Balkans

TheBalkans(/ˈbɔːlkənz/BAWL-kənz,/ˈbɒlkənz/BOL-kənz), corresponding partially with theBalkan Peninsula(Peninsula of Haemus,Haemaic Peninsula), is a geographical area in southeasternEuropewith various geographical and historical definitions.The region takes its name from theBalkan Mountains(Haemus Mountains) that stretch throughout the whole ofBulgaria.The Balkan Peninsula is bordered by theAdriatic Seain the northwest, theIonian Seain the southwest, theAegean Seain the south, theTurkish straitsin the east, and theBlack Seain the northeast. The northern border of thepeninsulais variously defined.The highest point of the Balkans isMusala, 2,925 metres (9,596 ft), in theRilamountain range, Bulgaria.
The concept of the Balkan Peninsula was created by the German geographerAugust Zeunein 1808,who mistakenly considered the Balkan Mountains the dominant mountain system of Southeast Europe spanning from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea. In the 19th century the termBalkan Peninsulawas a synonym forRumelia, the parts of Europe that were provinces of theOttoman Empireat the time. It had a geopolitical rather than a geographical definition, which was further promoted during the creation of theKingdom of Yugoslaviain the early 20th century. The definition of the Balkan Peninsula's natural borders does not coincide with the technical definition of a peninsula; hence modern geographers reject the idea of a Balkan Peninsula, while historical scholars usually discuss the Balkans as a region. The term has acquired a stigmatized and pejorative meaning related to the process ofBalkanization.The alternative term used for the region isSoutheast Europe.
The borders of the Balkans are, due to many contrasting definitions, disputed. There exists no universal agreement on the region's components. The term by most definitions fully encompassesAlbania,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Bulgaria, themainlandofGreece,Kosovo,Montenegro,North Macedonia,European Turkey, theRomanian coast, most ofSerbiaand large parts ofCroatia. The term sometimes includes all ofRomania, Serbia and Croatia, and southern parts ofSlovenia. Although they have no territory on the peninsula,HungaryandMoldovaare sometimes incorporated into the Balkans region due to cultural and historical affiliations. TheProvince of Triestein northeasternItaly, although by some definitions considered part of the Balkan Peninsula, is generally excluded from the Balkans region.
The origin of the wordBalkanis obscure; it may be related toTurkishbālk'mud' (from Proto-Turkic *bal'mud, clay; thick or gluey substance', cf. also Turkicbal'honey'), and the Turkish suffix-an'swampy forest'or Persianbālā-khāna'big high house'.It was used mainly during the time of theOttoman Empire. In bothOttoman Turkishandmodern Turkish,balkanmeans 'chain of wooded mountains'.
Fromclassical antiquitythrough theMiddle Ages, the Balkan Mountains were called by the localThraciannameHaemus.According to Greek mythology, theThraciankingHaemuswas turned into a mountain byZeusas a punishment and the mountain has remained with his name.A reverse name scheme has also been suggested. D. Dechev considers that Haemus (Αἷμος) is derived from aThracianword*saimon, 'mountain ridge'.A third possibility is that "Haemus" (Αἵμος) derives from the Greek wordhaima(αἷμα) meaning 'blood'. The myth relates to a fight betweenZeusand the monster/titanTyphon. Zeus injured Typhon with a thunder bolt and Typhon's blood fell on the mountains, giving them their name.
The earliest mention of the name appears in an early 14th-century Arab map, in which theHaemus Mountainsare referred to asBalkan.The first attested time the name "Balkan" was used in the West for the mountain range inBulgariawas in a letter sent in 1490 to PopeInnocent VIIIbyBuonaccorsi Callimaco, an Italian humanist, writer and diplomat.TheOttomansfirst mention it in a document dated from 1565.There has been no other documented usage of the word to refer to the region before that, although other Turkic tribes had already settled in or were passing through the region.There is also a claim about an earlierBulgarTurkic origin of the word popular in Bulgaria, however it is only an unscholarly assertion.The word was used by the Ottomans inRumeliain its general meaning of mountain, as inKod̲j̲a-Balkan,Čatal-Balkan, andUngurus-Balkani̊, but it was especially applied to the Haemus mountain.The name is still preserved inCentral Asiawith theBalkan Daglary(Balkan Mountains)and theBalkan RegionofTurkmenistan. The English travelerJohn Bacon Sawrey Morrittintroduced this term into English literature at the end of the 18th century, and other authors started applying the name to the wider area between the Adriatic and the Black Sea. The concept of the "Balkans" was created by the German geographerAugust Zeunein 1808,who mistakenly considered it as the dominant central mountain system of Southeast Europe spanning from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea.During the 1820s, "Balkan became the preferred although not yet exclusive term alongside Haemus among British travelers... Among Russian travelers not so burdened by classical toponymy, Balkan was the preferred term".In European books printed until late 1800s it was also known as Illyrian Peninsula or Illyrische Halbinsel in German.
