Im not from Europe. Can someone explain what are the Balkans exactly and why there’s “beef” between them?
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There have always been lots of tiny (relatively) countries in that part of the world, but then the Ottoman empire came along and conquered all of the little nations along with some larger one and then introduce Islam into the area some of the people adopted Islam, some turned to different aspects of Christianity, this resulted in splits between the populations over nationality and religion. The Ottoman empire declined and the region temporarily got back independence sometimes using armed force. After WW2 a large part of the area was then taken over by the USSR and the region still was split especially since during WW2 when the area was generally fighting against Hitler the partisans spent almost as much time fighting each other. With the dissolution of the USSR all these historic divides came back to the surface.
There have always been lots of tiny (relatively) countries in that part of the world, but then the Ottoman empire came along and conquered all of the little nations along with some larger one and then introduce Islam into the area some of the people adopted Islam, some turned to different aspects of Christianity, this resulted in splits between the populations over nationality and religion. The Ottoman empire declined and the region temporarily got back independence sometimes using armed force. After WW2 a large part of the area was then taken over by the USSR and the region still was split especially since during WW2 when the area was generally fighting against Hitler the partisans spent almost as much time fighting each other. With the dissolution of the USSR all these historic divides came back to the surface.
Broadly, the Balkan nations are countries that are located between Italy to the West and Turkey to the East on the Balkan Peninsula. To be more precise, between the Adriatic Sea, Black Sea and Aegean Sea. Collectively, they are a part of the European continent.
Some of the Balkan nations are fairly well integrated into the “Western” parts of Europe (like Greece). Post WW2, some of them were in the USSR and the rest were a part of Yugoslavia. Both Yugoslavia and the USSR crumbled in the early 90s and that left a bit of a political mess as various sections claimed independence as separate nations.
It certainly doesn’t help that most of the countries, post breakup, were fairly poor and underdeveloped. From WW2, many of these countries/regions were also run by rather brutal dictatorships.
Add that to the fact that the region is also the modern “mixing ground” between Greek/Eastern Orthodox Christians, Muslims and Roman Catholic religions and it all becomes rather fractious.
Broadly, the Balkan nations are countries that are located between Italy to the West and Turkey to the East on the Balkan Peninsula. To be more precise, between the Adriatic Sea, Black Sea and Aegean Sea. Collectively, they are a part of the European continent.
Some of the Balkan nations are fairly well integrated into the “Western” parts of Europe (like Greece). Post WW2, some of them were in the USSR and the rest were a part of Yugoslavia. Both Yugoslavia and the USSR crumbled in the early 90s and that left a bit of a political mess as various sections claimed independence as separate nations.
It certainly doesn’t help that most of the countries, post breakup, were fairly poor and underdeveloped. From WW2, many of these countries/regions were also run by rather brutal dictatorships.
Add that to the fact that the region is also the modern “mixing ground” between Greek/Eastern Orthodox Christians, Muslims and Roman Catholic religions and it all becomes rather fractious.
The Balkans are a group of countries at the crossroads of Europe, Russia, and Asia.
Because they are at this crossroads, different groups have taken up different cultural and religious traits from the surrounding areas. Some are Muslim, some are Eastern Orthodox, some are Roman Catholic. Some write with the Roman alphabet, some with the Cyrillic alphabet.
Throughout history, these different groups were part of different empires and alliances, but they were often right on the borders of those empires. The different empires, in their many, *many* wars, would fight in the area of the Balkans. This led to numerous massacres, atrocities, and horribly unspeakable things.
So many unspeakable things that different groups have been massacred by basically every other group so badly that it left a cultural scar. A defining part of the culture of the Balkans is which atrocity your group has identified with, and which other groups you blame for those atrocities. Conversely, you are also required to *ignore* the atrocities committed by your ancestors against your neighbors.
This history goes back to the Roman Empire, through the Byzantine Empire, through the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire, the USSR, Yugoslavia, through to today.
Through that history, there were times when the regionalism was forcibly quashed under a ruling empire, allowing those regionalist/nationalist feelings fester and metastisize.
I don’t know how to fix it.
I had a coworker from the region. He claimed to speak 9 languages. (I personally feel they were closer to dialects, but the definition of a language is a dialect with an army….)
Answer: the Balkans are the peninsula in southeast europe. The area has a lot of mountainous terrain, and has experienced overlays of many different types of people throughout history. So there are many pockets of different types of cultures.
Part of the reason there is so much conflict today, is that the area has always been a sort of crossroads. There were the Illyrians in Roman times, Slavs in the 8th and 9th centuries, Magyars came in to Hungary, and then Ottomans during the time of their empire.
The split between Eastern and Western Roman empires went right through roughly the Croatia/Bosnia/Serbia area. Which meant that to the east they were Eastern Orthodox, and to the West they were Catholic. To this day Croats are Catholic and Serbs are Eastern Orthodox. When the Ottomans attempted to come into Europe, they left pockets of Muslim peoples, primarily now in Bosnia and Kosovo. Then there were periods with the Austrio-Hungarian and Venetian Empires, and Greece.
As others have mentioned, there’s been a lot of recent history as well, but effectively the bones of conflict are simply very different groups of people, living in very close proximity to each other, with long histories of conflict.
Answer: the Balkans are the peninsula in southeast europe. The area has a lot of mountainous terrain, and has experienced overlays of many different types of people throughout history. So there are many pockets of different types of cultures.
Part of the reason there is so much conflict today, is that the area has always been a sort of crossroads. There were the Illyrians in Roman times, Slavs in the 8th and 9th centuries, Magyars came in to Hungary, and then Ottomans during the time of their empire.
The split between Eastern and Western Roman empires went right through roughly the Croatia/Bosnia/Serbia area. Which meant that to the east they were Eastern Orthodox, and to the West they were Catholic. To this day Croats are Catholic and Serbs are Eastern Orthodox. When the Ottomans attempted to come into Europe, they left pockets of Muslim peoples, primarily now in Bosnia and Kosovo. Then there were periods with the Austrio-Hungarian and Venetian Empires, and Greece.
As others have mentioned, there’s been a lot of recent history as well, but effectively the bones of conflict are simply very different groups of people, living in very close proximity to each other, with long histories of conflict.
The Balkans are a group of countries at the crossroads of Europe, Russia, and Asia.
Because they are at this crossroads, different groups have taken up different cultural and religious traits from the surrounding areas. Some are Muslim, some are Eastern Orthodox, some are Roman Catholic. Some write with the Roman alphabet, some with the Cyrillic alphabet.
Throughout history, these different groups were part of different empires and alliances, but they were often right on the borders of those empires. The different empires, in their many, *many* wars, would fight in the area of the Balkans. This led to numerous massacres, atrocities, and horribly unspeakable things.
So many unspeakable things that different groups have been massacred by basically every other group so badly that it left a cultural scar. A defining part of the culture of the Balkans is which atrocity your group has identified with, and which other groups you blame for those atrocities. Conversely, you are also required to *ignore* the atrocities committed by your ancestors against your neighbors.
This history goes back to the Roman Empire, through the Byzantine Empire, through the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire, the USSR, Yugoslavia, through to today.
Through that history, there were times when the regionalism was forcibly quashed under a ruling empire, allowing those regionalist/nationalist feelings fester and metastisize.
I don’t know how to fix it.
I had a coworker from the region. He claimed to speak 9 languages. (I personally feel they were closer to dialects, but the definition of a language is a dialect with an army….)
What are you talking about? We love each other. Let me just buy some popcorn before fire start in comments 🙂
What are you talking about? We love each other. Let me just buy some popcorn before fire start in comments 🙂
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