THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA REGION 1830s

The former Yugoslavia (1918-1992) consisted of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Kosovo. Interestingly, none of these names are new and have been existing throughout European history ever since the late Middle Ages. The politics of these regions spurred up majorly in the 20th century when a Serbian was directly responsible for triggering the First World War (1914-1918). Before this event, lot of annexations and exchange of territories happened between (and within) the Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. With such a political upheaval, it was almost impossible to claim a national identity of these countries.

A lot if intermediate states and kingdoms were formed before the formation of Yugoslavia in 1918. State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (1918), Kingdom of Serbia (1882-1918), Kingdom of Montenegro (1910-1918), Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia (under Austria-Hungary Empire; 1868-1918) and various small short-lived territories took a journey that ended up in the formation of Yugoslavia - the most popular name this region is known to the world as.

There were other territories that kept swinging indefinite to its fate between these mega-empires. Nish, Novi Pazar, Dalmatia, Slavonia, Krajina, Srem-Baranja District (Eastern Slavonia), Socialist Republic of Croatia, Republika Srpska, Serbia and Montenegro, Vojvodina etc. were either short-termed provinces under the Ottoman Empire or were temporary governments formed among these territories or some autonomous republics.

The chaotic scrambling didn't quite end with the formation of Yugoslavia as well. And even the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992 was another labyrinth of territories that resulted in Yugoslav Wars that continued till 2001. The demand of ethnic identities, independence and a stable governance has always been an issue to Yugoslavia since centuries. One of the most brutal genocides in the world history, the Yugoslav Wars ended up in over 13,00,000 casualties (reported).

Today the region is relatively stable although the Republic of Kosovo is still partially recognized. These Slavic states have always been quite unstable with respect to its political stories and governance. The map here shows some of the territories of this region in the 1830s, when things were pretty less chaotic.