Describes the geography, history, government, economy, culture, and people of three Balkan countries--Yugoslavia, Romania, and Bulgaria.

The Balkans have often been a flashpoint of conflict in European history. The recent civil war has torn the country apart and the region faces an uncertain future. This authoritative study provides an account of the history of the whole area from the first major nationalist rising against its Ottoman rulers in 1804 to the aftermath of World War II. Covering the former Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania , it provides a Balkan-wide overview as well as histories of specific states and sets the context to the recent conflict.

Did you know that the Balkan Peninsula is often referred to as the "powder keg of Europe?" It was a term devised in the early 20th century to describe the unstable political situation in the region just before it exploded into a conflict known as the First World War. The Balkan Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Balkan League (Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro) and its allies and the Ottoman Empire. But these wars didn't involve any of the great European powers such as Germany, France, or the United Kingdom. This is what makes them less known, but they were crucial for the development of the European political scene. The Balkan Wars were first fought for ethnic groups that were ruled by the Ottoman Empire so they could gain their complete independence and expand their territory. Looking up to the successful western states, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece wanted to achieve national states with a territory that would gather all their ethnic brothers into one state. But the legacy of the Ottoman Empire lives on in the multiethnic hodgepodge of the Balkan Peninsula. Unlike Westerners, the Ottomans considered their faith to be the uniting factor, not the idea of belonging to a nation. This belief created the complex situation in the Balkans that lasts to this day. To understand this part of Europe, one must look into the past and understand the obscure and complex conflicts that are known as the Balkan Wars. This book will take you into the past and show you how it all started, from the creation of the Balkan League to the Bucharest Peace Conference. Read Captivating History's The Balkan Wars to understand the origins of the conflict, as well as: The national aspirations of the Balkan people How Bulgaria gained independence just to lose it against its will The creation of the Balkan League How Bulgarians pushed the Ottomans out of Thrace and Europe How they lost Macedonia, their ultimate goal, in the process The role of the Greek navy in the Balkan Wars How Greece took Thessaly and its main prize, the Port of Thessaloniki Why the Montenegrins were tied to Serbia and what their role in the war was Why Serbia and Greece agreed on an alliance Why Romania and the Ottoman Empire jumped into the conflict How it all ended with a peace treaty signed in Bucharest and Constantinople Don't miss this opportunity to learn about the Balkan Wars, scroll up and click the "add to cart" button!

Balkan Legacies is a study of the aftermath of war and state socialism in the contemporary Balkans. The authors look at the inescapable inheritances of the recent past and those that the present has to deal with. The book’s key theme is the interaction, often subliminal, of the experiences of war and socialism in contemporary society in the region. Fifteen contributors approach this topic from a range of disciplinary backgrounds and through a variety of interpretive lenses, collectively drawing a composite picture of the most enduring legacies of conflict and ideological transition in the region, without neglecting national and local peculiarities. The guiding questions addressed are: what is the relationship between memories of war, dictatorship (communist or fascist), and present-day identity—especially from the perspective of peripheral and minority groups and individuals? How did these components interact with each other to produce the political and social culture of the Balkan Peninsula today? The answers show the ways in which the experiences of the latter part of the twentieth century have defined and shaped the region in the twenty-first century.

This analyzes the political and security implications for South-Eastern Europe resulting from the collapse of communism. For more than four decades the Cold War had ensured not only a flow of aid into the region but also a certain kind of stability, with Greece and Turkey belogning to NATO, Bulgaria annd Romania to the Warsaw Pact, and Yugoslavia and Albania retaining their independence. Now that it is no longer of strategic importance whether any of these countries change allegiance, the old disputes between states, and between nations and minorities within them, have assumed a more important role. There is a threat of some of these conflicts growing into civil wars within states (Yugoslavia, for example) or armed conflicts between states (Hungary versus Romania over Transylvania; Greece and Turkey over Thrace). This could pose problems not only for the neighbouring states but also for the international community as a whole. This study offers ideas on how the map of the Balkans might be recast to deal with some of these problems and how various international mechanisms could be used to contain crises in the short term.

Since the collapse of Eastern European communism, the Balkans have been more prominent in world affairs than at any time since before the First World War. Crises in the area have led NATO to fire its first ever shots in anger, whilst international forces have been deployed on a scale and in a manner unprecedented in Europe since World War Two.An understanding of why this happened is impossible without some knowledge of the history of the area before the fall of communism, of how the communists came to power and how they used their authority thereafter. Covering the communist states of Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and Yugoslavia, and including Greece, Richard Crampton provides a highly readable introduction to that history, one that will be read by journalists, diplomats and anyone interested in the region and its impact on world politics today.