Framework setting: Late Ottoman Empire between reforms and colapse Albanian-speaking population in the late nineteenth century was in its majority inhabiting the territories of the Western and parts of the Central Balkans ruled by the Ottoman Empire (Bartl 1967: 37-86). After the Congress of Berlin (1878) the Ottoman state was experiencing the ever-growing pressure of European Great Powers. By the end of the „long nineteenth century“ the politics of great powers dictated ever more the dynamics of power relations among the Balkan countries. While the Powers supported the nationalisms of the Balkan peoples, they were at the same time trying to slow down the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. That unstable balance was causing almost perpetual crises and conflicts in the period before the World War I.
Although trailing behind the Great Powers, Ottoman empire showed that it can defeat each new or potential …show more content…
While nation-states sought to achieve by different means a significant homogeneous and unified political and cultural identity of its population in different empires, while there was an insistence on clear hierarchy among its populations it also made possible for different identities to co-exist (Broobank, Cooper 2010: 8). Thus, for example in the Ukrainian regions there were identifications such as Russian, Ukrainophiles or Ruthenians or among the Albanian-speaking population: Albanianists, Turkophiles, Hellenophiles etc. The important conclusion is that the research should not be fully concentrated on the group that turned out to be the strongest and managed to create a national state because nationalisms such as Silesian, Ruthenian, or Moravian did not suceed in creating viable political entity, but were a significant force in their time (Ther
Although trailing behind the Great Powers, Ottoman empire showed that it can defeat each new or potential …show more content…
While nation-states sought to achieve by different means a significant homogeneous and unified political and cultural identity of its population in different empires, while there was an insistence on clear hierarchy among its populations it also made possible for different identities to co-exist (Broobank, Cooper 2010: 8). Thus, for example in the Ukrainian regions there were identifications such as Russian, Ukrainophiles or Ruthenians or among the Albanian-speaking population: Albanianists, Turkophiles, Hellenophiles etc. The important conclusion is that the research should not be fully concentrated on the group that turned out to be the strongest and managed to create a national state because nationalisms such as Silesian, Ruthenian, or Moravian did not suceed in creating viable political entity, but were a significant force in their time (Ther