Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps
- Preface
- Introduction
- PART I WAR AND NATIONAL CONSOLIDATION, 1887–1941
- Chapter 1 The Balkan national monarchise
- Chapter 2 The Dual Monarchy: Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1914
- Chapter 3 The end of Ottoman rule in Europe: the Albanian and Macedonian questions
- Chapter 4 World War I
- Chapter 5 The first postwar decade
- Chapter 6 Balkan authoritarian regimes: the outbreak of World War II
- PART II WORLD WAR II AND THE POSTWAR DEVELOPMENTS
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 1 - The Balkan national monarchise
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps
- Preface
- Introduction
- PART I WAR AND NATIONAL CONSOLIDATION, 1887–1941
- Chapter 1 The Balkan national monarchise
- Chapter 2 The Dual Monarchy: Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1914
- Chapter 3 The end of Ottoman rule in Europe: the Albanian and Macedonian questions
- Chapter 4 World War I
- Chapter 5 The first postwar decade
- Chapter 6 Balkan authoritarian regimes: the outbreak of World War II
- PART II WORLD WAR II AND THE POSTWAR DEVELOPMENTS
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The major goal of the Balkan national liberation movements was largely obtained by the end of the nineteenth century. Much of the peninsula was under the control of native governments (see Map 1). Ottoman rule was limited to Thrace, Macedonia, Epirus, and Albania. Although Bosnia, Hercegovina, and Bulgaria were still theoretically Ottoman possessions, the Ottoman Empire had no voice in their administration. The conclusion of the revolutionary era and the establishment of the national regimes in the peninsula, however, in no sense decreased the problems of Balkan social and economic life. Indeed, in some areas the difficulties of national freedom overshadowed those of Ottoman dependency. A major question concerned finances. The independent states had to bear the full burden of the costs of defense, internal administration, and foreign representation, at least some of which had previously been carried by the Porte. Equally important, as the century progressed and the industrial revolution brought a radical change in European standards of living, the Balkan leadership too revised its goals. With the most technologically advanced sections of the world as their model, successive Balkan governments and the wealthier members of their societies sought to introduce into these backward lands the most modern of European achievements. For this period, the building of railroads and the acquisition of military equipment was to have the first priority in most of the countries.
Unfortunately, none of the states had the economic base for the accomplishment of their aims.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- History of the Balkans , pp. 13 - 50Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1983