THE YUGOSLAV WARSTHE YUGOSLAV WARSDr. Zoltán Grossman

The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Wash.

SloveniaSloveniaCroatiaCroatia

BosniaBosnia SerbiaSerbia

Monte-Monte-negronegro KosovoKosovo

MacedoniaMacedonia

Social and Territorial Definitions of Place

• SOCIAL Defines place as belonging to one ethnic or racial group

(“Law of the Blood”)

• TERRITORIAL Defines place geographically as home for all who live there (“Law of the Soil”) “Ethnic cleansing” in early ‘90s to match ethnic, state boundaries

BosnianFlag

(Bosniak/Muslim)

Bosniamultiethnic

state flag

SlovenianCroatianBosnianSerbianMontenegrinKosovanMacedonian

State Identity Ethnic Identity

SloveneCroatBosniak (Muslim)SerbMontenegrinKosovar (Albanian)Macedonian-Slav orMacedonian-Albanian

Croatian Serbs, Bosnian Serbs, Kosovan SerbsBosnian Croats, Serbian Croats, etc.Also: Serbian Hungarians (Voivodina), Kosovan Roma, Serbian and Montenegrin Muslims (Sanjak)

Ottoman Empire

Austro-Hungarian Empire, Serbia, Montenegro

Yugoslavia I

Yugoslavia I: Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Serbs, Croats, Slovenes united kingdom after WWI;Named “Yugoslavia” (Land of South Slavs), 1932

Fascist EuropeFascist Europe

Greater RomaniaGreater RomaniaGreater HungaryGreater HungaryGreater CroatiaGreater CroatiaGreater AlbaniaGreater Albania

Jasenovac,Croatia

Kosovo

World War II fightersWorld War II fighters

USTASEUSTASE(Croat Nazis)(Croat Nazis)

CHETNIKSCHETNIKS(Serb nationalists/fascists)(Serb nationalists/fascists)

PARTISANSPARTISANS(multiethnic Communists)(multiethnic Communists)

Yugoslavia II:Social Federated Republic of Yugoslavia

Communist Josip Broz Titorevived Yugoslavia in 1945.Croatian who promoted“brotherhood & unity”

Six republics of Yugoslavia, 1945-1991Croatia, Slovenia(Catholic)

Serbia, Montenegro,Macedonia(Orthodox)

Bosnia(Muslim)

Kosovo (Albanianprovinceof Serbia)

Kosovo province of SerbiaTito puts Albanian majority in charge;

Serbs have become minority but maintain historic claim

Tito dies; replaced byweak rotating leadership.

Economic crisis leads to(multiethnic) worker strikes.

Republic leaders start touse nationalist messages,weaken Yugoslav identity

Yugoslavia in 1980s

Models of ethnic harmony, 1984Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

By 1992, both cities were torn by ethnic uprisings,gang rule, and troops on the streets

Theories of ethnic hatred

It’s always there; politics can keep a “lid” on it

Croatian and Serbian leadersstoke ethnic hatred after 1989

It’s a tool used for political and economic power

Communism collapses inEastern Europe, 1989

Conflict among similar peoples(Serbs vs. Muslims vs. Croats)

Same race, spoken language

Different religion,script, “ethnic” group

Intermarried, cooperated,1950s-80s; at war 1990s

Muslim and Serb refugeesfrom Sarajevo, Bosnia

Yugoslav ethnic groups before break-up

Ethnic Serbsand Croatsfor irredentism

Bosnians,Kosovarsfor secession

Use of mapsas weapons

“Greater Serbia” Slobodan Milosevic appeals for ethnic Serb rightsat 600th anniversary of Kosovo Polje battle, 1989

Backs ethnic territoriality in Croatia & Bosnia;also State territoriality in Kosovo,

where Serbs are a minority

Serbs and Montenegrins

“Greater Croatia”

Tudjman’s Bosniapartition plan

Pres. Franjo Tudjman

Croats

“Greater Albania”Kosova Liberation Army (KLA)

Albanians

Former Yugoslavia Break-upSlovenia 1991

Croatia 1991

Bosnia 1992

Macedonia 1992

F.R. Yugoslavia 1992 (Serbia-Montenegro 2003; Montenegro ind. 2006)

Kosovo 1999(declared 2008)

Secession of Slovenia, 1991

Alpine republic close toAustria; no Serb minority.

Belgrade let go after short fight.

Soldiers’ mothers stepped in.

Secession of Croatia, 1991

Historic rival to Serbia

Close to Germany.Used WWII symbols

Large Serb minorities inKrajina and Eastern Slavonia.

Yugoslav Army attacks eastern Croatia cities Much of Vukovar & Osijekin eastern Slavoniadestroyed by Serbian shelling;Croatian scorched earth

Secession of Bosnia, 1992

Muslims, Croats did not want to stayin Serb-led Yugoslavia

Serbs, Croats sharedhistoric hatred of Muslims

Gangs form militias;looting, confiscationsresponse to economic crisis

Pre-warBosnia

Muslims 44%Serbs 31%Croats 17%Other 8%

Three-wayfight

Western recognition of independence

Led by united Germany;Premature withoutguarantee for minority(Serb) rights.

