All these division have traditionally been traced over the middle part of the Balkan Peninsula,specifically the river Drina which is usually taken as a border, figurativelly called the border of the two worlds.

The century -old division between East and West was disrupted by the Ottoman Turks in the 15th and the 16th century, who conquered Constantinopole, ruined Byzantine Empire, subjugated Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zeta (Montenegro) and conquered a great part of today’s Romania, Hungary and Croatia. Supported by Austrian countries Hungary and Croatia defended the margins of Middle Europe, while art the same time founded Vojna Krajina. Then with Common forces in the 17th and the 18th century the Hungarian and the Croatian compelled the Turks to withdraw to the banks of the Danube and Sava. Bosnia, Herzegovina and a part of Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, Bulgaria and Greece remained under Turk authority. Turkish aggression changed national, religions and geopolitical relations in the region. Under Ottoman empire the Balkans, non-Slavic Vlachs of Greek-orthodox religion spread to the west, up to the river of Kupa, Lonja and Zrmanja into Croatia and they lived there under privileged patronage of Greek-orthodox patriarchate founded in Pec, Kosovo, in 1557. These Vlachs were cattle-breeders and by the end of the 19th century, as a Greek-orthodox congregation they accepted Serbian nationality and have been living up to the present days as Serbs in Bosnia, Herzegovina and Croatia.

The Ottoman Turks Islamic religions was spread all over the Balkans and it was accepted by numerous inhabitants of Bulgaria, Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, by Catholics as well as by the Greek-orthodox. Even today their descendants have been living in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, South Serbia (Sandzak), Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Albania despite of different religious the believers of Greek-orthodox, Catholic and Islamic religions are people considering themselves Albaninans by nationality, meanwhile in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Greek-orthodox are Serbs, Moslems are Bosnians and Catholics considered themselves to be Croats. Albanians (Moslems and Catholics), Greek-orthodox Serbs and a small number of Catholics-Croats live in Kosovo.This confirms the tradition that the Balkan Peninsula is a border between the eastern and the western world.

In the beginning of the 20th century it was said the Balkans was “a barrel of gun powder” whose sparkle ignited World War One in l914. However, today Bosnia, Herzegovina and Kosovo represent the Balkans on a small scale, or Yugoslavia in miniature. This small territory contains all unresolved historical Gordian knots, as well as all compromises between big powers in their endevour to solve eastern questions it also contains the internal contradictions which exist among people on the Balkan peninsula and eastern Europe.There is a hidden hope of a future peace but at the same time, it unfortunately could be a spark for an even greater explosive, such as cause of a possible Third World War.

South-eastern Europe is usually considered the territory from Austria to Turkey or from Vienna to Constantinopole and from the massif of Karpati to the Adriatic Sea. This area includes middle Podunavlje on the north, and on the south Balkans peninsula i.e. the territory which follows the river of Danube from its mouth to Belgrade, and further on following the river Sava to Kupa. The Balkan Peninsula might be divided into its western part consisting of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Croatia and its eastern part consisting of Serbia, Kosovo and Bulgaria, and its southern part consisting of Greece and Albania.The river Drina has been a natural border for centuries between the East and the West Balkans,while the massif of Sar - planina divides its southern part.. The major traffic lines have always followed rivers Sava, Danube, Morava, Vardar and Marica. Serbia has got a central position on the Balkans peninsula and at the same time the major north-south traffic line, which follows the valley continues along the rivers Nisava and Marica to Constantinopole, and along with the river Vardar towards the Solun and Aegean sea. This central position of Serbia has been a factor for all the events in this area from the beginning of the 19th century to the present days.

