ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Demographics of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Okay, so a long time ago, there was a big country called Yugoslavia. Inside of this country, there were many different types of people living there. Some of these people were called Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Macedonians, and Albanians.

Each of these groups of people had their own language and culture, but they all lived together in the same country. This is kind of like when you go to school and there are kids from different countries or with different backgrounds, but you all go to the same school together.

The Serbs were the biggest group of people in Yugoslavia, and they mostly lived in the central part of the country. The Croats were the second biggest group of people, and they mostly lived in the west. The Bosniaks were the third-biggest group, and they mostly lived in the south.

Now, even though all these people lived in the same country, they didn't always get along. Sometimes, people would fight and argue about things like religion, history, or politics. This is kind of like when you and your friends get into an argument about what game to play or what movie to watch.

Eventually, Yugoslavia broke apart into different countries, and each group of people got their own country. So, the Serbs got Serbia and Montenegro, the Croats got Croatia, the Bosniaks and Serbs got Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Slovenes got Slovenia, and the Macedonians got North Macedonia.

Today, each of these countries has their own culture, language, and way of life, but they are still connected by their shared history and background as former Yugoslavians.