What are the balkans?
The Balkans region encompasses over 700,000 km² across southeastern Europe. According to modern standards, the following countries are part of the Balkans region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Greece, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, and the European half of Turkey. Romania and Slovenia are sometimes included in the list, although they’re not officially part of the Balkans. The Balkans are so called after the mountain range of the same name. Both the classic Greek and the Roman Empire were once part of the Balkans, as it later was the Byzantine Empire. In modern times, the Balkans was the starting point for World War I –When Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was killed by a Serb, Austria eventually declared war on Serbia, which lead to the Great War or WWI. Named after the Balkans Mountains that run from Serbia to the Black Sea, the Balkans is a rich environment that includes everything from the Dinaric Alps in Slovenia to
