Although Romania (with the exception of Dobrudja) is neither a geographically part of the Balkans nor it ever did belong to the Ottoman Empire, it is yet included by the public to the Balkans. Historically and culturally, it is also more related to Central Europe, although the Slovenian culture also incorporates some elements of culture of Balkanic peoples. Later the Roman Empire conquered most of the region and spread Roman culture and the Latin language but significant parts still remained under classical Greek influence. During the Middle Ages, the Balkans became the stage for a series of wars between the Byzantine, Bulgarian and Serbian Empires.
Croatia is located in Southern Europe. The odd crescent shape of the Croatian lands remained as a mark, more or less, of the northern frontier of the Ottoman advance into Europe. Further south, Istria, Dalmatia and Dubrovnik all eventually passed to the Habsburg Monarchy between 1797 and 1815. After the 1860s, the Croatian leadership was divided between advocates of a South Slav union and nationalists favoring a independent Croatia; a bitter rivalry developed between the Croats and Serbs. After the Austrian-Hungarian Ausgleich in 1867 the village began to develop rapidly and the population reached the number of 3,800 in 1910 (3,000 Hungarian and 800 German). A Buddhist Turkic people, the Ugars are closely related to the Uighurs of Eastern Turkestan. According to the Chinese historical chronicles the Uighurs are the direct descendants of the Huns.
Only Slovenia, situated to the west of Croatia, was relatively safe from the threat of Orthodox Christians and Islam. This is why the Republic of Slovenia was nationally the most compact and economically the most developed region in former Yugoslavia. The difference between Slovenia, Slovakia and Slavonia, which is a part of Croatia. The origin of all these names is the same - derived from the name of SLOVO (= word), from which then the names of Slovinje, Slovinci, Sloveni, Slovenci, Slovani, Slaveni were coined. In Slovenian part of Istria, near Italian border (south of Trieste) there is a small town of Hrvatini (= the Croats). It is indicative that the most widespread second name in Slovenia is Horvat (= Croat). The Croats living for centuries in present-day Slovenia do not have the status and rights of national minority, contrary to much smaller national minority of Slovenians in Croatia.
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In 1877 Russian Czar Alexander II., regarding himself the protector of the Orthodox christians living within the Ottoman Empire, declared war on the latter. Russian forces, which were joined by a Bulgarian corps of 7,000 volunteers, defeated the Ottoman forces, among others in a battle at Shipka Pass. In 1878 the Ottoman Empire, in the Treaty of San Stefano had to concede the creation of a large Bulgarian state which would include Macedonia and Rumelia. The war had cost c. 200,000 lives on the Russian side. Bulgarians refer to Russian Czar Alexander II. as Czar Osvoboditel, Czar Liberator. Macedonia and Thrace remained Ottoman provinces. For two years from July 10th 1877 to July 8th 1879, Bulgaria was placed under a provisional Russian administration. The south was reduced to the Eastern Rumelia (Ottoman Province with a Christian Governor) according to the Berlin Congress (what Bismarck called the representatives of the European states) of 1878.
In 1881 Austria-Hungary reincorporated the military border into Croatia, increasing the number of ethnic Serbs in Croatia to about 25 percent of its 2.6 million population with a Croatian-Serbian coalition won a Sabor majority, Austria's annexation of Bosnia-Hercegovina suppressed the Croatian press. By 1918, the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes was created on the remnants of Austria-Hungary. It was supposed to be The War to End All Wars. For over four years World War One raged on.