Structural evolution of the central part of the External Dinarides fold and thrust belt The Dinarides fold and thrust belt forms a c. 700 km long NW SE trending orogen between the Southern Alps in the NW and the Hellenides in the SE. The Cenozoic orogeny of the Dinarides resulted from the Late Cretaceous collision of the Adriatic Microplate with Eurasia and led to a general SW vergent and in sequence structural architecture. The orogen is subdivided into Internal and External Dinarides. The Internal Dinarides were first affected by folding and thrusting in Paleocene Lower Eocene times. The subsequent outward propagation of the deformation front reached the External Dinarides in the Middle Eocene. This led to crustal shortening of the mainly Mesozoic carbonate platform strata of the External Dinarides deposited in a passive continental margin setting. The crustal shortening of the External Dinarides is associated with the deposition of the up to 2 km thick Eo Oligocene carbonate clastic rocks in the most frontal part of the orogen. Due to the lack of subsurface data the structural architecture of the External Dinarides remained largely unknown. This cumulative dissertation aims towards a better understanding of the Cenozoic deformation style of the External Dinarides. The excellent basic geological map of former Yugoslavia supplemented with field observations and fault kinematic data as well as a digital elevation model and published geological profiles served as the primary data source for this dissertation. To account for the lack of subsurface data a 2D kinematic forward modelling approach was used to construct balanced cross sections to study the Paleogene Dinaric shortening phase. Based on a better understanding of the Paleogene Dinaric orogeny it was possible to put geomorphic markers identified along the Adriatic coast into a tectonic context. These geomorphic markers were combined with published deep geophysical data that showed that the External Dinarides experienced mainly Neogene vertical surface uplift.