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Introduction:

The Balkan peninsula has its name after the mountain range situating mainly in Bulgaria. The border to the rest of Europe is discussed. Slovenia, Croatia had been parts of the former Yugoslavia, a former Balkan state. Hungary and Romania are sometimes referred to as Balkan states and sometimes Central or East European states.&nbsp; Greece is the southern most situated country.

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The cultural and linguistic complexity could be represented by Greece and Albania. Greece has a long ancient history, a period under the Ottoman empire, a Christian orthodox religious background, a language with no references to any other language. Albania has been dominated political by the Ottomans, by the Greek, has mainly a Muslim religious background and a language with no similarities with any other language. The population in Bosnia-Hercegovina has the same Slavic cultural, linguistic background as the Serbs and the Croats, but a specific political and cultural background in the former Ottoman empire, and as Muslims.

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Politically the complexity in the Balkan countries has roots back hundreds of years at the time of the invasions of the Magyars and the Mongols (13th century). Later the Ottoman empire conquered the whole Balkan peninsula up to the former Austria. Gradually the various countries freed themselves or were freed the former Austrian-Hungarian empire, but not especially in the units or countries known of today. This left an unsolved questions about boundaries many places. Economically the different regions of the Balkan peninsula were orientated in different directions. The complexity is almost complete.

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The Ottoman empire lost all its territories west of the strait of Bosporus after World War I, except an area around Istanbul. During World War II the Balkan peninsula was conquered by Germany and Italy. The resistance in the area was quite strong and fierce. The communists, with Tito as first man, were in the lead of this resistance in the area of the former Yugoslavia and became after the war the leading party in the government in the now communistic state. This state, Yugoslavia, stated, and executed, their independence from the Soviet Union in 1948. In Greece there was a civil war between left and right about the power after the war. The communists were beaten due to the interference from the Allies, especially United States and Britain. &nbsp;In Albania the communists took over. Albania mainly related to China more than the Soviet Union. &nbsp;

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Many questions, left from the past and from the two world wars, were not solved. Hungarian and Albanian populations were situated in different countries. Greeks were living in the present Macedonia. The state of Yugoslavia was a kind of construct of regions with almost the same language, but diverse cultural, historical and economical. Though it claimed the independence from Soviet Union, it was kind of isolated from Western Europe where the industrialization and the economic growth happened after World War II, partly due to the money from the American Marshall plan. The same with Albania and of course the countries in the interest sphere of the Soviet Union like Hungary and Romania

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The collapse of the Soviet Union and especially the death of Tito, who was the charismatic leader of Yugoslavia, meant a new era for the Balkan states. Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia have for long wanted autonomy or independency and the death of Tito and a new more instable joined leadership made it more likely. The tensions between Serbia and the other regions increased, the west supported a split of the former Yugoslavia. Slovenia was the first to claim independency, later Croatia and Macedonia. and Western Europe was very fast in recognition of the new states. Serbia tried with force to keep the regions as one entity. The Muslim population in Bosnia-Hercegovina fought for independency, the Albanians in Kosovo went for independency. Suddenly this patchwork of different ethnic groups was engaged in a severe and brutal conflict. There are still cases of crimes against Humanity from these wars at the International Court of Justice in Den Haag in the Netherlands. The wars were stopped by the interference of the US and NATO.

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Today also Montenegro has become independent. Kosovo is applying for it, but is still under sovereignty of the UN. Slovenia and Croatia are members of the EU, Serbia is recognized as a serious applicant. There are still tensions between Bosnian Muslims and Serbs in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Macedonia is in conflict with Greece about its name. There are still conflicts and a patchwork of ethnic groups around in the region, but it seems that it has come to a situation of relative peace compared to what it has been.

Directive:

1. &nbsp; Read the introduction and the questions and make clear the overall aim of the task.

2. &nbsp; Read the files. Use additional sources if you find it beneficial. The origin of additional sources must be noted for control.

3. &nbsp; Product: Make a lively presentation for your team about the issues mentioned below and make a conclusion about the geographical features and their importance for the kind of development Europe has gone through.

Include the issues mentioned below.

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4. &nbsp; The issues to work with:

<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 40px;">&nbsp;a. *The complex history of the Balkan states. Get an overview.</div>

b. *Study the political situation in and between the states in Balkan at the time of the death of the Yugoslavian leader, Tito, and before the collapse of Soviet Union. Identify the background for the tensions.

c. *Investigate what was the interest of the western countries and how they did act in relation to the complex situation 
d. *The main steps in the conflicts turning into wars. An overview. 
e. &nbsp;*Get an opinion upon why and how the conflicts became so fierce and brutal 
f. &nbsp;*Study how the so called Balkan wars has ended, and what the situation is at the moment 
g. * Get an opinion about the future &ndash; Kosovo as a state, Serbia in EU, Macedonia in accordance with Greece? 
h. *The role of EU today &ndash; get an overview and an opinion

5. &nbsp; &nbsp; Send two pages to the teacher 
 
 
Files: &nbsp; 
 
F1.&nbsp;Balkan-timeline, The Washington Post ONLINE 
 
F2.&nbsp;CNN - The Balkan Crisis A brief history 
 
F3.&nbsp;Conflict in the Balkans 
 
F4.&nbsp;History against GeographyShould We Always Think of the Balkans As Part of Europe  IWM 
 
F5.&nbsp;How Capitalism Caused the Balkan Wars, IN&nbsp;Revolutionary Worker newspaper, April 11, 1999).&nbsp;by Mike Ely (1999) 
 
F6.&nbsp;The Balkans in 2003 and 2008 
 
F7.&nbsp;US-Mercenaries behind Croatian army in Balkan War,&nbsp; From Wikipedia.org

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