The term was not commonly used in geographical literature until the mid-19th century because, already then, scientists likeCarl Ritterwarned that only the part south of the Balkan Mountains could be considered as a peninsula and considered it to be renamed as "Greek peninsula". Other prominent geographers who did not agree with Zeune wereHermann Wagner,Theobald Fischer,Marion Newbigin, andAlbrecht Penck, while Austrian diplomatJohann Georg von Hahn, in 1869, for the same territory, used the termSüdosteuropäische Halbinsel('Southeastern European peninsula'). Another reason it was not commonly accepted as the definition of thenEuropean Turkeyhad a similar land extent. However, after theCongress of Berlin(1878) there was a political need for a new term and gradually "the Balkans" was revitalized, but in the maps, the northern border was in Serbia and Montenegro and Greece was not included (it only depicted the Ottoman occupied parts of Europe), while Yugoslavian maps also included Croatia and Bosnia. The termBalkan Peninsulawas a synonym for European Turkey, the political borders of former Ottoman Empire provinces.
The usage of the term changed in the very end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, when it was embraced by Serbian geographers, most prominently byJovan Cvijić.It was done with political reasoning as affirmation forSerbian nationalismon the whole territory of theSouth Slavs, and also included anthropological and ethnological studies of the South Slavs through which were claimed various nationalistic and racialist theories.Through such policies and Yugoslavian maps the term was elevated to the modern status of a geographical region.The term acquired political nationalistic connotations far from its initial geographic meaning,arising from political changes from the late 19th century to the creation of post–World War IYugoslavia(initially theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenesin 1918).After thedissolution of Yugoslaviabeginning in June 1991, the termBalkansacquired a negative political meaning, especially in Croatia and Slovenia, as well in worldwide casual usage for war conflicts and fragmentation of territory (seeBalkanization).
In part due to the historical and political connotations of the termBalkans,especially since the military conflicts of the 1990s in Yugoslavia in the western half of the region, the termSoutheast Europeis becoming increasingly popular.AEuropean Unioninitiative of 1999 is called theStability Pact for Southeastern Europe.
The online newspaperBalkan Timesrenamed itselfSoutheast European Timesin 2003.
In other languages of the region, the region is known as:
The Balkan Peninsula is bounded by theAdriatic Seato the west, theMediterranean Sea(including theIonianandAegeanseas) and theSea of Marmarato the south and theBlack Seato the east. Its northern boundary is often given as theDanube,SavaandKupaRivers.The Balkan Peninsula has a combined area of about 470,000 km(181,000 sq mi). The peninsula is generally encompassed in the region known asSoutheast Europe.
Italy currently holds a small area aroundTriestethat is by some older definitions considered a part of the Balkan Peninsula. However, the regions of Trieste and Istria are not usually considered part of the Balkans by Italian geographers, due to their definition of the Balkans that limits its western border to the Kupa River.
The borders of the Balkans are due to many contrasting definitions disputed. There exists no universal agreement on the region's components. The term by most definitions fully encompassesAlbania,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Bulgaria,Greece,Kosovo,Montenegro,North Macedonia,European Turkey,Romanian coast, most ofSerbiaand large parts ofCroatia. Sometimes the term also includes Romania as a whole and southern parts of Slovenia.HungaryandMoldovaare sometimes included in discussions of the Balkans due to cultural and historical affiliation.TheProvince of Triestein Italy, although by some definitions on the peninsula, is generally excluded from the Balkans.
The termSoutheast Europeis also used for the region, with various definitions. Individual Balkan states can also be considered part of other regions, includingSouthern Europe,Eastern Europe, andCentral Europe. Turkey, including its European territory, is generally included inWestern Asiaor theMiddle East.
TheWestern Balkansis a political neologism coined to refer to Albania and the territory of the former Yugoslavia, exceptSlovenia, since the early 1990s.The region of the Western Balkans, a coinage exclusively used in pan-European parlance, roughly corresponds to theDinaric Alpsterritory.
