what made the Balkan area very volatile
Answers
1. Balkans was a region of geographical and ethnic nations comprising modern day Romania , Bulgaria , Albania , Greece , Macedonia , Croatia , Bosnia - Herzegovina , Slovenia , Serbia and Montenegro whose inhabitants were broadly known as Slavs.
2.Since long a large part of Balkans was under the control of the Ottoman Turks . Despite attempts at modernisation and internal reforms , nineteenth century saw the weakening of the Ottoman Empire.
3. Dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire fuelled the aspirations of subject nationalists for independence . Many broke away from its control and declared independence .
4. Balkan states were fiercely jealous of each other and hoped to expand at each other’s expense . As they struggled to define their identities and independence , the European powers manipulated the nationalist aspiration of the subjects to fullfil their own imperialist designs.
5. Moreover , this was a period of intense rivalry among the European powers over trade and colonies as well as naval and military might . The dismembering of Ottoman Empire with its Balkan states became a scene of big power rivalry . Each power was keen on countering the hold of the other power and extending its own control.
Thus nationalist tensions emerged in the Balkans because of the national aspirations of the Balkan states on the one hand and on the other due to the imperialist designs of European power ( Russia , Germany , England , Austro-Hungary).
Answer:
A. Balkans was a region of geographical and ethical variations comprising modern day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro whose inhabitants were known as slaves.
B. A large part of the Balkans was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. The spread of the ideas of romantic nationalism in the Balkan together with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire made this region very explosive.
C. As the different Slavic nationalism struggled to define their identity and independence, the Balkan area became as area of intense conflict.
D. The Balkan states were jealous of each other and each hoped to gain more territory at the expense of other. Balkans also became as area of big power rivalry.
E. Each European power such as Russia, Germany, England, Austria-Hungry was keen on countering the hold of other powers over Balkans and this led to a series of wars eventually the First World War.