why the creation of the nation-states in the Balkans took so long

why the creation of the nation-states in the Balkans took so long

National identity often serves as a representation of the basis of federal states. National identities define the concept of belongingness or existence After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the creators of the new world order that include Cardinal Mazarin realized that the characteristic that often connects the population into a single state encompasses traditions, culture, and language. Their traits often form the identity of individuals, thus facilitating the making of a nation out of them. Therefore, the national identity serves as a type of collective identity, which gives allegiance to a country, and the nation manages to live on the territory of the nation-state. The idea of a nation is elusive as the minimalists often consider that it can be understood as a community of equal people sharing a standard set of values. The identities of the Balkan nations lose their role in the establishment of a well-organized and stable national state. The aim of the paper encompasses investigating why the creation of the nation-states in the Balkans took so long.

Creation of nation-states in Balkans

Although the steady decline of Ottoman power primarily dominated the 18th century in the Balkans, the outstanding feature of the 19th century encompasses the creation of nation-states on what was considered previously as Ottoman territory[1]. Since local factors conditioned the establishment of nation-states and the emergence of national consciousness, the diverse nations evolved in a particular way. Nonetheless, some of the general characteristics are still discernible.

The first encompasses the fact that the external factors served as the ultimate determinants. No Balkan people, irrespective of the strength of their national purpose, could achieve independent statehood, or even a separate administrative identity without external support. The foreign military intervention on behalf of particular groups was common. For instance, Russia assisted the Bulgarians and Serbs, while Russia, France, and Britain intervened for the Greeks. The Romanians gained significantly from the wars between German and Italian unification. At the same time, the Albanian independence could have been impossible had the Balkan states not smashed the Ottoman power in Europe in the First Balkan War.

External intervention mainly drew from the indigenous nationalist movements, supported by the members of diasporic communities across Europe, having evolved and eventually fomented unrest or even rebellion. These movements were mainly financed significantly by internal wealth, but except for the peripheral areas of the Dalmatian, Romanian, and Greek lands such that wealth could not be generated until the region has returned to some level of stability that facilitated the flourishing of manufacturing, trade, and agriculture.

The situation was not achieved until the 1830s after the empire had been rocked by the Russian and Napoleonic invasions, the War of Greek Independence (1821-32), the Romanian revolt of 1821, and the suppression of the Janissaries in 1826. Even the Serbs under Karadjordje (“Black George”) and Milos Obrenovic had only a limited form of autonomy until the 1830s. With the return of calm, copper wire, animals, trade-in cloth, and other products increased significantly. The guilds primarily engaged in the accumulation of excess funds and used them to enhance local towns and villages, the majority that saw new churches, covered markets, or clock towers in the 1930s and after that. The individual merchants and guilds also engaged in empowering schools and financing of individual researchers to study in central Europe, Russia, or the tremendous educational establishments that appeared in Constantinople.

In some instances, the national communities beyond what became the national territory of a particular people mainly generated wealth. For instance, the pig merchants of Serbia were not as wealthy as the richest of their Serb trading partners that occupied Habsburg lands. In contrast, the most-successful Bulgarian merchants of Constantinople or the Romanian principalities mainly lived in more magnificent opulence in comparison to their counterparts in the cloth towns along the foothills of Balkan Mountains.

Creation of national identities

In the Balkans, the establishment of states was consequent upon and after the emergence of national movements. However, after their formation, states ensured the adoption of all means at their disposal that includes the media, the church, the educational system, and the military to enhance the process of constructing national identities. In the early years of the 19th century, even amongst the semi liberated Romanians and Serbs, there was little sense of national identity beyond the somewhat small circle of the native intelligentsia. The creation and dissemination of the sense of national identity often served as the work of the national apostles that pointed back to more glamorous years. For instance, in Bulgaria, the monk Paisiy of Khilendar documented the glories of the medieval saints and tsars. Similarly, the Serbs were reminded of the achievements of Stefan Dasun. At the same time, the Albanians focused on the exploits of Skanderberg, with the Greeks being inspired by the accomplishments of the Greeks of Classical antiquity.

The sense of national identity also owed its survival to the fact that the Ottoman power was concentrated in the towns. The villages were still mostly Christian, and their Christian customs survived primarily unaffected by the new dominant religion. Furthermore, the Ottomans commonly left the administration of villages in the hands of the villagers. This situation was particularly the case within the communities that had been entrusted with specialized functions that encompassed supplying water to imperial palaces, guarding mountain passes, or even supplying birds for the Sultan’s falconry. Within these self-governing villages, the taste for and habits for self-administration were acquired, leading to the birth of a native cadre of leadership.

