Some informations about ......balkan, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Czech
關於…………保加利亞、馬其頓、阿爾巴尼亞、捷克……
| >> Bulgaria│保加利亞 |
| In 1912 and 1913 Bulgaria became involved in the Balkan Wars, entering
into conflict first against the Ottoman Empire and then against its former
Balkan allies in desperate effort to achieve its national unity. After being
defeated in the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria lost most of the territory conquered
in the first war. During World War I, Bulgaria found itself fighting on
the losing side after its alliance with the Central Powers. The defeat led
to new territorial losses. The Balkan Wars and World War I led to the influx
of over 250,000 Bulgarian refugees from Macedonia, Eastern and Western Thrace
and Southern Dobruja. After regaining control over Southern Dobruja in 1940,
Bulgaria allied with the Axis Powers in World War II. During this time the
country occupied parts of Greece and Yugoslavia. Bulgaria was the only country
that saved its entire Jewish population (around 50,000) from the Nazi camps
by refusing to comply with a 31 August 1943 resolution, which demanded their
deportation to Auschwitz. Bulgaria fell within the Soviet sphere of influence after World War II and became a People's Republic in 1946 and Moscow's staunchest ally. From the late 1970s it began normalising its relations with Greece and from the 1990s with Turkey. Communist domination ended in 1989, when Bulgaria again held multiparty elections, but economic difficulties and a tide of corruption led over 600,000 Bulgarians, most of them qualified professionals, to emigrate. Bulgaria joined NATO on 29 March 2004 and is set to join the European Union at the earliest on 1 January 2007 after signing the Treaty of Accession on 25 April 2005. By the way, “ Lactobacillus bulgaricus ”, was first identified in 1905 by the Bulgarian doctor Stamen Grigorov, that's why we have yummy & healthy yogurt~~ |
| 公元1年左右現在的保加利亞成為Roman Empire，後來Byzantine Empire 的一部分。6世紀Slavic 人來到這裡，與從亞洲進入的游牧部落保加爾人混合形成了保加利亞人。受拜占廷的影響保加利亞人信奉東正教。今天，大多數保加利亞人仍然信奉東正教。保加利亞的文化也受到拜占廷的深刻影響。681年，保加利亞建國，很長一段時間內保加利亞是一個強大的獨立帝國，其勢力足以與拜占廷抗衡。1018年，保加利亞被拜占廷征服，直到1187年才恢復獨立。 在1389年的科索沃戰役和1396年的尼科堡戰役後，保加利亞失去獨立。成為奧斯曼帝國的一個行省。19世紀後期，在瓦西爾·列夫斯基的領導下，獨立運動興起。1878年，俄土戰爭後，在俄羅斯的幫助下保加利亞獨立，於1908年成立保加利亞王國。 在WW1 & WW2，保加利亞站在德國的一邊。1946年，廢除君主制，成立共和國。二戰後它被劃入蘇聯的勢力圈，成為華沙條約組織的一個成員。華沙條約組織解散後，保加利亞於2004年3月29日加入北約，並正談判2007年加入歐洲聯盟。 不可不提的是20世紀初，俄國科學家伊﹒緬奇尼科夫在研究人類長壽問題時，到保加利亞去作調查，發現每千名死者中有4名是百歲以上去世的，這些高齡人生前都愛喝酸奶。他斷定喝酸奶是使人長壽的一個重要原因。後經研究，又發現了一種能有效地消滅大腸內的腐敗細菌的杆菌，並命名為“ Lactobacillus bulgaricus ”。 |
| >> Macedonia│馬其頓 |
| Following the two Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913 and the dissolution of
the Ottoman Empire, the region of Macedonia was divided between Greece,
Bulgaria and Serbia. The lands governed by the Republic of Macedonia were previously the southernmost part of Yugoslavia. Its current borders were fixed shortly after World War II when the government of Yugoslavia established the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, recognizing a Macedonian ethnicity as distinct from the Serbs and as a separate nation within Yugoslavia. After the death of Tito in 1980, the country officially celebrates 8 September 1991 as Independence day, with regard to the referendum by registered voters endorsing independence from Yugoslavia. The Republic of Macedonia remained at peace through the Yugoslav wars of the early 1990s but was destabilized by the Kosovo War in 1999, when an estimated 360,000 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo took refuge in the country. Also, there was a naming dispute between the governments of the Republic of Macedonia and Greece over the name. In 1993, the United Nations agreed to a provisional name — "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM) when Macedonia became a member state. |
