Top Quotes: “The Balkans: A Captivating Guide to the History of the Balkan Peninsula, Starting from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages to the Modern Period”
“It is absolutely abhorrent to consider it today, but a major part of the Ottoman war machine was the requirement that had been placed upon subject people to sacrifice one of their own children to the Ottoman state. Snatched from their families, these little boys were indoctrinated and trained as elite soldiers for the Ottoman Empire. It was the peculiar nature of how the Janissaries were brought up that made them such a ruthless and effective fighting force.
Essentially raised by the Ottoman state, they were brainwashed with Ottoman propaganda from their youth. Most were taken before they could form lasting memories with their family, so they knew nothing but the cult-like atmosphere that they were brought up in. With no family or any other ties to hold them down, they would develop a fanatical loyalty to the sultan and the Ottoman Empire.
However, after repeated military failures, these kidnapped men of the Balkans began to rise up and rebel against their Ottoman masters. In fact, the situation became so bad that the Ottoman administration ended up putting more weight behind local militias in the Balkans rather than putting all of their faith in the Janissary corps. These local militias were called martolos, and they were tasked with protecting the Balkan frontier.
The martolos were fairly successful in their role as Balkan border guards, but in time, they would become disenchanted with the Ottoman regime. And it would be the very Balkan militias the Ottomans had established to ceep the peace that would end up lending aid to uprisings by the Balkan citizens. The use of these provincial militias also had the effect of weakening centralized control over the Ottoman Empire.
Such a situation would be similar to the United States disbanding its federal troops in favor of relying primarily on state-run National Guard units. Such an arrangement could prove adequate in protecting territory, but at the same time, it would diminish centralized control. It could also lead to differences in how states conducted themselves and even facilitate breakaway republics. And this scenario is indeed what began to transpire within the Ottoman Empire.
As the Balkan militias grew more powerful, they were able to throw around more and more weight as it pertained to how the Balkan territories were being administered. Soon, even though the provinces recognized the sultan on an official level, it was becoming clear that they were employing growing levels of autonomy. And as they grew stronger, the central figure of the sultan grew increasingly weaker.
This was in large part due to a change in Ottoman policy that required the sultan’s prospective heirs to be essentially isolated from the world. Known as the “cage policy,” this was developed in order to prevent infighting and a crisis of succession upon the death of a sultan. The sultan’s sons were largely confined to the palace, and their only real interactions were with their parents, tutors, and women from the harem. This isolation prevented the sons of the sultan from developing powerful factions with which they could wage war against each other upon their father’s death.
But while it was successful in preventing infighting among the sultan’s sons during the transition of power, it also had the effect of making the new sultan incredibly inept when it came to governing. One can only imagine what it must have been like to have a person completely isolated from the world suddenly thrust upon the throne of one of the world’s largest empires. In reality, the cage policy essentially ensured that the sultan would be largely a pawn of his administrators, who would be the real power behind the throne.
Incredibly corrupt and non-beneficial policies began to be orchestrated right under the sultan’s nose. Rather than taking measures to improve the Ottoman Empire, many corrupt officials sought to enrich themselves and the loyal factions that supported them. This led to unfair laws being passed, as well as exorbitant taxation. Those who came out on the wrong end of this corrupt legislation often fled to the Balkan frontier to get away from it. Oftentimes, in the Balkans, these jaded members of Ottoman bureaucracy would set down roots and create their powerful factions on the Ottoman periphery. This, course, caused only more instability and led to even more opportunities for eruptions of internecine violence in the Balkans.
By the year 1800, the life of the average Balkan resident was fairly miserable. They were subject to high taxes and lorded over by local strongmen. Pressed and afflicted on all sides, it should not be too surprising to learn that the locals began to rebel.”
“After the Serbs were defeated, the Ottoman commander, Hurshid Pasha, actually had a large stone tower constructed in which Serbian skulls were inserted into the masonry. Known as “Skull Tower,” the structure still stands today, with hundreds of Serbian skulls staring out from each side; there are fourteen rows of skulls from top to bottom. This dreadful tower was erected to frighten the rest of the Serbs into submission, but modern-day Serbs have upheld the grisly site not as a place of foreboding but as a national symbol of resistance to the Ottoman oppressors.”
