promised reform and Northen Dobrudja became part of Romania which achieved full independence, but had to turn over part of Bessarabia to Russia. Serbia and Montenegro finally gained complete independence, but with smaller territories. Austria took over Bosnia and Herzegovina, and effectively took control of the province of Novi Bazar. Britain took over Cyprus.
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 in 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 occasion the conference, it was humiliated at Berlin, and resented its treatment. Austria gained a great deal of territory, which angered the South Slavs, and led to decades of tensions in Bosnia and Herzogovina. Bismarck became the target of hatred of Russian nationalists and Pan-Slavists, and found that he had tied Germany too closely to Austria in the Balkans.
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 led to the First Balkan War.
20th century
World War I in the Balkans
World War I (then known as the Great War) became inevitable when a
Bosnian Serb called
Gavrilo Princip assassinated the
heir to the Austrian throne,
Franz Ferdinand. Princip was a member of a Serbian militant group called the
Crna Ruka, translated 'Black Hand'. 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 which 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 August 12, 1914.
The Serbians were set up in defensive positions against the Austro-Hungarians. The first attack came on August 16, 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 fighting 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 three Croatian historic lands of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slovenia, multiethnic 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.
Consequences of World War I
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. 1/4 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 Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, 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, 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 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.
World War II in Balkans
World War II in the Balkans started from the Italian attempts to create a great Italian state. They invaded Albania in 1939 and annexed after just a week to the Kingdom of Italy. Then demanded Greece to surrender in October 1940. However, the defiance of the Greek prime minister Metaxas in 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 would later use against the Soviet Union.
After the fall of Sarajevo on 16 April 1941 to Nazi Germany, the Yugoslav provinces of Croatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina were recreated as fascist satellite states, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska (NDH, the Independent State of Croatia). Croat-nationalist, Ante Pavelić was appointed leader. The Nazis effectively created the Handschar division and collaborated with Ustaše in order to combat the Yugoslav Partisans.
With help from Italy and Hungary, they succeeded in conquering Yugoslavia within two weeks. Then they 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 May first 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.
Due to severe resistance from the local Macedonian, Serb and Greek populations, and because of the attempts, made from Bulgarians and Croats to change the ethnic composition of the occupied territories, several hundred thousand Macedonians, Serbs and Greeks died. With the end of the war, the changes 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 collaborated with the Italians. Their numbers were about 18 000 in 1944.
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. 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.
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 (See).
Bloody Christmas 1945
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 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.
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 creating the
Non-Aligned Movement which brought them to closer ties with
third world countries. 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 persecutions
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.
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. Zhivkov even used the Bulgarian Orthodox Church for the purposes of his policies.
Post-Communism
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, except for Slovenia.
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav federation also collapsed in the early 1990s, followed by an outbreak of violence and aggression, 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 conflicts caused the death of many innocent people.
The collapse of Yugoslavia was due to various factors in various republics that composed 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 a Greater Serbia by keeping all Serbs in one state. 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.
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 war eventually subsided in Croatia, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) started in early 1992. Peace would only come in 1995 after such events as the Srebrenica massacre, Operation Storm and the Dayton Agreement, which provided for a temporary solution, but nothing was permanently resolved.
The economy suffered an enormous damage in all of BiH and in the affected parts of Croatia. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia also suffered an economic hardship under internationally-imposed economic sanctions. Also many large historical cities were devastated by the wars, 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 over 30 members of 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 involuntary. Because it was a conflict fueled by
ethnic nationalism, people of minority ethnicities generally fled towards regions where their ethnicity was in a majority.
Since the Bosniaks had no immediate refuge, they were arguably hardest hit by the ethnic violence. The 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 (Dutch forces) failed to protect the safe areas resulting in the massacre of thousands by the hands of Serb forces.
The war in Bosnia brought major ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs from the regions that today make up the Republika Srpska: throughout Bosanska Krajina (notably the significant minority population of Bosniaks and Croats in Banja Luka, slight majority of Bosniaks in Prijedor), Bosnian Posavina (Croats as well as Bosniaks, from Brčko, Bosanski Brod, Doboj, Odžak, Derventa), eastern Bosnia (Bosniak majority population of Foča, Zvornik, Višegrad, Srebrenica, Žepa), eastern Herzegovina (Trebinje). During the Bosniak-Croat conflict, Bosniaks were ethnically cleansed by Croats and sometimes vice-versa in areas of Central Bosnia, central and eastern Herzegovina (Mostar and Stolac). The war in Croatia started in 1991, and was caused by the rebellion of Serbian population in Croatia, their wish to secede, hoping to form a Greater Serbia, and along with other Serb-occupied territories in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina unite with Serbia. During the war in Croatia, from 1991 to 1995 around 600,000 Serbs were ethnically cleansed from southern and eastern parts of country, they were forced out in waves, and the most known event was the operation storm, where 250.000 people fled in the course of 5 days. The Croatian operations Flash and Storm in 1995 was the instigator to widespread incidents, including rapes and murders of those who had chosen to stay, burning of houses, killing of livestock etc. in the purpose of ethnically cleansing these majority Serb areas, but UN, ICTY and international community didn't show any interest for that issue. Many of Croatias generals are indicted for these atrocities, and had the war time president Franjo Tudjman not died he would also be indicted according to Carla Del Ponte, the chief attorney of the Haag court, Serbia is now home to more than 800.000 refuges from Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, most of them are Serbs, but there are Roma (who are, in most cases, settled in cardbox ghettos around Serbian cities (most famous is Gazela situated under the Gazela bridge in Belgrade downtown)), Gorani, Albanians and Montenegrins as well.
