Throughout the ages, this portion of Europe had been at the mercy of East and West, North and South.
It was used as a "buffer" zone.
It still is, and probably will be in future years, and future wars...
(See Yalta Conference-1945, when most of Eastern Europe was to be left under communist Moscow's "sphere of influence" for the next 45 years)

During Dracula's time, South Eastern Europe was ravaged by the relentless wars and battles against The Ottoman Empire which was trying to take revenge after the bloody crusades against the Muslim world (1100-1300) carried out by the Western European countries and "their" knights. The Ottomans (Turks) got as far as Vienna, Austria at one point. The Eastern European countries (present day Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, Moldova, Poland) acted as a shield for Western Europe.

View Yugoslavia - and what is left of it..