Religion played an essential role in influencing the preservation of national identities. Even in the first, violent years of their conquest, the Ottomans rarely touched monasteries where books, icons, relics, and other cultural treasures had been guarded zealously. Within the churches, the survival of the ancient liturgies ensured the provision of continuity with the non-Muslim past. At the same time, even the millet system performed the critical function of facilitating the preservation of administration in the native language.

Forging the State

The national movements reached fruition, and the foreign countries intervened; therefore, the external forces played a significant role in determining the creation of nation-states. However, this wan less experienced in Serbia and Montenegro, because they emerged earlier and more gradually compared with other states. The European powers enacted the new states to be monarchies except for Montenegro and Serbia, which the European powers formulated them to accept nonnative dynasties. All nation-states except Montenegro and Serbia transitioned to a regime and emerged with a minor German princeling on the throne. However, Albania was the exception, since it started with a German and finally completed with a native prince. The great powers determined legal and constitutional structures, to protect the minority rights as with the Jews of Romania and Muslims of Bulgaria.

Once built, the new states, both before and after World War 1, tried to create economic and political structures similar to those emerging in the West[2]. Their histories diminished the efforts, and the history provided psyches and societies that varied from those to the West. In the 10th century, population shifts inside Western Europe ceased and shifted in the Balkans into the 20th century. The Byzantine and Roman empires suffered regular incursion, and Szeklers, Saxons, and Swabians were brought into Transylvania to assist in repair the extinction of Mongols and other intruders. Muslims, migrants from Anatolia, former freed slaves and prisoners of war, and others from converts, migrated into Bulgaria, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia, and Macedonia.

Ethnicity

There exist ethnic shifts for major religious groups. In 1878, there was the creation of the Bulgarian state, and the Christian refugees arrived from Thrace and Macedonia while the Muslim left. Throughout the 19th century, the Jews suffered discrimination in Russia, and later the bias spread into Moldavia, Bessarabia, and Walachia. The Armenians were escaping against the appalling massacres of the 1890s, and they found peace and safety in Bulgaria. After the Balkans battle of 1912-13, most refugees who were living in between Anatolia and Greece caused the first of sequent of population-exchange agreements, and the deals were similar to that of Greece and Bulgaria after World War 1. The establishment of independent states causes ethnic problems. Therefore, there were difficulties in drawing state boundaries that caused ethnic divisions that faced the region, and some minor issues affected the region generations. The new boundaries changed social, economic, and cultural activity. Traditional fairs, which facilitated the exchange of goods and products, was interrupted. The new bonders in Albanian state separated the villages from their season pastures and prevented them from attending to other activities such as a monastery, church, and favorite shrine. In addition, the new states separated monasteries from far properties, which was their source of income. The problems were a result of the creation of modern states in regions where social o-economic activities were distant from advanced nations. Inadequate capital regulated the construction of western-modern states. Except for Romania, which had well-developed commercialized agriculture, small peasant proprietors occupied other Ottoman Europe.

Further ethnic atrocities and relocations facilitated by both Christian rebels and Ottoman forces occurred during the series of liberation. After the establishment of the nation-states hence Muslims moved in large numbers.

Political Conflict

Political participation was restricted to a small group of the population. The large scale farmers and owners had great control over the politics of Romania before World War 1, and on Albania after World War 1, also engaged intelligentsia was engaged in all countries. There was a distinction between the intelligentsia that was politically independent and those within the ruling parties through jobbery and clientism systems. The division affected the nation of the peninsula. The division in politics affected the Balkans. The part of the intelligentsia obtained the state office due to political obedience; therefore, the citizens become corrupted, leading to abuse of power.

Furthermore, corruption widened the gap between those in power and the peasants throughout the Balkans. Peasant entered the position of the influential, and they become the worst oppressor. Before 1914, wealth and influence existed in the bureaucracy in all states, excluding Albania and Montenegro; however, the same achievement was used in the army. The Romania military participated in less prominent function n in political authority brokering; therefore, it was a site for social advancement. During the period of communist dominion after World War 1, the army was a powerful object in the political activity of all the Balkan states. Though the freedom of action and participation of Balkan countries was within the great powers, they extended territory, and they termed theirs by historical rights or ethnic; hence the Balkan solidarity or union was limited and transitory. The Balkan Serbia, Greece, and Bulgaria did not agree on the division of Macedonia, and they had conflict gain over the same problem in 1914.

