The process of national state formation in the Balkan Peninsula (1804-1914)

Abstract

The Balkan Peninsula played a central role in the foreign strategies of European powers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The result of interactions among those powers was the establishment of independent national states in the Balkans and a global-scale war that European powers have tried every way to avoid. This article aims to provide an overall view of the process of state formation in the Balkan Peninsula between 1804 and 1914 and its consequences. The authors hope to shed more light on the history of this region and its role in shaping international relations that led to World War I.