BALKANS - 500 YEARS OF OTTOMAN

Historiography of 500 years of Ottoman rule (pod igoto) in the volatile Balkans (Turkish word for mountains):

1354 - Ottoman Turks establish themselves on European soil at Gallipoli.

1371 - Ottomans defeat the Serbs on the River Maritsa.

1389 - Turks defeat the Serbian Tsar Lazar, head of a Balkan coalition at Kosovo. Serbia becomes a vassal state of Ottoman Empire.

1393 - Bulgrian kingdom comes under Ottoman rule.

1453 - Turks capture Constantinople.

1463 - Slavic kingdom of Bosnia falls to the Turks.

1468 - Albania falls to the Ottomans.

1500-1566 - the Ottoman Empire attains its height; almost the entire Balkan peninsula is now under its domain.

1683 - Turks march on Vienna and are routed.

1684-99 - Europen powers defeat the Turks in the War of the Holy League. The Ottomans lose many of their Balkan holdings.

1774 - Russia defeats the Turks.

1799 - Montenegro succeeds in gaining Turkish recognition of its independence.

1804-1813 - Serbs unsuccessfully revolt against the Turks.

1829 - Russia defeats Turkey again.

1856 - European powers and Turkey defeat Russia in the Crimean War.

1875-78 - insurrection against the Turks throughout the Balkans and with the help of Russia defeat the Turks. Serbia and Romania gain independence, Bulgarians wins autonomy. Austria-Hungary is awarded Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1912-1913 - First Balkan War. The Balkan League - Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro, declares war on Turkey and further reduces its European territory.

Albanians revolt against the Turks and proclaim independence.

1914 - Archduke Franz-Ferdinand is assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, an Austrian province at that time. 

Start of WWI

1918 - the United Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and the Slovenes, later called Yugoslavia is formally proclaimed.

1928 - Ahmed Bey Zogu, from Premier becomes King Zog I of Albania.

1939 - Mussolini Italy occupies Albania. King Zog is forced into exile.

1939-44 - WW2. Bulgaria and Romania join the Axis power. 

1944-46 - Romania and Bulgaria are occupied by Soviet troops. Communist-dominated governments in Yugoslavia and Albania are recognized by the West.

1948 - Albania breaks from Yugoslavia tutelege and becomes Russia's satellite.

1961 - Albania breaks with the Soviets.

{Edmund Stillman et al (eds). 1966. The Balkans. Life World Library, Time-Life International, Nederland}