World War Events

The Balkan states did not have one voice during World War 1. During the Austria-Hungary conflict of July 1914, Serbia sent a message of acceptance of most demands and offered to be submissive to unreasonable demands or international arbitration. When the battle occurred in Peninsula, Montenegro was reluctant to declare war in early August while Bulgaria stepped aside and committed itself to the central powers in September 1915. Until 1916, Romania did not join the Allied forces. Albania was powerless to escape being secluded by the conflicting parties. However, the Balkan states had no interest in the conflict, but they faced the war consequences. All the states suffered mass mobilization and severe economic issues, which caused severe causalities, especially for Serbia. The battle ruined the existing trade connections.

Problems of Integration

Immediately after World War 1, there was insecurity and instability in Balkans. Political brokers exploited the political instability caused by a return to civilian production and mass demobilization. By the end of 1925, the communist parties were out ruled in all Balkan states. The Balkans faced problems in uniting the divided territories. The railway networks served the old empires rather than the new Balkan states, and those in the former Russian had a different design. The new government spends the funds beyond their means, and this caused inflation. The regions developed differently. The Ottoman force divided the Balkans. Those regions ruled by the sultan’s government used different laws, to a system that adapted slowly to changing the economy and to various social activities. The states that developed from Ottoman ruling, such as Albania, Serbia, and Bulgaria, were poor and less developed. The advanced areas opted to political cultures that were less honest and more primitive. In addition, the political cultures were more centralized rather than devolved. Therefore, many problems raised from the interwar of Romania and Yugoslavia.

The Economic Crisis

In 1929-32, the economic crisis destroyed external and external financial stability. The Albanian exports and imports reduced by two fifths and three fifths, for Yugoslavia was two thirds, and three-fourths for Bulgaria. The agricultural prices fell then that of manufactured goods, widening the gap between the increasing cost of imports and the farm income. Due to the availability of interest rates and credit, the peasants benefited; they borrowed substantial loans not only for buying seeds, implements, and stock but also for peasant did not earn enough to repay their loans[3]. The economic crisis was from the increased population growth. Before World War 1, the population pressure was relieved by the emigration and presence of vast lands used for cultivation. The Balkans was an overflow of rural underemployment and overpopulation. Consumption. The economic crisis affected the country’s export and the agricultural sector.

Nationalism

Nationalism and protracted warfare affected social advancement in the creation of nation-states in Balkan. Balkan had little ideas and inter-state violence influenced the development. Essential factors of state formation did not contribute to the creation of nation-states. The borders of the nation-states are not identical. The need to create the same identity in the Balkan states led to the irredentist campaign to develop and expand the rules to include all citizens of other nations[4].

Furthermore, there was a need to eliminate citizens of other states who intruded on the state as were a threat to its security and identity. The dispute in the Balkans has dragged the major European powers and their colonies into a widened conflict[5]. For example, there was tension between Austria-Hungary and Serbia over the disputed region of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The events in the Balkans resulted from ethnic-nationalism and triggered the military alliances that dominated Europe. Most of the population was ethnically based; therefore, they intended to incorporate into the Balkan nation.

The Vienna concert was followed by the most dynamic in the political history of the Balkan member and large and powerful nationalist, liberalization, and imperialist nation-building. There was a clash for power for raw materials, market which caused movements in Balkan such as statehood revolution movements against the Ottoman forces. Moreover, Balkan faced racism and religious conflicts. The diversity of alliance formed in Balkans states transformed the ruling and understanding under the Ottoman Empire into conflict and war between Balkan members for an extended period.

Conclusion

The creation of nation-states in Balkans took so long due to due to various reasons such as ethnicity, political conflict, economic crisis, and nationalism. In addition, the disputes that emerged between the states hindered unity and peace. Therefore, each state feared the attack of the created nations, which would affect the economy and cause the misuse of funds. The religious conflict created division between Christianity and Muslims, hence the creation of Christian regions and Muslim regions

[1] Tziovas, D. (2017). Greece and the Balkans: identities, perceptions and cultural encounters since the Enlightenment. Routledge.

[2] Crampton, Richard J. The Balkans since the second World War. Routledge, 2014.

[3] Pintér, Tibor. “The economic and social challenges of European integration: The case of the Western Balkans.” Strategic Management 19, no. 3 (2014): 38-45.

[4] Hajdarpasic, Edin. whose bosnia? Nationalism and political imagination in the Balkans, 1840–1914. Cornell University Press, 2015.

[5] Bergholz, Max. Violence as a generative force: Identity, nationalism, and memory in a Balkan community. Cornell University Press, 2016.