Balkans

• 1. Etymology And Naming Origins

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  The word Balkan originates from a specific mountain range that stretches throughout the whole of Bulgaria. German geographer August Zeune created the concept of the Balkan Peninsula in 1808, mistakenly considering these mountains to be the dominant system spanning from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea. The earliest mention of the name appears on an early 14th-century Arab map where the Haemus Mountains are referred to as Balkan. A letter sent in 1490 to Pope Innocent VIII by Italian humanist Filippo Buonaccorsi marks the first attested use of the term in Western literature for this mountain range. Ottoman documents from 1565 provide another early reference to the word used within Rumelia. English traveler John Bacon Sawrey Morritt introduced the term into English literature at the end of the 18th century. Before the mid-19th century, scientists like Carl Ritter warned that only the part south of the Balkan Mountains could be considered a peninsula and suggested renaming it the Greek peninsula. Prominent geographers Hermann Wagner, Theobald Fischer, Marion Newbigin, and Albrecht Penck disagreed with Zeune's definition. Austrian diplomat Johann Georg von Hahn used the term Südosteuropäische Halbinsel for the same territory in 1869.

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• 2. Geographical Boundaries Disputes

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  The borders of the region are widely disputed due to many contrasting definitions with no universal agreement on its components. By most definitions, the area fully encompasses Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia up to the Sava and Kupa rivers, mainland Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Northern Dobruja in Romania, Serbia up to the Danube river, Slovenia lower southern portion, and East Thrace in Turkey. Some definitions also include the remaining territories of Romania and Serbia. Additionally, certain definitions incorporate Hungary and Moldova based on cultural and historical factors. The province of Trieste in northeastern Italy is generally excluded from the Balkans in a regional context despite being on the geographical peninsula by some older definitions. Italian geographers limit the western border to the Kupa River, excluding regions like Istria. Modern geographers reject the old idea of a Balkan Peninsula because the land side is not the shortest triangle edge. The eastern and western sea catheti from Odesa to Cape Matapan measure approximately 1350 km and 1285 km respectively. These distances are shorter than the land cathetus from Trieste to Odesa which measures about 1365 km. Since the late 19th century, no exact northern border has been clear regarding whether rivers can be used for definition.

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• 3. Ancient Civilizations And Migrations

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  The region was the first area in Europe to experience the arrival of farming cultures during the Neolithic era. The Balkans have been inhabited since the Paleolithic period and served as the route by which farming spread from the Middle East to Europe during the 7th millennium BC. The Old Europe civilization peaked between 5000 and 3500 BC with the Kakanj culture appearing in Central Bosnia's town of Kakanj covering periods dated from 6795 to 4900 BC. Two early culture-complexes developed in the region known as Starčevo culture and Vinča culture. The Vinča culture created proto-writing before the Sumerians and Minoans with symbols dating back to around 5300 BC on Tărtăria clay tablets. During classical antiquity, the region was home to Greeks, Illyrians, Paeonians, Thracians, Dacians, and other ancient groups. The Achaemenid Persian Empire incorporated parts of the Balkans beginning in 512 BC including Macedonia, Thrace, and the Black Sea coastal region of Romania. Philip II of Macedon reigned from 359 to 336 BC when Macedonia rose to become the most powerful state in the area. In the second century BC, the Roman Empire conquered the region and spread Roman culture and Latin language. Significant parts remained under classical Greek influence south of the Jireček Line. Bulgars and Slavs arrived in the sixth-century and began assimilating older inhabitants of the northern and central Balkans.

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• 4. Ottoman Rule And National Awakening

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  The Ottoman expansion in the region began in the second half of the 14th century after Byzantine defeats. Adrianople fell to the Ottomans in 1362 becoming their capital. The Serbian Empire disintegrated following the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 and finally with the Siege of Smederevo in 1459. Bulgaria fell in 1396 with the conquest of Vidin followed by the Byzantine Empire in 1453. Bosnia was taken in 1463, Herzegovina in 1482, and Montenegro in 1496. Albanians under Skanderbeg's leadership resisted the Ottomans for a time between 1443 and 1468 using guerrilla warfare. By the end of the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire had become the controlling force in the region. Population estimates suggest the number fell from a high of 8 million in the late 16th century to only 3 million by the mid-18th century according to Halil İnalcık. Most Balkan nation-states emerged during the 19th and early 20th centuries as they gained independence. Greece achieved independence in 1821 while Serbia and Montenegro did so in 1878. Romania became independent in 1881 and Bulgaria in 1908. Albania declared its statehood in 1912. The First Balkan War broke out in 1912 when Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro united against the Ottoman Empire. Almost all remaining European territories of the Ottoman Empire were captured and partitioned among the allies.

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• 5. World Wars And Cold War Dynamics

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  World War I was sparked in the Balkans in 1914 when members of Young Bosnia assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. That caused a war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia which led to World War I through existing chains of alliances. Bulgaria joined the Central Powers attacking Serbia in 1915. Greece entered the war three years later on the part of the Entente leading to the collapse of the German-Bulgarian front. Between the two wars, the Balkan Pact formed by treaty on the 9th of February 1934 in Athens included Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. During World War II, all Balkan countries except Greece were allies of Nazi Germany. Fascist Italy used its protectorate Albania to invade Greece before being counterattacked. Germany invaded both Greece and Yugoslavia days after a successful coup d'état in Belgrade. At the end of 1944, Soviets entered Romania and Bulgaria forcing Germans out of the Balkans leaving the region largely ruined. During the Cold War, most countries were governed by communist governments. Greece became the first battleground with civil war raging from 1944 to 1949 backed by Communist Party volunteers. The Truman Doctrine provided massive American assistance for the non-communist Greek government. Yugoslavia under Marshal Josip Broz Tito fell out with the Soviet Union in 1948 while Albania followed suit in 1961. On the 28th of February 1953, Greece, Turkey, and Yugoslavia signed the Treaty of Agreement of Friendship and Cooperation in Ankara forming the Balkan Pact of 1953.

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• 6. Post-Communist Conflicts And Restructuring

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  In the 1990s, wars broke out between former Yugoslav republics after Slovenia and Croatia held free elections. Slovenia and Croatia declared independence on the 25th of June 1991 prompting the Croatian War of Independence and Ten-Day War in Slovenia. Yugoslav forces withdrew from Slovenia in 1991 while fighting continued in Croatia until late 1995. Macedonia and later Bosnia and Herzegovina followed with Bosnia being the most affected by the fighting. United Nations intervention occurred as NATO ground and air forces took action against Serb forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina. From the dissolution of Yugoslavia, six states achieved internationally recognized sovereignty: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. Kosovo declared independence in 2008 while under UN administration. The International Court of Justice ruled that declaration legal in July 2010. Slobodan Milošević was overthrown in a revolution in Serbia and handed for trial to the International Criminal Tribunal before dying of a heart attack in 2006. Greece has been an EU member since 1981 while Slovenia joined in 2004. Bulgaria and Romania became members in 2007 and Croatia in 2013. Albania is an official candidate for accession to the EU since 2014. Montenegro started accession negotiations in 2012. North Macedonia joined NATO on the 27th of March 2020.

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