It's not a case of following the most powerful, if this were the case then history would have proven this to be so. The Balkans is a region where cultures and religions have created a unique situation, within the fragmented society there are very clear fault lines. To understand these fault lines better I refer you to the old American Western 'the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly'. History in the Balkans has traditionally been viewed in terms of 'the Good' = People like us; 'the Bad' = People who are different; and 'the Ugly' = People who have a similar culture but do not belong to our group. For example, Serbs and Croats view each other as 'the Ugly' because of the Roman Catholic vs Eastern Orthodox divide and traditional loyalties shown towards the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople. Similarly the Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians and other Christian communities view Turks as 'the Bad' following many centuries of religious persecution towards the Christian communities residing in the Balkans. Interestingly, most foreigners don't understand the emotional conflict stemming from this 'frame of reference'. Then there are tensions between Eastern Orthodox neighbours such as Greece and Bulgaria stemming from centuries of conflict between Constantinople (Eastern Roman Empire) and Bulgarian Empire. Traditionally, Bulgaria has always coveted the coastline on the Aegean Sea. Russia has coveted the prestigious title of Patriarch of Constantinople. Similarly, the Serbs have always coveted the coastline on the Adriatic Sea placing them at odds with Albania and Croatia (Dalmatia).
There is however a common link to Germany in Greece and Bulgaria, the Royal family. Greece was the first Balkan nation to declare War on Germany in WWII, proving that Greeks were more focused on the integrity of Greece's borders with Bulgaria and Turkey, even if that monarch spoke Greek and adopted the Greek Orthodox faith as his own, it would not matter if Greece ceased to exist. This said, there has always been a strong class divide within the Balkans, most obvious in Greece due to it's capitalist undertones stemming from Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire. Wealthy Greeks are not homogenous in their worldview and never have been. The most striking example of this is to be found in the early days of the Modern Greek State and the founding of Modern Greece. There were three political parties in Government, the English, the Russian and the German. The Greek nobility was in the diaspora, a wealthy merchant class had emerged to rule Greece. Within this three-party system the poor Greek farmer/fisherman followed his archon, needless to say ... elections were never free or fare.
Today things have changed surprisingly little. The language divide prohibits the interchange of knowledge between cultures and old 'the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly' views of the world abound in this land of myth and fairytale. Oh, and another thing ... the 'Iron Curtain'. Politically, the majority of the Balkan population are Russian at heart. Religiously, they are Eastern Orthodox. Culturally, they are Byzantine. The minority groups are Roman Catholic and Muslim, and look towards Italy and Turkey ... and are culturally Italo-Celtic and Turkish.
