History Main / BalkanizeMe

** The Treaty of Berlin in 1878 severely decimated the Balkan possessions, with UsefulNotes/{{Serbia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Romania}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Montenegro}}, all previously being Ottoman vassals, severing ties with the Ottomans for good.

* The backstory of ''VideoGame/StrikeCommander'' describes how every superpower in the game has disintegrated into its component states, including (but not limited to) the DividedStatesOfAmerica. Fighting then breaks out among these new countries almost immediately, while the remnants of the original superpower governments struggle to reconquer their old territories.

* ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' does it to itself. The fictional country of Cohdopia splits for unspecified reasons into Allebahst and Babahl. As well, the Republic of Zheng Fa seems to be a splinter country from China.

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* In the [[spoiler:original]] alternate history of ''Anime/EurekaSevenAO'', Okinawa Prefecture has recently seceded from Japan with help from China. Saudi Arabia also has become some number of nations one of which is the Republic of Faisal Arabia.
* In ''LightNovel/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 falses 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-universe example in ''Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse''. Whereas in the Celestiaverse Celestia allowed a bloodthirsty warlord to unite the Griffon Kingdoms into an Empire that is still one of the biggest threats to Equestria, Princess Luna was a bit more procative in her continuity, and signed mutual defense pacts with several of the more reasonable Kingdoms. Equestria's resources were more than sufficient to prevent the warlord's conquest, and the Kingdoms remain divided still.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.
* 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/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.
* In Creator/TomKratman's ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'', it's implied that the Indian subcontinent broke into many parts.

* 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 seperatist rebels throughout the series, specifically the nation of Deseret in Utah and the various socialist republics founded by blacks in the CSA.
* 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 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]], and the Grey Havens.

** Lebanon (between the Israel-occupied South and German-backed North), Jordan (split between a number of opposing factions due to Occult groups, Israel, and the government's inability to address either), Syria (whose southern tip seceded as Israel-backed Souadia - notice a pattern?);

* 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 the Jacek Piekera's AlternateHistory ''Literature/TheInquisitorCycle'' series, this is what happens to the Arabian Penisula; 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 Penisula is a fractured region between several polytheistic tribes which serves as a buffer state between Rome and the Persian Empire.

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': In [[Recap/RevolutionS1E5SoulTrain episode 5]], there is a map that shows that both Canada and Mexico have lost territory to the [[DividedStatesOfAmerica various nations that that make up what used to be the United States]]. For instance the California Commonwealth extends into both British Columbia and Baja California and the Monroe Republic not only comprises the northeastern quarter of the former US but also Quebec south of the St. Lawrence and the Maritime Provinces. There are no detail on the rest of those nations but presumably they've also broken up.

* ''Series/ServantOfThePeople'': In season 3, Ukraine collapses into 28 separate states. The President's task is to try to put the country back together without repeating past mistakes.

*** The Alliance of German States is more downplayed. The AGS is still a cohesive polity and lays claim to all the territory of modern-day Germany, but the central government of the AGS is significantly weaker than that of the Bundesrepublik that preceeded it, and acts more as a mediator in conflicts between the states and co-ordinator of the armed forces than a central government.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'', by comparison, partially avoids this only because most places are too wild to ''become'' nations, or the ones that do forms tend to quickly fill the old borders and then some. One notable exception being Japan, which is split into a High-tech time-displaced remnant of Pre-Rifts Japan, an anti-technology Empire of Samurai (who ironically, actually ''like'' the previously-mentioned Republic), a much meaner High-tech (with a smattering of {{Magitek}}) Shogunate, a kingdom of [[strike:Demons]]Oni, and a few scattered nations besides.
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace'' has a few examples, but probably the most balkanized country is Canada. The core of the country is still called Canada, and the rest are Quebec, Newfoundland, the Maritimes (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island), Nunavut, the ABC Republic (Alberta and British Columbia), and the Free City of Montreal. Quebec, Newfoundland and the Maritimes are members of UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion; ABC is a member of the Pacific Rim Alliance.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Risk}}''. This is really only done to provide game balance, as there isn't really much backstory to a simple board game. The extent of Balkanization is rather vague in ''Risk 2210 A.D.'', where one might believe ''every single individual territory'' to be a separate country (which would also mean that several places are inversions, such as most of South America and Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia). The two Koreas are also reunited.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' had the kingdom of Galifar, which split into five nations due to a [[SuccessionCrisis succession dispute]]. This was followed by an inconclusive war lasting 102 years, during which other lands seceded from the core five.
* The [[TheFederation Free Worlds League]] in ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech'' had always been a [[AHouseDivided unstable]] conglomerate of various kingdoms, but the effects of the Word of Blake [[NukeEm Jihad]], the realization that their leader was an [[BecomingTheMask impostor]] and that their real leader was a [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul genocidal psychopath]] - resulted in the [=FWL=] shattering into a dozen feuding states.
** The backstory also has the original Star League, which was shattered into the Successor Houses by the First Succession War.
* One popular map for ''TabletopGame/{{Diplomacy}}''--particularly for email play--is a world map set in 1861 and including the Confederacy as a playable power. Also, many countries are divided into subunits for play purposes, so this is easy to do.
* The ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}}'' Tabletop series heavily features a DividedStatesOfAmerica with California notably experiencing Balkanization in the form dividing in half and the main setting of Night City, being in the North.

