The Good, the Bad, and the Milosevic

Nationalism was strong during the 19th century. The Slavic peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovinia no longer wanted to be a part of the Austria Hungary nation, but a part of Serbia. All the

After the First World War country was united with other Slav territories to form Yugoslavia. At the time, the population of Bosnia consisted of over 1,300,000 Serbs which were Orthodox Catholic Christians, million Muslim Bosnians and around 700,000 of Croats. They all were strong attached to this land by the historical and local claims. After the death of Josip Broz Tito, elections in 1990 brought nationalists to power in Slovenia, Macedonia and Croatia, which declared independence in 1991 and were recognised internationally. The Leader of Bosnia’s, Alija Izetbegovic called for independence too, and the country was recognised as independent by the USA and the EU in 1992. However, Bosnia’s Serbs weren’t happy because they wanted to be part of “Greater Serbia”. a Serbian named Slobodan Milosevic, a former Communist responded to Bosnian’s declaration of independence by attacking and bombarding the capital city, Sarajevo. Serbs shot down civilians in the streets, including over 3,500 children.

Serbians held an “ethnic cleansing” for anyone who was non-Serbian. Most non-Serbians did not correspond with the political and religious background which led to war and the Bosnian Genocide(”Bosnian” 1). The two genocides were both influential in making the world come together and work for the better good, yet they do differ in how they were conducted. Although the genocides of the Jewish ethnicity and Bosnian Muslims have comparisons, there are many differences in the processes on how and why people were killed.

One of the youngest nations of Europe, Yugoslavia was created after World War I as a homeland for several different rival ethnic groups. The country was put together mostly from remnants of the collapsed Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. Demands for self-determination by Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, and others were ignored. Yugoslavia thus became an uneasy association of peoples conditioned by centuries of ethnic and religious hatreds. World War II aggravated these rivalries, but Communist dictatorship after the war controlled them for 45 years. When the Communist system failed, the old rivalries reasserted themselves; and in the early 1990s the nation was rent by secessionist movements and civil war. Within several years these conflicts

A serbian terrorist group called the “Black Hand” killed Francis Ferdinand. After the assassination, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum or a final set of demands (457). In the ultimatum Austria-Hungary accused Serbia for not having a strict enough government and restricting the press. Also for allowing crimes to happen against the monarchy. The ultimatum demanded Serbia to stop all propaganda against their government and allow the Austria-Hungarian government representatives to suppress the subversive movement (Document 3).

After Bosnia-Herzegovina became independent, Bosnian Serb Radovan Karadzic set up his own government. Known as the “Serbian National Assembly” (“Bosnian Genocide” par. 3), this government was loyal to Yugoslavia. Backed by the Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, Karadzic had a vision of both “Bosnia and Croatia becoming part of a larger Serbian state. In 1992,

There are many other instances of ethnic cleansing throughout history, however, even with the idea being essentially as old as time, the term, “ethnic cleansing,” according to Gerard Toal and Carl Dahlman, “did not appear in the Western lexicon until it was quoted from an anonymous Western diplomat in an April 15, 1992 article in The New York Times” (18). The term was being used to describe the actions of Slobodan Milošević between 1987 and 1997. The horrible crimes Milošević committed against any non-Serbs around the Balkan Peninsula earned him the infamous title of the "Butcher of the Balkans" (Cohen 22). Milošević’s reign of terror may be broken down into three main offices, the President of the Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Serbia, the President of Serbia, and the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. These three distinct time periods brought about ever-increasing hardship and oppression for non-Serbs within the region, and each are definitive in Milošević’s nationalist campaign for Serbs, with an eventual climax of evil of

Nobody chose for it to come to this point, yes there could have been better ways to deal with the disagreement or there were ways to end the genocide before the Bosnians had to rise above. It wasn't fair that the Bosnians just wanted power in their country but they could have confronted the subject differently than just trying to overthrow the already set people in charge. Everyone likes power, but when is it enough to where you should give it up or you have gone too far. If you believe that the way to deal with disagreements is to turn to genocide you shouldn't be in charge at that point you’re over using your power for evil things. In my opinion and beliefs I think that the Bosnians could have waited a little bit to demand power because the cold war. The Serbians could have also given up power because the economy wasn't that good for them and they were just in the cold war which made the Bosnians angered because the Serbians got them in the cold war. It doesn't do much justice for the Serbians saying as they got them involved in the cold war, refused to give up after power, and the genocide was began against the Bosnians. Not only were the Bosnians killed but they were beat, killed, raped and humiliated. They didn't always do a “quick death” they wanted the Bosnians suffering to last (Bosnian Genocide). We notice the genocide but we

