Nationalist tension emerged in the Balkans because the Balkan states were aspiring for nationalism. The Balkans was a region comprising modern day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro and their inhabitants were called Slavs. The major portion of the Balkans was under the Ottoman empire. All through the 19th century, the Ottoman empire attempted to remove the internal backwardness of the state and its people by adopting modern techniques, but could not succeed. There was jealousy among the Balkans states and each hoped to expand the boundaries to their land. The ideology of Europe was changed during this period and liberal democratic feelings became a narrow creed with limited ends. There were intolerance towards each other and they were always ready to fight a war. The European powers, Russia, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Britain were also interested to extend their own imperialism. During this period, these European powers were involved in an intense struggle over trade, colonies and naval and military might. Each power was keen on countering the hold of the other powers and extending its own control over the area. This led to a series of wars in the region and finally the First World War.
