The Balkan Peninsula, Or The Balkans, Is A Peninsula And

One of the youngest nations of Europe, Yugoslavia was created after World War I as a homeland for several different rival ethnic groups. The country was put together mostly from remnants of the collapsed Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. Demands for self-determination by Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, and others were ignored. Yugoslavia thus became an uneasy association of peoples conditioned by centuries of ethnic and religious hatreds. World War II aggravated these rivalries, but Communist dictatorship after the war controlled them for 45 years. When the Communist system failed, the old rivalries reasserted themselves; and in the early 1990s the nation was rent by secessionist movements and civil war. Within several years these conflicts

Albania, a small country located in Southeastern Europe, is a nation that does not have a true identity – its people are Muslim and Christian, it is a country that is both and poor, it is as much urban as it is rural, and has evolved from monarchy to socialism and now to fledgling democracy. In other words, Albania and its people have seen it all. The extremes of Albanian society are vivid, and underlying tensions are evident. But Albania is not "another Yugoslavia" – there is no doubt that the internal environment of Albania has been and somewhat continues to be tense, although the breaking point has never been fully reached. Albania is a country with a fervently tense past (especially

The Balkan Peninsula is a region located in southern Europe. The northern dividing line of the Balkan Peninsula consists of the Kupa, Sava, and Danube rivers. This region is surrounded by the Black Sea to the east, the Mediterranean and Marmara Seas to the south, and the Adriatic Sea to the west. Examples of physical features in the Balkan Peninsula are the many forested mountain ranges that occupy the region, including the Balkan Mountains, the Dinaric Alps, and the Rhodope Mountains, the varied climate ranging from cold, snowy winters in the northern mountains, to a warm, humid climate characteristic of the Mediterranean, as well as fertile soil, especially in the plains, and diverse plants and wildlife throughout the region, such as the endangered Balkan lynx. Some examples of human characteristics that make this region unique

Upon the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia crumbling down in 1992, Bosnia Herzegovina entered a period of instability. The country was recognized as it’s own independent country by the main powers, however there were three groups arguing over land rights inside Bosnia. The Croat, Serb, and Bosnian Muslim disputing quickly escalated into something horrendous. The Serbs did not want Bosnia to be it’s own country because some of the Bosnian land encompassed some of Serbia, the Serbs began bombing Bosnian cities and would murder Bosnian citizens in the cities that were in the land the two countries “shared.” The Serbs began encroaching on Bosnian territory, they were led to believe that the Bosnians were the enemy, televised to the Serbs was propaganda claiming that the Bosnian Muslims were an enemy and a threat to Serbia, they were instilled with paranoia ("Combat

Eastern Europe was in a state of constant conflict and strained relationships in the early 1900s. Austria had drawn the ire of Serbia through the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Balkans had just escaped from two wars, and major powers like Russia, Germany, and Britain sought to gain an influence in newly formed countries in the area formerly belonging to the Ottoman Empire. During this time, relationships were extremely crucial. They limited or expanded each country’s abilities to achieve their goals and impacted the global reactions to a country’s actions. These alliances were established from the treaties made and broken between countries from as early as the 1800s. However, the reason to make these treaties was not solely based

Some political units that once ruled over the continent of Europe have now split into several of the countries seen on a modern map. The people that were once under one rule have many cultural similarities. The cultural diffusion between modern countries can be shown in their past state backgrounds, such as in the Holy Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and other powers that have been reduced in size. These similarities bring Europeans closer in terms of basic ideas and cultures that they base themselves

By the early 1990s, Soviet domination in Eastern Europe had ended. A number of individuals played a part in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Understanding the role that each played is an important part of understanding the process that changed European politics and geography.