The institutions of theEuropean Unionhave generally used the termWestern Balkansto mean the Balkan area that includes countries that are not members of the European Union, while others refer to the geographical aspects.Each of these countries aims to be part of thefuture enlargement of the European Unionand reach democracy and transmission scores but, until then, they will be strongly connected with the pre-EU waiting programCentral European Free Trade Agreement.Croatia, considered part of the Western Balkans, joined the EU in July 2013.
The term is criticized for having a geopolitical, rather than a geographical meaning and definition, as a multiethnic and political area in the southeastern part of Europe.The geographical term of apeninsuladefines that the sea border must be longer than the land border, with the land side being the shortest in the triangle, but that is not the case for the Balkan Peninsula.Both the eastern and western sea catheti fromOdesatoCape Matapan(c.1230–1350 km) and fromTriesteto Cape Matapan (c.1270–1285 km) are shorter than the land cathetus from Trieste to Odesa (c.1330–1365 km).The land has too long a land border to qualify as a peninsula –Szczecin(920 km) andRostock(950 km) at theBaltic Seaare closer to Trieste than Odesa yet it is not considered as another European peninsula.Since the late 19th and early 20th century no exact northern border has been clear,with an issue, whether the rivers are usable for its definition.In studies the Balkans' natural borders, especially the northern border, are often avoided to be addressed, considered as aproblème fastidieux(delicate problem) by André Blanc inGéographie des Balkans(1965),while John Lampe and Marvin Jackman inBalkan Economic History(1971) noted that "modern geographers seem agreed in rejecting the old idea of a Balkan Peninsula".Another issue is the name: theBalkan Mountains, mostly in Northern Bulgaria, do not dominate the region by length and area as do theDinaric Alps.An eventual Balkan peninsula can be considered a territory south of the Balkan Mountains, with a possible name "Greek-Albanian Peninsula."The term influenced the meaning ofSoutheast Europewhich again is not properly defined by geographical factors.
Croatian geographers and academics are highly critical of inclusion of Croatia within the broad geographical, social-political and historical context of the Balkans, while the neologism Western Balkans is perceived as a humiliation of Croatia by the European political powers.According to M. S. Altić, the term has two different meanings, "geographical, ultimately undefined, and cultural, extremely negative, and recently strongly motivated by the contemporary political context".In 2018,President of CroatiaKolinda Grabar-Kitarovićstated that the use of the term "Western Balkans" should be avoided because it does not imply only a geographic area, but also negative connotations, and instead must be perceived as and called Southeast Europe because it is part of Europe.
Slovenian philosopherSlavoj Žižeksaid of the definition,
Most of the area is covered by mountain ranges running from the northwest to southeast. The main ranges are theBalkan Mountains(Stara Planina inBulgarian language), running from theBlack Seacoast inBulgariato the border withSerbia, theRila-Rhodopemassifin southern Bulgaria, theDinaric AlpsinBosnia and Herzegovina,CroatiaandMontenegro, theKorab-Šarmountains which spreads fromKosovotoAlbaniaandNorth Macedonia, and thePindusrange, spanning from southern Albania into central Greece and theAlbanian Alps, and theAlpsat the northwestern border. The highest mountain of the region isRilain Bulgaria, withMusalaat 2,925 m, second beingMount Olympusin Greece, withMytikasat 2,917 m, andPirinmountain withVihren, also in Bulgaria, being the third at 2915 m.Thekarstfield orpoljeis a common feature of the landscape.
On theAdriaticandAegeancoasts, the climate isMediterranean, on the Black Sea coast the climate ishumid subtropicalandoceanic, and inland it ishumid continental. In the northern part of the peninsula and on the mountains, winters are frosty and snowy, while summers are hot and dry. In the southern part, winters are milder. The humid continental climate is predominant in Bosnia and Herzegovina, northern Croatia, Bulgaria,Kosovo, northern Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, and the interior of Albania andSerbia. Meanwhile, the other less common climates, the humid subtropical and oceanic climates, are seen on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria andBalkan Turkey (European Turkey). The Mediterranean climate is seen on the Adriatic coasts of Albania, Croatia and Montenegro, as well as the Ionian coasts of Albania and Greece, in addition to the Aegean coasts of Greece andBalkan Turkey (European Turkey).
Over the centuries, forests have been cut down and replaced withbush. In the southern part and on the coast there isevergreenvegetation. Inland there are woods typical of Central Europe (oakandbeech, and in the mountains,spruce,firandpine). Thetree linein the mountains lies at the height of 1,800–2,300 m. The land provideshabitatsfor numerousendemicspecies, including extraordinarily abundant insects and reptiles that serve as food for a variety ofbirds of preyand rarevultures.
