-
WW1 in the Balkans
Serbia turns against its Balkan neighbors and occupies Kosovo and Macedonia. When Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863–1914) of the Austro-Hungarian empire arrives to promote peace in Sarajevo, he is assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. World War I begins and Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. -
Treaty of Paris
Representatives to the Treaty of Paris decide to divide Albania among Greece, Italy, and Yugoslavia. The Albanians reject the plan and Albania is recognized as an independent state with its admission to the League of Nations. -
Germany in the Balkans
The Axis powers, led by Adolf Hitler, attack Yugoslavia and Greece during World War II. Yugoslavia is divided when Germany proclaims a “Greater Croatia,” to which it annexes most of Bosnia and western Serbia. The fascist puppet government, attempting to create a Catholic, all-Croat republic, sends hundreds of thousands of Jews, Gypsies, and Serbs to death camps. -
World War 2 in the Balkans
During the course of World War II, Italy invades Albania, Greece, and Yugoslavia. The Italian forces are forced to retreat by local armies but are soon replaced by the Germans, who remain until 1944. -
Balkans and NATO
The Warsaw Pact is signed by Eastern European Soviet Bloc countries, including Albania and Bulgaria. The organization is intended to balance the NATO alliance, within which the United States is a major force. -
Warsaw Pact and Soviet Invasion
Bulgarian troops participate in the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, while Albania withdraws from the Warsaw Pact in protest. -
Yugoslavia
In Yugoslavia, as the country descends into economic crisis, a campaign for greater freedom of expression is launched by university professors, including members of the Praxis group. -
EU
Greece joins the European Union, the only member state on the Balkan Peninsula. -
Bosnia and Serbia
Slovenia and Croatia and later the Muslim government of Bosnia-Herzegovina declared their independence. Bosnian Serbs threatened violence if the government split from the Yugoslavian federation -
Serbia and Montenegro
The new nation of Serbia and Montenegro replaces the old one of Yugoslavia. When Slobodan Milosevic does not accept his defeat in the elections, he is forced out by mass protests. In 2003, he is handed over to the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague, and Kosovo becomes a United Nations protectorate. -
Kosovo
Kosovo declares itself independent. Serbia rejects the claim calling it illegal. Later that year wanted war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic is captured in Belgrade and brought before its War Crimes Court a few days later.