The Dayton Accords nominally ended the current 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 population transfers 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 number of commanders and politicians, notably Serbia's former president Slobodan Milošević, were put on trial by the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for a variety of war crimes, including deportations and genocide which have taken place in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Croatia's former president Franjo Tuđman and Bosnia's Alija Izetbegović died before any alleged accusations were leveled at them at the ICTY. Slobodan Milošević died before his trial could be concluded.
A massive and systematic deportation of ethnic Albanians took place during the Kosovo War of 1999, with around 800,000 Albanians (out of a population of about 1.8 million) forced to flee Kosovo. This was quickly reversed at the war's end, but thousands of Serbs were fled to Serbia.
Recent history and current status (2000 to present)
Since around 2000, all Balkan countries are friendly towards the
EU and the United States.
Greece has been a member of the European Union since 1981 and of NATO since 1952. Greece is also a 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. Turkey initially applied in 1963 and as of late 2005 accession negotiations have begun, although analysts believe 2015 is the earliest date the country can join the Union due to the plethora of economic and social reforms it has to complete. Croatia and Macedonia also received candidate status in 2005, while the other Balkan countries have expressed a desire to join the EU but at some date in the future.
On October 17, 2007 Croatia became a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2008-2009 term. Croatia has since joined NATO, along with Albania, on April 1, 2009, and both countries also seek admission in the EU in 2009.
In 2004 Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia also became members of NATO.
In 2006, Montenegro separated from the state of Serbia and Montenegro, also making Serbia a separate state. There were fears that this separation would lead to regional instability, but so far this has not been the case.
Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008.
Since the 2008 economic crisis, there has been a sense that the former Yugoslav countries are beginning to cooperate on levels that were similar to those in Yugoslavia. The term has coined "Yugosphere" by The Economist as the phenomenon rapidly went from creating a regional train service (Cargo 10) to the proposition of forging the main airlines (JAT, Croatia, Adria).
Timelines
# CNN. "
A timeline of tensions." 1998.
# BBC. "
Yugoslavia & The Balkans 1900 - 1998." Accessed May 29, 2006.
# Time. "
Bosnia: Keeping the Peace." Accessed May 29, 2006.
# Howell, Timothy, ed. "
Balkans." Center for Cooperative Research. Accessed May 29, 2006.
See also
History of Albania
History of Bosnia and Herzegovina
History of Bulgaria
History of Croatia
History of Greece
History of the Republic of Macedonia
History of Montenegro
History of Romania
History of Venice
History of Serbia
History of Slovenia
History of Turkey
History of Yugoslavia
History of Europe
Historical regions of the Balkan Peninsula
Romanian language
Paleo-Balkan languages
Romania in the Dark Ages
Balkan ethnic conflict in the 1940s
References
# Jelavich, Barbara. History of the Balkans. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
# A History Of Bulgaria--Serbia--Greece--Rumania--Turkey
# Andijašević, M, Ž. Rastoder, Š. (2003) The History of Montenegro. Podgorica Diaspora Library. Podgorica Diaspora Centre.
# Camaj, Z, K. (LLB) (June 25, 2001) Relations between the Albanians of Montenegro, the Albanians of Kosovo and the Albanians of Albania. N.P.
# Escalation of Ethnic Conflict]. Journal of International Politics Vol 35. pp 65–82. Accessed 09-12-2006.
# Diken, B. Lausten, B, C. (2005) "Becoming Abject: Rape as a Weapon of War". Journal of Body & Society, Vol. 11 (1). Pp111–128. Sage.
# Judah, T. (2000) Kosovo: War and revenge. Yale University Press, New Haven London.
# Kegley, W, C (JR). Wittkopf, R, E. (2004) World Politics: Trends and Transformations. (9th Ed). Thomson, Wadsworth.
# Logoreci, A. (1977) The Albanians. London. In Albania.com. Accessed 11-03-2006.
# Noli, S, Fan. (1947) George Castrioti Skenderbeg. New York. In Albania.com [Internet resource] Available from: [Accessed 11-03-2006].
# Ramet, P. S. (2004) Explaining the Yugoslav Meltdown, 1; "For a charm of pow’rful troubly, like a hell broth boil and bubble: Theories about the Roots of the Yugoslav Troubles. Nationalities Papers: Vol. 32, No 4. December 2004. Carfax, Tayler and Francis Group.
# Swire, J. (1930) Albania; The Rise of a Kingdom. New York.
# Vukadinovic, R. (2002) Security in South-Eastern Europe. Politička kultura: Zagreb. ISBN 978-953-6213-42-9.
External links
The Vlach Connection and Further Reflections on Roman History
Books about Albania and the Albanian people (scribd.com) Reference of books (and some journal articles) about Albania and the Albanian people; their history, language, origin, culture, literature, etc. Public domain books, fully accessible online.
