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Article: Balkans have long history of factions, warfare, tumult: Powder keg long before World War I.(Crisis In Kosovo)
- Article from:
- The Washington Times (Washington, DC)
- Article date:
- April 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 News World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Balkans have given birth to emperors and provoked wars that destroyed empires. NATO's intervention in the Kosovo crisis is only the latest episode in the region's battle-scarred history.
The region has long been viewed as political and military quicksand. In 1876, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck declared that the Balkans were "not worth the healthy bones of a single Pomeranian musketeer."
The reputation of the Balkans as "the powder keg of Europe" was sealed in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, on June 28, 1914, when Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary.
Within six ...