* ''VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun'', ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'' and ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'' all gives plenty of opportunities to do this. (all of them feature various variations of DividedStatesOfAmerica for instance)
** On the topic of Hearts of Iron, the popular mod ''VideoGame/KaiserreichLegacyOfTheWeltkrieg'' has this several instances of this:
*** Just like the main game, DividedStatesOfAmerica is in full effect, though now it's a ''4-way civil war''. The US itself [[DayOfTheJackboot under the military command of]] UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur, the syndicalist [[CommieLand Combined Syndicates of America]] in the steel belt, the far-right [[ANaziByAnyOtherName American Union State]] in the south & the remains of American democracy in the form of the [[LaResistance Pacific States of America]] on the west coast. New England can even be annexed by the Dominion of Canada [[BlatantLies "for its protection"]].
*** Due to Germany winning the Weltkrieg, the Soviet Union never rose to power, so the the newly-formed Russian Republic had to cede territory to the German Empire. [[SarcasmMode They took it well]].
*** Italy broke into 5 states in 1919: The Papal States, The Republic of Italy, The Socialist Republic of Italy, the Kingdom of Two Sicilies & the Entente-allied Kingdom of Sardinia.
*** India has been split into 3 territories: The British-controlled Dominion of India, the syndicalist Bharatiya Commune and the Princely Federation, which operates under the old Raj system.
*** China is still split into more than a dozen warlords.
*** Mittelafrika doesn't ''start'' out as this, but it's particularly infamous for lasting a short time and eventually collapsing into so many countries at once computers have been lagbombed to a full, if brief, halt, leaving a giant pile of twenty or more countries that try to kill each other from the word Go.
** In the ''VideoGame/EquestriaAtWar'' mod for ''Hearts of Iron IV'', the nation of Equestria starts out as one giant united nation. It is possible however for a civil war to erupt through events, which splits the country in two between supporters of Princess Celestia and supporters of Princess Luna, with several regions breaking away and forming their own nations.
** ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'' mod for ''Hearts of Iron IV'' takes to extremes:
*** After a successful Operation Sea Lion, Great Britain is divided into England, Wales, Scotland, and a Nazi-occupied Cornwall.
*** The Soviet Union has shattered into dozens of warlords with most of them having a shot at re-unifying the country under every ideology in the game ... or collapsing back into yet more warlords.
*** The collaborationist Republic of China ''de jure'' controls all of China except for Japanese-controlled Manchukuo and Guangdong, but ''de facto'' only has authority over eastern China. The rest are independent warlords StillWearingTheOldColors, Japanese fiefdoms, and rebels.
*** India is divided between the Republic of India and Azad Hind, both facing minority revolts.
*** The Iberian Union can collapse into more than a dozen factions, with some seeking independence like the Basques and Catalonia. Their African colonies also break away.
*** The decolonization of Nazi-ruled Central Africa can result in the emergence of dozens of new statelets, either through [[{{Cincinnatus}} successful nation-building]] by the US or the complete and utter collapse of colonial authority.
** It's worth noting that in many cases this is not just possible, but is actually a powerful in game strategy. In Europa Universalis virtually any major power can be hamstrung this way. Annexing all of their territory would take multiple wars and a lot of time, while breaking off various parts into smaller nations is faster, easier and will hurt them more in the long run.
* We can't mention Creator/ParadoxInteractive games without mentioning ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings''--just as in the real MiddleAges, large kingdoms have an alarming tendency to fragment into independent states if the dukes and counts don't consider the king a worthy ruler. This sometimes happens peacefully, but [[CivilWar sometimes not.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' also does this. If an empire is having a rough time with its factions and internal happiness, some of them will start rebelling, and while it can probably bring them back under control given time, too many of them and the empire risks dissolution. There are also ways to weaponise the process yourself: a Feudal Society can create independent vassal empires that, unlike non-Feudal vassal states, retain the ability to expand and colonise, meaning you can create a new state to deal with colonisation on one flank, letting you focus on the other, and then reintegrate it later.
* ''SupremeRuler 2020'' has done this with pretty much the entire world (though some countries are slightly bigger, such as Belgium and Luxembourg forming one country).
* The air-buccaneering game ''VideoGame/CrimsonSkies''--based on a tabletop game [[AllThereInTheManual whose source books go into greater detail than the videogames]] - FASA (who created the tabletop game, as well as Battletech and Shadowrun) seem to love this trope--is set in a balkanized 1930s USA made up of several independent nations and micronations, as well as significant protectorates of European powers (mainly Britain and Germany). Russia has also split in the setting between White Russia and Red Russia who are both primarily focused on their own cold war they're having with each other.