| 馬其頓民族其實是一個歷史相當輝煌的民族，西元前六世紀建國，亞歷山大大帝於BC336 年即位後，更建立了一個橫跨歐亞非的大帝國，在亞里士多德的年代，輕易的打到雅典。後來整個希臘地區，都歸羅馬帝國統治，直到1453
年始為土耳其Ottoman Empire 征服。1912-1913 年巴爾幹戰爭結束後，Ottoman Empire 式微，舊有馬其頓的屬地也一分為三，，歸屬Greece、Bulgaria
及Serbia 管轄；事實上將近兩千年的融合，希臘北部所謂的馬其頓人和希臘人是分不開的。1945 年，南斯拉夫總統Tito 將馬其頓正式成立為「馬其頓共和國」，並與其他五個共和國合組為「南斯拉夫聯邦」，直到1991
年再脫離南斯拉夫獨立。
前南斯拉夫聯邦轄下的馬其頓共和國(Former Yugoslaia Republic of Macedonia)，因感於塞爾維亞民族主義氣焰高漲，恐難和平相處，於1991 年9 月通過公投後，宣布脫離南斯拉夫獨立。馬其頓宣布獨立，關係密切的塞爾維亞雖然反對，但並未多作刁難，使馬其頓成為前南斯拉夫聯邦中獨立最為順利的國家，不似Croatia 及Bosnia Herzegoniva等國家歷經慘烈的流血衝突。 但希臘卻是反對馬其頓獨立最為強烈的國家，尤其反對馬其頓使用「馬其頓共和國」(FYROM)為國名，其反對的理由是，希臘境內已有「馬其頓省(即愛琴海馬其頓)」，而在「馬其頓省」邊界另一頭不應再有一個馬其頓共和國，以免混淆不清。同時，希臘指全國人口僅有兩百一十萬人的馬其頓存有佔領希臘「馬其頓省」的野心，日後可能越界攻打人口多達一千一百萬人的希臘。至1993 年 4月，UN 決議以「前南斯拉夫馬其頓共和國」(FYROM) 名義同意馬其頓加入聯合國。自獨立以來，馬其頓由於國名問題和希臘發生之爭端，至今尚待解決。 |
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| >> Albania│阿爾巴尼亞 |
| Albania is such a country with so many things to write, for those interest,
please refer somewhere in the web...eg wikipedia,
CIA
factbook etc... |
阿爾巴尼亞曾經是希臘殖民地，之後在公元前2世紀成為羅馬帝國的一部分。公元4世紀末前後被東羅馬帝國和斯拉夫人佔領。1478年起受奧斯曼帝國統治。
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| >> Czech│捷克 |
| Czech Republic is a country with long long history. Since 3rd century
BC, Germanic tribes, Slavic people etc were settled there. The Bohemian
or Czech state emerged in the late 9th century when it was unified by the
Premyslids. The kingdom of Bohemia was a significant local power during
the Middle Ages. It was part of the Holy Roman Empire during the entire
existence of this confederation. Later, Bohemia came under Habsburg influence
and became part of Austria-Hungary since 15th century. Following the collapse
of this empire after World War I, the independent republic of Czechoslovakia
was created in 1918. This new country contained large German, Hungarian
and Polish minorities. Although Czechoslovakia was a democratic and liberal
state guaranteeing and also implementing cultural and language rights to
its minorities, the centralistic state did not grant its minorities territorial
political autonomy, which resulted in discontent and strong support among
the minorities to break away from Czechoslovakia. From 1945 to 1948 the
Sudetenland was cleansed of ethnic Germans under the so-called Benes decrees
and the Potsdam Agreement. About 3 million Germans, almost the entire German
minority of pre-War Czechoslovakia, were expelled to Germany and Austria.
As a consequence, hundreds of thousand of Germans were sent to prisons and
detention camps or forced labour. In 1948, a reconstituted Czechoslovakia fell within the Soviet sphere of influence. In 1968, an invasion by Warsaw Pact troops ended the efforts of the country's leaders to liberalize party rule and create "socialism with a human face" during the "Prague Spring". In 1989, Czechoslovakia regained its political independence through a peaceful "Velvet Revolution". On January 1, 1993, the country peacefully split in two, creating the independent Czech and Slovak republics. |
| 1918年時第一次世界大戰結束，奧匈帝國瓦解，素來關係較為密切的捷克與斯洛伐克（Slovenska）被合併為捷克斯洛伐克（Ceskoslovensko）。兩次大戰間，Czechoslovakia
的議會仍運行無礙，是當時東歐許多國家中的異數。 WW2 後Czechoslovakia 脫離納粹統治，開始實行工業化政策，致力發展經濟。 1946年，以Klement
Gottwald為首的共產黨，開始了40多年強硬派共產政府的統治。1968年，共產黨秘書Aleander Dubcek 回應「布拉格之春」遊行時人民的要求，希望能建立人性化的社會主義以促進國家經濟發展。然而，結果是蘇聯強力的鎮壓「布拉格之春
(Prague Spring)」。1989 年，在匈牙利和波蘭的共產政權相繼垮台，柏林圍牆也倒下之後，Czechoslovakia 發生「天鵝絨革命
(Velvet Revolution)」；這個奇怪的名稱是取天鵝絨滑順的質感，標榜政權和平轉移。在沒有鎮壓的情況下，由學生和反對者在布拉格示威遊行，帶動其它城市的跟進。不到一個月的時間，共產政權宣布下台。1993
年，捷克 & 斯洛伐克人透過公投決定分開獨立。 捷克已於2004年時加入歐盟成為正式會員國。 |
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