When one country splits it makes things interesting

Yes, many countries have split, but also many countries have joined together in my lifetime. I can remember when they smashed through the Berlin Wall & united Germany. I can recall a good deal of history on why so many countries in Europe have some very unusual borders. Usually, it was due to the Kings of countries, their ambitions, diplomacy & winning of wars that those ever-changing borders were the way they were. Today's people are perhaps trying to "right a hundred wrongs". Groups of people with the same language, similar cultural ties & beliefs, etc like to be together & like to declare themselves an independent country so they can rule themselves & do what they believe is best for the people. In the past, borders were no respecter of the wishes of the people. I think Sudan's case was also partly due to the Muslim & Christian beliefs of the two peoples there. We might yet see more so-called splits due in part to the wishes of the people finally being realized.

Talking about Yugoslavia, you forget Croatia and Montenegro. Not that I'm a type of person who likes to correct others, but I'm from Croatia, so... Anyway, reasons for splitting countries are various. Sometimes historical, political, religious, linguistic or all of this mixed together. Quite often big nations are divided between several countries,and they want their national country. Most obvious example are Kurdistan, nation divided between few countries, with different levels of autonomy in different countries. Europe is full of such examples. Spain has at least 3 provinces that talking language different from "Spanish" (Castellano to be precise) and they want autonomy or separation from the rest of country. Italy is on the verge of splitting between rich North and poor South, Belgium doesn't had government for more than a year because of French and Dutch speaking parts couldn't agree on it. And so on, almost every country in Europe has similar stories. And we shouldn't forget political reasons for this. I'm talking about global politics and profits. Starting a war in countries that had natural resources or geopolitical importance is a great way to make great profits, from selling arms to all sides in conflict to "investing" money for rebuilding the country after the war is over. In a short, that's what happened with Yugoslavia, even though everyone will tell different story about the reasons or causes of the conflict, depending from which side is looked at the issue.

I visited Prague in 2005, we had a long weekend there, the only two things that I remember about Prague was that it was all covered in snow and I got food poisoning there. It is interesting as to why a country decides to split and how the people are affected by the split, and whether the split is a good thing or a bad thing and whether it's right for the countries economy at the time.

It would make it harder because then you would need a visa for each country. For instance, if you Visited Yugoslavia before it broke, then you just needed one passport or visa. Now if you want to go to Serbia, you would need a visa, and if you decided to take the train to Macedonia, you would also need a visa for that country as well. I think as for breaking up, it is obvious. It is either for religious or the people on one side come from a different origin. For instance if one part everyone was descended from Germans, they would want their own country and if the other part, everyone was descended from Slavs, they would want their own country. It also makes sense if one religion was opposed to another and the others of the other religion were afraid of being massacred. However if they had their own country, they would have an army to defend themselves.

When I went elementary school Czechoslovakia, the Sovjet Union and Yugoslavia still existed and Germany was divided in West Germany and East Germany. I didn't visit Czechoslovakia before the country split into the Czech republic and Slovakia. I visited the Czech republic first and several years later I visited Slovakia. In the Czech republic I visited Prague and in Slovakia I visited Bratislava. Prague is much more popular than Bratislava, but I liked both cities. In the former Yugoslavia I passed through Slovenia and Croatia on the way to Greece, but I didn't have the chance to visit those countries, so I want to return another time and spend some time in both Slovania and Croatia. I would also like to visit the other countries in the former Yugoslavia. I have visited some of countries from the Sojvet Union (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and in the future I would like to visit Ukraine and the Stan countries. I think Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan would be a good combination.

Well, as you know I just came back from a cruise. I visited St. Maarten which is half French and half Dutch but it has been that way for some time. I do not know if St. Maarten is considered a country by itself. I guess not. Our tour guide told us that each side gets along well with the other side. There are no conflicts. One interesting tidbit is that when someone from one side of the island phones someone from the other side, they have to pay international rates. I think that religious differences cause a country to split such as Hindu and Muslim India. Same thing with Bangladesh. Politics also have an effect such as the split between North and South Korea. Germany was split up by the allies after their defeat in WWII. I live in Texas and there are groups that still want to secede from The United States for various reasons. In Cananda, Quebec wants to secede from The Canadian Union. It is all interesting. Politics and Religion. That is why most countries split, in my opinion.