1. Balkan Peninsula Historically controlled by:
1st – Greeks/Romans – Orthodox Christian
2nd - Ottoman Turks - Muslims
3rd - Austrian-Hungarian Empire – Catholic
4th - Communists
5th - Ethnic Majorities

2. Balkan Peninsula The “Powder Keg” of Europe
“Two bullets fired on a Sarajevo street on a sunny June morning in 1914 set in motion a series of events that shaped the world we live in today. World War One, World War Two, the Cold War and its conclusion all trace their origins to the gunshots that interrupted that summer day.”
Assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, 1914 by a Serbian nationalist started WWI

4. Moments before his death, that changed Europe forever…

5. Yugoslavia – Communist Country of the Slavs 1945-1989
Held together by strong communist dictator Josip Tito   
President John F. Kennedy greeting Josip Broz Tito during his visit to the US

6. Influenced by the Soviet Union

7. Yugoslavia Constantly Changing Political Boundaries
                                                                           

10. Countries in Former Yugoslavia
Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro (2006)

11. Religions of Former Yugoslavia?
Bosnians – Slavic, Muslims
Croatians – Slavic, Roman Catholic
Serbs – Slavic, Orthodox Christian

12. 7 Different languages in the Balkans
Bosnian
Bulgarian
Croatian
Macedonian
Montenegrin
Serbian
Slovenian
Languages using the Cyrillic Alphabet
Bulgarian
Macedonian
Serbian
Ukrainian

13. Cyrillic Alphabet

14. Having trouble reading the sign?
Bulgarian meaning - Dietary and diabetic foods
This clearly shows how difficult it is
for these people to communicate

15. Bosnian Capital - Sarajevo Heart of the Balkans

16. Sarajevo 1993 Bosnian War

17. Dayton Accord The war ended in December 1995, with the formation of Serbian Republic

18. Other Violence and Conflict in the Balkans “Ethnic Cleansing” in Kosovo
What is “ethnic cleansing?”
Genocide – mass murder of ethnic Albanians in Serbia

19. Ethnic cleansing
A Tomahawk cruise missile launches from the USS Gonzalez in March,1999.
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic wanted to unify the Serbs and persecute the ethnic Muslim Albanians = ethnic cleansing
The United States used military action against this ethnic cleansing.