The soils are generally poor, except on theplains, where areas with natural grass, fertile soils and warm summers provide an opportunity for tillage. Elsewhere, land cultivation is mostly unsuccessful because of the mountains, hot summers and poor soils, although certain cultures such asoliveand grape flourish.
Resources of energy are scarce, except inKosovo, where considerablecoal,lead,zinc,chromiumandsilverdeposits are located.Other deposits ofcoal, especially in Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia, also exist.Lignitedeposits are widespread in Greece.Petroleumscarce reserves exist in Greece, Serbia and Albania. Natural gas deposits are scarce.Hydropoweris in wide use, from over 1,000 dams. The often relentlessbora windis also being harnessed for power generation.
Metal ores are more usual than other raw materials. Iron ore is rare, but in some countries there is a considerable amount of copper, zinc,tin,chromite,manganese,magnesiteandbauxite. Some metals are exported.
The Balkan region was the first area in Europe to experience the arrival of farming cultures in theNeolithicera. The Balkans have been inhabited since thePaleolithicand are the route by which farming from theMiddle Eastspread to Europe during theNeolithic(7th millennium BC).The practices of growing grain and raising livestock arrived in the Balkans from theFertile Crescentby way ofAnatoliaand spread west and north into Central Europe, particularly throughPannonia. Two early culture-complexes have developed in the region,Starčevo cultureandVinča culture. The Balkans are also the location of the first advanced civilizations. Vinča culture developed a form ofproto-writingbefore theSumeriansandMinoans, known as theOld European script, while the bulk of the symbols had been created in the period between 4500 and 4000 BC, with the ones on the Tărtăria clay tablets even dating back to around 5300 BC.
The identity of the Balkans is dominated by its geographical position; historically the area was known as a crossroads of cultures. It has been a juncture between theLatinandGreekbodies of theRoman Empire, the destination of a massive influx of paganBulgarsandSlavs, an area whereOrthodoxandCatholicChristianity met, as well as the meeting point betweenIslamand Christianity.
Albanic,Hellenic, and otherPalaeo-Balkan languages, had their formative core in the Balkans after theIndo-European migrationsin the region.In pre-classical andclassical antiquity, this region was home toGreeks,Illyrians,Paeonians,Thracians,Dacians, and other ancient groups. TheAchaemenid Persian Empireincorporated parts of the Balkans comprisingMacedonia,Thrace(parts of present-day easternBulgaria), and theBlack Seacoastal region of Romania beginning in 512 BC.Following the Persian defeat in theGreco-Persian Warsin 479 BC, they abandoned all of their European territories, which regained their independence. During the reign ofPhilip II of Macedon(359-336 BC),Macedonia rose to become the most powerful state in the Balkans.In the second century BC, the Roman Empire conquered the region and spread Roman culture and theLatinlanguage, but significant parts still remained underclassical Greekinfluence. The onlyPaleo-Balkan languagesthat survived areAlbanianandGreek.TheRomansconsidered theRhodope Mountainsto be the northern limit of the Peninsula of Haemus and the same limit applied approximately to the border between Greek and Latin use in the region (later called theJireček Line).However large spaces south of Jireček Line were and are inhabited byVlachs(Aromanians), the Romance-speaking heirs of Roman Empire.
TheBulgarsandSlavsarrived in the sixth-century and began assimilating and displacing already-assimilated (through Romanization and Hellenization) older inhabitants of the northern and central Balkans.This migration brought about the formation of distinctethnic groupsamongst the South Slavs, which included theBulgarians,CroatsandSerbsandSlovenes.Prior to the Slavic landing, parts of the western peninsula have been home to theProto-Albanians. Including cities likeNish,Shtip, andShkup. This can be proven through the development of the names, for exampleNaissos>NishandAstibos>Shtipfollow Albanian phonetic sound rules and have entered Slavic, indicating that Proto-Albanian was spoken prior to the Slavic invasion of the Balkans.Proto-Albanianspeakers were Christianized under theLatinsphere of influence, specifically in the 4th century CE, as shown by the basicChristianterms in Albanian, which are ofLatinorigin and entered Proto-Albanian before theGheg–Toskdialectal diversification.
During theEarly Middle Ages, TheByzantine Empirewas the dominant state in the region, both military and culturally. Their cultural strength became particularly evident in the second half of the 9th century when theByzantinemissionariesCyril and Methodiusmanaged to spread theByzantine variantof Christianity to the majority of the Balkans inhabitants who werepaganbeforehand. Initially, it was adopted by the Bulgarians and Serbs, with theRomaniansjoining a bit later.The lack ofOld Church Slavonicterms in Albanian Christian terminology shows that the missionary activities during theChristianization of the Slavsdid not involve Albanian-speakers, indeed, the Christian belief among Albanians had survived through the centuries and already become an important cultural element in their ethnic identity.
