| Summary/Abstract |
WORLD WAR I changed the political map of Central and Eastern Europe. In 1918-1919, the breakup of the regionally dominant Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires and a significant weakening of Germany led to the emergence of eight new states in the region: Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. For the five countries of Southeastern Europe that gained independence in the 19th century (Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Romania, and Serbia) with the disintegration of another great power, the Ottoman Empire, which had lost many territories and emerged as the Republic of Turkey, the conditions of existence changed significantly. Serbia became the core of a new state, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, renamed Yugoslavia in 1929.
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