“Their independence as a sovereign nation was finally recognized in 1830.
While the Serbs engaged in their final struggle for independence, their Balkan cousins, the Greeks, began to grow restless against their Ottoman taskmasters. The Greek War of Independence first broke out in 1821. There were revolts and uprisings for some time, but it was only when Greek freedom fighter Theodoros Kolokotronis and his forces successfully took over the Ottoman administrative outpost of Tripolitsa that things really began to heat up.
Infuriated at the success of the revolt, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire decided to engage in collective punishment. He actually rounded up the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church and had him executed. The patriarch had nothing to do with the revolt; he had actually called for peace. However, he was a symbol of Greek culture and faith, so the sultan decided to take his wrath out on him anyhow. The killing of the patriarch was followed by a general massacre of Greeks all throughout the Ottoman Empire.
Such things present an uncomfortable truth for many Turks today, but denying history does not change what actually happened. And there was indeed a wholesale slaughter of Greeks that took place in reprisal for the revolutionary gains that were made on the Greek mainland. Despite all of the bloodshed, the Greek freedom fighters of the Balkans soldiered on, and in 1822, they actually forged their own constitution.”
“The British, however, preferred to have the Ottoman Empire as a buffer between an expansionist Russia and their own interests in the eastern Mediterranean. They could not allow the Ottomans to be overrun by the Russians. Preferring to keep some semblance of the status quo, the British convinced their Russian counterparts to come to the diplomatic table instead. The ensuing peace talks set the foundation for a free Bulgaria. They also ensured independence for Serbia, Romania, and Montenegro. Bulgaria itself was more of a work in progress, with the northern reaches of this Balkan state becoming sovereign while the south remained as an Ottoman domain. Almost as an afterthought, the treaty handed Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Austro-Hungarians (Austria-Hungary was officially formed in 1867).
As minor as this might have seemed at the time, this decision would have big implications since it was in a disenchanted Bosnia and Herzegovina that ultra-nationalist forces would come to prominence. And it was in this fermenting backdrop of nationalism that a Serbian assassin would kill an Austrian archduke and ignite the terrible conflagration that would become known as the First World War.”
“The Great Powers had aided the Balkan people by freeing them from Ottoman dominion, yet they were also to blame for carving up unreliable borders for the Balkan states. They also had their own self-interests, which invited corrupt dealings and encouraged Balkan leaders to play one Great Power against another.
It was clear the Balkans were a powder keg by 1912 with the eruption of the so-called “Balkan Wars.” The wars began after Greece, Montenegro, Serbia, and Bulgaria formed the Balkan League and began to voice their concerns over the status of their nationals who still resided in certain sections of the Ottoman Empire. Even though the Great Powers had drawn up lines to create new borders for these countries, several of their countrymen had found themselves caught behind Ottoman lines.
The Balkan League came together and voiced its concern for what it perceived to be the mistreatment of these various Balkan peoples at the hands of the Ottomans. The league issued a series of demands to the Ottoman Empire, and once these demands were rejected, the league declared war. The Bulgarians launched an offensive into eastern Thrace and ended up at the gates of Constantinople, much like the Russians had done just a few decades prior. However, the Turks were able to hold their own around the so-called “Catalca line” of defenses, as well as on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
In the meantime, the Serbs launched attacks on Skopje and Monastir before fighting through Albania and seizing Kosovo. They then joined forces with the army from Montenegro, which was already in the region. While this was going on, the Greek troops hit Thessaly and then launched an assault on Macedonia. The Greeks ended up repatriating Thessaloniki back into the Greek fold after the Ottoman garrison there surrendered on November 8th, 1912.