The emergence of theFirst Bulgarian Empireand the constantconflictsbetween the Byzantine Empire and the First Bulgarian Empire significantly weakened the Byzantine control over the Balkans by the end of the 10th century. The Byzantines further lost power in the Balkans after the resurgence of the Bulgarians in the late 12th century, with the forming of theirSecond Bulgarian Empire.After the collapse of the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Byzantine's Empire grip on power was prolonged by the inability of the Slavs to unite, which was caused by frequent infighting amongst themselves. Bulgaria in the first half of the 14th century was then overshadowed by the new rising regional power of Serbia, which was a result ofStefan Dušanrising up and conquering much of the Balkans to create theSerbian Empire. The Serbian and Byzantine empires continued to be the dominant forces in the region until the arrival of theOttomansseveral decades later.
Ottomanexpansion in the region began in the second half of the 14th century, as the Byzantine Empire continued to lose its grip on the region afterseveral defeatsto the Ottomans. In 1362, the Ottoman Turks conqueredAdrianople(nowEdirne, Turkey). This was the start of their conquest of the Balkan Peninsula, which lasted for more than a century. Other states in the area starting falling like Serbia after theBattle of Kosovoin 1389, Bulgaria in 1396, Constantinople in 1453, Bosnia in 1463, Herzegovina in 1482, and Montenegro in 1499. The conquest was made easier for the Ottomans due to existing divisions among the Orthodox peoples and by the even deeper rift that had existed at the time between theEasternandWestern Christiansof Europe.
The Albanians underSkanderbeg'sleadership resisted the Ottomans for a time (1443–1468) by usingguerilla warfare. Skanderbeg's achievements, in particular theBattle of Albulenaand theFirst Siege of Krujëwon him fame across Europe. The Ottomans eventually conquered the near entirety of the Balkans and reached central Europe by the early 16th century.Some smaller countries, such asMontenegromanaged to retain some autonomy by managing their own internal affairs, since the territory was too mountainous to completely subdue.Another small country that retained its independence, bothde factoandde jurein this case, was theAdriatictrading hub ofRagusa(nowDubrovnik, Croatia).
By the end of the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire had become the controlling force in the region after expanding from Anatolia throughThraceto the Balkans. Many people in the Balkans place their greatest folk heroes in the era of either the onslaught or the retreat of the Ottoman Empire.As examples, for Greeks,Constantine XI PalaiologosandKolokotronis; and for Serbs,Miloš Obilić,Tsar LazarandKaradjordje; for Albanians, George Kastrioti Skanderbeg; forethnic Macedonians,Nikola KarevandGoce Delčev;for Bulgarians,Vasil Levski,Georgi Sava RakovskiandHristo Botevand forCroats,Nikola Šubić Zrinjski.
In the past several centuries, because of the frequentOttoman wars in Europefought in and around the Balkans and the comparative Ottoman isolation from the mainstream of economic advance (reflecting the shift of Europe's commercial and political centre of gravity towards theAtlantic), the Balkans have been the least developed part of Europe. According toHalil İnalcık, "The population of the Balkans, according to one estimate,fell from a high of 8 millionin the late 16th-century to only 3 million by the mid-eighteenth. This estimate is based on Ottoman documentary evidence."
Most of the Balkan nation-states emerged during the 19th and early 20th centuries as they gained independence from the Ottoman orHabsburgempires: Greece in 1821, Serbia and Montenegro in 1878, Romania in 1881, Bulgaria in 1908 and Albania in 1912.
In 1912–1913, theFirst Balkan Warbroke out when the nation-states ofBulgaria,Serbia,GreeceandMontenegrounited in anallianceagainst theOttoman Empire. As a result of the war, almost all remaining European territories of theOttoman Empirewere captured and partitioned among the allies. Ensuing events also led to the creation of an independentAlbanianstate. Bulgaria insisted on its status quo territorial integrity, divided and shared by the Great Powers next to theRusso-Turkish War (1877–78)in other boundaries and on the pre-war Bulgarian-Serbian agreement. Bulgaria was provoked by the backstage deals between its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on the allocation of the spoils at the end of the First Balkan War. At the time, Bulgaria was fighting at the main Thracian Front. Bulgaria marks the beginning ofSecond Balkan Warwhen it attacked them. The Serbs and the Greeks repulsed single attacks, but when the Greek army invaded Bulgaria together with an unprovoked Romanian intervention in the back, Bulgaria collapsed. The Ottoman Empire used the opportunity to recaptureEastern Thrace, establishing its new western borders that still stand today as part of modern Turkey.
