The Ottoman Turks invaded the region at the end of the 14th century and the Turkish rule lasted for some 500 years. The Austro-Hungarian empire grew stronger in the north and loosened the grip of the Turks at the end of the 17th century. Serbia, Montenegro and Romania became independent, and the principality of Bulgaria was created. Slovenia, Croatia stayed under the rule of Austria-Hungary which also took control of Bosnia- Herzegovina.

The Ottoman Empire was beginning to crumble. War broke out in 1912, when Montenegrin troops moved across the border into the Ottoman empire. Albania declared independence. Later the Serbs turned against the Bulgarians and occupied all of Kosovo as well as Macedonia. In 1914 Austria-Hungary sent the emperor's heir Franz Ferdinand to quell the unrest. He was shot in Sarajevo by a Serb nationalist, an event which triggered World War I

Austria-Hungary was defeated in World War I. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was founded. In 1929 King Alexander I changed the name of the state to Yugoslavia - land of the southern Slavs. The Serbs still dominated the government. Many Croats would have preferred independence and resentment led to Alexander's violent death in 1934.

World War II brought fresh turmoil to the region. As German troops invaded, they were welcomed by Croatian fascists. Hitler rewarded the Croats with a nominally independent puppet state, which also incorporated Bosnia. Serbia came under the control of German troops while the Italians occupied Montenegro. Rival partisans under Josip Broz Tito, a communist, and Dragoljub Mihailovic, a Serb nationalist, fought the Germans - when not fighting each other. Kosovo was occupied by Albanian and Italian troops whilst the Bulgarians invaded Macedonia.

Socialist Yugoslavia was declared by Marshall Tito in The communists were able to deal with national aspirations by creating a federation of six nominally equal republics - Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia- Herzegovina, and Macedonia. In Serbia the two provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina were given autonomous status. Communist rule restored stability and good relations with the west ensured a steady stream of loans. Later, however, national and ethnic tensions increased due to unequal development and a growing burden of debt. When Tito died in 1980 many expected the federation to break up but Yugoslavia was to survive for another ten years.

BY 1992 the Yugoslav Federation was falling apart. Nationalism had once again replaced communism as the dominant force in the Balkans. Slovenia and then Croatia were the first to break away but only at the cost of renewed conflict with Serbia. The war in Croatia led to hundreds of thousands of refugees. By 1992 a further conflict had broken out in Bosnia, which had also declared independence. The Serbs who lived there were determined to remain within Yugoslavia and to help build a greater Serbia.

By 1993 the Bosnian Muslim government was besieged in the capital Sarajevo, surrounded by Bosnian Serb forces who controlled around 70% of Bosnia. In Central Bosnia, the mainly Muslim army was fighting a separate war against Bosnian Croats who wished to be part of a greater Croatia. The presence of UN peacekeepers to contain the situation proved ineffective

A NATO-led peacekeeping force is charged with implementing the military aspects of the peace agreement, primarily overseeing the separation of forces. Croatia, meanwhile, took back most of the territory earlier captured by Serbs when it waged lightning military campaigns in 1995 which also resulted in the mass exodus of around 200,000 Serbs from Croatia.

In 1998 The Kosovo Liberation Army - came out in open rebellion against Serbian rule. The international community, while supporting greater autonomy, opposed the Kosovar Albanians' demand for independence. But international pressure grew on Serbian strongman, Slobodan Milosevic, to bring an end to the escalating violence in the province. Threats of military action by the West over the crisis culminated in the launching of NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia in March 1999.

7.7% 19.8% 1.9% 6.0% 5.9% 8.9% 38.9% 7.8%

Kosovo declared independence in February, The US recognizes Kosovo independence, but Serbia does not. Vojvodina is still part of Serbia.