"To Be One Nation"
(Balkan Timeline
1900-1988)
Progress, far from consisting of change, depends on retentiveness...Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. --Santayana
| The
World |
The Year | The Balkans |
First transatlantic radio transmission
|
1901 |
|
1902 |
||
| Henry
Ford’s assembly lines and mass production of automobiles
|
1903 |
|
1904 |
||
| Japan wins
war with Russia. First Russian Revolution
|
1905 |
|
1906 |
Austria-Hungary
cuts off livestock imports from Serbia. Serbia expands trade with Egypt, Greece,
Turkey and Germany.
|
|
1907 |
||
1908 |
Austria-Hungary
annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina
|
|
| First
newsreels in the early years of motion pictures
|
1909 |
|
1910 |
||
| China becomes a republic | 1911 |
|
1912 |
First
Balkan War (Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Bulgaria vs. the Ottoman Empire over Macedonia
and northern Greece).
|
|
1913 |
Second
Balkan War (Serbia, Greece and Romania vs. Bulgaria over Macedonia). Serbia also gets
control of Kosovo from Albania.
|
|
| After the
assassination of the Austrian heir, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. Serbia’s
ally Russia declares war on Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary’s ally Germany declares
war on Russia and World War I begins.
|
1914 |
Serbian
nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinates the heir to the Austrian Empire in Sarajevo,
sparking the First World War.
|
1915 |
||
| Easter Rebellion in Ireland brings independence from UK to most of the island by 1922. | 1916 |
|
| Russian Revolution abolishes czardom and establishes a Bolshevik government. | 1917 |
|
| Following
the end of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles encourages the principles of
self-determination and a world governing body (the League of Nations). As a result,
Austria-Hungary separates and the Ottoman Empire loses its Arab lands to Britain and
France. However, the issue of reparations creates problems in postwar Germany
|
1918 |
World War I
ends. In the resulting break-ups of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires, the Kingdom
of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes is created. Serbia dominates the kingdom.
|
| The Weimar
Republic is established in Germany India gains limited self-rule from Britain
|
1919 |
Communist Party founded in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. |
1920 |
The Kingdom
of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes joins the "Little Entente" (with France,
Czechoslovakia, and Romania) against what remains of the Austria-Hungary.
|
|
| New
Economic Policy in Russia. Hitler becomes leader of National Socialists in Germany.
|
1921 | Constitution
for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia passed. Serbian majority refuses to consider Croatian
proposals for federalism and autonomy.
|
1922 |
Beginning
of Parliamentary government in Kingdom.
|
|
| 1923 | ||
| 1924 | ||
| 1925 | ||
| 1926 | ||
1927 |
||
| Kellogg-Briand
Pact renounces "aggressive war."
|
1928 |
A
Montenegrin member of parliament kills and wounds the leader of the Croatian Peasant Party
over conflicts over centralism vs. federalism in the Kingdom.
|
| U.S. Stock
Market crashes, leading to economic depression worldwide.
|
1929 |
The Kingdom
of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes is renamed Yugoslavia. The Parliamentary system is abolished in favor of a royal dictatorship. Macedonians are forbidden from having political parties or from speaking Macedonian in public.
|
1930 |
||
| Japan seizes Manchuria in China | 1931 |
|
1932 |
||
| Adolf
Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. Concentration camps begun.
|
1933 |
|
| Italy
establishes entente with Austria and Hungary. The "Long March" of the communists begins in China.
|
1934 |
The Assassination of King Alexander I in Paris by a Macedonian with links to Croatian separatists. |
| Nuremberg
Laws begin in Germany Italy conquers Ethiopia.
|
1935 |
|
| Franco
comes to power after civil war in Spain. Aided by the Nazis and the Italian fascists, he
becomes a dictator until the 1970s.
|
1936 |
|
| U.S. passes
Neutrality Act.
|
1937 |
|
| Germany
annexes Austria. Britain and France appease Germany by allowing Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia.
|
1938 |
|
| Italy
annexes Albania. Germany attacks Poland.
|
1939 |
Croatia
earns a certain autonomy within Yugoslavia with the creation of Banovina (Dukedom) of
Croatia.
|
| Germany
takes Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands. Establishes puppet Vichy government in much
of France. Italy invades Greece.
|
1940 |
|
| After Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the United States enters the war. | 1941 |
Yugoslavia
joins the Tripartite Alliance. Nazi Germany invades Yugoslavia from Hungary, Bulgaria, and
Romania. Germany and Italy divide Slovenia. Italy also takes part of Dalmatia and Montenegro, as well as Kosovo and western Macedonia on behalf of Albania. Bulgaria gets the rest of Macedonia. Hungary gets part of Vojvodina. Bosnia is officially "independent." Serbia comes under German military occupation. Croatia becomes a fascist puppet regime of the Nazis under the Ustase. Ethnic cleansing of Serbs begins. Serbs respond with Chetnik guerilla forces of their own. Josip Broz (Tito) leads the communist Partisan movement (primarily Serbs) against the Ustase and the Nazis, as well as the Chetniks.
|
1942 |
||
1943 |
Jajce
Conference The western alliance stops aiding the Chetniks under Draz Mihajlovic and starts aiding Tito's Partisans. Proclamation of communist Yugoslavia.
|
|
| Bretton
Woods Accords establish international monetary system
|
1944 |
The Partisans, aided by the Soviets and the British, push the Nazis out of Yugoslavia. |
| Atomic Bomb
on Hiroshima. United Nations Charter signed. |
1945 |
World War
II ends, Tito comes to power. The communists abolish the monarchy and establish the
Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia get status as republics within Yugoslavia. The beginning of Bleiburg and the "Death Marches".
|
| Nuremberg
trials against Nazi war criminals establish precedent for war crimes trials
|
1946 |
|
| U.S.