At the beginning of the 19th century until the Serbian and Greek rebellions, almost the whole Balkans Peninsula was a component part of the Turkish Empire, and the Middle Danube region was a part of Austrian Monarchy.Tsar’s Russia was greatly influenced by the Greek-orthodox peoples and from 1774 they helped in the anti-Turkish rebellions of the Serbs, the Greeks, the Bulgarians, the Montenegrins. Their purpose was to withdraw Turkey from the Balkans and in that way Russia would be able to have a passage to the Mediterranean, through the channels of Bospor and Dardanels. This process of liberation of small Balkans nations from Turkish government and the withdrawal of Turkey in general, is called the Eastern question. Russia unsuccessfully tried to solve this problem with Crimean War (1853-1856) and it was partly solved in the great eastern crisis (1875-1878)and was concluded by Berlin Congress. From that time on Germany, France and England were actively involved in resolving of the eastern question in addition to Russia , Austria and Turkey. Austria got the right to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878 in Berlin, while Serbia became independent and was enlarged towards south. Montenegro got the independence and also enlarged its territory. Bulgaria was created again as a state after half a millenium with Russian help. A conflict began between Serbia and Bulgaria due to the division of Macedonia, which still remained in Turkey. Serbia and Montenegro tried in vain to take Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the Austria-Hungarian empire occupied the Sanjack (Novi Pazar) in order to prevent this unification .

As stated above Serbia had a central position on Balkans, and as a great number of Serbs lived out of its borders, the prime concern of its foreign policy was to unite all the Serbs and to convert all south-Slavs into Serbs and ultimately attempt to dominate the whole Balkans peninsula. It was an expansionist policy and the best Serb minds like a linguist Vuk S. Karadzic and Jovan Cvijic a geographer, served this policy. Even the statesmen like Ilija Garasanin took this program of south Slavs reunion created by the Chech Zack and exchanged the term” Slav” into the term of “Serb”. Later on the greatest Serb politician Nikola Pasic, did the same and successfully realised this idea of the creation of Great Serbia from 1903 to 1918.

The idea of Great Serbia, relied on two historical facts for the Serbs. The first fact was that the Great Medieval Serb state was established in the mid-14th century on the territory of the weakened Byzantine empire, and its ruler - Dusan, according to Byzantine rules proclaimed himself a tsar. This state got a passage to three seas and this has remained a constant desire in Serb political tradition - the creation of a great Balkans empire and an exit to the sea. The renewal of the Dusan’s empire, Greater Serbia, became an obsession of nearly all Serb governors and politicians of the 19th and the 20th century. The second fact was the existence of a separated Greek-orthodox, Patriarchy, the Patriarchy of Pec, that was in charge of all Greek-orthodox (Serb) churches and monasteries in all regions conquered by Turks. Because of the fact that Serb church has played a role of non-existing state, they always wanted to take all the countries conquered by the Turks, as long as the interference of their church spread out. In reality it means to take whole Bosnia, Herzegovina and half of Croatia on the west.

A constant target of Serb foreign policy was to enlarge Serbia, to provoke crisis, conflicts and wars, and all was implemented, by both of their dynasties, all their governments without choosing the means. Very often their opposition contributed to this policy in the past as well as today. According to the abilities and circumstances Belgrade planned to enlarge Serbian territory on all four sides of the world. So, during a great eastern crisis (1876-78) Serbia was involved in two wars against Turkey. In 1885 attacked Bulgaria and lost the war. Particularly aggressive politics was that of the dynasty of Karadjordjevic from 1903. Thence forward Serbia started systematically to ruin Turkish and Austria-Hungarian government and to conquer their territories. At the same time they want to take Montenegro, then Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Vojvodina and Sandjack. They were partly successful in their intention in two Balkans wars (1912-13) when they conquered Kosovo and together with Bulgaria and Greece divided Macedonia .They have never succeeded to conquer Albania. Its independence was confirmed in London on 28th November 1912.

Serbia intentionally provoked the attempt of Sarajevo in 1914, giving a cause for World War One in which although military defeated but thanks to its aliens - the forces of Antanta, - succeeded to win and then to conquer or incorporate into its state all South Slav countries that were constituent part of Austria-Hungarian empire and to remove by force Montenegrin King and consequently to conquer Montenegro.

By means of diplomacy, Serbia succeeded to get Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, without referendum, and without the decision of Croatian Parliament as the only one that had the autonomy and a tradition as a state on that territory.

Until the October Revolution (1917) Serbia had a full support of Tsar Russia, and in World War One and after , enjoyed the political help of the forces of Antanta, particularly of France and England. A new state, formed up in 1918, yet it had a title as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenias, and even from 1929 the Kingdom of Yugoslavia it was in fact enlarged Serbia with the Serbs as prime ministers, most of other ministers, generals, etc.

National rights were not recognised to other nations. The Croats, Macedonians, Albanians, Hungarians, Germans were often persecuted, arrested and frustrated in every possible way. The strongest resistance against such a policy of centralism, king’s absolutism, and serbism, was made by the strongest nation - the Croats. That was the reason why the Serbs ordered several Croatian members of parliament to be killed with the national leader of the Croats, Stjepan Radic. He was wounded and died due to this mortal wound. As the result of this act was the Croatian emigration and the formation of Croatian revolutionary organization - Ustasche, with the unique scope of throwing down Yugoslavia and constituting an independent Croatia. The same did Macedonian revolutionaries in 1934 when they killed the king Alexander in Marseilles.

From then on Serbian and Croatian national-integration ideology directly come into collision and Chetnics, as aggressive terroristic great serb organization, formed at the beginning of the 20th century. They knocked against Ustasche, as national-liberation and defensive organisation that were not choosing the means in realisation of the idea of free Croatia. During the World War Two these conflicts culminated into the civil war with participation of partisans led by communists influenced from Soviet Russia. The Germans, Italians, Hungarians and Bulgarians divided then Yugoslavia among themselves. The two national states remained under direct or indirect government of German and Italian occupants.

It was an Independent Croatian State (including Bosnia and Herzegovina) but without the Croatian part of Dalmatia occupied by Italians. There was a state - protectorate under the leadership of Serbian general Nedic, on the narrower part of Serbia.In the inland was also operating chetnic’s organisation led by the Serb general Draza Mihailovic. Both the states had concentration camps, passed some fascist laws, liquidated the Jews, Gypsies, antifascist Croats, Moslems and others.

The organised activity of partisans and communistic rule started in l943.They announced the solution of the national question, as well as the introduction of federalism instead of serbian centralism and liberation of the whole country .The areas, occupied by the nacists and the fascists were promissed to be returned. This was mostly realised. However, communists were systematically destroying all their political enemies, rich people and all those having a good connections with occupants. At the end of the war started mass persecutions, liquidation of Ustasche, evidently less of Chetnics, Slovenian white guardsmen, Albanian Ballistics, Germans and the others. The hardest stroke of that time suffered the Croatian nation whose army was given over by Englishmen to Tito’s Yugoslavia. The Croatian army was mainly killed off or tortured on the hundreds of kilometres long so called the Ways of the Cross along Croatia and Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo.

And the second ,Tito’s Yugoslavia ,although a formal federalism existed within it, repeated most of the faults of the first Yugoslav state. Instead of the Serbs and their king, communists led by Tito have taken over all the wield of power but very soon again the whole goverment machinery, the central goverment ,the army and the general staff, as well as the diplomacy, were maximaly serbised. Even the territories under Serbian authority were predominately given economical preference. The Slovenes and the Croats as economically the most developed were mostly furnishing capital for those purposes. That was the result of dissatisfaction in Croatia in l97l, demanding federalisation or even confederation. So called “Croatian spring” was suffocated by force as well as the Chech’s spring in l968 greately supported by Soviet Russia.Although Tito in l974 passed a constitution which recognised all republics as real states and Bosnian Moslems got a status of a nation , his death in l98O announced a very fast breakdown of the second Yugoslavia.

Everything started with disorders in l98l at Kosovo. The unsolved question of Kosovo opened again. Kosovo then demanded a status of a republic. All nationalistic forces in Serbia forgathered thereupon and very soon dissolved the autonomy of Vojvodina and Kosovo in l986.The Serbian Academy of Science carried out its Memorandum-in fact the renewed plan of the creation of the Great Serbia.In l989 at the celebration of the 6ooth anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo Slobodan Milosevic announced the effectuation of this idea by hook and crook.In l990 disintegrated the League of Yugoslav Communists.In l99l Serbia and its serbised Yugoslav Army supported by rebel Serbs attacked Croatia (and Slovenia) and later on even Bosnia and Herzegovina. Croatia intensely resisted although has lost one fourth of its territory together with the town of Vukovar-the symbol of Croatian resistence called “Croatian Stalingrad”. Upon this defeat Serbia with Milosevic abandoned the idea of changing Yugoslavia into Great Serbia.