During the early 1900’s, the Ottoman Empire (which included the Balkan region), took a rapid decline. Some Balkan groups struggled to free themselves from the Ottoman Turks, and some had freed themselves from the Turkish rulers. During 1908, the Ottoman Empire’s power hungry neighbors, Austria-Hungary, annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina were two areas within the Balkan

Kosovo as an independent country is facing serious economic problems. Although the media propagandizes its growth during the last two year, it is still the poorest country in the region and decades will be needed to make obvious progress. For this reason Serbia’s interest in a country like Kosovo with very low level of development, high level of unemployment and serious debts, have always surprised me. After Kosovo’s independence, Serbia refuses to let go of the north of Kosovo and continues to interfere by hoping that it can retain control of Mitrovica, where Trepca Mines are located. Trepca has been a key source of development during Yugoslavia, as the statistics have shown that it employed around 20,000 in the 1980s and produced 70% of the Yugoslav mineral reserve; while Stan Terg, located in the southern Mitrovica, is controlled by Albanians and it is the only region where the processing plants are still active and those controlled by Serbians are inactive. That is why I believe that after the independence of Kosovo, Serbia’s interest have shifted from symbolic, historic claims to potential economic gains.

A significant cause to the European tension was the conflict in the Balkans. The Balkans is a peninsula between the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. The balkans had many nations and provinces, these were, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Bosnia. This peninsula had very few natural resources, but the Balkans peninsula lays in a valuable geographic location. Which gave It access to several important waterways. Because of this, the balkans is a gateway between the East and West, which was huge on trade. Not only trade, but trade done using the waterways.

Albanian is a country that has known conflict for centuries. The Macedonians, the Romans, Serbs, and the Ottoman Empire have all occupied Albania. The Macedonians conquered the area in 4th century B.C. The Romans held the country for several centuries. Under Roman control, the area converted into several different provinces. One of these provinces, Illyricum is renowned for its army recruits and would produce three of Rome’s emperors. The Roman Empire also brought advances to Albania. Walbank states, “The Romans built the Via Egnatia linking the coastal settlements to other parts of the Balkan Peninsula. It became a major military and trading route between the Adriatic and Byzantium” (p.72). After the Roman Empire split in 395 C.E., Albania

Serbia feels a cultural tie to Kosovo because it has many monasteries, churches, and religious sites that are significant to the orthodox Christian faith, which is the main religion for Serbs (Malcolm). The Serbian claim conflicts with the Albanian majority who believes they have a claim to Kosovo because of they are the largest group. Throughout history Kosovo has been profitable because it have many natural resources, such as metals like nickel, and it is known for its abundance of silver, which has caused conflict because many countries have wanted to claim it. During World War Two, Hitler used the mines in Kosovo for profit (Malcolm). Mostly, Kosovo has been coveted because it is in a good location with many mountains guarding it and has always been a checkpoint for many trade routes, which made it prone to conquests. Conflict can always be understood through history, and Kosovo’s strategic location is one main reason for the fighting.

As one of the most troubled region of the Balkans in Central Europe, the Balkans were affected by strife and hostility. The problems in the Balkans not only affected the people living in this region, but also other large European powers that fueled many of the major conflicts and events of Europe at the time. The First Balkan War and its profound effects on European history will be discussed, while also exploring the future conflicts in both the Balkans and the rest of Europe.

Yugoslavia was a very successful country under the lead of Josip Broz Tito. Yugoslavia was made of 6 Republics and those were: Croatia, Montenegro ,Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo together with Vojvodina which at that time were recognized as provinces. After the death of Tito Yugoslavia began to demolish. The collapse of Yugoslavia began in 1980, and it continued until the 27th of April 1992, which in history is known as the date when Yugoslavia totally collapsed. In my opinion, the reason that the disintegration of Yugoslavia happened was because of the decline in absolute sovereignty. In this paper, I am going to talk about the definition of sovereignty, different perspectives about the disintegration of Yugoslavia from some authors and the decline in absolute sovereignty which led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

Area studies are often defined as interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship that combine a number of disciplines that focus on a particular cultural, national or geographical region. It is really an umbrella for studies that may take a wide path and include subjects like history, literature, geography, sociology, religion, anthropology, political science, economics and history. The idea is to look at a broader base of study and attempt to provide holism. Instead of studying a single country in the Balkans, we might form a curriculum about the Balkans as a region, which includes different cultural, historical and ethnic groups that do share commonalities, but also differences. The idea for this type of study became more popular after World War II - a time in which there was both a push to respond politically to perceived threats (e.g. the Cold War) and to understand the decolonization movements in Africa, Central and South America, and Asia (Szanton, ed., 2004).