World War Iwas sparked in the Balkans in 1914 when members ofYoung Bosnia, a revolutionary organization with predominantly Serb and pro-Yugoslav members,assassinatedthe Austro-Hungarian heirArchduke Franz Ferdinand of Austriain Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital,Sarajevo. That caused a war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, which—through the existingchains of alliances—led to the World War I. The Ottoman Empire soon joined theCentral Powersbecoming one of the three empires participating in that alliance. The next year Bulgaria joined theCentral Powersattacking Serbia, which was successfully fighting Austro-Hungary to the north for a year. That led to Serbia's defeat and the intervention of theEntentein the Balkans which sent an expeditionary force to establish a newfront, the third one of that war, which soon also became static. The participation of Greece in the war three years later, in 1918, on the part of the Entente finally altered the balance between the opponents leading to the collapse of the common German-Bulgarian front there, which caused the exit of Bulgaria from the war, and in turn, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ending the First World War.
Between the two wars, in order to maintain the geopolitical status quo in the region after the end of World War I, theBalkan Pact, or Balkan Entente, was formed by a treaty betweenGreece,Romania, Turkey andYugoslaviaon 9 February 1934 inAthens.
With the start of theWorld War II, all Balkan countries, with the exception of Greece, were allies ofNazi Germany, having bilateral military agreements or being part of theAxis Pact.Fascist Italyexpanded the war in the Balkans by using its protectorate Albania toinvade Greece. After repelling the attack, the Greeks counterattacked, invading Italy-held Albania and causing Nazi Germany's intervention in the Balkans to help its ally.Days before the German invasion, a successfulcoup d'étatin Belgrade by neutral military personnel seized power.
Although the new government reaffirmed its intentions to fulfill its obligations as a member of the Axis,Germany, with Bulgaria, invaded both Greece and Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia immediately disintegrated when those loyal to the Serbian King and the Croatian units mutinied.Greece resisted, but, after two months of fighting, collapsed and was occupied. The two countries were partitioned between the three Axis allies, Bulgaria, Germany and Italy, and theIndependent State of Croatia, a puppet state of Italy and Germany.
During the occupation, the population suffered considerable hardship due to repression and starvation, to which the population reacted by creating a mass resistance movement.Together with the early and extremely heavy winter of that year (which caused hundreds of thousands of deaths among the poorly fed population), the German invasion had disastrous effects in the timetable of theplanned invasion in Russiacausing a significant delay,which had major consequences during the course of the war.
Finally, at the end of 1944, the Soviets entered Romania and Bulgaria forcing the Germans out of the Balkans. They left behind a region largely ruined as a result of wartime exploitation.
During theCold War, most of the countries on the Balkans were governed by communist governments. Greece became the first battleground of the emerging Cold War. TheTruman Doctrinewas the US response to thecivil war, which raged from 1944 to 1949. This civil war, unleashed by theCommunist Party of Greece, backed by communist volunteers from neighboring countries (Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia), led to massive American assistance for the non-communist Greek government. With this backing, Greece managed to defeat the partisans and, ultimately, remained one of the two only non-communist countries in the region with Turkey.
However, despite being under communist governments,Yugoslavia(1948) andAlbania(1961) fell out with the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia, led by MarshalJosip Broz Tito(1892–1980), first propped up then rejected the idea of merging withBulgariaand instead sought closer relations with the West, later even spearheaded, together with India and Egypt theNon-Aligned Movement. Albania on the other hand gravitated toward CommunistChina, later adopting anisolationistposition.
On 28 February 1953,Greece, Turkey andYugoslaviasigned the treaty of Agreement of Friendship and Cooperation inAnkarato formtheBalkan Pact of 1953. The treaty's aim was to deterSovietexpansion in the Balkans and eventual creation of a joint military staff for the three countries. When the pact was signed, Turkey and Greece were members of theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO), while Yugoslavia was a non-aligned communist state. With the Pact, Yugoslavia was able to indirectly associate itself with NATO. Though it was planned for the pact to remain in force for 20 years, it dissolved in 1960.
As the only non-communist countries, Greece and Turkey were (and still are) part ofNATOcomposing the southeastern wing of the alliance.
