1. Turmoil in the Balkans:
Former Yugoslavia
Josh Broach
AP World History

2. The Balkans: Political strife
• The main issue concerning the Balkans today is inside of the former
Yugoslavia.
• Several ethnicities have gained their own nation following the break-up
and as a result tensions over who exactly deserves what region has caused
fighting.
• Accompanying several different ethnicities are religious diversity that
came during medieval times with the split of the Christian church in 1054
and the advancement of the Muslims.
• Today there is a mixture of all of these faiths in the region.
• Redrawing political boundaries, forming new nations, and secession have
caused numerous political issues in the region since the collapse of former
Yugoslavia in 1989

3. The Balkans: Economic strife
• Greece’s development and emergence as the “leader of the Balkans” has really left
behind the rest of the Balkans in the economic aspect.
• Greece in recent years has provided economic stimulus to areas in the lower
Balkans.
• The Balkans have been excluded in the EU and NATO and as a result have failed to
receive the perks and voice that come along with being in those organizations.
• The instability between the Serbs and Albanians in the region have also resulted in
a great deal of economic failure because these ethnicities have ravaged the region
in war.
• The Balkans in general are an area not containing the greatest natural resource
bank nor do they have the unity to develop a vast trade network.

4. The Balkans: Violent Past
• Before 1054 the Balkans were vastly a region dominated by
the Roman Empire and as a result held a dominant roman
catholic base. After the schism, a significant part (especially
in the east) became eastern orthodox. These two Christian
denominations reigned supreme until around 1400 when
the Turks invaded Constantinople and set out to the nearby
Balkans where many Albanians and other ethnicities turned
largely to Islam. Under the Ottoman empire into the 20th
century the Balkans were an outlying province that suffered
from an even worse off Ottoman Empire. Following WW1
Yugoslavia was created by a pact of Serbian kinsmen. The
region did not stay away from concern for long as the
USSR/US conflict cast a shadow on the region and both
sides of the conflict ignored issues arising in the area.

5. Yugoslavia
• The break up of former Yugoslavia in 1991
resulted in the creation of several nations based
on ethnic lines. Yugoslavia was not a part of the
USSR but held a communist regime that with the
fall of communism at the end of the 80’s saw a
similar collapse and war.
Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Slovenia, Ko
sovo, and Macedonia, were formed as a result of
the break up given the perspective ethnicities of
Bosnian, Croatian, Macedonian, Montenegrin, an
d Serbian.

6. Solving the Political Issue
• A common technique to solving the issue of
political borders has been new nation forming by
ethnic majorities in that region. Croatia and
Slovenia were the original group to break away
from Yugoslavia followed by Macedonia. Other
nations including Serbia separated as well. To
solve political confusion the UN had to officially
recognize each nation or otherwise step in to
combat what the UN considered delusional
separatists. The most recently administered
nation was Kosovo in 2008.

7. Solving the Economic issue
• Former Yugoslavia nations are being prepared to
enter the UN. Required entry levels will take a
much more stable economy in the region that has
been aided by a stimulus contribution of 10
billion dollars by “the leader” Greece. The
Hellenic Plan as established in 2002 is set out to
aid poor economic nations in the former
Yugoslavia. Greece also notably brought back to
life the South East European Cooperation Process
as the only authoritative trade body in the former
Yugoslavian sphere.

8. Bibliography
• quot;Yugoslavia.quot; Wikipedia. Web.4 Jun 2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia>.
• Alexandros P. Mallias, quot;Greece and the Balkans.quot;
Web.4 Jun 2009.
<http://www.helleniccomserve.com/greecenbalk
ansmallias.html>.
• quot;The long story of differences.quot; Web.4 Jun 2009.
<http://www.historians.org/Projects/GIroundtabl
e/Balkans/Balkans2.htm>.