 The separate Macedonian nation gained recognition after World War II when the "Socialist Republic of Macedonia" was created as part of Yugoslavia.Afterwards the Macedonian historiography has established historical links between the ethnic Macedonians and events and figures from the Middle Ages up to the 20th century.Following the independence of the Republic of Macedonia in the late 20th century, issues of Macedonian national identity have become contested by the country's neighbours, as some adherents to aggressive Macedonian nationalism, called "Macedonism", hold more extreme beliefs such as an unbroken continuity between ancient Macedonians (essentially an ancient Greek people), and modern ethnic Macedonians (a Slavic people), and views connected to the irredentist concept of a United Macedonia, which involves territorial claims on a large portion of Greece, along with smaller regions of Albania, Bulgaria, Kosovo and Serbia.