"world war 1" What did the many national groupings in the Balkans want?

Question

"world war 1" What did the many national groupings in the Balkans want?

Answer 1

I can't remember the name of it but there was a waterway in that area that the Ottoman Empire wanted to keep. (The waterway between the Algean Sea and the Black Sea). The Balkan Wars prior to World War One were the cause of the Balkan countries wanting independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Here's a picture I got off the internet of the area that was lost from the Ottoman Empire during those wars:

http://updatecenter.britannica.com/eb/im...

The Balkan Wars were not part of world war one technically, but those events helped lead to the tension between nations in 1914.

Answer 2

'Self-determination' is the answer your looking for.  That meant that each nationality would have its own country.

After WWI, this principle was carried out in Eastern Europe, meaning  the break-up of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires....as far as was practically possible.  The czech republic and slovakia had to be put together, to make Czechoslovakia, so they'd be large enough for defence.

For the same reason, Yugoslavia was formed, from

Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Macedonia.  

Many countries did not get exactly what they wanted (eg, a separate Croatia, a separate Serbia, etc.) but came very close to full self-determination.