In the 1990s, the transition of the regions' ex-Eastern bloc countries towards democratic free-market societies went peacefully. While in the non-alignedYugoslavia,Wars between the former Yugoslav republicsbroke out after Slovenia and Croatia held free elections and their people voted for independence on their respective countries' referendums. Serbia, in turn, declared the dissolution of the union as unconstitutional and theYugoslav People's Armyunsuccessfully tried to maintain the status quo. Slovenia and Croatia declared independence on 25 June 1991, which prompted theCroatian War of Independencein Croatia and theTen-Day Warin Slovenia. The Yugoslav forces eventually withdrew from Slovenia in 1991 while the war in Croatia continueduntil late 1995. The two were followed by Macedonia and later Bosnia and Herzegovina, withBosnia being the most affectedby the fighting. The wars prompted the United Nations' intervention andNATOground and air forcestook action against Serb forcesin Bosnia and Herzegovina andFR Yugoslavia(i.e. Serbia and Montenegro).
From the dissolution of Yugoslavia, six states achieved internationally recognized sovereignty:Slovenia,Croatia,Bosnia and Herzegovina,North Macedonia,MontenegroandSerbia; all of them are traditionally included in the Balkans which is often a controversial matter of dispute. In 2008, while under UN administration, Kosovodeclared independence(according to the official Serbian policy, Kosovo is still an internal autonomous region). In July 2010, theInternational Court of Justice, ruled that the declaration of independence was legal.Most UN member states recognise Kosovo. After the end of the wars arevolutionbroke in Serbia andSlobodan Milošević, the Serbian communist leader (elected president between 1989 and 2000), was overthrown and handed for a trial to theInternational Criminal Tribunalfor crimes against theInternational Humanitarian Lawduring the Yugoslav wars. Milošević died of a heart attack in 2006 before a verdict could have been released. Ιn 2001 anAlbanian uprisinginMacedonia(North Macedonia) forced the country to give local autonomy to theethnic Albaniansin the areas where they predominate.
With the dissolution ofYugoslavia, an issue emerged over the name under which the former (federated) republic of Macedonia would internationally be recognized, between the new country and Greece. Being theMacedonian part of Yugoslavia(seeVardar Macedonia), the federated republic under the Yugoslav identity had the name(Socialist) Republic of Macedoniaon which it declared its sovereignty in 1991. Greece, having a large homonymous region (seeMacedonia), opposed the usage of the name as an indication of a nationality and ethnicity. Thus dubbedMacedonia naming disputewas resolved under UN mediation in the June 2018Prespa agreementwas reached, which saw the country's renaming into North Macedonia in 2019.
Balkan countries control the directland routesbetween Western Europe and South-West Asia (Asia Minorand the Middle East). Since 2000, all Balkan countries are friendly towards the EU and the US.
Greece has been a member of theEuropean Unionsince 1981, whileSloveniais a member since 2004,Bulgariaand Romania are members since 2007, andCroatiais a member since 2013. In 2005, the European Union decided to start accession negotiations with candidate countries; Turkey, andNorth Macedoniawere accepted as candidates for EU membership. In 2012, Montenegro startedaccession negotiationswith the EU. In 2014,Albaniais anofficial candidatefor accession to the EU. In 2015,Serbiawas expected to startaccession negotiationswith the EU, however this process has been stalled over the recognition ofKosovoas an independent state by existing EU member states.
Greece and Turkey have beenNATOmembers since 1952. In March 2004, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia have become members of NATO. As of April 2009,Albania and Croatia are members of NATO.Montenegrojoined in June 2017.The most recent member state to be added to NATO wasNorth Macedoniaon 27 March 2020.
Almost all other countries have expressed a desire to join the EU, NATO, or both at some point in the future.
Currently, all of the states are republics, but until World War II all countries were monarchies. Most of the republics areparliamentary, excluding Romania and Bosnia which aresemi-presidential. All the states haveopenmarket economies, most of which are in the upper-middle-income range ($4,000–12,000 p.c.), exceptCroatia, Romania, Greece, andSloveniathat havehigh income economies(over $12,000 p.c.), and are classified with very highHDI, along with Bulgaria, in contrast to the remaining states, which are classified with high HDI. The states from the formerEastern Blocthat formerly hadplanned economysystem and Turkey mark gradual economic growth each year. The gross domestic product per capita is highest in Slovenia (over $29,000), followed by Croatiaand Greece (~$20,000), Romania, Bulgaria (over $11,000), Turkey, Montenegro, Serbia (between $10,000 and $9,000), and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, North Macedonia (~$7,000) and Kosovo ($5,000).TheGini coefficient, which indicates the level of difference by monetary welfare of the layers, is on the second level at the highest monetary equality in Albania,Bulgaria, and Serbia, on the third level in Greece, Montenegro and Romania, on the fourth level in North Macedonia, on the fifth level in Turkey, and the most unequal by Gini coefficient is Bosnia at the eighth level which is the penultimate level and one of the highest in the world. The unemployment is lowest in Romania and Bulgaria (around 5%), followed by Serbia and Albania (11–12%), Turkey, Greece, Bosnia, North Macedonia (13–16%), Montenegro (~18%), and Kosovo (~25%).