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfHonor'' seems to start out this way, because the starting point is the Early Middle Ages, and Europe is very fractionated at this time. As playing time progresses the nations grow ever larger, however political unrest, the death of a ruler or religious revolts can result in entire nations fractionating into independent provinces.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl'' has the Canadian province of Ontario as an independent kingdom. The rest of North America, [[AfterTheEnd and presumably the world]], is in a similar state, Ontario is just the only one still going by its original name.
* In ''VideoGame/AfterTheEndAPostApocalypticAmerica'', the United States of America is now no more than a distant memory. Not even many of the original states we'd recognise today still exist. Instead, a number of kingdoms and mini-nations have sprung up with their own distinct cultures and religions. The same is true for Mexico and Canada. Interestingly, the inverse is true for Central America and the Caribbean, as the islands have merged together into new, unified empires (though WordOfGod states that the mod is being set up so that this happens to those Caribbean nations ''during'' most games, once the Empress dies and the kin-slaying crown prince takes the throne). Also inverted for [[spoiler:the United Kingdom, which over the centuries seems to have revived the British Empire and will be making an attempt to reclaim their colonies in North America]].
** It has also been long enough since the End that there have been time for empires to rise, stand mighty, and then fall. The Mahonics' New England at its height ruled from Buffalo to New Brunswick, but after they lost Hudsonia (more or less New York State sans New York City) their prestige was tarnished, and the defeat of a later attempted reconquest led to a series of wars and dynastic conflicts that by the start date has reduced the Mahonics' domain to the Boston metro area. The Empire of California took a different tack -- technically, the Empire still exists as a vast domain, but in practice the Emperor is a figurehead barely ruling Sacramento, with the rest of the Empire split into warring lords that only nominally recognize the authority of the Emperor.
* In mobile game ''VideoGame/{{Galimulator}}'' empires slowly fracture into smaller empires as time passes.
* In ''VideoGame/MaceTheDarkAge'', this happens all over Europe and the Middle-East due to Christianity and Islam never being founded to unify their countries, leaving them fragmented between countless tribes and pagan faiths. This is enforced by the Covenant of the Seven, who are using DivideAndConquer to leave them weakened to their control.
* ''{{VideoGame/Singularity}}'': In one ending, assassinating the dictator of the formerly world-conquering USSR and destroying the only means of researching the unobtainium for time travel causes the nation to utterly shatter into tiny city-states that make all its previous balkanizations combined look like a haircut.
* ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'': Following the climax of the second act, [[spoiler:with the fall of its capital Farbanti being the last news out of Erusea before the entire continent loses all long-range communication, the former HegemonicEmpire shatters. At least one long-defunct kingdom declares its independence, and many regions become de facto micronations with the stationed military being the only authority able to do anything. It's heavily implied that even if Erusea continues to exist after the war, it'll only ever be a shadow of its former self.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', the continent of Fódlan was once [[SpaceFillingEmpire completely dominated by the Empire of Adrestia.]] After approximately 750 years, a rebellion in the north led to the creation of the Kingdom of Faerghus, and then a scant 50 years later, Adrestia further balkanized when the eastern Leicester region also seceded, forming the Leicester Alliance. For another 50 years, Leicester found itself being invaded and annexed by Faerghus until they were able to seize the opportunity to kick the invaders out and become a true independent nation. [[spoiler:The end of each route of the game sees the continent reunited once more under the banner of whichever nation Byleth chooses to side with.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'': Happened to the Taiidani Imperium after the events of the first game, courtesy of the SuccessionCrisis and power vacuum created by the death of the Emperor. Various factions tried to seize control of the empire by force, while others chose to carve out their own smaller fiefdoms, and by the time the dust had settled the newly-founded Taiidani Republic was a quarter the size of its predecessor. Several large chunks of the rest are ruled by "Imperial loyalist" factions with ambitions to restore the old empire under one banner once more, but attempts to pool their resources and mount a joint attack are hamstrung by the fact that few of the leaders of said factions are interested in any plan whose end-goal isn't to put ''them'' on the throne. One thing they ''can'' mostly agree on is their grudge against the Hiigarans, setting up the plot of ''Homeworld: Cataclysm.''
* A slow-burn version happens in the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' verse. After the bombs fell, the survivors reverted to tribalism and independent cities, but by the time of ''[[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas New Vegas]]'' several larger powers have begun to emerge across the former U.S.: the New California Republic has spread across the western area (California, Nevada, Oregon), while Caesar's Legion has conquered the southwest (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico). In the midst of their clash at the Hoover Dam, Mr. House wants to establish the Mojave as its own state free of them both. Meanwhile, on the [[VideoGame/Fallout4 East Coast]], a group calling themselves the Minutemen are working to unify the numerous settlements around the Boston area.

