Balkan Peninsula

the southeasternmost peninsula of Europe. It lies between the Adriatic and the Black Sea. The term is held usually to include the territory south of the Save and the Danube. In this general sense the peninsula includes Greece, Turkey in Europe, Montenegro, Servia, Bulgaria, a part of Austria-Hungary, and a part of Roumania. The name is derived from the Balkan Mountains, which run westward from the Black Sea through Bulgaria very nearly to the geographical center of the peninsula. We hear less of the Balkan peninsula than of the Balkan states. The latter term includes Montenegro, Servia, Bulgaria, and Roumania. It is a question what is to become of the Balkan states. As early as 1815 they were a part of Turkey. Russia would like to annex them on the way to the Bosporus. Their present independence is due largely to intrigue, and to an expenditure of Russian money and Russian blood. Austria-Hungary would be very glad to own the Danube clear to the Black Sea. Some look forward to a union of the Balkan states in a Slavic federation.