As nations in the Western Balkans opened up to private investment in the 1990s, newly created enterprises (mostlySMEs) fueled regional economic development by facilitating the transition from a massivestate-owned structureto amarket economy.SMEs now account for 99% of all active businesses, up to 81% of total value created, and 72% of total employment in the Western Balkans.
The Western Balkans are mostly bank-based economies, with bank credit serving as the primary source of external capital for all enterprises, including SMEs. Despite this, the region's bank credit supply is limited and undeveloped. A recent analysis from theEuropean Investment Bankestimated the funding deficit to be at US$2.8 billion, or around 2.5% of nominal GDP.
In most Western Balkan markets, international banks have a market share of 70% to 90%.At the end of 2023, the macroeconomic environment in the Western Balkans indicates that risks are increasing, threatening to worsen the financial imbalance. Recent survey findings give conflicting data on enterprises' funding circumstances. While supply has fallen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and interest rate increasers, it has showed progressive recovery.
See also theBlack Sea regional organizations
The region is inhabited byAlbanians,Aromanians,Bulgarians,Bosniaks,Croats,Gorani,Greeks,Istro-Romanians,Macedonians,Magyars,Megleno-Romanians,Montenegrins,Serbs,Slovenes,Romanians,Turks, and other ethnic groups which present minorities in certain countries like theRomaniandAshkali.
The region is a meeting point ofOrthodox Christianity,IslamandRoman CatholicChristianity.Eastern Orthodoxy is the majority religion in both the Balkan Peninsula and the Balkan region, TheEastern Orthodox Churchhas played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern andSoutheastern Europe.A variety of different traditions of each faith are practiced, with each of the Eastern Orthodox countries having its own national church. A part of the population in the Balkans defines itself as irreligious.
Islam has a significant history in the region where Muslims make up a large percentage of the population. A 2013 estimate placed the total Muslim population of the Balkans at around eight million.Islam is the largest religion in nations like Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo with significant minorities in Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro. Smaller populations of Muslims are also found in Romania, Serbia and Greece.
TheJewishcommunities of the Balkans were some of the oldest in Europe and date back to ancient times. These communities wereSephardi Jews, except inCroatiaandSlovenia, where the Jewish communities were mainlyAshkenazi Jews. InBosnia and Herzegovina, the small and close-knit Jewish community is 90%Sephardic, andLadinois still spoken among the elderly. The Sephardi Jewish cemetery inSarajevohas tombstones of a unique shape and inscribed in ancient Ladino.Sephardi Jews used to have a large presence in the city ofThessaloniki, and by 1900, some 80,000, or more than half of the population, were Jews.The Jewish communities in the Balkans suffered immensely duringWorld War II, and the vast majority were killed during theHolocaust. An exception were theBulgarian JewswhoBoris III of Bulgariasent to forced labor camps instead of Nazi concentration camps. Almost all of the few survivors have emigrated to the (then) newly founded state of Israel and elsewhere.Almost no Balkan country today has a significant Jewish minority.
The Balkan region today is a very diverse ethnolinguistic region, being home to multipleSlavicandRomance languages, as well asAlbanian,Greek,Turkish,Hungarianand others.Romaniis spoken by a large portion of theRomanisliving throughout the Balkan countries. Throughout history, many other ethnic groups with their own languages lived in the area, among themThracians,Illyrians,Romans,Celtsand variousGermanic tribes. All of the aforementioned languages from the present and from the past belong to the widerIndo-Europeanlanguage family, with the exception of the Turkic languages (e.g.,TurkishandGagauz) and Hungarian.
Most of the states in the Balkans are predominantly urbanized, with the lowest number of urban population as % of the total population found in Bosnia and Herzegovina at 49%, Kosovo at 50% and Slovenia at 55%.
A list of largest cities:
Only the European part of Istanbul is a part of the Balkans.It is home to two-thirds of the city's 15,519,267 inhabitants.
The time zones in the Balkans are defined as the following: