CHC2D – Canadian History Since World One Unit 4 – Lesson #02 After the Cold War

Background The Cold War lasted from 1945 to the fall of the Berlin wall in During this time Canada’s foreign policy was dominated by issues related to the Cold War. The Cold War gave Canada and many other western countries a direction and purpose for foreign policy, its end would make relations with the world more complicated.

Challenges of the 1990’s The 1990’s saw many challenges for western leaders including: Instability in the Balkans. Conflict in the Middle East. The integration of the newly independent states of Eastern Europe. Environmental issues & concerns. Ethnic conflict in Africa. Canada had to establish a role for itself within these new issues.

Instability in the Balkans One of the consequences of the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union was the political instability that it created in many parts of Eastern Europe. One area where this was especially problematic was in the Balkans. The Balkans are in the south-eastern part of Europe and have a very long and complicated history.

A Brief Balkan History The Balkans have been an area of Europe that were ruled by large empires for over 2000 years. This began in ancient times when the Roman Empire ruled the area and then converted to Christianity. After the fall of Rome, the eastern part of the Empire continued to exist ruled from the city of Constantinople.

Constantinople to Istanbul The Byzantine, or Eastern (Greek) Roman Empire, lasted from 476 to 1453 when the city of Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Empire, an Islamic empire that had been growing since the 600’s. The Muslims changed the name of Constantinople to Istanbul, and the people of the Balkans were now under the rule of Muslim leaders.

The Balkans under Muslim Rule When the Balkans were ruled by the Muslims, Christians were not persecuted or forced to change their religion or language. Muslims were favoured for positions in the government and were also encouraged to settle in these new areas. The Balkans were ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1453 to world war I, nearly 500 years.

After World War I The end of World War I saw the end of the Ottoman Empire and in its place were created several independent states. One of these new states created in 1919 was Yugoslavia, a large state that contained several different language and religious groups. After World War II, Yugoslavia became communist until the fall of the Soviet Union.

After the Cold War The end of the cold war created a situation where states in Eastern Europe were breaking apart. Religious and Language divisions were causing people to demand the creation of independent states for each. The problem in the Balkans was that the mixing of people had lasted so long that you could not easily identify where these new states should be.

The Balkan Crisis Infighting between the various groups in the former Yugoslavia became full scale ethnic war in 1991 when Slovenia and Croatia declared independence. Since this was technically a “civil war” the United Nations was not able to act, instead, NATO decided to send in troops to monitor a ceasefire and protect civilians