If anyone has read about the drama of world war 1, they should be familiar with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The empire was having exceptional military man-force, stretched its strategic depth to the Balkans and Russian empires, and allied with another great power “The unified German Empire.” But, after being defeated in the Great War, the Austro-Hungarian empire disintegrated forever.
The Unification of Austro-Hungarian Empire:
The kingdoms of Austria and Hungary got united in 1867 along with other small nations such as Bosnia-Herzegovina. The main reasons for unification were the anarchic environment (where the whole European region was under war), the inherited kingdom’s authorities, and the sense of affinity based on ethnicities. The conglomeration of Austria and Hungary brought the Empire to a dual-constitutional monarchy in which both empires committed to forming a single Union known as the “Compromise of 1867.” However, besides Austria-Hungary, the kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia also joined the union without compromising its autonomy. Moreover, Germany, on the other hand, was also being unified, and due to the fact of Austrians and Germanic ethnic singularities, Austro-Hungarian became a powerful and lethal empire in the region.
The Map of Austria-Hungary before WW1
The threat to Austria-Hungary from growing Serbian Nationalism:
The Balkan region held great importance in the European landscape. First, this region divided the ottomans with Europe. Secondly, it became a burning zone of severe nationalism. Serbia, although, was a separate country, the majority of Serbian were inhabitants of the Austria-Hungarian empire.
When the Balkan wars went in favor of nationalists where after the role of the Ottomans in the region had been almost over, Serbians, living in Austria-Hungary, started filling with the thirst for unification with Serbia. That led to world war 1 when 17 years old a teenage boy assassinated the Austria-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Consequently, the empire initiated the war on Serbia, and the theater of the Great War began.
The map of Austria-Hungary after ww1:
The defeat of Centrist power (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire) brutally annihilated the Austro-Hungarian map. Resultantly, many new nation-states newly emerged in the global sphere such as Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, which never reshaped again into the erstwhile empire.
Map of Austria-Hungary after ww1
How Czechoslovakia disintegrated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia:
Czechoslovakia got separated from Austria-Hungary in 1918 and became a separate state. After its separation, its geographical landscape wasn’t favorable to sustain in the region esp. between the period of two world wars. Czechoslovakia was also a conglomeration, which constituted two different geographical units named Czech and Slovakia. When the outbreak of world war 2 began and Hitler’s forces started capturing all the territories that particularly possessed the affinity toward German ethnicities, the Sudetenland, the territory of Czech which was inhabited by the Sudeten Germans, was invaded by the Nazis. Meanwhile, the other areas of the Czech were taken by Poland and Hungary, which left the Czech region fully captured by other states. In this way, only the territory of Slovakia remained existing on the global map while Czechoslovakia was formally wiped out from the global map. However, by the end of world war 2, the invaded region was given back, and Czechoslovakia was reinstituted as an official state.
After independence, Czechoslovakia became a socialist state owing to geographical proximities to the Soviet Union. Thus, it formally joined the communist side in the cold war. But, long suppression such as no freedom of speech brought Czechoslovakia near revolution in the result Prague Spring occurred and revolt ignited. However, the defense of Czechoslovakia was under the control of the Soviet army; thus, Stalin succeeded to eliminate all the revolutionary elements.
When Communist rule started declining across the globe, the Socialist government also ended in Czechoslovakia. Afterward, in 1993, Czechoslovakia disintegrated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia; into the two different sovereign states.
How Yugoslavia was divided into six-republics:
Yugoslavia initially emerged as a non-communist state named the Republic of Yugoslavia. Due to ethnic similarities (Serbs, Slovenes, and Croats) and origins, Balkan States formed a union comprised of Six-different republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. In 1941, the Axis powers invaded the region, whereby post-www2, the communist government found its way to be installed in it. The name was changed from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the Republic of Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavian states
Although Yugoslavia was a union, having central legislation based on equal representation, the excessive power was in the hand of Serbia because of the Police and Yugoslavian Army (mostly filled with Serbs). Therefore, the extreme case of Nationalism was seen in the 1980s. Then, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the states started leaving the conglomeration one after another, and the period of secession began.
However, the disintegration wasn’t stopped in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia because religious Nationalism was also ignited in Serbia by which 1990s Kosovo war remained in the mainstream of global politics. Therefore, the former Yugoslavian state “Serbia” was further separated; thus, Kosovo also emerged as a Sovereign state on Global Map.