The Bosnian Genocide is a genocide that began in April 1992 with the goal to “ethnically cleanse” Bosnian territory. Serbians targeted Bosniaks (Muslim Bosnians) and Croatians civilians and aimed to eliminate them through the use of former Yugoslavian military equipment. Before the genocide began, many different ethnic and religious groups lived under Yugoslavia’s communist regime. Although there was tension, President Josip Broz Tito was able to keep the country together through dictatorship. Tito was considered a “benevolent dictator” and his regime ensured that the country stayed unified. However, when Tito died in 1980, the tension between different ethnic and religious groups increased and eventually led to the Bosnian genocide. Slobodan Milosevic rose to power seven years leader by using nationalism to his advantage. Milosevic favored the Serbs and and made changes to the constitution to show this. Milosevic also formed a military that was 90% Serbian. When Yugoslavia began to collapse in 1991 because of Slovenia and

The Yugoslav army was made up of Serbs, controlled by Milosevic. Croatia is where the first huge exterminations occurred shortly after they declared their independence from Yugoslavia. This resulted in hundreds of Croat men deceased. In 1992, Bosnia declared their independence from Yugoslavia. Bosnia was a majority Muslim population. Serbs believed that Muslims were an inferior race (Mike). Serbs placed Bosniak Muslims and Croats into concentration camps as a way to “Ethnically Cleanse” the nations. Two of the camps, Omarska and Keraterm, were places where killings, torture and brutal violence was happening. Another camp, Trnopolje, was a camp were mostly women, children, and elderly men were placed. This camp functioned as a staging area for rapes and massive killings. No other country knew about this as the Serbs were keeping it a secret. (REMEMBERING CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN

Slobodan Milosevic was the Serbian leader. He invaded Bosnia and killed hundreds of thousands of people - certain ethic groups were targeted (much like the holocaust).

The Bosnian War was an international arms conflict that involved 2 main sides, the Republika Srpska, and Herzeg-Bosnia. The Republika Srpska would show very little sympathy towards the Non-Serb population of cities they would occupy. 1995 of the Bosnian War reached its most violent climax, Bosnian Serb Forces in occupied Srebrenica began an ethnic cleansing of the Non-Serb population, and massacred more than 8000 people. Many generals and other people of high class within the Republika Srpska were tried for their actions, but none confessed and denied everything, this is what makes the following person so significant. Dragan Obrenovic, who was the only person who admit guilt for the Genocide and it taking place. The accused, Dragan

One of the reasons led to World War One was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by a Serbian (Fromkin 121). Although multiple reasons have been affiliated to his assassination, most of those reasons revolve around upholding Serbia’s power. On the one hand, Austria-Hungary had planned to attack Serbia since it was at its weakest point due to the adverse effects of the Balkan War they had just undergone (Fromkin 122). On the other hand, Serbia was making an effort to regain control over Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under the control of Austria-Hungary (Fromkin 122). Before the assassination of Franz, the Bosnia-Herzegovina crisis had heightened to a point where Austria intended to invade Serbia (Fromkin 74). It was evident that Serbia, through the assassination of Franz, was seeking to retain its independence and protect its regions from Austria-Hungary’s influence by intimidating

Known as Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, the Yugoslav Wars (also known as the Wars of Yugoslav Succession, the Yugoslav Civil War, or the War in the Balkans) were a series of wars fought in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Though the entire conflict can be divided up into four distinct wars, they are related due to their common origin and the presence of the same ethnoreligious groups in the multiple wars. These wars have become notorious due to the atrocious war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by all sides.

According to Alan Thornett, after the death of Tito, Slobodan Milosevic wanted to expand its Serbian territory and make a greater Serbia, by gathering together all regions that are inhabited by Serbs. This would mean that Serbia would have more power contrasting everyone else, and a little or no