* ''Literature/DecadesOfDarkness'' starts with the USA falling apart, and later France, Italy and Britain will meet the same fate [[spoiler:after being defeated by Germany in the Great War]].

* The AlternateHistory project [[http://www.bethisad.com/ Ill Bethisad]] has only Russia as the only real SpaceFillingEmpire. Both Brazil and China are broken up into smaller states and the USA are a looser union than in OTL. [[http://ib.frath.net/w/images/0/08/WorldMap2001.png Here's a map.]]
* The Literature/ChaosTimeline does this to North [[strike:America]] Atlantis, and sometimes China, France and Russia. And even New Albion (New Zealand).
* Literature/UnionAndLiberty includes the balkanization of Mexico into a dozen states.
* ''Roleplay/CaptoIugulum'': Happens to Hungary, the United States, Kongo, the Franco-Burgundian Confederation (although it reunifies), Spain, and British South Africa over the course of the the NES.

* ''Literature/ForAllTime'' has too many examples to list fully.
** After World War II, Germany is divided into three states and Hokkaido becomes the Soviet-backed People's Republic of Japan.
** Israel is strangled in its crib and the land is divided between Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt.
** The Italian Civil War results in the independence of Sicily and Sardinia, while mainland Italy becomes a Communist state and eventually splits into north and south by the end of the 20th century.
** Yugoslavia is carved up by its neighbors following the Soviet's [[NukeEm nuking of Zagreb.]]
** France loses Brittany, Corsica, the Saarland, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon. [[spoiler: After [[TheCoup General-turned-Emperor]] Jean-Bédel Bokassa dies, the country collapses into half a dozen states.]]
** After an independence referendum in 1971, '''England''' secedes from the United Kingdom.
** China and the Soviet Union [[spoiler: both collapse after a series of nuclear conflicts in the 1970's.]]
** Canada, Indonesia, and Turkey also break apart over the course of the timeline.

* 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......

* 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.

* 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]]

** 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.

* 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.

* 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.

** 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.

* 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.

** In a somewhat logical conclusion of the events of UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev's reign, the Soviet Union balkanized itself in 1991, thus creating TheGreatPoliticsMessUp. 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.

** After the 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 Serbia, Romania, and Montenegro, all previously being Ottoman vassals, severing ties with the Ottomans for good.
** 1908 saw the loss of Bulgaria, which declared independence, and Bosnia, which was formally annexed by the 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, 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 World War I 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.