Marshall Plan undertakes to rebuild the economies of post-war Europe Truman Doctrine expands U.S. influence worldwide. India and Pakistan become independent of Britain
|
1947 |
|
| Czechoslovakia
coup and Berlin blockade by USSR indicate into the Cold War is in full force NATO founded Indian civil rights leader and pacifist Mahamata Gandhi is assassinated Israel becomes a state Universal Declaration on Human Rights
|
1948 |
Tito breaks with Stalin. |
| People’s
Republic of China proclaimed. Comecon (East Block economic grouping) founded
|
1949 |
U.S. begins aid to Yugoslavia |
1950s |
Yugoslavia
at the forefront of the international non-aligned movement.
|
|
| Juan Peron
deposed in Argentina.
|
1955 |
|
| Hungarian
Revolution crushed by USSR Suez Canal Crisis
|
1956 |
|
| Founding of
European Economic Community (eventually to become the European Union)
|
1957 |
|
| "Great
Leap Forward" begins in China
|
1958 |
|
| Castro
overthrows Batista regime in Cuba and turns the island nation into a communist state.
|
1959 |
|
| U.S.
attempts unsuccessfully to invade Cuba (Bay of Pigs)
|
1961 |
|
| By this
year, much of Sub-Saharan Africa becomes independent of colonial rule
|
1962 |
|
| "March
on Washington" for civil rights; Martin Luther King, Jr.’s "I have a
dream" speech
|
1963 |
|
| Civil
Rights Act in the U.S. Tonkin Gulf Incident increases U.S. involvement in Vietnam and sets
a precedent for U.S. president to take military action without Congress declaring war
|
1964 |
|
| Beginning of
"Cutural Revolution" in China
|
1965 |
|
| General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trades (GATT) started to improve western European economics Arab-Israeli war
|
1967 |
The
National Movement in Croatia enjoys a resurgence, as Croatian intellectuals protest the
suppression of the Croatian language in Yugoslavia.
|
| "Prague
Spring" of reforms ends when Soviet troops crack down in Czechoslovakia Student revolutions in France. Assassination of Martin Luther King in U.S.
|
1968 |
Kosovo becomes an autonomous province. Hungarian is recognized as an official language in Vojvodina. |
| War begin
in Northern Ireland over whether the province should remain part of the UK or join the
rest of Ireland
|
1969 |
|
1971 |
Officials
in Zagreb circulate proposals for Croatia to secede from Yugoslavia. Tito responds
by suppressing organizations and sending several officials to jail (including future
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman).
|
|
| Munich
Olympic killings indicate new era of world terrorism Watergate Scandal in U.S. begins
|
1972 |
|
| Arab-Israeli
War
|
1973 |
|
1974 |
The
Constitution strengthens the powers of the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina
within the Serbian republic
|
|
| South
Vietnam falls to the communists War in Lebanon begins
|
1975 |
|
| Chinese
leader Mao Tse Tung dies. Spanish Leader Franco dies.
|
1976 |
|
| Iranian
Revolution indicates growth of Islamic fundamentalist movements in Middle East White rule is ended in Rhodesia, which becomes Zimbabwe
|
1979 |
|
| USSR
establishes martial law in Poland
|
1980 |
Tito dies |
| AIDS virus
identified. Assassination of Egyptian President. |
1981 |
Serbian
police crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo after Albanian students protest poor
university conditions.
|
| Martial law
in Poland ended. Israeli invades Lebanon.
|
1982 | |
| "Star
Wars" initiative by the United States increases Cold War tensions. U.S. invades Grenada and backs Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
|
1983 | |
| Indian
Prime Minister Indira Ghandi assassinated by Sikh bodyguards. Famine in the Horn of Africa. |
1984 | |
| Mikhail
Gorbachev becomes Soviet Premier. Promotes openness with west and political reform at
home; ends missile deployment in Europe.
|
1985 |
The Serbian
Academy of Sciences condemns Tito for leaving Serbia poorer than Croatia and Slovenia and
proposes an independent Serbian state.
|
| U.S. bombs
Libya. Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in USSR. |
1986 |
Slobodan
Milosevic becomes head of the Serbian Communist Party.
|
| Gorbachev launches glastnost and perestroika. | 1987 | |
| Palestinian
Intifada resistance movement starts on the West Bank of Israel.
|
1988 | Ethnic Albanians protest against Serbs in Kosovo. |