The Bulgarians actually wished to seize Thessaloniki for themselves, and when Bulgarian troops arrived on the scene the following day, they were actually dismayed that the Greeks had beaten them to it. Comically enough, the former Ottoman administrator of the city, Tahsin Pasha, is said to have told the disappointed Bulgarians, “I have only one Thessaloniki, which I have surrendered.” The Bulgarian and Serbian forces went on to seize Adrianople, and the Greek troops poured into loannina, delivering a decisive blow to the Ottoman army at the Battle of Bizani. Soon after this, the forces from Montenegro managed to seize the Ottoman outpost of Shkoder. The Ottoman Empire was unable to continue the war, and it finally sued for peace. This resulted in the implementation of a new round of agreements, which were set forth in a new Treaty of London in 1913.
The agreement allowed Greece to take just about every island in the Aegean Sea, and it was awarded all its former land west of the so-called “Enos-Midia” line to the Balkan League. But in reality, the treaty left more questions than answers. Soon, new territorial disputes emerged, which would result in the Second Balkan War in the summer of 1913. This war was different from the first because it saw Balkan League members actually fighting each other.
Bulgaria, in particular, was incensed that the Serbs and Greeks had seized portions of Macedonia. The war began with Bulgaria battling it out with the former Balkan League members of Serbia and Greece. Things really heated up when Montenegro sided with the Ottoman Empire to take on Bulgaria. Romania then entered the picture, crossing over Bulgaria’s northern borders to engage in hostilities. In essence, what had erupted among all of these combatants was akin to a mini-world war in the Balkans.
The war did not go well for Bulgaria, and a joint Serbian/Greek force was able to knock the Bulgarians back across Bulgaria’s southern borders. While this was happening, the Romanians were entering Bulgaria from the north. After everything was said and done, rather than gaining land, Bulgaria was forced to give up even more land to Serbia, Greece, and Romania. Even the Ottoman Empire benefited since it was agreed that Bulgaria would hand back eastern Thrace, as well as Adrianople, to the Ottomans.
Interestingly, both the Austro-Hungarians and the Ottomans were becoming very wary of the Balkan countries, and they found it in their mutual interest to have a say in what occurred in the Balkan states. This state of affairs set the stage for the eventual alignment of the Central Powers during World War One, in which – beyond all odds – the Austro-Hungarians would actually fight alongside their old enemy, the Ottomans.
It was, of course, the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand that would spark the global conflict. Ferdinand was visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina when he was gunned down by a Serbian nationalist. It was said that the assassin – Gavrilo Princip – was linked to a Serbian militant group called the Black Hand, which was said to have been organized by none other than the Serbian army. It was these supposed connections that led Austria-Hungary to hold the Serbian government responsible for what had happened.
The Austro-Hungarians then issued a series of demands against Serbia itself. The demands were draconian in the extreme, and their implementation would have threatened Serbias very sovereignty. The Austro-Hungarians ultimately knew that the demands would be rejected, and they would go on to use Serbia’s refusal as a pretext for war. And sure enough, when Serbia refused to meet all of these harsh demands, war was declared.
But due to the nature of alliances in those days, a war declared on one quickly developed into a war declared on all. Germany and the Ottoman Empire sided with Austria-Hungary, while Britain, France, and Russia sided with Serbia. World War One had begun. And what about the other Balkan nations? On which side did they fall? Of all the Balkan states, only the most disgruntled nation from the previous conflicts, Bulgaria, openly sided with the Central Powers of Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire. Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and even Albania all fought on the Allied side.”
“The first sign that the Central Powers were cracking under the pressure was the surrender of Bulgaria, with their armistice being signed on September 29, 1918. Shortly thereafter, a battered and weary Ottoman Empire also signed an armistice on October 30. This was then followed by the initial antagonist of this struggle — Austria-Hungary — signing its own armistice on November 3rd. Germany was suddenly the last Central Power standing, and it, too, would ultimately sue for peace on November 11, 1918. This last and final armistice effectively ended the terrible conflagration that came to be known as World War One.
In the aftermath of this terrible war, the Balkan question would once again come to the forefront. What should the world do with all of these warring Balkan nations? It was in the confusion of rebuilding the post-war Balkans that the Balkanized conglomeration of Yugoslavia came into being. Out of the ashes of two empires — the Austro-Hungarian and the Ottoman Empires — this super Balkan state came about by merging Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia together.”