** Austria lost Lombardy-Venetia to Italy during its crusade to unite the Italian people.
** Nationalist pressures forced Austria to grant autonomy to Hungary, creating the Austro-Hungarian Empire and dividing the realm between Cisleithania (Austria) and Transleithania (Hungary).
** Then after World War I, Croatia, Bosnia, and Slovenia seceded and joined up with Montenegro and Serbia to form the short-lived Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia).

** Also, Krakiv and Lviv joined the rest of newly-independent Poland (though the latter would become part of Ukraine after WWII) and Transylvania joined with Romania (which at the time also included most of modern-day 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, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. In 2008, another balkanization occurred in Serbia: 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]]

** The Viceroyalty of New Spain, which encompassed Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and the 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 Mexican-American War, it also included most of Central America except for 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: Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
*** Meanwhile, in the Spanish West Indies, the Dominican Republic declared independence in 1821, got re-annexed by Spain in 1861, and finally achieved full sovereignty in 1865. The rest of the colony, Cuba and Puerto Rico, were lost to the United States after the Spanish-American War 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 (Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands) remain US territories.
** The Viceroyalty of Peru, which encompassed South America 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 Paraguay seceding in 1811, followed by the rest in 1825, forming Bolivia and the United Provinces of Río de la Plata. The latter balkanized again in 1828 after a war with Brazil, forming Argentina and Uruguay.
*** 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 Venezuela, Ecuador, and New Granada. The last of these later experienced balkanization of its own in 1903 to form Colombia and Panama.
* UsefulNotes/ThePartitionOfIndia split UsefulNotes/TheRaj along religious lines: a Hindu-majority country (India) and a Muslim-majority one (Pakistan). In 1971, Pakistan split off again, this time along ethnic lines: Bengali-majority (Bangladesh) and the rest (Pakistan).
* An [[InvertedTrope inversion]]: after the World Wars, the European powers began decolonizing their possessions in Africa and the Middle East. 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 Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine, and the other being Lebanon and 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 Zionist Jews were allowed to migrate to Palestine despite that being contrary to what had been promised to the Arabs a year earlier. [[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 ''forty years''), it was divided among his generals: Macedon (Cassander / Alexander's native Greece), the Ptolemaic Kingdom (Ptolemy I Soter / modern-day Egypt and southern Turkey), the Seleucid Empire (Seleucus I Nicator / modern-day Central Asia, Afghanistan, 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, the Byzantine Empire, the Spanish Empire, the French Empire, UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire – the list can go on......
* In 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 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 Tibet and Mongolia (1912), Manchukuo (1932), and 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 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.

** The fall of the [[UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia Russian Empire]] during World War I caused many peripheral states to split up, including the Baltic states, Finland, Moldova, Ukraine, the Southern 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, thus creating TheGreatPoliticsMessUp. 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}}, UsefulNotes/{{Moldova}}, UsefulNotes/{{Tajikistan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Turkmenistan}}, UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}}, UsefulNotes/{{Uzbekistan}}, and of course UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} itself rose from the ashes of the Soviet Union.
* 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 referendum in 2014), and 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 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 Czech Republic 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").
* 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 Cold War, then reunified in 1990 (though Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Austria, and German speaking parts of Switzerland, France, Italy, Belgium and 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 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.

* Early in the 20th century, Ireland successfully gained independence in 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]]

* When 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 Quebec from 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 Montreal and Hull,[[/note]] could split off from an independent Quebec and either form their own nations or more likely merge back into Canada.

* 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 Prussian Eupen-Malmédy, and the multicultural city-state of Brussels, which also functions as the headquarters of UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion.

** One bit of it did last, however. After 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, 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 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 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 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.

** 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 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 Jerusalem from Muslim rule [[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades (again)]] instead invaded 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 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.

* Happened quite a bit in 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 New Zealand (The newly-independent Australia offered both New Zealand and 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).

** Similarly, the political turmoil of Brexit (the decision of the 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, 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 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 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 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).

