Former Yugoslavia Essay

501 Words3 Pages
FORMER YUGOSLAVIA 1. From The 14th Century to now, many changes have occurred in the Former Yugoslavia boundaries. Countries have been added or taken away and their boundaries changed. In 1918, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed and later called Yugoslavia. After World War II, it became 6 republics of Yugoslavia. Later in the 20th century, many of these broke away from the Former Yugoslavia. 2. The boundaries have shifted and some have gotten smaller. King Alexander (politically) lost the historic regions. Religious and ethnic factors have also played a role in breaking up into smaller nations. An example is the actions taken in the 1990s by Serbia against the Croats and the separation into different countries. The Muslims also fought both the Serbs and Croats over religious differences. Another factor was if a country were wealthier due to economic factors, they did not want to support the rest of the region so the desire for secession was higher. 3. Physical settings did play a part in the boundaries. The countries lie with mountains between water ways and the fertile northeast. Serbia attempted to take more land at one time from the area of Croatia. In Croatia, there is more useful land. 4. I think the most important factors shaping the boundaries were the wars and who was in control. Religion and ethnicity were the most important cultural reasons for the waging of wars internally. 5. Outside powers have always played a part in the shaping of Yugoslavia’s boundaries. They could win and control the land of the country. An example was the Serbs wanted territory and Austria and Hungary had annexed portions of the region. This began World War I. 6. Yugoslavia buffered the rest of the world from the Communist USSR. Western countries supported the more progressive Yugoslavia to help stop Soviet
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