History Main / BalkanizeMe

[[quoteright:325:[[Website/AlternateHistoryDotCom https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_1italytopoatlsmall.jpg]]]]

* Parodied and [[ExaggeratedTrope taken to the illogical extreme]] in the Website/AlternateHistoryDotCom timeline [[http://alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=154637 Leaves in the Wind]], which records the Balkanization of ''Liechtenstein''!

* ''Literature/FireOnTheMountain'' focuses on the [[DividedStatesOfAmerica breakup of the United States]] after a successful slave revolt in 1859 establishes the independent state of Nova Africa across the American south from Florida to New Orleans. We also learn that Quebec separated from Canada at some point and that Ireland became independent from the United Kingdom in the 1880s.

* In ''Fanfic/AThingOfVikings'', [[spoiler:The Kingdom of Franks breaks up after King Henry I of the Capets attacks a peace deligation from Berk. The duchies of Normandy and Brittany join Berk while the Duchy of Aquitania and the County of Tolosa declare full independence. According to an ephigraph, the rest of the kingdom eventually gets annexed by the Holy Roman Empire]]

* ''Fanfic/EarthsAlienHistory'': After their second CivilWar between progressives and reactionaries, the Klingon Empire is permanently split between the democratic Klingon Republic and the authoritarian Empire of Kahless.

* ''Fanfic/TriptychContinuum'': Zebra legends claim that their homeland of Pundamilia Makazi was once a single nation, but Discord's rule shattered it into isolated fragments as it did every other civilization. And while Celestia and Princess Luna forcibly united the settled zones of Equestria into a single nation, the hundred ''kraals'' of the zebras remain a hundred separate nations, each with its own government and legal codes.

* The world of ''WebOriginal/AtlasAltera'' has at least twice as many countries as ours does, probably more. Mainland Papua and Australia each have more than 50 countries, not including islands surrounding them. The British Isles alone have nine countries.

* In John Birmingham's ''After America'', although it doesn't go into details, it's mentioned that France has become divided after the French Intifada in the previous book, ''Without Warning''. Also, there are several cities in Germany called "sharia towns", particularly Neu Koln, that have become independent entities ''de facto'', if not ''de jure''.
* In Creator/TomKratman's ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'', it's implied that the Indian subcontinent broke into many parts.

* In Creator/SMStirling's ''Literature/{{Emberverse}}'', a sudden collapse of functioning technology has balkanized most of the world (though in some cases, nations have been re-expanding), though we really only see the former USA. An article on the author's website, as well as two short stories released, talk about how Great Britain survives due to its offshore islands where the population can wait until everyone on the mainland kills one another or die via natural means. It then rapidly expands to the point where in 2050 it controls all of Britain, Iceland (nominally) France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, a large Part of North Africa and the East Coast of the USA, as well as being the de facto rulers of New Zealand and what remains of Australia. It appears that instead of Balkanising, Europe simply falls apart and then a few states re-expand. Russia does dissolve into lots of rural kingdoms, though.
* One of the main characters in Creator/CharlesStross's ''Literature/TheEschatonSeries'' is from The People's Republic of West Yorkshire, and claims that there are over 1,500 countries on Earth, although it's clear that Earthers have outgrown the concept of nation states, and just keep the names for sentimental reasons.

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/{{Friday}}''. In addition to DividedStatesOfAmerica, also has a divided Canada, and more than 400 UN member states. It mentions "Great Russia", indicating that the Soviet Union broke up (the book came out in 1982, before it happened in RealLife). There's also a mention of Prussia, but whether or not it's the united Germany is unclear.
* China is further divided in ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'' where it is now the People's Liberation Committee (North China) and the Democratic Chinese Alliance (South China). Makes more sense than many, given the long-standing (cultural) north/south divide along the Yangtze.
* In Larry Niven's ''The Goliath Stone'' Western Australia is now the nation of Westralia. During the book China breaks into civil war and by the end there are five different "People's Republics", the only one named being Kowloon-Hong Kong plus Tibet.
* In ''Literature/HeavyObject'', the world became a fully shattered mosaic of small territories, each belonging to one of the four big factions: Legitimacy Kingdom(where bloodline and honor are everything), the Information Alliance(where inexactitudes and false news are evil and weapons), the Capitalist Corporations(where charity is a crime) and the Faith Organization(a patchwork of every religions invented). You can barely travel more than a couple hundred miles in any given direction before running into a border.
* In Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''[[Literature/OrsonScottCardsEmpire Hidden Empire]]'' this happens to Nigeria after an American invasion with a Muslim north and several nations forming along tribal lines in the Christian south. This is presented as an ultimately positive thing, as most current African borders exist because of European powers dividing the continent with no concern for existing tribal, cultural or religious ties.
* In the Jacek Piekera's AlternateHistory ''Literature/TheInquisitorCycle'' series, this is what happens to the Arabian Peninsula; in this timeline, Christianity becomes even more militaristic due to [[DarkMessiah Jesus Christ being a warlord]] that violently took over the Roman Empire, and Islam never came into existence because Muhammad was killed by a Christian patrol while fleeing from Mecca to Medina. As a result, the Arabian Peninsula is a fractured region between several polytheistic tribes which serves as a buffer state between Rome and the Persian Empire.
* Mentioned in Creator/IanDouglas's ''Literature/LunaMarine'', where the UN is desperately trying to hold together and force the rest of the world into OneWorldOrder. Unfortunately for them, the current tendency in the world is the opposite -- splitting countries into smaller political entities. Interestingly, one of the reasons for the US-UN war is the attempt by the UN to force just such a thing in the US with the creation of Aztlan from the Southwestern (i.e. Hispanic-dominated) states.
* In John Barnes ''Mother of Storms'' Siberia has become independent of Russia. Ironically it in turn is trying [[RussiaCalledTheyWantAlaskaBack to absorb an independent Alaska]]. And while Alaska is the only US state to secede Canada is broken into at least Pacificanada, Ontario and Quebec. What happened to the Maritime provinces or the provinces between British Columbia and Ontario is not mentioned. By the end of the book China has broken into a dozen or more states controlled by warlords.
* In Creator/{{Ian McDonald}}'s ''River of Gods'' and ''Cyberiad'', an anthology set in the same universe, India has broken up into seven different nations.
* TheEmpire of Literature/ShatteredContinent lost its Emperor in 1995, and most of his direct blood relatives died in the resulting scramble to grab the big chair. As of 2017 all the sub-kingdoms pay lip service to the still-vacant throne while doing effectively whatever they want, up to and including waging small wars on each other and handling their own foreign agendas outside the Empire.
* Creator/{{Ken MacLeod}}'s ''The Star Fraction'' (first in the Literature/FallRevolution tetralogy) has a Balkanised UK, and mentions the UN having over two thousand national flags flying outside.
* Happened in ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends''. After the Battle of Endor, the Galactic Empire began to fracture apart with the deaths of its two top leaders and elite military command staff. Over the course of nearly a decade, various Imperial Admirals began taking sectors for themselves and became warlords over sizable chunks of the galaxy, though over the course of the EU many of them were either conquered by the New Republic or absorbed into the Imperial Remnant, what remained of the centralized, original Galactic Empire.
* Several examples in Jasper Fforde's ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series, for example The Socialist Republic of UsefulNotes/{{Wales}}. Taken further in ''Literature/TheLastDragonslayer'', in which basically every UK ''county'' becomes an independent nation.
* Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/Timeline191'' series is based off of the premise that the south won the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar and the Confederate States of America became its own independent country. There are also a number of failed, unrecognized nations created by separatist rebels throughout the series, specifically the nation of Deseret in Utah and the various socialist republics founded by blacks in the CSA.
* In the backstory for Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium, the bulk of the Eriador region was under the aegis of the Dunedain kingdom of Arnor. Its strength depleted as a result of several major disasters during the War of the Last Alliance against [[BigBad Sauron]], and it eventually split into three smaller kingdoms: Arthedain, Cardolan, and Rhudaur. These kingdoms themselves came apart following brutal wars against the Witch-King of Angmar. By the time period of ''Literature/TheHobbit'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Eriador is largely a no-man's land save for a few small isolated polities such as the [[{{Arcadia}} Shire]], [[HiddenElfVillage Rivendell]], Bree and the Grey Havens.