Krajina and Bosnian Serbssee replay of WWII;fight for Greater Serbia

Bosnian Serb snipersbesiege Sarajevo, 1992-95

Olympic Stadiumin Sarajevo

Mostar(Bridge)

Ottoman bridgeseparated

Croat and Muslimneighborhoods;Croatians blewit up in 1993.

“Ethnic cleansing”Forced removal of

an ethnic group

Serbs expelledfrom Krajina(Croatia), 1995

Albaniansexpelled

from Kosovo (Serbia), 1999

To make area ethnically “purer,”

increase percentage of majority in state

Croats expelled fromVukovar (Croatia), 1992

Burn This House(Ridgeway/Mladenovic)

Ultranationalism not “ancient hatreds” but modern method of divide and control

Economic reasons for ethnic cleansing, mass looting, seizure of homes

Minority rights within new states must be paramount

Ethnic Cleansingof Bosnian Muslims

Arkan’s Serbian Tigers

(Zeljko Raznatovic)

Srebrenica massacre, 1995Serbs kill up to 7,000 Muslims

Dutch UNtroopspowerless

Croatian ethnic cleansing of Serbsfrom Krajina, 1995

U.S. aided Croatian offensive into Krajina (borderland) andwestern Bosnia to defeat Serbs, but civilians expelled

Croatian ethnic cleansing of Serbsfrom Krajina, 1995

Humanitarian War?

Humanitarian Imperialism:Using Human Rights to Sell War

Jean Bricmont asserts that "to call on an army to wage a war for human rights implies a naive belief of what armies are and do, as well as a magical belief in the myth of short, clean, 'surgical' wars."

Humanitarian arguments against “barbarous customs” have always been used to rationalize European colonial expansion. His point of view "readily admits the barbarous nature of such customs, but considers that our interventions do much more harm than good, including in relation to making barbarism recede. And it points out that there is a considerable amount of 'barbarism' in our own 'civilized' countries, especially as they interact with others.”

Humanitarian War?

Post-warBosnia

Separate armies, currencies, etc.

Two governmentswith contiguous territories

Central gov’t?Refugee returns?Nationalist parties?

Comparing1991 and

1995

DaytonAccordLine

Dayton Accord (de facto Partition), 1995

Federation of Bosnia-Hercegovina(Croat/Muslim)

Republika Srpska(Serb Republic)

U.S. rubberstampsethnic cleansing?New republics now“purer” than 1991

Western troopsIn Bosnia

Kosovo fighting, 1998-99Between Serbia and Kosova Liberation Army (KLA);

2,000+ killed

NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, 1999

NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, 1999Resentment even from anti-Milosevic Serbs

after civilian targets, opposition cities bombed

Ethnic Cleansing of Kosovar Albanians, 1999

DestroyedDestroyedKosovo villageKosovo village

Ethnic Cleansing of Kosovar Albanians, 1999

Kosovo refugee crisis

NATO troopsin Kosovo

CampBondsteel

CampCampBondsteelBondsteelSerb pocket from

Mitrovica to north;both sides wantethnic partition

KLA ethnic cleansing of non-Albanians after NATO arrives

Serbs, Roma, Turks, Jews etc. accusedof siding with Milosevic, left in fear. Those

left behind in Albanian areas targeted by pogroms.Kosovo now ethnically “purer” than in 1999.

Clashes in northern Serb enclave of Kosovska Mitrovica

Roma (Gypsies)Non-territorial ethnic group traced to India;

5-7 million in Central/Eastern Europe.

Victims of Holocaust and skinheads;

Cultures threatened by settlement, internal divisions

MacedoniaCrisis

Ex-KLA fighters for Greater Albania in NW Macedonia, and in

Presevo Valley (Serbia), 2000-01.Full-scale war headed off by NATO.

Serbians vote out, overthrow Milosevic, 2000

Milosevic ontrial in TheHague for war crimes.Croatians alsovote outnationalists.

End of Yugoslavia, 2003

New leader Kostunica criticalof U.S. too.

Montenegro came nearindependence; Kosovo de facto independent.

West wants no more wars.

Co-equal name, 2003-06:Serbia and Montenegro

Independence of Montenegro, 2006

Montenegro has history ofseparate statehood from Serbia, despite common heritage

Bare majority for independencefrom Serbia followed byimmediate declaration

Serbia acquiesces in independenceto maintain allyship with formerYugoslav republic

Unilateral independence of Kosovo, 2008

Prime Minister Thaci (KLA)declares independence with majority Albanian support

U.S. and Western EU membersrecognize new “state” in Serbia’sprovince (not ex-republic)

Serbia, Russia, China, Spain seeas dangerous precedent

Serbs in north threaten to secede;could create new conflict

Ralph PetersRalph Peters