Im not from Europe. Can someone explain what are the Balkans exactly and why there’s “beef” between them?
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The Balkans are basically the ancient crossroads of Europe. One of the most contested places on the planet. Because it’s the geographic intersection between Orthodox Christianity, Islam and Catholicism. It’s where they clash most frequently.
The beef is an ideological cycle of violence that is based on the grievances of the past that are constantly exploited by politicians and leaders.
Each has committed insanely barbaric atrocities on each other, and there is always a generation alive in the Balkans that has experienced it. So bitterness is easy to exploit there.
Recently in history, the last hundred years, the Croats slaughtered Serbs and Muslims like cattle, the Serbs did the same Muslims, and the Muslims did it to the others for hundreds of years before that.
Part of all their core cultures are a constant feeling of insecurity and distrust, although Croatia has broken their cycle by joining the EU. And a deep-seated sense of animosity based on sectarian atrocities.
If Serbia can be convinced to reform enough to join the EU then the door can be opened for Bosnia and I think the cycle can be broken permanently.
Economic development would really help people have different priorities if they were developing at a pace where people had a greater degree of prosperity and another route to stopping their politicians stirring too much shit, through the European legal institutions.
The Balkans are basically the ancient crossroads of Europe. One of the most contested places on the planet. Because it’s the geographic intersection between Orthodox Christianity, Islam and Catholicism. It’s where they clash most frequently.
The beef is an ideological cycle of violence that is based on the grievances of the past that are constantly exploited by politicians and leaders.
Each has committed insanely barbaric atrocities on each other, and there is always a generation alive in the Balkans that has experienced it. So bitterness is easy to exploit there.
Recently in history, the last hundred years, the Croats slaughtered Serbs and Muslims like cattle, the Serbs did the same Muslims, and the Muslims did it to the others for hundreds of years before that.
Part of all their core cultures are a constant feeling of insecurity and distrust, although Croatia has broken their cycle by joining the EU. And a deep-seated sense of animosity based on sectarian atrocities.
If Serbia can be convinced to reform enough to join the EU then the door can be opened for Bosnia and I think the cycle can be broken permanently.
Economic development would really help people have different priorities if they were developing at a pace where people had a greater degree of prosperity and another route to stopping their politicians stirring too much shit, through the European legal institutions.
A lot of bullshitty explanaitions here, so here’s the actual, real one:
Balkan people are racist. This is the first fact. The second fact is that at some point, looking at the map, basically every country owned some part of their neighnour’s territory. And the third fact is the Ottoman Empire (or really the Turkish country) ruling some of the countries for 300 or even 500 years and then on top of that comes the USSR or Russia, who occupied a lot of countries and turned them communistic.
Now keeping all those facts in mind, I can start with some relations and some slavs can continue adding in information:
Bulgaria owned North Macedonia’s lands for a few hundred years, and when the communists came they ordered the North Macedonians’ country to be created and separated, so Bulgarians think North Macedonia is actually Bulgaria.
Greeks owned North Macedonia lands for hundreds of years too, so they think they own them and their land, so that is that.
Greeks fought with Bulgarians and did some massive cruelties, so Greece has steets named “Basil, the Bulgarian Slayer” and Bulgarians don’t call them Greeks but “wankers”.
Ottoman (Turkish) empire occupied Greece for around 300 years and Bulgaria for around 500, so both countries hate them for that.
Bulgarians actually do get along with Romanians so there isn’t really much hate there.
Serbs hate muslims so the Albanians that were located in Kosovo’s territory, which was then part of Serbia, decided to fight for their freedom and Serbs attacked them back. So Serbs hate Albanians and the people of Kosovo.
North Macedonia’s government knows their country has an 80 years old history and they did not exist as a separate country ever, so they are writing and propagandizing a new history, which angers all their neighbours who owned this land at different times.
Bulgarians don’t like each other with Serbs, because they fought a few wars.
And now more slavs can add more relationships
A lot of bullshitty explanaitions here, so here’s the actual, real one:
Balkan people are racist. This is the first fact. The second fact is that at some point, looking at the map, basically every country owned some part of their neighnour’s territory. And the third fact is the Ottoman Empire (or really the Turkish country) ruling some of the countries for 300 or even 500 years and then on top of that comes the USSR or Russia, who occupied a lot of countries and turned them communistic.
Now keeping all those facts in mind, I can start with some relations and some slavs can continue adding in information:
Bulgaria owned North Macedonia’s lands for a few hundred years, and when the communists came they ordered the North Macedonians’ country to be created and separated, so Bulgarians think North Macedonia is actually Bulgaria.
Greeks owned North Macedonia lands for hundreds of years too, so they think they own them and their land, so that is that.
Greeks fought with Bulgarians and did some massive cruelties, so Greece has steets named “Basil, the Bulgarian Slayer” and Bulgarians don’t call them Greeks but “wankers”.