** And the biggest case would be China; not only is it divided between the Communist North and the Nationalist South, but several outlying regions were carved off: Sinkiang (a Soviet puppet), Manchukuo (a Japanese puppet), Taiwan (now part of Japan proper), and Tibet (never annexed due to Communists and Nationalists being more preoccupied by each other to bother).
** And then there are the Middle African and Indian Containment Zones, both of which have collapsed into anarchy and are rife with warlords, micro-states, roving ethnic militias and cults, and all kinds of preternatural activity.
* In Creator/VladimirVasilyev's ''Literature/WolfishNature'', Siberia has seceded from Russia. Not because of any ideological or political differences but because of the inevitable corruption of territories far away from the capital (the Siberian capital is established in Krasnoyarsk, much closer than Moscow). The two countries still maintain cordial relations and open borders. Alaska has likewise seceded from the US, although it's barely mentioned, and the reasons for the secession are unknown but likely the same. Canada is also mentioned to have split, although no official names of the two countries are mentioned (they're always referred to as "both Canadas"). There are also inverted examples, such as UnitedEurope, Baltica (all the Baltic nations), Turan (an amalgamation of Turkey and Iran), and Sinojapan. There's also a MiddleEasternCoalition, but it's more like what EU is in RealLife than a government. It's a lot easier to find common ground when there are no pesky wars, atrocities, and genocides to mar relations, as there have been no wars on Earth for centuries. Ever since the [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke Bio-Correction]] has removed the "wolf" gene from everyone.

* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'': Because of a galaxy wide disaster that rendered most dillithium innert and thus limited warp travel in 30th century TheFederation broke up going from over 300 members to just a few dozen. After a new source of dillithium, former members are slowly rejoining.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The term [[TropeNamer stems from]] the fragmentation of the Ottoman Empire's territories in the Balkans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Ottomans actually had been losing European territories since the 17th century, following the failure of the Siege of Vienna, but the Balkan fragmentation was notable because, rather than joining fellow Christian European empires (as was the norm before then), the seceded territories formed their own countries and started to fight among each other.
** After the [[UsefulNotes/{{Greece}} Greek]] war of independence, which lasted nearly a decade, the country gained full independence in 1830. It claimed more territories from its former colonizer in 1881 and 1912 (the First Balkan War)
** The Treaty of Berlin in 1878 severely decimated the Balkan possessions, with UsefulNotes/{{Serbia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Romania}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Montenegro}}, all previously being Ottoman vassals (at least nominally), severing ties with the Ottomans for good.
** 1908 saw the loss of UsefulNotes/{{Bulgaria}}, which declared independence, and UsefulNotes/{{Bosnia}}, which was formally annexed by the [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic Austro-Hungarians]] (they had been ''de facto'' controlling Bosnia since 1878).
** Finally, the Ottomans lost nearly all of its European possessions in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, which saw Macedonia, UsefulNotes/{{Albania}}, and Western Thrace being gobbled up by the so-called Balkan League. The League soon clashed over the newly-acquired possessions, something that further ignited UsefulNotes/WorldWarI just a year later. In the end, the territories were mostly split up and annexed by Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia, while Albania was declared independent at Italy's insistence.
* This also happened to the Ottomans' archrival, the Habsburg Empire, in mostly the same region.
** UsefulNotes/{{Austria}} lost Lombardy-Venetia to UsefulNotes/{{Italy}} during its [[UsefulNotes/WarsOfItalianIndependence crusade to unite the Italian people]].
** Nationalist pressures forced Austria to grant autonomy to UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}}, creating the Austro-Hungarian Empire and dividing the realm between Cisleithania (Austria) and Transleithania (Hungary).
** Then after World War I, UsefulNotes/{{Croatia}}, Bosnia, and UsefulNotes/{{Slovenia}} seceded and joined up with Montenegro and Serbia to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later UsefulNotes/{{Yugoslavia}}).
** The German territories became part of Austria.
** Bohemia and Moravia left with Slovakia to form Czechoslovakia.
** Hungary became independent, but lost territories to neighboring countries.
** Also, Krakiv and Lviv joined the rest of newly-independent UsefulNotes/{{Poland}} (though the latter would become part of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} after WWII) and Transylvania joined with Romania (which at the time also included most of modern-day UsefulNotes/{{Moldova}} and the small bit of Ukraine to its south).
* After UsefulNotes/JosipBrozTito's death, ethnic tensions in Yugoslavia brought a more modern meaning to the term (as in through ethnic lines). Eventually, during UsefulNotes/HoleInFlag, Yugoslavia broke up in [[UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars an extremely messy manner]]. As of 2006, there are six different countries which formally rose from its ashes: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, [[UsefulNotes/NorthMacedonia Macedonia]], Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. In 2008, another balkanization occurred in Serbia: UsefulNotes/{{Kosovo}}, though half of the world has yet to recognize it.[[note]]After the breakup, the country called Macedonia had a messy dispute with Greece for nearly 30 years over its name (thankfully, no war resulted from it); Greece has a historic region of the same name, and didn't like another country claiming that name. The two countries finally settled the dispute in 2019. The Slavic republic renounced any potential territorial claims against Greece (not that it seriously made them anyway), and Greece signed off on the new name of North Macedonia.[[/note]]
** ''Series/TheDailyShow'' publication ''Literature/AmericaTheBook'' suggests that "today, each resident [of former Yugoslavia] lives in the Independent Republic of Himself".
* Then there was the breakup of the [[UsefulNotes/TheKingdomOfSpain Spanish colonial empire]]:
** The Viceroyalty of New Spain, which encompassed UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}}, Central America, UsefulNotes/TheCaribbean, and the UsefulNotes/{{Philippines}}, broke up in 1821 when Mexico declared independence, leaving the West and East Indies in Spain's hands. Afterwards:
*** The Mexican Empire endured for two years before fragmenting. It was much larger than Mexico today; barring the territories that were annexed by the United States after the UsefulNotes/MexicanAmericanWar, it also included most of Central America except for UsefulNotes/{{Panama}}. After the monarchy was abolished, the Central American territories split off to form the Federal Republic of Central America. This new state, in turn, lasted until 1841 before breaking up again into the five modern countries: UsefulNotes/CostaRica, UsefulNotes/{{Guatemala}}, UsefulNotes/ElSalvador, UsefulNotes/{{Honduras}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Nicaragua}}.
*** Meanwhile, in the Spanish West Indies, the UsefulNotes/DominicanRepublic declared independence in 1821, got re-annexed by UsefulNotes/{{Spain}} in 1861, and finally achieved full sovereignty in 1865. The rest of the colony, UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}} and UsefulNotes/PuertoRico, were lost to UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates after the UsefulNotes/SpanishAmericanWar in 1898. The former became independent in 1902, while Puerto Rico is still a US territory.
*** The Spanish East Indies was also annexed by the United States after the Spanish-American War. The Philippines achieved independence in 1946, while the rest (UsefulNotes/{{Guam}} and the UsefulNotes/NorthernMarianaIslands) remain US territories.
** The Viceroyalty of UsefulNotes/{{Peru}}, which encompassed UsefulNotes/SouthAmerica and Panama, was reorganized in 1717 to form New Granada and again in 1776 to form Río de la Plata. From then on:
*** The Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata was the first to break away, with UsefulNotes/{{Paraguay}} seceding in 1811, followed by the rest in 1825, forming UsefulNotes/{{Bolivia}} and the United Provinces of Río de la Plata. The latter balkanized again in 1828 after a war with UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}, forming UsefulNotes/{{Argentina}} and UsefulNotes/{{Uruguay}}.
*** UsefulNotes/{{Chile}} broke away from the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1818 after its war of independence. Peru itself achieved independence from Spain in 1824.
*** New Granada achieved independence in 1819 as a united country called Gran Colombia under the presidency of UsefulNotes/SimonBolivar. Dissension immediately sprung up, however, and in 1831 (within Bolívar's time) the country broke up, forming UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}}, UsefulNotes/{{Ecuador}}, and New Granada. The last of these later experienced balkanization of its own in 1903 to form UsefulNotes/{{Colombia}} and Panama.
* UsefulNotes/ThePartitionOfIndia split UsefulNotes/TheRaj along religious lines: a Hindu-majority country (UsefulNotes/{{India}}) and a Muslim-majority one (UsefulNotes/{{Pakistan}}). In 1971, Pakistan split off again, this time along ethnic lines: Bengali-majority (UsefulNotes/{{Bangladesh}}) and the rest (Pakistan).