When in l99l-l992 the World and Europe didn’t want to stop the Great-Serb aggression and UNPROFOR didn’t accomplish its duty Croatia systematised a forcible and an enthusiastic army and in the “Flash” action within several days liberated West Slavonia from Chetnics in May l995.At the beginning of August , the same year , in only four days in a flash action “Storm”, Croatia took possession of the whole so called “Serbian Krajina”. Then they helped the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosnian Moslems in breaking a blockade of Bihac and in taking in possesion the region of West Bosnia. Two actions have changed the relation of forces in Bosnia as well as in Croatia. Only Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem with Vukovar remained under Serbian occupation. Upon that defeat in Croatia and Bosnia, Serbia and Milosevic become peace-loving. The Americans offered help and united the Croats and Bosnian Moslems. At the end of l995 in Dayton(the U.S.) was made a preagreement of peaceful solution of Croatian-Bosnian-Serbian crisis and war. Soon after it was signed in Paris.

In l99l Serbia rejected Croatian and Slovenian proposal of confederation, which rebelled the Serbs in Bosnia ,Herzegovina and Croatia. This implemented ethnic cleansing, genocide and destruction of all cultural and religious objects. Instead of the Great Serbia the Serbs satisfied themselves first by something less than Great Serbia. At the end of l995 tried to save for themselves Serbia, Montenegro ,Vojvodina and Kosovo , so called the third Yugoslavia and to control a part of eastern and northern Bosnia and eastern Herzegovina. In such a manner ingloriously ended a two-centuries old dream of the Great Serbia and the renewal of Dusan’s empire ,the exit to the sea ,of Serbian hegemony on the Balkans ,of “all the Serbs in one country” and of the border of Serbia on the western line of Virovitica -Ogulin-Karlobag.The Serbs as the ruling nation failed to create one complex community of Yugoslav nations from the two Yugoslav states .Neither monarchist Yugoslavia between the two wars did it nor the communists succeeded to create it in World War Two. Now Serbian communists and nationalists wish to create the third mini-Yugoslavia as the ostensible successor of the first two countries. The Serbs have even discredited the idea of all Yugoslav nations unity ,so called Yugoslavianism created in Croatia in the l9th century. Namely, Yugoslavianism as well as Yugoslavia ,to great Serbian politicians, was only the first transitive step toward the Great Serbia.

When you complete reading this book , you would draw a conclusion that the Great Serbia was the main originator of its whole policy but also a source of constant crisis and wars which Serbia (when the Serbs commited massacre upon Turks in Belgrade) have been mostly provoking from l807 up to the present days. General characteristics of Serbian policy within the two last centuries was intolerance toward other nations and religious and constant insatiability possesion toward neighbouring countries and nations. There are just a few countries in Europe that have provoked so many wars from l875 up to the present days and that have demonstrated such an imperialistic aggressivness .From the First Serbian Rebellion in l804 until l99l the Serbs had manifoldly enlarged its national territory.

Just owing to Serb presentation the world permanently established the opinion of the Croats as separatists, a genocide nation ,terrorists and the main deranged factor in both Yugoslavias. On the other hand ,all these works will show that the Croats and other neighbouring nations were in constant defensive, in a struggle of preserving its own nation and territory ahead of constant Serbian ofensive and aggression. You will as well become aware of the fact that there is no neighbouring nation the Serbs were at war with (except Romanians) or attacked or have taken a part of their territory, upon whom there were not commited violence or ethnic cleansing. The same happened to national minorities inside Serbia and the former Yugoslavia ,i.e. the Albanians, Hungarians, Germans, Jews (Hebrews),Turks and Moslems in Sanjack and in Montenegro. Accordingly it might be concluded that all nations and states have not imperilled the Serbs but on the contrary the Serbs have imperilled them. Yet it should be also concluded that not all the Serbs nowadays and in the past were for ethnic cleansing and aggression, for the Great Serbia, but unfortunately they were in minority. After all, as well as they are today.