“Although Italy and Japan both fought on the “winning” side of World War One, both countries felt slighted at the war’s end, as they had received very little for their efforts. It was under the guise of all-out fascism that these countries would attempt to right their perceived wrongs.”
“This Balkan leader was not going to be cowed by the Soviets, and Tito answered the call to have him removed by condemning the Soviet Union itself. Stalin was no doubt shocked by Tito’s audacity, but his options were limited. He could either send in troops and waste time, manpower, and resources occupying a fellow communist country, or he could see to it that the rest of the Eastern Bloc ostracized Tito and Yugoslavia as unwelcome pariahs. He chose the latter.
Cominform cut all ties with Yugoslavia, and all members who even had a hint of a relationship with Tito were dismissed. Albania, where Tito wanted to place troops to help Greek communists, immediately shunned the Yugoslavians. Other Balkan countries bordering Yugoslavia became hostile enough that border skirmishes erupted. Yugoslavia itself became an isolated fortress, with literal fortifications put up all along its border passes. There was even talk in Soviet circles of engineering the breakup of Yugoslavia (several decades before it actually happened) and creating more Soviet-friendly mini-Balkan republics from the ashes.
Yet, despite all of this pressure from the outside world to have Tito’s regime collapse, he continued to hang on. Not only that, he shocked the communist world by actually reaching out to Western powers, such as the United States and Britain. The West soon realized that the disunity of communism in the Balkans was to their advantage, and they jumped at the chance to drive a wedge between the communists. In 1950, when Yugoslavia was suffering crop failure, it was the Americans who swooped in with robust economic aid. They also openly supplied military aid to the Balkan state.
Such moves were, no doubt, bold on the part of the United States, and the Americans had to walk a tightrope unless they inadvertently provoked a Soviet response. But short of establishing American military bases and putting troops on the ground, America made it clear that they wanted to prop up Tito’s defiant regime as a permanent thorn in the Soviet Union’s side. Along with his newfound American support, Tito also ended up embracing the emerging Greek government, and he signed a pact with both Greece and Turkey in 1953. This then grew into a full-blown mutual defense treaty, which came about in 1954.
Despite its communist roots, Yugoslavia became a vital Western ally. Tito stood tall as an example of how a communist nation could remain independent from Soviet control. As such, he helped to kick off what would become known as the Non-Aligned Movement. The Non-Aligned Movement was established in 1961 as a coalition of countries that found themselves neither in the Eastern or Western camps. Balkan countries like Tito’s also decided to dispense with some of the classic practices of Marxism, such as collectivized crop cultivation, in favor of more traditional private farms, which had long been a part of Balkan history.”
“Stalin had perished in 1953, and he was replaced by Nikita Khrushchev, who denounced Stalin’s actions. Throughout much of the 1960s, the Soviets would attempt to mend their broken relations with the Balkans. More importantly, Khrushchev seemed to bolster the Non-Aligned Movement in the Balkans by stating that communist nations did not have to “blindly follow” every single aspect of the Soviet model of communism. This perhaps had some unintended consequences, however. Rather than following the Soviet model, the Balkan state of Albania began to follow the Chinese model!
China officially became communist in 1949, and it had slowly been making inroads as a leading communist nation. In the 1960s, Albanian leader Enver Hoxha encouraged relations between his state and China. Hoxha actually began to implement reforms in the Balkans that were similar to Chinese leader Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution.
He bombarded his people with steady propaganda and even mobilized “minders,” similar to China’s infamous Red Guards, to make sure that citizens did not step out of line with the groupthink of the communist regime. Hoxha wanted to have his citizens mind their manners at home while he expressed outrage over developments abroad.”
“Demonstrating the limits of political power based upon the cult of leadership, after Mao Zedong passed away in 1976, Albanian ties to China became virtually non-existent. And when Albanian’s rival Tito paid China a visit in 1977, the Albanian government became downright hostile. The situation became so tense that China actually suspended all Albanian aid in 1978, which led to severe economic disruptions in this Balkan country. Albania continued to decline throughout the 1980s until communism finally collapsed outright.”