Ottoman (Turkish) empire occupied Greece for around 300 years and Bulgaria for around 500, so both countries hate them for that.
Bulgarians actually do get along with Romanians so there isn’t really much hate there.
Serbs hate muslims so the Albanians that were located in Kosovo’s territory, which was then part of Serbia, decided to fight for their freedom and Serbs attacked them back. So Serbs hate Albanians and the people of Kosovo.
North Macedonia’s government knows their country has an 80 years old history and they did not exist as a separate country ever, so they are writing and propagandizing a new history, which angers all their neighbours who owned this land at different times.
Bulgarians don’t like each other with Serbs, because they fought a few wars.
And now more slavs can add more relationships
As others have pointed out, the Balkans are the region of southeastern europe east of Italy, west of Turkiye, and south of Ukraine and Hungary (some include Hungary but I wont).
What others haven’t pointed out (and I’m oversimplifying) is: the “beef” is largely ethnic and old tribal conflict, with religious conflict mixed in. South Slavic nations can be majority Catholic, Orthodox, or Muslim.
Albanians and Romanians were inhabiting the land in the stone ages, they aren’t Slavic or Turkic, and they never really got along. Bulgarians are a mixed race between Turkic and Slavic and see themselves (and are seen) as different from other Slavs. The other Slavs were all from different Slavic tribes, which is how their nationalities and old kingdoms formed.
South Slavic conflict goes back a long time. There is a rich history of kingdoms in between the periods of imperial rule over the land. Serbia is usually considered the most powerful South Slavic nation (if you dont count Bulgaria), but their state hasnt always been kind in the way they have treated others. However, even as these Slavic nationalities don’t see eye to eye, they do have some solidarity against the other neighboring ethnicities.
A lot of Balkan people really don’t give a damn about any of this stuff, but the nations have been gripped in a power struggle since basically forever. There were a whole lot of land wars between the nations. Even when united peacefully under Rome, Austria-Hungary, the Ottomans, and Yugoslavia, they continued their power games and the overall conflict seems to remain unresolved.
Basically, no Slavic kingdom was able to conquer the harsh mountainous terrain, there wasn’t a religious unity to confederate the nations under the church, and the Slavic nations have always treated imperialists harshly, so they never really united. They have no real intetest in uniting today due to the recent conflict surrounding the Yugoslav collapse, a lot of bitterness surrounding Serbia’s role in it, but there has been some recent political action regarding some sort of conglomeration between Slavic nations.
Edit: There are also many minority ethnic groups in each of the nations. Serbians and Croats in Bosnia, Croats and Bosniaks in Serbia. They are culturally quite different. Some consider them to be ethnically different, some consider them all to be ethnically South Slavic. It’s complicated.
As others have pointed out, the Balkans are the region of southeastern europe east of Italy, west of Turkiye, and south of Ukraine and Hungary (some include Hungary but I wont).
What others haven’t pointed out (and I’m oversimplifying) is: the “beef” is largely ethnic and old tribal conflict, with religious conflict mixed in. South Slavic nations can be majority Catholic, Orthodox, or Muslim.
Albanians and Romanians were inhabiting the land in the stone ages, they aren’t Slavic or Turkic, and they never really got along. Bulgarians are a mixed race between Turkic and Slavic and see themselves (and are seen) as different from other Slavs. The other Slavs were all from different Slavic tribes, which is how their nationalities and old kingdoms formed.
South Slavic conflict goes back a long time. There is a rich history of kingdoms in between the periods of imperial rule over the land. Serbia is usually considered the most powerful South Slavic nation (if you dont count Bulgaria), but their state hasnt always been kind in the way they have treated others. However, even as these Slavic nationalities don’t see eye to eye, they do have some solidarity against the other neighboring ethnicities.
A lot of Balkan people really don’t give a damn about any of this stuff, but the nations have been gripped in a power struggle since basically forever. There were a whole lot of land wars between the nations. Even when united peacefully under Rome, Austria-Hungary, the Ottomans, and Yugoslavia, they continued their power games and the overall conflict seems to remain unresolved.
Basically, no Slavic kingdom was able to conquer the harsh mountainous terrain, there wasn’t a religious unity to confederate the nations under the church, and the Slavic nations have always treated imperialists harshly, so they never really united. They have no real intetest in uniting today due to the recent conflict surrounding the Yugoslav collapse, a lot of bitterness surrounding Serbia’s role in it, but there has been some recent political action regarding some sort of conglomeration between Slavic nations.
Edit: There are also many minority ethnic groups in each of the nations. Serbians and Croats in Bosnia, Croats and Bosniaks in Serbia. They are culturally quite different. Some consider them to be ethnically different, some consider them all to be ethnically South Slavic. It’s complicated.
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