* An [[InvertedTrope inversion]]: after the World Wars, the European powers began decolonizing their possessions in UsefulNotes/{{Africa}} and UsefulNotes/TheMiddleEast. Rather than splitting up their holdings by former tribal, ethnic, or religious lines, the new countries were mostly formed from the borders between holdings by different European powers, resulting in countries where different groups who spent most of their history fighting each other suddenly having to cooperate in governing a fledgling nation.
** The division of the Middle East by the Allies after the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire caused shockwaves which still resonate to this day. After the Ottoman Empire was officially dissolved at Versailles, the Treaty of Sevres split the Ottoman territories in the Middle East along the Sykes-Picot line, dividing the area into two zones (one being UsefulNotes/{{Iraq}}, UsefulNotes/{{Jordan}}, and [[UsefulNotes/{{Israel}} Mandatory]] UsefulNotes/{{Palestine}}, and the other being UsefulNotes/{{Lebanon}} and UsefulNotes/{{Syria}}), which were to be under European colonial rule before being eventually granted independence. Syria was formed into one territory even though it contained significant Alawi and Druze minorities who feared persecution from the Muslim majority, Iraq was united even though a quarter of the population were non-Arabs, and return of the Jewish People from the diaspora led to tension and conflict in the Palestinian Mandate. [[UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict Needless]] [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror to]] [[UsefulNotes/TheArabSpring say]], it turned into a recipe for disaster. Even Lebanon, which was specially carved by the French to ensure that conflict at least didn't happen to its Catholic majority, eventually succumbed to spillover from its neighboring states.
* Since UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat left no heir and no instructions for a regency (and his only son Alexander IV born after his death was quickly assassinated), his Macedonian Empire fractured after his death in 323 BC. Once the dust cleared (after ''[[UsefulNotes/MacedonianSuccessionWars forty years]]''), it was divided among his generals: Macedon (Cassander / Alexander's native Greece), the Ptolemaic Kingdom (Ptolemy I Soter / modern-day UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}} and southern UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}}), the Seleucid Empire (Seleucus I Nicator / modern-day Central Asia, UsefulNotes/{{Afghanistan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Iran}}, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and eastern Turkey), and the Kingdom of Pergamon (Lysimachus / modern-day Bulgaria, eastern Greece and western Turkey).
* The theme of a SpaceFillingEmpire's decay resulting into anarchy and division into fragmented interwarring states is one of the most recognizable patterns throughout history. The Persian Empire (several times from classical antiquity to early modern times), UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire, the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire, UsefulNotes/TheByzantineEmpire, the Spanish Empire, the French Empire, UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire -– the list can go on......
* In UsefulNotes/{{China}}, it's considered the "Mandate of Heaven" that eventually a dynasty will become corrupt, break down into warring states, and be reunified into a new dynasty due to the cycle repeating itself for 4000 years. This was of course very convenient, as it both gave justification for imperial rule (Heaven favors this person to run the country) while also justifying revolt and rebellion through explaining the corruption that dynasties inevitably suffer over time. This historical pattern happened to them so frequently that it became ''constitutional''. Summed up in the opening line to Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms: "The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide."
** After [[UsefulNotes/NoMoreEmperors the fall the Qing dynasty]], China fell into [[UsefulNotes/ChineseCivilWar a prolonged civil war]] that lasted until 1949. During these chaotic years, many states sprung up, some of them backed by foreign powers. These included UsefulNotes/{{Tibet}} and UsefulNotes/{{Mongolia}} (1912), [[UsefulNotes/{{Manchuria}} Manchukuo]] (1932), and [[UsefulNotes/{{Xinjiang}} East Turkestan]] (1933 and 1944). By the time the war ended, the communists had taken over mainland China and reintegrated Manchukuo and East Turkestan, also re-annexing Tibet in 1951. However, thanks to US intervention, they were prevented from conquering UsefulNotes/{{Taiwan}}, where the previous government had fled, therefore ''de facto'' creating two Chinas: the People's Republic of China (mainland) and the Republic of China (Taiwan). On the other hand, Mongolia remained independent as a result of Soviet intervention and became a sovereign country after the UsefulNotes/HoleInFlag.
* Russia has a few of this in its history:
** The fall of the [[UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia Russian Empire]] during World War I caused many peripheral states to split off, including the Baltic states, UsefulNotes/{{Finland}}, Moldova, Ukraine, the Southern [[UsefulNotes/TheCaucasus Caucasus]], and Central Asia. Many of these were quickly reintegrated by the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]], but the Baltic states remained independent and Moldova was subsumed by Romania during most of the interwar era (they finally fell to the USSR in 1940), while Finland flat-out escaped any annexation.
** In a somewhat logical conclusion of the events of UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev's reign, the Soviet Union balkanized itself in 1991. Within the span of a few years, 15 countries (UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Azerbaijan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Belarus}}, UsefulNotes/{{Estonia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Georgia|Europe}}, UsefulNotes/{{Kazakhstan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Kyrgyzstan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Latvia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Lithuania}}, Moldova, UsefulNotes/{{Tajikistan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Turkmenistan}}, Ukraine, UsefulNotes/{{Uzbekistan}}, and of course UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} itself) rose from the ashes of the Soviet Union. By the time the Soviet Red Banner was lowered from the Kremlin on Christmas 1991, the only place where the Soviet Union still existed was within the building's own halls.
* Some of the post-Soviet states later balkanized on their own; UsefulNotes/{{Abkhazia}} and UsefulNotes/SouthOssetia broke away from Georgia; UsefulNotes/{{Transnistria}} from Moldova; Crimea from Ukraine (formerly part of Russia, transferred to the Ukrainian SSR in TheFifties, attempted to break away in 1993/1994, reintegrated into Ukraine and given status as an Autonomous Republic and then annexed by Russia after a referendum in 2014), and [[UsefulNotes/RepublicOfArtsakh Artsakh]] from Azerbaijan. As the 2008 South Ossetian war has shown, a large number of these separations have been violent. Ironically enough, most of these further balkanizations have been under the auspices of Russia [[DivideAndConquer in order to weaken the states that broke away]], but also with a plausible reason –- most such territories are populated by minority ethnic groups and were semi-autonomous regions during the Soviet era, but lost the privilege once assimilated into the new republics. As is the case with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, their local populations were willing to fight to retain autonomy. Russia's autonomous oblasts retain their status, perhaps a lesson learned from the infighting within the breakaway states.
* Czechoslovakia followed the USSR's and Yugoslavia's example, splitting into the UsefulNotes/CzechRepublic and Slovakia in 1993. Thankfully, this split was nonviolent, being dubbed the "Velvet Divorce" (a shout-out to the Velvet Revolution, Czechoslovakia's phase of "Hole in Flag").
* UsefulNotes/{{Germany}}, to varying degrees in history. It spent several centuries as at least 300 states under [[UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire one theoretical state]], which decreased to around 20, both legally and in practice (though bound in an alliance), followed by a [[UsefulNotes/AllTheLittleGermanies shrinking number]] until there were two left (as far as Germans of the time saw it). After a short period of unification (75 years), it was [[UsefulNotes/EastGermany split in two]] during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, then reunified in 1990 (though UsefulNotes/{{Liechtenstein}}, UsefulNotes/{{Luxembourg}}, Austria, and German speaking parts of UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}}, UsefulNotes/{{France}}, Italy, UsefulNotes/{{Belgium}} and UsefulNotes/{{Denmark}} remain outside Germany).
