Establishment of Independent States in the Balkans 19th and early 20th century

Arrival of Nationalism in the Balkans* The Ideology* Napoleon’s role

Local Circumstances conducive to its spread* Millet cultural autonomy in the Ottoman Empire* Preservation of the memory of historical past in the Ottoman and Habsburg subject populations* Economic Conditions

Rise of TradeThe Anarchy of the late 18th century

Establishment of Independent States in the Balkans 19th and early 20th century

The First National Revolutions* The Serbian Revolution – the sanjak of

Belgrade – 1804 and 1815 (autonomy in 1830-33)* The Principalities of Walachia and

Moldavia-1821* The Greek rebellion – 1821

It was only after 1830 that these 3 were fully autonomous and only Greece was fully sovereign

* The indeterminate status of Montenegro

Establishment of Independent States in the Balkans 19th and early 20th century

Principles of determining state territory* Ethnic Rights* Historical Principle

The Eastern Crisis, Russo-Turkish War, the Congress of Berlin* Bosnia and Herzegovina* Bulgaria * San Stefano * The new principle – balance of power and compensation

The Habsburg Slavs and Romanians

Establishment of Independent States in the Balkans 19th and early 20th century

The Remaining Borderlands• Ottoman Europe: Albanians, Slavs, Greeks

* the escalation of the Macedonian issue• Habsburg Territories: Slavs, Romanians

* the situation after the Ausgleich of 1867

* the birth of Yugoslavism

Establishment of Independent States in the Balkans 19th and early 20th century

Achievements of Statehood: Constitutional design* All constitutional monarchies

- the battles between ambitious monarchs vs. domestic liberals

* Most with foreign monarchs- Greece under Otto of Bavaria (Wittelsbach) and George

I, prince of Denmark (Oldenburg)- Bulgaria under Alexander of Battenberg and Ferdinand

of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha- Romania under Carol I (Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-

Sigmaringen)* Domestic Dynasties in Serbia and Monenegro

- Serbia under the Obrenović and Karadjordjević dynasties- Montenegro under the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty

Establishment of Independent States in the Balkans 19th and early 20th century

Achievements of Statehood: Parliamentary and Party Politics* The two-party model of the 19th century (internal

development versus expansion)- Greece -Liberals and Conservatives- Bulgaria – Liberal and Conservative - Romania – Liberals and Conservatives- Serbia – Progressive and Radical Party- Montenegro – Prince Nikola* Suffrage- property based, extremely narrow with the

exception of Serbia after 1903

Establishment of Independent States in the Balkans 19th and early 20th century

Achievements of Statehood: Internal Development

* Economic Profile

-agricultural societies

- peasant societies

(Sources: Lampe and Jackson, 1982 “Balkan Economic History,1550-1959” and Michael Paliaret, 1997 “The Balkan Economies, 1800 – 1914”

Establishment of Independent States in the Balkans 19th and early 20th century

Gross Output of Selected Sectors, 1911-1913 - percentage share

Total Per Capita

  Romania Bulgaria Serbia Romania Bulgaria Serbia

Large Scale Private Industry 18.5 10 8.0 18.4 9.8 8.3

Small Scale Private Industry 6.6 7.8 9.8 6.5 7.9 9.8

Agriculture 53.4 54.5 49.8 53.5 54.7 49.6

Forestry 7.3 8.6 8.0 7.3 8.7 8.1

Livestock Products 10.4 19 23.0 10.9 18.9 22.9

Mining and Oil 3.8 0.1 1.4 3.4 0.1 1.3

Establishment of Independent States in the Balkans 19th and early 20th century

Source:Koulouri “Teaching Modern Southeastern European History; the Balkan Wars”, data is taken from Martin Mayer 1994 “Grundshulenin Sebien warend des 19. Jahrhunderts”

Establishment of Independent States in the Balkans 19th and early 20th century

Lacking Support for Agriculture

* would lead to peasant revolts, unrest and emigration; creation of radical parties

*Bulgaria 1899 (BANU created); Romania – 1907; the Serbian Radical Party

*until 1911 around 100 thousand Bulgarians and Romanians emigrated, 320 thousand Greeks, many Montenegrians and less so Serbs

Establishment of Independent States in the Balkans 19th and early 20th century

Industrialization and Urban Development* Creating transportation structure

-railroads from Constanta to Cernavoda; Varna to Russe; the Constantinople-Vienna line

*Lack of sufficient capital, so constructed largely through foreign loans; became too burdensome

* conservative monetary policy but unsound fiscal policy* Tax breaks and reduced import duties for certain companies*Leading sectors: textiles, food processing, and construction

materials* Building the Capital Cities

Establishment of Independent States in the Balkans 19th and early 20th century

The expansion of the state* administrative staff around 5% of labor force – among

highest number in Europe, and more than France* state expansion of university education for its own

employment needs lead to a creation of a ‘class’ of highly educated but underemployed or underpaid young people, as a result of which many were subsequently radicalized

* this tendency of the state to be the most prestigous employer persists to this very day; leads to pursuing of education only suitable for state employment and to youth unemployment; on the other hand those inside the system have vested interests not to change this state of affairs

Establishment of Independent States in the Balkans 19th and early 20th century

Establishment of Independent States in the Balkans 19th and early 20th century