* UsefulNotes/{{Oslo}}, the 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 has been caused by tensions between regions and the Léopoldville central authority and saw the following states created in 1960:

** In a somewhat logical conclusion of the events of UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev's reign, the Soviet Union balkanized itself in 1991, thus creating TheGreatPoliticsMessUp. Within the span of a few years, 15 countries[[note]]Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and of course Russia itself[[/note]] rose from the ashes of the Soviet Union. Some of these states later balkanized on their own; Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia; 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 referendum in 2014), and 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 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.

*** The German Reich collapses into a 4-way civil war upon Hitler's death, with their colonial holdings also imploding. Certain paths can then result in second and ''third'' civil wars that shatter the Reich into dozens of warlords. Reichskommisariat Moskowien is notably forced to split into German and Russian-majority areas or face exploding into full-on warlordism.
*** The decolonization of Nazi-ruled Central Africa can result in the emergence of dozens of new statelets, either through [[{{Cincinnatus}} successful nation-building]] by the US or the complete and utter collapse of colonial authority. It has to be [[https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1644342492735251329/95E5DDF9A008A904F8190FD5944DC84DB9F87BC9/ seen]] to be believed. '''''Madagascar''''' implodes early in the game between two factions of the German colonial administration, Malagasy nationalists, and exiled Jews.
*** Ironically, DividedStatesOfAmerica is averted, though its political situation can be made extremely unstable.

* ''UsefulNotes/{{Oslo}}'', the 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.

* Several examples in Jasper Fforde's ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series, for example The Socialist Republic of UsefulNotes/{{Wales}}. Turned UpToEleven in ''Literature/TheLastDragonslayer'', in which basically every UK ''county'' becomes an independent nation.

*** Just like the main game, DividedStatesOfAmerica is in full effect, though now it's a ''[[UpToEleven 4-way civil war]]''. The US itself [[DayOfTheJackboot under the military command of]] UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur, the syndicalist [[CommieLand Combined Syndicates of America]] in the steel belt, the far-right [[ANaziByAnyOtherName American Union State]] in the south & the remains of American democracy in the form of the [[LaResistance Pacific States of America]] on the west coast. New England can even be annexed by the Dominion of Canada [[BlatantLies "for its protection"]].

** ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'' mod for ''Hearts of Iron IV'' takes it UpToEleven:

* In ''VideoGame/AfterTheEndACrusaderKingsIIMod'', the United States of America is now no more than a distant memory. Not even many of the original states we'd recognise today still exist. Instead, a number of kingdoms and mini-nations have sprung up with their own distinct cultures and religions. The same is true for Mexico and Canada. Interestingly, the inverse is true for Central America and the Caribbean, as the islands have merged together into new, unified empires (though WordOfGod states that the mod is being set up so that this happens to those Caribbean nations ''during'' most games, once the Empress dies and the kin-slaying crown prince takes the throne). Also inverted for [[spoiler:the United Kingdom, which over the centuries seems to have revived the British Empire and will be making an attempt to reclaim their colonies in North America]].

** This is the vision of the villain in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain''; by selling accessible nuclear programs to ''every'' nation ''and'' extremist group [[spoiler:and disrupting global communications with a bioweapon that kills based on the languages its victims speak]], the whole world would be balkanized. While this would end every oppressive empire in the world, they would be replaced with hundreds of cult-driven states even more divided than during the feudal eras, all NotSoDifferent due to their dependence on nuclear deterrence and violence through Metal Gears, yet incapable of unifying or even temporarily cooperating without destroying themselves from [[spoiler:the vocal cord parasite plague]] or getting nuked by their neighbors.

*** The Iberian Union can collapse into more than a dozen factions, with some seeking independence like the Basques, and Catalonia. Their African colonies also break away.

*** The decolonization of Nazi-ruled Central Africa can result in the emergence of dozens of new statelets, either through [[{{Cincinnatus}} successful nation-building]] by the US or the complete and utter collapse of colonial authority. It has to be [[https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1644342492735251329/95E5DDF9A008A904F8190FD5944DC84DB9F87BC9/ seen]] to be believed. '''''Madagascar''''' implodes early in the game between two factions of the German colonial adminstration, Malagasy nationalists, and exiled Jews.