** A certain secessionist sentiment remains, however, in modern Germany as well. Bavaria, which was historically an autonomous kingdom until the rise of [[UsefulNotes/WeimarRepublic Weimar Germany]], currently enjoys political semi-autonomy inside the German Federation as the "Bavarian Free State" (having, among other things, its own constitution), which (moderately) popularised the idea of an independent Bavarian Republic outside the federation and the EU (whereas others would even get back the monarchy too); at least one political party has been pushing this agenda for the better half of a century.
* UsefulNotes/{{Austria}} nearly experienced German-style balkanization in the aftermath of World War II. Like Germany, it was fractured into four zones occupied by the Allied Powers (France got Vorarlberg and most of Tyrol; Britain got Carinthia, Styria, and the remaining parts of Tyrol; the US got Salzburg and most of Upper Austria; and the Soviet Union got the rest of Upper Austria plus Burgenland and Lower Austria, which surrounds Vienna, a city that, like Berlin, was itself carved into four separate zones controlled by the Allies). Unlike Germany, however, the arrangements only lasted until 1955, when the Soviets agreed to grant Austria independence as a unified country on the condition that it will never ever join UsefulNotes/{{NATO}}, a status quo that remains to this day.
* In contrast to Germany, the United States categorically ''refused'' to do this to UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} following World War II. It can even be construed that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were partly done to make Japan surrender as swiftly as possible before the Soviets could step in and partition the country like they did to Germany. Which turned out to be a good idea, as the Soviets did have plans to claim more Japanese territory beyond the previous-agreed treaty to only occupy North Korea, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands.
* Following the death of Prince Bolesław III in 1138, Poland was divided among his sons and over the next two centuries fractured into smaller princedoms. It was not until 1320 that the major regions were reunited under a single ruler. Later on, the entire nation would be divided up between Prussia, Austria and Russia during the Partitions of Poland. Some of the other regions would not become part of Poland again until after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
* After UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan's death, the Mongol Empire split into the Chagatai Khanate (Central Asia), the Khanate of the Golden Horde (Russia and Kazakhstan), the Ilkhanate (Persia westward to Turkey), and the Yuan (China and modern Mongolia).
* Early in the 20th century, UsefulNotes/{{Ireland}} successfully gained independence in [[UsefulNotes/TheIrishRevolution a bloody but brief war]], only for it to be divided in 1922 between the Catholic-dominated 26-county Southern Ireland (later the Irish Free State, and then simply Ireland) and the Protestant-dominated six-county UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland.[[note]] Only two of Northern Ireland's traditional counties -- Down and Antrim -- have Protestant majorities today. The other four -- Armagh, Derry/Londonderry, Fermanagh, and Tyrone -- have Catholic majorities (and the latter two had Catholic majorities even in 1922). On the other hand, Counties Antrim and Down are by far the most populous in Northern Ireland (together holding about 63.5% of the entire population of the region), and Protestants retain a bare plurality in Northern Ireland as a whole (possibly slightly larger when persons refusing to identify have to choose).[[/note]] The messy nature of the split eventually led to UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, a 30-year low-level civil war in Northern Ireland over the matter of whether or not to reunite the two Irelands. The latter's situation looks to be slowly inverting with recent power-sharing agreements, though the 2016 Brexit vote might complicate matters.[[note]]Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU by a sizeable margin, whereas England leaned towards leaving the EU.[[/note]]
* Korea, which had been a united country for over a millennia, experienced this trope due to Western intervention. After World War II, the peninsula was divided along the 38th parallel north, with the northern and southern zones falling into the spheres of Soviet and American influence, respectively. After five years, the north decided to reunify the peninsula and invaded the south, beginning UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar, which ended in a stalemate and an unofficial armistice. The two are still divided today, as the communist, totalitarian [[UsefulNotes/NorthKorea Democratic People's Republic of Korea]] and the capitalist, democratic [[UsefulNotes/SouthKorea Republic of Korea]]. Unlike many examples though, they have a common language, culture, and heritage; the divide is solely political.
* When UsefulNotes/{{Vietnam}} achieved independence in 1955, it went through the Korea path, being divided into a northern Soviet-influenced communist North Vietnam and southern American-influenced capitalist South Vietnam. Unlike Korea, the north went to the guerrilla path immediately after, commencing the horror that was the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar. After 20 years, Vietnam became one again under communist rule, [[SubvertedTrope defying Korea's fate]].
* Sentiment for the secession of majority Francophone UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}} from UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} ebbs and wanes, culminating in a referendum in 1995 where secession lost by a small margin.
** One possibility suggested during the 1995 referendum was that parts of Quebec that were against secession[[note]] For reference, these areas include parts of the province France never controlled before 1763 -– the far north and West (where First Nations are far more likely to speak English than French) and the Loyalist-settled (but now majority Francophone) towns of the far southeast near the US border; also the Anglophone enclaves within UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}} and Hull,[[/note]] could split off from an independent Quebec and either form their own nations or more likely merge back into Canada.
*** The First Nations of Quebec have said that they hold their lands under treaty with the Queen, and know nothing of any "Republic of Quebec", and thus if Quebec secedes from Canada, they'll secede from Quebec.
** Quebec wasn't the first to attempt secession. Nova Scotia seemed to move to that direction in the first provincial election right after Confederation even occurred. British Columbia and western Alberta also mulled secession at the same time as Quebec. Newfoundland, the last province brought into the fold, has had a recent Premier who made overtures of secession. Even provinces came close to this at different times, such as creating a Province out of northern Ontario and dividing the Northwest Territories (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Nunavut were all carved out of the Northwest Territories).
** Saskatchewan and Alberta went through a phase of this in the early 1980s, with several secessionist parties, such as the Unionist party (Who wanted to join the US) and the Western Canada Concept (who wanted to make a new country from the western provinces and the territories.). The latter recently got semi-revived with the creation of the Western Bloc Party, but they're getting very little traction, coming in 3rd from last in the most recent election.
* Several political parties in Belgium want to split the country up between Dutch-speaking Flanders and Francophone Wallonia. Flemish nationalist party N-VA (the New Flemish Alliance) became the largest party in Parliament in the 2010 elections, leading to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%932011_Belgian_government_formation cabinet formation negotiations which dragged on for]] almost two years. Some figures point out that if Belgium were to split, it could become up to 4 different countries –- Flanders, Wallonia, formerly UsefulNotes/{{Prussia}}n Eupen-Malmédy, and the multicultural city-state of UsefulNotes/{{Brussels}}, which also functions as the headquarters of UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion.
