Balkanization

History of the Balkans

0500s-Slavic people from Poland and Russia move to the Balkans0 Called “South Slavs” (the Croats, Slovenes and Serbs)

01300s-The Muslim Ottoman Empire conquers the region, causes religious differences

0 Islamic: Albania, Bosnia and Herz.0Christian: Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia and

Slovenia

Eastern Europe: A Cultural Crossroads

0People moving between Europe and Asia have had to cross this region leaving behind their culture

0Many Empires have controlled the parts of the region0 Roman Empire0 Byzantine Empire0 Ottoman Empire0 Austria-Hungary0 Soviet Union

Ethnic Regions in Yugoslavia

Fig. 7-22: Yugoslavia’s six republics until 1992 included much ethnic diversity. Brutal ethnic cleansing occurred in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo during the civil wars of the 1990s.

Ethnic diversity leads to…

0Balkanized: used to describe a small geographic area that could not successfully be organized into one or more stable states because it was inhabited by many ethnicities with complex, long-standing antagonisms towards each other

0Balkanization: the process by which a state breaks down through conflict among its ethnicities-as a threat to peace throughout the world, not just a small area.

The 20th Century

0Most ethnic groups in Eastern Europe wanted their own nation-states

0This desire for independence sparked many wars in the Balkan region0 WWI0 WWII

0After WWI the allies created Yugoslavia to unite several Balkan ethnicities that spoke similar languages0 Led by Tito from 1953-19800 Yugoslavia brought stability to the region for most of the 20th

century

Destruction of Multi-Ethnic Yugoslavia

0Rivalries between ethnicities resurfaced after Tito’s death breaking the country up0 Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia

during the 1990s0 Montenegro in 20060 Kosovo in 2008

Ethnic Cleansing: Bosnia

0 Yugoslavia’s 5 recognized nationalities were able to carve out 5 independent countries

0 Bosnia & Herzegovina0 48% Bosnian Muslim (seen as an ethnicity not a nationality),

37% Serb, 14% Croat0 BH Serbs and Croats wanted to unite with the other

republics0Began ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims to make their points0 200,000 + killed and 2 million fled their homes

0 Fighting finally ended in 1996 in an agreement that gave each group a portion of the state

Ethnic Regions in Yugoslavia

Fig. 7-22: Yugoslavia’s six republics until 1992 included much ethnic diversity. Brutal ethnic cleansing occurred in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo during the civil wars of the 1990s.

Ethnic Cleansing: Kosovo

0Kosovo0 Following the break up of Yugoslavia, Serbia was still a

multi-ethnic state0 Serbia still controlled Kosovo with its Albanian majority

0Begin campaign of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo0Forced 750,000 of 2 million ethnic Albanians from their

homes to refugee camps0NATO intervenes

Ethnic Regions in Yugoslavia

Fig. 7-22: Yugoslavia’s six republics until 1992 included much ethnic diversity. Brutal ethnic cleansing occurred in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo during the civil wars of the 1990s.