There's trouble in the Balkans, the Powder Keg of Europe. Prolific Bulgarian-American author Vladimir Chernozemsky takes us back to the bloody Balkan War in his most personal novel yet. The Ottoman Turks occupied and oppressed the Balkans for five centuries until Bulgaria and its neighbors drove them out, only then to fight over the liberated territories. It was a devastating war that still reverberates today.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the life of a petty tyrant in an obscure corner of the Ottoman Empire became the stuff of legend. What propelled this cold-blooded archetype of Oriental despotism, grandly known as the Lion of Yanina and the Balkan Napoleon, into the consciousness of Western rulers and the general public? This book charts the rise of Ali Pasha from brigand leader to a player in world affairs and, ultimately, to a gruesome end.Ali exploited the internal weakness of the Ottoman Empire to carve out his own de facto empire in Albania and Western Greece. Although a ruthless tyrant guilty of cruel atrocities, his lavish court became an attraction to Western travelers, most famously Lord Byron, and his military prowess led Britain, Russia and France to seek his alliance during the Napoleonic Wars. His activities undermined the Sultans authority and ultimately led to the Greek War of Independence.Quentin and Eugenia Russell describe his remarkable life and military career as well as the legacy he bequeathed in his homeland as a nationalist hero and further afield as inspiration for writers and artists of the Romantic movement.

An excellent companion volume to the successful A History of Eastern Europe, this is a country-by-country treatment of the contemporary history of each of the Balkan states: Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosova. With a distinctive conceptual framework for explaining divergent patterns of historical change, the book shifts the emphasis away from traditional cultural explanations and concentrates on the pervasive influence of strongly entrenched vertical power-structures and power-relations. Focusing on political and economic continuities and changes since the 1980s, The Balkans includes brief overviews of the history of each state prior to the 1980s to provide the background to enable all students of Eastern European history to make sense of the more recent developments.

A newly revised and updated edition of an award-winning BBC correspondent's magisterial history of the Balkan region This unique and lively history of Balkan geopolitics since the early nineteenth century gives readers the essential historical background to more than one hundred years of events in this war-torn area. No other book covers the entire region, or offers such profound insights into the roots of Balkan violence, or explains so vividly the origins of modern Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, and Albania. Now updated to include the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, the capture of all indicted war criminals from the Yugoslav wars, and each state's quest for legitimacy in the European Union, The Balkans explores the often catastrophic relationship between the Balkans and the Great Powers, raising some disturbing questions about Western intervention.

Known historically as "the powder keg of Europe", the Balkans have been a dynamic and dangerous place. The region is ethnically diverse, a situation which in other cases could have been a boon to a region. Instead, the Balkans have been the site of extensively damaging upheaval, as individual nationalities (Slavs, Serbs, Croats, etc.) have risen up against the governments. This book assembles a collection of papers exploring and explaining some of the most pertinent and vexing issues facing the Balkans today. Each issue and nation discussed here now has and will continue to have a lasting impact on the wider European and global communities. In the current international climate highlighting national security and the war on terror, the instability of south-eastern Europe has taken on added significance. The questions of NATO and UN involvement in regional hotspots like Kosovo is a constant debate, as is the need to encourage economic growth across the region. Anyone hoping to remain at the forefront of the major issues facing the Balkans and Europe needs to be familiar with the information analysed in this book.

Mediaeval history, whether of the East or the West, is mostly a record of bloodshedding and cruelty; and the Middle Age has been prolonged to our own time in most parts of the Balkans, and is not yet over in some parts. There are certain things salutary to bear in mind when we think or speak of any part of that country today. Contents: BULGARIA. The Arrival of the Bulgars in the Balkan Peninsula, 600–700 The Early Years of Bulgaria and the Introduction of Christianity, 700–893 The Rise and Fall of the First Bulgarian Empire, 893–972 The Rise and Fall of 'Western Bulgaria' and the Greek Supremacy, 963–1186 The Rise and Fall of the Second Bulgarian Empire, 1186–1258 The Serbian Supremacy and the Final Collapse, 1258–1393 The Turkish Dominion and the Emancipation, 1393–1878 The Aftermath, and Prince Alexander of Battenberg, 1878–86 The Regeneration under Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, 1886–1908 The Kingdom, 1908–13 SERBIA. The Serbs under Foreign Supremacy, 650–1168 The Rise and Fall of the Serbian Empire and the Extinction of Serbian Independence, 1168–1496 The Turkish Dominion, 1496–1796 The Liberation of Serbia under Kara-George (1804–13) and Milos Obrenovic (1815–30): 1796–1830 The Throes of Regeneration: Independent Serbia, 1830–1903 Serbia, Montenegro, and the Serbo-Croats in Austria-Hungary, 1903–8 Serbia and Montenegro, and the two Balkan Wars, 1908–13 GREECE. By ARNOLD J. TOYNBEE. From Ancient to Modern Greece The Awakening of the Nation The Consolidation of the State RUMANIA: HER HISTORY AND POLITICS. By D. MITRANY Introduction Formation of the Rumanian Nation The Foundation and Development of the Rumanian Principalities The Phanariote Rule Modern Period to 1866 Contemporary Period: Internal Development Contemporary Period: Foreign Affairs Rumania and the Present War TURKEY. By D. G. HOGARTH Origin of the Osmanlis Expansion of the Osmanli Kingdom Heritage and Expansion of the Byzantine Empire Shrinkage and Retreat Revival Relapse Revolution The Balkan War The Future