Evening star., 1948-07-11

may be fairly satisfactory. Yet they
all contain q certain common de-
nominator that seems to reveal
a basic pattern behind the individual
variations. The pattern can per-
haps best be expressed in one wo'd: ::
"Balkanics." These personalities
and peoples who live in Europes S
southeastern bulge known as the
Balkan Peninsula are acting and
reacting today just about as their
ancestors have done under similar
circumstances for centuries. And
this consistent historical record gives
logical ground for believing that.
no matter how present difficulties
may be handled, the underlying
motivations for their attitudes and
conduct will remain constant fac
tors to be reckoned with in Balkan
affairs.
Tempting to Outsiders
From time immemorial, the Bal
kan have been the home of several
widely different peoples who have
always remained rivals, no one of
them strong enough to master and
absorb the others, though some of
them have gained a temporary
ascendancy. For this inveterate
particularism geography is in large
part responsible. The Balkan Pen
insula is for the most part a mass
of tangled mountains, splitting the
region into well-defined districts IA
voring the growth and mainte-
nance of separate nationalities.
These internal divisions and rival
ries have kept the Balkans a politi-
cally weak area tempting 1nterfer-
ence or outright conquest by big
outside powers. Strategically and
economically, the Balkans are the
land bridge between Europe and
Asia, and conquerors have traversed
it from both directions. But those
conquerors have always suffered
from Balkan trouble; because the
natives f1ercely cherish their local
independence, rebel against foreign
mastery, and even tend to join hands
against the common ruler. Ulti-
mately, when the conqueror begins
to lose his grip, the Balkan peoples
throw of his yoke and resume their
separate national lives much as be-
fore.
The nearest the Balkans ever
came to genuine unification was
under the Romans. who not only
established their authority beyond
question, but also impregnated the
inhabitants with Greco-Latin civili-
zation.' One OF the reasons for this
success was that the ancient in
habitants of the Balkans were
racially much less dissimilar than
they were later to become.
Changed With Rome
The big change came with the
decline OF Rome, when the Balkans
were inundated by barbarian migra-
tions. Just as Western Europe was
overrun by the Germans, so the
Balkans were overrun by the Slavs.
These Slavs were more primitive
and less politically coherent than
the Germans. They were split into
many small tribes who settled down
here and there, overwhelming and
absorbing the older populations. but
with little or no political connection
with one another. In time they
adopted the religion and culture
them. The Slavs of the
Western Balkans were converted to
Roman Catholicism, and thus be-
came spiritually part Of Western
Europe. Those on the Adriatic coast
fell under the influence Of italian
culture, while the Croats and
Slovenes to the northward became
to German cultural influ-
ence. On the other hand, the Serbs
and Bulgars Of the central and
eastern Balkans were converted to
the orthodox form of Christianity
from Greek Byzantium, together
wits its Byzantine culture. This
drove a deep cleft between the Bal
kan Slavs which has never been
obliterated.
However, the Balkans were far
from being entirely Slavized. The
Greeks maintained themselves, not
only in their great stronghold Of
Byzantium or Constantinople, but
also in what is now modern Greece
and the adjacent coasts. Also. a
remnant OF the older population
kept its identity in the rugged
along the Adriatic coast.
These are the Albanians. Indeed,
sven smaller remnants. who kept
traces of Latin culture, survived
mere and there in remote mountain
districts.
Scene of Battles
During the Middle Ages the Bal
.ans we're the theater of conflicts
between the Serbs and Bulgars, who
ought for supremacy in the interior.
md the Byzantine Greeks, who
ought them both. This unstable
equilibrium was upset by the ap-
,earance of new conqueror-the
Ottoman Turks, who extinguisned
he Byzantine Empire by their cap
ure Of Constantinople in the mid
lie of the 18th century and then
to overrun the whole Of
he Balkans and make 1t part Of
heir vast empire.
Unlike the Romans, the Turks
nothing save a degrading
political tyranny and general stag
nation. Oppressed and tmpov-
,eished, the Balkan peoples chung
o their Christianity and their cul- /
ural traditions. retrogrAding to the
evel of primitive peasants under