Yugoslavia

Abstract

The history of the lands and peoples of what was Yugoslavia until 1991 has been shaped largely by stronger foreign powers which have dominated the Balkans, often while en route from Europe to the East or from Asia to Europe. By the beginning of the second century the Romans had more or less overcome the resistance of the native peoples of the Balkan Peninsula and eclipsed Greek influence. In 395 the Roman Empire was split along a line which ran northwards along the River Drina up to the River Sava. In the sixth and seventh centuries various groups of Slavs, an Indo-European people originating from east-central Europe, began to strike south into the Balkans: the Slovenes settled in the north-west, the Croats further south and the Serbs to the east of the dividing line. The Serbs later adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the Cyrillic alphabet.