* The newest country in the world, UsefulNotes/SouthSudan seceded from UsefulNotes/{{Sudan}} in 2011. Many argued that this was for the best: the country is mostly non-Arab and non-Muslim and had endured abuse and neglect from the central government for decades. However, significant foreign involvement was definitely a factor, something helped by the Sudanese government's extremely bad PR with West, which happily painted the conflict as an ethnic and religious one. Regardless, independence is ''[[PyrrhicVictory not]]'' a happy ending for the new country, which is currently embroiled in a civil war far worse than anything it had experienced under Sudan.
* In the latter half of the 19th century, several southern states in the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates seceded from the Union in order to ensure the continuation of slavery, forming the Confederate States of America. The division quickly spiraled into UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, which resulted in the CSA being reabsorbed into the USA after only four years.
** While the Confederacy was short-lived, one bit of it ''did'' last. After UsefulNotes/{{Virginia}} seceded, the people in northwestern Virginia decided they'd like to still be part of the Union. Therefore, they seceded from Virginia, forming the new state of West Virginia. Even though Virginia was brought back into the Union by the end of the war, West Virginia remains a separate state to this day.
** There's also a bit from the lead up: in 1820, as part of the Missouri compromise, UsefulNotes/{{Maine}} was added to the union as a free state to balance Missouri (a slave state). Before that is was part of Massachusetts.
** Some native Hawaiians argue that the U.S. annexation of UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} was illegal and call for the restoration of the Hawaiian monarchy. In 1993, UsefulNotes/BillClinton signed a bill which officially apologized for the not-nice way Hawaii was annexed back in the 1890s. In 2009, the Akaka Bill attempted to recognize native Hawaiians as a semi-sovereign "nation within a nation" (a legal status similar to that of mainland Native Americans, as well as Puerto Rico), but it failed to pass. Oddly, the claim that Hawaii isn't really part of the United States has only attracted the attention of a very few [[ConspiracyTheorist Obama birthers]].
** There also exists various movements to do this on the state level, though these would explicitly require the approval of both Congress and all states involved. Usually it's a case of one part of the state feeling shafted by the state government. Repeated instances that pop up on occasion (usually on slow news days) include UsefulNotes/{{California}} (either [[UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco north]]/[[UsefulNotes/LosAngeles south]] or coastal/inland[[note]]Despite popular perception, a lot of California away from the cities is really conservative[[/note]]), the Upper Peninsula of UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}}, New York between [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity the city]] and [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkState upstate]] (the big argument is over who would get to keep "New York"), and Illinois between UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} and downstate.
** You can take it another level with counties and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_secession municipalities doing it]]. Procedures, motivations, and success rates vary by state. For instance, both [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity Staten Island]] and [[UsefulNotes/LosAngeles the San Fernando Valley]] voted to secede and become their own municipalities in the last couple of decades. In Staten Island's case, their 1993 referendum was 65% in favor of secession, though they stayed within the City of New York due to the election of Rudy Giuliani who promised to address their two biggest grievances of making the Staten Island Ferry free of charge and closing the Fresh Kills Landfill. The Valley's push, on the other hand, had their proposal unanimously blocked by the city council even though their 2002 referendum was 55% in favor of secession within the Valley.
* This almost happened in the truest sense to the Roman Empire during the Crisis of the Third Century, when the empire was for decades overwhelmed with civil wars and military revolts. At its worst the empire split between the "real" Roman Empire centered around Italy, the Gallic Empire (mainly Gaul, Brittania, and Germania), and Queen Zenobia's Palmyrene Empire, which covered much of modern day Syria, Palestine/Israel, Egypt, and Turkey. All three "empires" were forcibly unified by 274, but it is an interesting what-if to consider what would have happened long-term if they were not...
** After this has happened repeatedly in Italy's history, which witnessed the creation and fall of ''dozens'' of independent states every couple of decades, modern Italy still isn't safe from the secessionist popularity. South Tyrol (at least) used to be a possible candidate for secession, as it was only obtained (relatively) recently from Austria-Hungary after UsefulNotes/WW1, and is thus ended up being German-speaking and Austrian-cultured. On top of it, it already enjoys semi-autonomy after a brief 'uprising' in 1961 ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_Fire casualties: 37 electricity pylons]]). Veneto, the region surrounding UsefulNotes/{{Venice}}, is one notable example of a region that still sees active campaigns for sovereignty by right-wing and nationalistic groups, particularly since it ranks (unsurprisingly) amongst the wealthiest places in Italy.
* After the shock of the Fourth Crusade, where invaders from Catholic Europe on the way to wrest UsefulNotes/{{Jerusalem}} from Muslim rule [[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades (again)]] instead invaded [[UsefulNotes/{{Istanbul}} Constantinople]] (short version: the Byzantine Emperor had recently been deposed, he appealed to the Crusaders for help in exchange for financially supporting them, got restored to the throne, then failed to pay up -- though not for lack of trying), the Byzantine Empire balkanized as a result of there being not only multiple rival Orthodox Christian claimants to the imperial throne but also squabbling Latin Crusaders who wanted to carve out their own independent territories. You had Epirus (northwestern Greece), the duchy of UsefulNotes/{{Athens}}, Naxos, Rhodes, the kingdom of Thessalonica, the principality of Achaea (southern Greece), the Empire of Nikaea (Asia Minor), and the Empire of Trebizond (which despite calling itself an empire at its peak consisted of the southernmost tip of the Crimean peninsula and...well, Trebizond itself and its surrounding areas). Some were reincorporated into the Byzantine Empire under the ruler of Nikaea in 1261, but a few like Trebizond would hold out for a while even after the Byzantine Empire was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1453.
* Balkan countries such as Bulgaria and Serbia underwent this in the Middle Ages, too. The Second Bulgarian Empire had various nobles secede since its (re)creation, culminating in what a visiting German chronist called "a thousand Bulgarias": the main kingdom (based in Târnovo, the traditional capital) given to the heir apparent, a province with a long history of secession (Vidin) given as a consolation prize to his disinherited older half-brother, and a despot seceding the Eastern province (Dobruja). The Serbian Empire fragmented into about ten fiefdoms shortly after the death of the ruler who carved it out, Stefan Dušan. All this fragmentation and infighting made the Balkans easy targets for the Ottoman conquest.
