The Adriatic Balkans Former Yugoslavia and Albania

Objectives Identify the Balkan Peninsula on a blank map. Identify the Adriatic Sea on a blank map. Explain how physical geography resulted in many ethnic groups. Recount how an invasion in the Middle Ages injected another minority group into the area – one which resulted in resentment. Discuss how the nation of Yugoslavia broke up.

To secede is to have a part of a country break away and become independent. Terms and Places Civil War is a war within a country. The Balkans are the mountains of southeast Europe. An ethnic group is a group of people that share a culture. An embargo is a decision not to trade with a nation. You can’t tell us what to do in our own country! But we CAN stop trading with you! What if we just left? Balkanization means to divide ethnic groups against each other, as the Balkans did.

To the north of this area lies Austria and Hungary. To the west lies Italy and the Adriatic Sea. To the south lies Greece. To the east of lies Romania and Bulgaria, the Black Sea Balkans. The Adriatic Balkans lie in southeastern Europe.

The area is marked by two remarkable features of physical geography. One is a beautiful coastline along the Adriatic, studded with many islands.

The other is the rugged mountains of the interior.

The population for this area is moderate to low compared to other European nations.

What does the graph show about the population in this area? The rural population is larger than most countries when compared to its urban population.

Much of this region’s history can be traced back to its invasion by the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was Muslim, while the Balkan people were not. Worst of all was the practice of the Janissaries: The Ottoman Empire took the sons of the Balkan people away from their parents and made them soldiers of the Empire. The Balkan nations were required to pay taxes to the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire sometimes chose their noblemen.

The Ottoman Empire was finally expelled during World War One, but many Muslims remained in the Balkans.

Baltic States Ukraine and Moldova Russia Adriatic Balkans The Adriatic Balkans is the only part of Eastern Europe that was not dominated by Soviet Russia during the 20 th Century. The Carpathians Poland and Belarus After World War Two, Yugoslavia was united and controlled by a powerful leader named Marshal Tito. After Tito died in the early 1990s, Yugoslavia broke up in a bitter civil war.

Even before Yugoslavia broke up into five nations, the mountains had divided the people into diverse ethnic groups. The Slovenians and the Croatians (yellow) were Catholic and used the Roman Alphabet, like speakers of English do. The Serbs and their neighbors to the south were Orthodox in religion and used the Cyrillic Alphabet. What ethnic group is represented by bright green? What is the history of this group?

Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, and Albanian are similar but different languages.

Which group holds the majority? Which country is the most diverse? The Serbs wanted to drive out or kill the Muslims and include Bosnia-Herzegovina in their country. This is where the war was the worst.

People were shocked that in a modern European country peace could still so suddenly change to war. People were sniped on the streets of residential neighborhoods. The rest of Europe did nothing. Eventually, the Serbs built concentration camps.

Bosnian (Muslim) People were pushed out of areas closest to the Serb territory.

The Germans and the French refused to get involved. Finally, it was up to the Americans to put a stop to the bloodshed.

Years later, the villains of this crime were put on trial.

Which color encircles the Balkan Peninsula?

Which body of water is the Adriatic Sea? The Adriatic Sea

What empire dominated this area from the Middle Ages until the end of World War One? Which of the below best describes the physical geography of the Balkans? Rugged mountains and a coastline with many islands Wide plains with slow moving rivers A swampy coastline with broad, navigable inlets The Communist Soviet Union The Imperial Austrian Empire The Muslim Ottoman Empire The Pre-Fascist German Empire The Balkan Peninsula’s economy is: Richer than most of Western Europe. About the same as most of Western Europe Poorer than most of Western Europe Which sea borders this area? The Adriatic Sea The Baltic Sea The Black Sea The Ionian Sea

Please read “Five Balkan Nations.” World Studies: Europe and Russia. Pearson- Prentice-Hall, pg. 181.

“Still on the Frontline.” YouTube: Amnesty International. (13:12)