Recognizing Balkan States

A treaty was drawn up in June and July 1878 at the Congress of Berlin to address the national desires of those in the Balkans, but the solution presented as many problems as it solved. The treaty from the Congress of Berlin established Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria as independent nations and gave Montenegro to Greece. At the same time, the treaty gave Austria-Hungary control of Bosnia and Herzegovina and what later became Serbia. None of the new Balkan states were satisfied with the amount of territory they were given.

People of the West Balkan Region

There were two different original peoples in the Balkans that can be dated back to about 1000 BC. The tribal group known as the Illyrians occupied the western regions while the Thracians were in the east. Following these original groups were several other peoples that came into the region.

The Slavs arrived in the Balkans and other regions around the modern countries of Poland, the Czech Republic, the eastern section of Germany, parts of Russia and the Ukraine in the first century. By the sixth century the Slav people had fully occupied the middle and lower Danube basins and crossed the river to start settling in the south. The migration of the Slavs continued in the seventh century and they settled as far as southern Greece. In Greece they assimilated within the local population.

The group known as the Slovenes were found with their own distinctive language in the northwest part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Slovenes were conquered by Charlemagne in 778, became Roman Catholics and adopted the Latin alphabet. Those who occupied the area southeast of Slovenia were known as the Croats and became Roman Catholics. They adopted the Latin alphabet, and were fully absorbed by the Hungarians by 1120.

The group known as the Serbs exist in close proximity to the Croats and there was not an exact line on the map, which separated them. They were different groups as the Serbs were members of the Eastern Orthodox Church and used the Cyrillic alphabet. They are found in the regions that are east and south of the Croatian territory.

The Montenegrins are found in the south and belong to the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church, and use both the Latin and the Cyrillic alphabets. The Macedonians are in the southeast and have a language that is like that used by the Bulgarians and Serbo-Croats.

Turks Arrive

In an effort to expand their empire, the Turks under their leader Sultan Murad I invaded and won a major battle on Maritsa River in 1371 to begin the gradual process of taking control of the Balkans. The Battle of Kosovo Polje in June 1389 between the Ottoman (Turks) and a force made up of Serbs, Bosnians, and Albanians ended in a draw and the retreat of the Ottoman army. This set back for the Turks was temporary as they returned to gradually take the regions of the Balkans a part at a time until they had control by the late 1480s. Bosnia fell in 1463 and Herzegovina fell in 1482 to the Ottomans, leaving only Montenegro outside Turk control and free until the end of the First World War in 1918.

Although the Balkans were controlled by outside powers like the Turks and the Hungarians the Slav people continued to have very strong ties to their own groups as an identified groups. Added to these feeling were the new ideas of Liberalism, which developed in the eighteenth century promoting political equality, rights to freedom, and representative government. Added to these were ideas of nationalism supporting the formation of nations defined by ethnic identities. All these ideas came together to begin national movements in the nineteenth century in the Balkans as the people wanted to free themselves from outside governments that controlled their lives to form nations of their own

Balkan Uprisings in the Ottoman Empire

In 1804, the first Serbian uprising resulted in the killing of local Ottoman officials in Belgrade. The leaders asked to negotiate with the Sultan in Turkey, but the request was turned down and brought about a popular uprising. With disorganization and infighting among the rebels, the Turks regaining control. A more organized uprising took place in 1815 that resulted in the Turkish Sultan giving the Serbs a more independent status as a principality. However the Turks kept a large garrison in Belgrade.

These early slave nationalist movements started with a nation-state concept called Illyria, which would lead to a federal union named Yugoslavia. In the 1840s, some countered the idea of a federation with the idea of reinstating the medieval Serbian empire that would have existed if the Turks had not invaded. This was in conflict with the desires of the other groups in the Balkans like the Croatians, Macedonians, and Montenegro, which all had their own national ambitions.

A treaty was drawn up in June and July 1878 at the Congress of Berlin to address the national desires of those in the Balkans, but the solution presented as many problems as it solved. The treaty from the Congress of Berlin established Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria as independent nations and gave Montenegro to Greece. At the same time, the treaty gave Austria-Hungary control of Bosnia and Herzegovina and what later became Serbia. None of the new Balkan states were satisfied with the amount of territory they were given.

The result of the discontent in the Balkan states following the Congress of Berlin led to the two Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913. The Balkan states formed a series of alliances with other governments in 1912 allowing a military alliance strong enough to challenge Turkey. In March 1912 Serbia and Bulgaria signed a mutual protection agreement, while Bulgaria and Greece signed another in May. Montenegro completed agreements with Serbia and Bulgaria in October 1912.

With these agreements in place Montenegro attacked Ottoman forces on 8 October 1912, and was joined later by other Balkan states. A victory was achieved by May 1913. The peace settlement was drawn up in the Treaty of London, which allowed Serbia and Montenegro to increase their territory and reduce the size of the Ottoman Empire.

The Second Balkan War began in June 1913 when Bulgaria attacked both Serbia and Greece in an effort to change the division of Macedonia, but ended with the defeat of Bulgaria with the armistice in July and the Treaty of Bucharest in August 1913, in which Macedonia was partitioned and Albania was created.

The First World War came about as a result of a series of events and alliances among the countries of Europe. A war seemed inevitable on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo when Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir of the Austro-Hungarian throne was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. The Austro-Hungarian government demanded that the Serbian government turn over all those who were involved in the assassination, but this demand was refused, resulting in the declaration of war by the Austro-Hungarian government on Serbia on 28 July 1914. Serbia's ally Russia announced the mobilization of its army. The Austro-Hungarian ally, German declared war on Russia on August 1, which caused Russia's ally, France to declare war on Germany on August 3. Germany quickly invaded Belgium to attack France, but Britain had treaties with both France and Belgium and declared war on Germany on August 4. It followed that Britain's colonies and dominions like Canada were at war as well.

After the first attack of the Austro-Hungarian forces the armies from Serbia and Montenegro had several successes, but after several months of fighting the fortunes for the Balkan armies turned and the Austro-Hungarian forces occupied Serbia and Montenegro. In January 1916 Montenegro conceded defeat while the Serbian army retreated to Albania, then to the Greek Island of Corfu.

While the Serbian forces were in Corfu they received assistance from France and Britain as they prepared to enter the war again. The Serbian army re-entered the war in 1917 on the southern front and were able to attain a series of victories, bringing about the liberation of Serbia by November 1918. The Serbian army continued on and occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina and moved into Voivodina.

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