BALKAN EUROPE

Eastern Europe and the Balkans are shatter belts, zones of chronic political splintering characterized by frequent shifting of national boundaries due to war. 

Balkanization is a process of breaking up a region (or state) into smaller and often hostile units. 

Ethnic cleansing is the often bloody removal of ethnic populations from a state or region controlled by different ethnic groups.

Maps of the Balkans
 

FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

The Balkan Regional Atlas

Central Balkan Region Map

 Outline of Events in Former Yugoslavia (from WWII)

Yugoslavia federation declared after WWII (1946) Map of Former Yugoslavia
Communist leader Marshal Tito (Josip Broz) dies (1980)
Uprising in Kosovo ignites Serb nationalism (1990)
Serb president Slobodan Milosevic pushes for Greater Serbia

Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic (on right)
Milosevic uses military to control Kosovo
Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia declare independence (1991)
Croatia and Serbia go to war over control of land
U.N. sends troops to mediate between Croatia and Serbia
Serbia turns to Bosnia for control of territory
 

Dayton Accord 

Bosnia declares independence and fights Serbia (1992) 
Sarajevo gains worldwide attention in market attack
 

Bosnia: cultural fault lines, 1991 and 1997

Ethnic cleansing

Gorazde

Images

Peace treaty signed (1995) U.S./U.N troops sent to enforce it

Fleeing Bosnian Muslim Refugees

Dayton Accords map. In what ways does the division of territory on this map 
contribute to potential future ethnic unrest?

Bosnia Home Page
Chronology of events 1990-1995 - more detail

A Beginner's Guide to the Balkans

THEN KOSOVO AGAIN: 

Why do the Serbs want Kosovo? 
          1389 - Serbs lost Kosovo to Ottoman Turks
          claim as cultural heritage
Milosevic's Greater Serbia 
          - no more autonomy for Kosovo
          --> KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) acts against Serbs (1997)
          - Milosevic reacts with force
          --> war

Serbs conduct operations against Kosovars 

          - NATO intervenes (1999)

U.S. Air Force
 

Regional map- Central Balkans

Map: Kosovo and the Balkans
 
 
 

Albanian Kosovar refugee camp in Kukes, Albania

Kosovo map     Kosovo map
Shaded relief map of Kosovo (three views)     Terrain map of Kosovo
Interactive map of Kosovo
Map of Serbia

NATO peacekeeping map of Kosovo: June 1999
Military Analysis Network: Military Maps of Kosovo
 
 

Information on Kosovo Ethnic Conflict in Kosovo Has Centuries-Old Roots Roots of the Conflict in Kosovo "U.N. May Be Forced to Abandon Idea of Multiethnic Kosovo" New York Times, August 26, 1999 Kosovo File: Photos and Information A Kosovo Primer (Brief Overview) The Kosovo File: Who's Who Maps of Kosovo and the Balkans Who are the KLA? Peacekeepers Map Official Kosovo Websites Why Serbs Want Kosovo A Timeline of Tensions Photo Gallery Related Kosovo Web Sites Serbia Web Site