Question

what area was known as the balkans

Answer 1

The vast territory lying between the Black sea and the Adriatic sea comprising the modern states of Romania, Albania, Greece, Croatia, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro was known as the Balkans.
All these states were once the part of the Ottoman Empire and were inhabited by people broadly known as Slavs.
The spread of the ideas of Romantic nationalism and the disintegration of Ottoman Empire made this region very explosive. The Balkans states were fiercely jealous of each other and each hoped to gain more territory at the expense of the others.