* Happened quite a bit in UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}'s history. Originally, it was divided between two separate colonies: Western Australia (formerly the Swan River Colony) and New South Wales. Over the years, New South Wales would fragment into Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, Northern Territory, the state it is today, and UsefulNotes/NewZealand (The newly-independent Australia offered both New Zealand and UsefulNotes/{{Fiji}} to join in. They refused, but they're still regarded as states on the Constitution). South Australia itself used to occupy Northern Territory, and short-lived states such as North Australia and Central Australia were also established. Later on, the Australian Capital Territory and Jervis Bay Territory also made themselves independent from New South Wales. As the Constitution of Australia allows for new states to be formed, regions such as Riverina (along the NSW-Victoria border), New England (northern NSW) and Capricornia (northern Queensland) have all lobbied for statehood. Just to add to the chaos, Western Australia has been threatening to secede from the rest of the nation ever since Federation became an idea (though their mood changes depending on how well their economy's doing).
* A big issue in modern Spain is the increasing secessionist will of Catalonia and, to a lesser extent, the Basque Country, especially since the economic crisis started. Nationalists are in power in both of those regions and the central government's refusal to organize a referendum about Catalonia only fuels resentment. The Basque issue is more complex, as the northern part of historical Euskadi is in France, which is a much more centralized country and where the Basque Country is a historical region but not an administrative entity.
** Similarly, the political turmoil of Brexit (the decision of the [[UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} United Kingdom]] to leave membership of the European Union) has threatened to cause this in the UK. While the overall result was a 52-48 decision in favour of Leaving, UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} and Northern Ireland overwhelmingly voted to stay in the EU, but were outweighed by the much higher English population. Electoral analysis even revealed that UsefulNotes/{{Wales}} would have narrowly voted to Remain, if not for the electoral influence of the numerous English retirees. Scottish nationalists therefore argue that this vote as ignoring the will of Scotland, and support for Scottish independence is growing, fuelled by the Conservative government of the UK outright refusing to let such a referendum happen, on the grounds that the 2014 referendum was supposed to be a generational thing (the Scots argue that the landscape has now changed -- a lot of pro-Union arguments invoked EU membership). Northern Ireland also feel like their concerns over customs barriers with the Republic of Ireland are being ignored, and Welsh nationalists have suggested that, if Scotland becomes independent, there will be precedent for Welsh independence. And then there's the semi-serious suggestions that UsefulNotes/{{London}} (which voted heavily to Remain) would become an independent city-state. To top it all off, polls showed that many Leave voters feel Scottish independence from the UK is an acceptable price to pay for getting UK (or, at least, English) independence from the EU. It's not an impossible outcome that Brexit could cause the eventual fracturing of the United Kingdom.
* And speaking of France, nationalists have recently won the regional elections in UsefulNotes/{{Corsica}} (although only by a relative majority) and the new president of the region went as far as to pronounce his inaugural speech in ''Corsican'', not in French − notably saying that "Corsica is a nation of its own, not a piece of another country" and making a clear distinction between the "Corsican people" and French people from the continent. The population is very divided on the question, though, not helped by the fact that armed terrorism was a thing on the island until not so long ago (a prefect was assassinated in 1998, for example).
** Brittany also has a history of nationalism due in part to its Celtic cultural roots, although most modern Bretons aren't really in favor of secession that much (the fact that some parts of the nationalist movement [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breton_nationalism_and_World_War_II had ties to Nazi Germany]] and promoted a similar ideology probably doesn't help).
* After the Battle of Austerlitz in 1806, the Holy Roman Empire collapsed in to two halves: Prussia and the "Confederation of the Rhine"; after [=WW2=], when the former Allies failed to agree on the nature of a re-unified Germany, the Western Allies (Britain, France and the US) created the German Federal Republic from their half, prompting Soviet premier Krushchev to remark "So, all we have to show for 150 years of history is the re-creation of the Confederation of the Rhine".
* UsefulNotes/{{Oslo}}, the [[UsefulNotes/{{Norway}} Norwegian]] capital, suffers under a perpetual threat of becoming this -- for political reasons. When the city has a right-wing leadership, the eastern part of the city suffers, and over the last decade, numerous threats were made on seceding the eastern parts of the city. Then, a more left-wing city council was elected, and then the ''western'' part of the city threatened to secede.
* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Crisis Congo Crisis]] in the former Belgian Congo (now UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo) has been caused by tensions between regions and the Léopoldville central authority and saw the following states created in 1960:
** A [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Katanga State of Katanga]] bed by Moise Tschombé and backed by [[MegaCorp powerful Belgian economical interests]] and foreign [[{{Mercenary}} mercenaries]] until they were crushed by the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations in 1963.
** A [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Kasai Mining State of South Kasai]] led by Albert Kalondji and ordered like Katanga above, yet with a lesser foreign support, created briefly both in 1960 and 1962-1963.
** A lumumbist People's Republic of Congo in Stanleyville, led by Antoine Gizenga shortly after Patrice Lumumba was arrested on December 1960 and was dissolved in 1961.
** In the troubles of July and August 1960, yet other secessionist projects were attempted, such as the secession of the Equateur province by Bolikongo and, even more weirder, ''the secession of the Bas-Congo region, where was situated the capital Léopoldville!''
* UsefulNotes/{{Cyprus}} has been divided in two since 1974. Although the island is mainly populated by Greeks, there is a significant (18% of the population) Turkish minority who felt that they were being politically marginalized since the country gained independence from Britain in 1960. The final straw was a rumor that the Cypriot government at the time planned for the country to join Greece, causing Turkey to invade the country. The Turks then set up an [[UsefulNotes/NorthCyprus internationally-unrecognized government]] encompassing the northern half of the island, leading to a massive migration as Greek Cypriots in the north scrambled to head south while Turkish Cypriots in the south headed north. The capital city, Nicosia, is also split in half, with each Cyprus basing their seat of government in their respective side of the city. Reunification talks have been repeatedly hindered because the Greek Cypriots want a unitary country, whereas the Turkish Cypriots want a federation.
* As UsefulNotes/{{Somalia}} descended to civil war in the 1990s, the northern region of UsefulNotes/{{Somaliland}} unilaterally broke away to govern itself. Somaliland was formerly occupied by Britain, unlike the rest of Somalia which was occupied by Italy, so it did have a precedent for this decision. However, no one has yet to recognize it, with the UN citing fear that it will create a precedent for other regions in Africa to secede from their mother countries if they are embroiled in civil war.
* UsefulNotes/{{Eritrea}} split off from UsefulNotes/{{Ethiopia}} in 1993, following a war of independence that spanned three decades.
* UsefulNotes/{{Namibia}} declared independence from UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica in 1990. Formerly South West Africa, it was a German colony that was taken over by South Africa as part of a League of Nations mandate in the aftermath of World War I. The mandate expired in 1966, but South Africa continued to illegally control the territory until the fall of [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra Apartheid]].
[[/folder]]

