(i) After 1871, nationalist tensions emerged in an area called the Balkans. It was a region of ethnic and geographical variations and constituted many modern-day European nations such as Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro. The residents of these nations were broadly known as the Slays. (ii) A large part of the Balkans was under the Ottoman Empire. When the Ottoman Empire began to disintegrate and its hold over the Balkans weakened, the Slays were imbibed with the idea of nationalism and dreamt of having an independent state of their own. (iii) Soon the feeling of nationalism spread and the situation became very unstable. The Ottoman Empire tried to control the situation by strengthening itself through modernisation and internal reforms but it was unable to do so. Gradually, its European nations got separated and knight for independence and political rights. (iv) In the race to expand their territories and to impose their supremacy on each other, the Slavic nationalities quickly got into severe clashes. There was intense rivalry among the European powers over trade and colonies as well as naval and military powers. (v) The Balkan region became an area of intense conflict and a scene of big power rivalry. Russia, Germany, England, Austria—all wanted to extend control over the Balkans because of its strategic location. These conflicts led to the Balkan wars and later the First World War.