Balkan states

The Balkan states are those countries that lie within the area of the Balkans, in south-east Europe. They have varied in boundaries and names. From c.1453 until the latter half of the nineteenth century, the Balkans formed part of the Ottoman Empire. The First Balkan War (1912-1913) saw the League of Balkan nations (the Kingdoms of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro) win independence from Turkey. Dissatisfaction with the apportionment of the spoils led to the Second Balkan War(1913).

In the hopes of elucidating some part of their confused history during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, AWE offers this limited set of notes. The Balkan States as independent territories include:

• • • Albania, q.v. (not to be confused with Caucasian Albania, nor with Albion).
    • Bosnia - formally Bosnia and Herzegovina - was central in the struggles after the break-up of Yugoslavia, largely because of religious differences and from its ethnic composition, distributed between Bosniaks (bosnian Muslims), Croats (majority Roman Catholic) and Serbians (majority Eastern Orthodox). There was considerable animosity between these.

• • • Bulgaria
    • Croatia

Some writers include Greece as a Balkan country, as it is the southern end of what they call the Balkan peninsula. AWE does not.

• • • Herzegovina is a constituent part of Bosnia, formally Bosnia and Herzogovina.
    • Jugoslavia (or Yugoslavia)
    • Macedonia
    • Montenegro

Some weriters include Romania as a Balkan country. "Geographically, the Balkan region starts south of the Danube and Romania is located on the north side of the river. Many information sources tend to include, however, Romania into [sic] the Balkan Peninsula. Even if geographically this is not accurate, in many cultural aspects Romania does feel like a Balkan country." ( Diana Condrea, 2020).

• • • Serbia
    • Slovenia