** In a somewhat logical conclusion of the events of UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev's reign, the Soviet Union balkanized itself in 1991. Within the span of a few years, 15 countries (UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Azerbaijan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Belarus}}, UsefulNotes/{{Estonia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Georgia|Europe}}, UsefulNotes/{{Kazakhstan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Kyrgyzstan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Latvia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Lithuania}}, Moldova, UsefulNotes/{{Tajikistan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Turkmenistan}}, Ukraine, UsefulNotes/{{Uzbekistan}}, and of course UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} itself rose from the ashes of the Soviet Union. By the time the Soviet Red Banner was lowered from the Kremlin on Christmas 1991, the only place where the Soviet Union still existed was within the building's own halls.

* Early in the 20th century, UsefulNotes/{{Ireland}} successfully gained independence in [[UsefulNotes/TheIrishRevolution a bloody but brief war]], only for it to be divided in 1922 between the Catholic-dominated 26-county Southern Ireland (later the Irish Free State, and then simply Ireland) and the Protestant-dominated six-county UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland.[[note]] Only two of Northern Ireland's traditional counties –- Down and Antrim -– have Protestant majorities today. The other four – Armagh, Derry/Londonderry, Fermanagh, and Tyrone -– have Catholic majorities (and the latter two had Catholic majorities even in 1922) -- on the other hand, Counties Antrim and Down are by far the most populous in Northern Ireland (together holding about 63.5% of the entire population of the region), and Protestants retain a bare plurality in Northern Ireland as a whole (possibly slightly larger when persons refusing to identify have to choose).[[/note]] The latter's situation looks to be slowly inverting with recent power-sharing agreements, though the 2016 Brexit vote might complicate matters.[[note]]Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU by a sizeable margin, whereas England leaned towards leaving the EU.[[/note]]

* This once happened to the United States. [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar It didn't last long]].
** One bit of it did last, however. After UsefulNotes/{{Virginia}} seceded, the people in northwestern Virginia decided they'd like to still be part of the Union. Therefore, they seceded from Virginia, forming the new state of West Virginia. Even though Virginia was brought back into the Union by the end of the war, West Virginia remains a separate state to this day.