1. ‘Some Damned Thing in the Balkans’
Remember WWI Origins?
Post WWI – Yugoslavia established
Serbians dominate government
Ethnic and Religious Peoples
Serb Orthodox are in Serbia
Croatians are Catholic in Crotia
Bosnians are Muslim in Bosnia
Albanians are Muslim in Kosovo
BUT, it’s not that simple…..communities within communities
WWII –
Germany invades Balkans
Croats tend to side with NAZIS in opposition to Serbs
Post WWII
Marshall Tito, Communist
Yugoslav Federation
Croatia
Montenegro
Serbia
Slovenia
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Macedonia

2. Communist partisan during WWII - fought Nazis
Marshall Tito,
Communist partisan during WWII - fought Nazis
No allegiance to either USSR or US thru Cold War
Stalin demanded Tito fall in line with USSR
‘non-aligned’ movement
Kicked out of COMINFORM
‘market socialism’
reliance on debt and deficit economics
This would be problematic later….
Suppresses nationalist sentiments, maintains unity
authoritarian rule
more liberal than other communist states
but, still oppressive and a police state
Post 1980
Economic collapse
Unequal econ. development
Burden of debt upon populace
Serbs blame Muslim Albanians (Kosovo)
Serbs crackdown on other ‘non-Serbians’
kept peace between the ethnic

3. Yugoslavia – ‘Some Damned Thing in the Balkans’
1991 – USSR Collapses
Yugoslav Federation was falling apart….
At a meeting to determine the future of Yugoslavia, Serb nationalism promoted by Slobodan Milosevic prompts the other regions to declare their independence from Yugoslavia.
Nationalism had once again replaced communism as the dominant force in the Balkans.
New Nations:
Yugoslavia (Serbian)
Slovenia
Bosnia-Herzegovinia
Croatia
Macedonia
1992 –
MILOSEVIC becomes the leader of Yugoslavia (mostly Serbian).
Bosnian Serbs revolt against the Bosnian govt. because they do not want to live under a Muslim-led (Bosnian) govt.
Civil War begins.
Serbs are fighting against Bosnian Muslims and Croats.
Croatians and Bosnians also fought each other.
Fighting also occurs between Croats and Serbs in Croatia.

4. Patterns of Ethnic Settlement Facilitated the Conflict and Break-up
Slovene/Catholic 91%
Croat/Catholic 3%
Serb/E Ortho 2%
Croat/Catholic 78%
Serb/E Ortho 12%
Muslims (43.7%)
Croats/Catholic (17.3%)
Serbs/E Ortho (31.4 %)
Serb/ E Ortho 63%
Montenegrin/ E Ortho 6%
Albanian/Muslim 14%
Hungarian/Catholic 4%
Bosnia: 40% of
urban couples
ethnically mixed
Patterns of Ethnic Settlement
Facilitated the Conflict and Break-up
66% Macedonian/E Ortho
23% Albanian/Muslim
2% Serb/E Ortho
4% Turk/Muslim

5. ‘Balkanization’
break-up of Yugoslavia along religious and ethnic lines
Civil War(s)
Ethnic Cleansing
Genocide & Crimes Against Humanity
Slobodan Milosevic (Serb Nationalist)
purged moderates
played upon old fear/animosities
segregate populations, redraw national boundaries
NATO
Srebenica Massacre (‘protected’ by UN)
8 000 Bosnian men and youth ‘executed’ by Serbs
NATO launches air strikes…..Russia demand stoppage UN
Dayton Accord, 1995
Serb ceasefire
Serbs, Croats, Bosnian diplomats agreed to UN sponsored peace….
UN & NATO enforced
US/ Brit./ Canadians/ French
War Trials at The Hague
Milosevic dies in custody, 2006