The Balkans, corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whole of Bulgaria. The Balkan Peninsula is bordered by the Adriatic Sea in the northwest, the Ionian Sea in the southwest, the Aegean Sea in the south, the Turkish straits in the east, and the Black Sea in the northeast. The northern border of the peninsula is variously defined. The highest point of the Balkans is Musala, 2,925 metres (9,596 ft), in the Rila mountain range, Bulgaria.
The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republics of Central and Eastern Europe in May 1955, during the Cold War. The term "Warsaw Pact" commonly refers to both the treaty itself and its resultant military alliance, the Warsaw Treaty Organization (WTO). The Warsaw Pact was the military complement to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), the economic organization for the Eastern Bloc states.
The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy, and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano, and Saburō Kurusu and in the presence of Adolf Hitler. It was a defensive military alliance that was eventually joined by Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia's accession provoked a coup d'état in Belgrade two days later. Germany, Italy, and Hungary responded by invading Yugoslavia. The resulting Italo-German client state, known as the Independent State of Croatia, joined the pact on 15 June 1941.
The Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), formerly known as the Middle East Treaty Organization (METO) and also known as the Baghdad Pact, was a military alliance of the Cold War. It was formed on 24 February 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. The alliance was dissolved on 16 March 1979.
Titoism is a socialist political philosophy most closely associated with Josip Broz Tito during the Cold War. It is characterized by a broad Yugoslav identity, socialist workers' self-management, a political separation from the Soviet Union, and leadership in the Non-Aligned Movement.
The Informbiro period was an era of Yugoslavia's history following the Tito–Stalin split in mid-1948 that lasted until the country's partial rapprochement with the Soviet Union in 1955 with the signing of the Belgrade declaration. After World War II in Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia's new leadership under Josip Broz Tito pursued a foreign policy that did not align with the Eastern Bloc. Eventually, this led to public conflict, but the Yugoslav leadership decided not to acquiesce to Soviet demands, despite significant external and internal pressures. The period saw the persecution of the political opposition in Yugoslavia, resulting in thousands being imprisoned, exiled, or sent to forced labour. 100 Yugoslav citizens were seriously wounded or killed between 1948 and 1953 while some sources claim 400 victims during the existence of Goli otok prison camp. The purges included a significant number of members of Yugoslavia's security apparatus and its military.
The Belgrade declaration is a document signed by President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev on 2 June 1955 that brought about a short reconciliation between the two states. Negotiations leading up to the signing of the document took place between 27 May and 2 June.
The Balkan Pact, or Balkan Entente, was a treaty signed by Greece, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia on 9 February 1934 in Athens, aimed at maintaining the geopolitical status quo in the region after the end of World War I. To present a united front against Bulgarian designs on their territories, the signatories agreed to suspend all disputed territorial claims against one another and their immediate neighbours following the aftermath of the war and a rise in various regional irredentist tensions.
The Tito–Stalin split or the Soviet–Yugoslav split was the culmination of a conflict between the political leaderships of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, under Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin, respectively, in the years following World War II. Although presented by both sides as an ideological dispute, the conflict was as much the product of a geopolitical struggle in the Balkans that also involved Albania, Bulgaria, and the communist insurgency in Greece, which Tito's Yugoslavia supported and the Soviet Union secretly opposed.
Due to the strong historical, political, cultural and religious ties between them, Greece and the United States today enjoy excellent diplomatic relations and consider each other an ally. Today Greece is one of the United States's closest allies in the world.
The People's Socialist Republic of Albania, officially as the People's Republic of Albania from 1946 until 1976, and as the Republic of Albania from 1991 to 1992, was the communist state in Albania from 1946 to 1991. It succeeded the Democratic Government of Albania (1944–1946).
Relations between Bulgaria and the United States were first formally established in 1903, have moved from missionary activity and American support for Bulgarian independence in the late 19th century to the growth of trade and commerce in the early 20th century, to reluctant hostility during World War I and open war and bombardment in World War II, to ideological confrontation during the Cold War, to partnership with the United States in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and growing political, military and economic ties in the beginning of the 21st century.
Bulgarian–Turkish relations are foreign relations between Bulgaria and Turkey. Bulgaria has an embassy in Ankara, two general consulates in Istanbul and Edirne and a chancellery in Bursa. Turkey has an embassy in Sofia and two general consulates in Plovdiv and Burgas.
The accession of Croatia to NATO took place in 2009. The country entered into Partnership for Peace in 2000, which began the process of accession into the alliance. It received an invitation to join at the 2008 Bucharest summit and became a full member on April 1, 2009.
Albania and China established diplomatic relations on November 23, 1949. Albania has an embassy in Beijing and China has an embassy in Tirana.
On 25 March 1941, Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact with the Axis powers. The agreement was reached after months of negotiations between Germany and Yugoslavia and was signed at the Belvedere in Vienna by Joachim von Ribbentrop, German foreign minister, and Dragiša Cvetković, Yugoslav Prime Minister. Pursuant to the alliance, the parties agreed that the Axis powers would respect Yugoslav sovereignty and territorial integrity, including the Axis refraining from seeking permission to transport troops through Yugoslavia or requesting any military assistance.
From the establishment of the European Economic Community in 1957 until the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, thus during the Cold War period, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the first socialist state to develop relations with the organisation. Notwithstanding occasional and informal proposals coming from both sides, Yugoslavia never became a full member state of the EEC.
Turkey–Yugoslavia relations were historical foreign relations between Turkey and now broken up Yugoslavia.
France–Yugoslavia relations were the historical foreign relations between France and Yugoslavia. These spanned from just after the First World War, to the eventual break-up of Yugoslavia in the aftermath of the Cold War. Over this period, there were several successive governments in both countries. France was variously: the Third Republic, Free France, the wartime Provisional Government, the post-war Fourth Republic, and the modern Fifth Republic. Coterminously, the states governing what is today the former Yugoslavia were: the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the wartime government in exile, the wartime provisional Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Soviet Union–Yugoslavia relations were historical foreign relations between Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. Both states became defunct with the dissolution of the Soviet Union between 1988 and 1991 and the breakup of Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1992. Relations between the two countries developed very ambiguously. Until 1940 they were openly hostile, in 1948 they deteriorated again and in 1949 were completely broken. In 1953–1955 period, bilateral relations were restored with the signing of Belgrade declaration, but until the collapse of Yugoslavia they remained very restrained. Relations with Soviet Union were of high priority for Belgrade as those relations or their absence helped the country to develop the principle of Cold War equal-distance on which the Yugoslav non-alignment policy was based.
