The reconstruction of South-Eastern Europe

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF

natural resources in favour of alien German elements, all the Southern Slay provinces have remained backward, and are, after Albania, economically and commercially the least developed country in Europe. That such a state of things was not the result of the incapacity of the inhabitants, nor of the scarcity of its natural resources can be proved by historical records. During the Roman conquest the valleys of the Save and the Morava were considered as the richest granary of the empire. Large Imperial cities—Sirmium (to-day Mitrovica), Singidunum (Belgrade), Naissos (Nish), Ulpiana (Liplian)—flourished there teeming with life and wealth. The unnatural diversion of trade to Vienna and Budapest has caused those cities to shrink to mere unimportant provincial towns. The British who retreated with the Serbian Army through Montenegro and Skutari were shocked by the wilderness and poverty of the basin of the Boyana river. But Professor Jiriéek of the Vienna University tells us that—

“In Serbian times this region now so desolate was in a most flourishing condition and had a large population and numerous beautifully situated towns. Even in the sixteenth century Italian travellers who ascended the course of Boyana compared this green land with its many villages to their own fair country. Large Latin and Oriental monasteries stood peacefully side 234