*** The Iberian Union can collapse into more than a dozen factions with their African colonies also breaking away.
*** The German Reich collapses into a 4-way civil war upon Hitler's death, with their colonial holdings also imploding. Certain paths can then result in second and ''third'' civil wars. Reichskommisariat Ostland notably collapses into a 6-way civil war that can escalate into a '''''12-way''''' civil war.
*** The decolonization of Africa can result in the emergence of dozens of new statelets, either through [[{{Cincinnatus}} graceful nation-building]] by the US or the complete and utter collapse of colonial authority. It has to be [[https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1644342492735251329/95E5DDF9A008A904F8190FD5944DC84DB9F87BC9/ seen]] to be believed. There is even a 4-way civil war in '''''Madagascar'''''.

*** The collaborationist Republic of China ''de jure'' controls all of China except for Japanese-controlled Manchukuo and Guangdong, but ''de facto'' only has authority over eastern China. The rest are independent warlords [[StillWearingTheOldColors]], Japanese fiefdoms, and rebels.

*** The collaborationist Republic of China ''de jure'' controls all of China except for Japanese-controlled Manchukuo and Guangdong, but ''de facto'' only has authority over eastern China. The rest are ''de facto'' independent warlords, Japanese fiefdoms, and rebels.

** The ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'' mod for ''Hearts of Iron IV'' takes it UpToEleven:

*** The collaborationist Republic of China has ''de jure'' controls all of China except for Japanese-controlled Manchukuo and Guangdong, but ''de facto'' only has authority over eastern China. The rest are ''de facto'' independent warlords, Japanese fiefdoms, and rebels.

** In the ''VideoGame/EquestriaAtWar'' mod for Hearts of Iron IV, the nation of Equestria starts out as one giant united nation. It is possible however for a civil war to erupt through events, which splits the country in two between supporters of Princess Celestia and supporters of Princess Luna, with several regions breaking away and forming their own nations.

** This is the ultimate goal of the antagonist in MetalGearSolid5; by selling accessible nuclear programs to ''every 3rd-world nation and extremist group'' [[spoiler:and disrupting global communications with a bioweapon that kills based on the languages its victims speak]], the whole world would be balkanized, ending every empire in the world and replacing the remains with cult-driven nation states, all NotSoDifferent and incapable of unifying without destroying themselves.

* In ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'', [[DividedStatesOfAmerica America]], [[RedScare Russia]], China, and [[LandDownUnder Australia]] all consist of independent [[MegaCity Mega-Cities]] and massive radioactive deserts.

** 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 Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine, and the other being Lebanon and Syria), which were to be 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 Zionist Jews were allowed to migrate to Palestine despite that being contrary to what had been promised to the Arabs a year earlier. [[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.

* 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 civilisation can wait until everyone on the mainland dies off. 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.

* The air-buccaneering game ''VideoGame/CrimsonSkies''--based on a tabletop game [[AllThereInTheManual whose source books go into greater detail than the videogames]] - FASA (who created the tabletop game, as well as Battletech and Shadowrun) seem to love this trope--is set in a balkanized 1930s USA made up of several independent nations and micronations, as well as significant protectorates of European powers (mainly Britain and Nazi Germany). Russia has also split in the setting between White Russia and Red Russia who are both primarily focused on their own cold war they're having with each other.

* In ''VideoGame/AfterTheEndACrusaderKingsIIMod'', the United States of America is now no more than a distant memory. Not even many of the original states we'd recognise today still exist. Instead, a number of kingdoms and mini-nations have sprung up with their own distinct cultures and religions. The same is true for Mexico and Canada. Interestingly, the inverse is true for Central America and the Caribbean, as the islands have merged together into new, unified empires (though WordOfGod states that the mod is being set up so that this happens to those Caribbean nations ''during'' most games, once the Empress dies and the kin-slaying crown prince takes the throne). Also inverted for [[spoiler:the United Kingdom, which over the centuries seems to have revived the British Empire and will be making an attempt to take the colonies back]].

** The British and French machinations in the Fertile Crescent are particularly significant, with repercussions still felt by the world today. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the two split the Ottoman territories in the Crescent along the rather arbitrary Sykes-Picot line, dividing the area into a British (Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine) and a French (Lebanon and Syria) zones. Syria was united even though it contained significant Alawi and Druze minorities who feared the Muslim majority, Iraq was united even though a quarter of the population were non-Arabs, and Palestine was designated a state for Jewish immigration without meaningful consultations with Arabs who already dwelt there. [[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.

* Early in the 20th century, Ireland attempted to break free from Great Britain, 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]]