Identity and Conflict in the Balkans

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Identity and Conflict in the Balkans

• Summary for Exam I

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News

• Death and Burial of Ibrahim Rugova
• Archeological discovery in Pella
• Avian flu virus in Slovenia
• Serbia-Montenegro tension
• Kosova-Serbia independence issues
• ICTY
• Search for indicted war criminals

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Kosovo Issues

• 1998-1999 conflict
• NATO bombing of Serbia
• KLA
• Refugees
• Status today

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Map of Danube regions
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Former Yugoslavia (six republics)

• Croatia
• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Serbia Kosovo, Vojvodina
• Montenegro
• Macedonia
• Slovenia

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Film on Balkan Wars (History Channel)

• Slovenia, then Croatia declare independence
• Serbia (as Yugoslavia) reacts
• Croatia and Serbia attack Bosnia
• Bosnian Muslims and Croats join Croatia against
  Serbia
• Dayton Accords in 1995

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Principal Events of War

• Rout of Serbs in Slovenia
• Destruction of Vukovar, Croatia
• Siege of Sarajevo, Bosnia
• Massacres (e.g., Srebenica)
• Dayton Accords

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Principal features

• Brutal violence
• Ethnic cleansing
• Sex camps in Bosnia
• UN indecision, ineffectiveness

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Divided Bosnia
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Croatia (and Kaplan)
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Balkan Ghosts Croatia today

• Zagreb
• Old City, Esplanade Hotel, Cathedral, St. Marko
  Church

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St. Marko Church, Old City
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Croatia Zagreb (Chapter 1)

• Religion and ethnic identity
• Croats vs. Serbs
• Catholics vs. Orthodox
• Rome vs. Constantinople
• Little differences strong antipathies

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Croatia Part of the Balkans?

• Feeling of superiority to Serbs
• Connections with Western Europe
• Proximity to Austria, Italy
• Roman Catholic ties
• Myth-based kinship?

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Early History Slav settlements in Balkans

• Slavs in the west peninsula (6th-7th c.)
• Independent kingdom (early 10th)
• King Tomislav Croat State
• Hungarian rule (late 11th)
• Alliance with western powers, Roman Catholicism

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Attitudes today

• Orthodoxy, Muslim Turks the East
• Habsburgs, Austro-Hungarian Empire the West
• We are part of the West

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Mutual resentments

• For Croats Serb rule in post-WWII age
• For Serbs Croats blamed for treatment of Serbs
  after WWI
• Assassination of King Alexander Karageorgevich
  (hero to Serbs)
• Crimes of Ustashe against Serbs
• Mistreatment of Serbs living in Croatia (from
  nationalist zeal)

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King Alexander I

• 1921-29 Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenians
• 1929-1934 Kingdom of Jugoslavia
• Assassination 1934 by Croat
• Newsreel

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Accusations?

• Forced conversions during WWII
• Willing complicity with Hitlers goals

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Kaplan to the Croats Historical Choices

• Fr. Strossmayer (voice of tolerance)
• Fr. Stepinac (voice of nationalism complicity
  with Ustashe)

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Religion Early Heroes

• Cyril and Methodius (9th century)
• Missionaries from Salonika
• Translations into (Old Church) Slavic
• New alphabet (Glagolitic)
• Major figures for Croats and Serbs

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Split in Christianity 1056

• Rome vs. Constantinople
• Catholicism vs Orthodoxy
• Croat alliances with Catholic countries

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Bishop Strossmayer (1815-1905)

• Voice (of the past) promoting harmony
• Conflict with Habsburg Empire
• Conflict with Vatican
• Secular spirit
• Urged tolerance for Serbs, for Eastern Orthodoxy

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Religion as Divisive Force During WWII

• Archbishop Stepinac
• Croat nationalism
• Piety dogmatism
• Religious zeal

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Stepinac Broader Questions

• Complicity of Vatican in WWII atrocities
• Hatred of Communism as justification for anything

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Fascist connections

• Collaboration with Nazis, Ustashe
• Tito equilibrium between groups, but nothing
  forgotten

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Outcomes Today

• Stepinac a symbol for Croatian identity,
  independence
• Martyrdom at hands of Tito
• Elevation in Catholic hierarchy
• Beatification by John Paul II in 1998
• John Paul II visited Croatia three times 1994,
  1998, 2003

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Another Wound Jasenovac
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Serbs, Roma
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Beginnings

• Germany and its Axis allies invaded Yugoslavia in
  April 1941
• Nazis permitted Ustaa organization to found
  Independent State of Croatia.
• Ustaa regime establishes numerous concentration
  camps in Croatia between 1941 and 1945
• The largest was the Jasenovac complex
• Number killed is big issue

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WWII Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia Issues

• Culpability (who, to what degree, supported Nazi
  Germany)
• Who was responsible for purges (Serbs, Gypsies,
  Jews)?

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Groups

• Role of Cetniks (Chetniks) (Serb monarchists)
• Role of Ustae (Ustashe, Ustasha) (Nationalists)
• Role of Partisans (Communists)
• Roles of Father Stepinac, Tito

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After the War

• The Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia,
  1945-90
• Six republics, two autonomous regions

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Nationalities related to ethnic origins

• Serbs, Croats, Macedonians, Slovenians,
  Montenegrins, and Bosnians (Bosniaks)
• Two autonomous regions, Vojvodina (Hungarian
  links) and Kosovo (Albanian links)

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Tito (Josip Broz) 1892-1980
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Biography

• Croat CP work after WWI
• Imprisoned 1928-34
• Formed Yugoslav Partisan force against Germans
  and Croatian allies
• Also fought against Serbian Cetniks
• Took control of country after WWII

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Post-war years

• For, then against Stalin
• Alternative Marxism, nonalignment movement
• President for life in 1974
• Associated with nonalignment during Cold War,
  communist pluralism
• Responsibility for civil war in 90s?
• Repressed Albanians
• Encouraged Serb nationalism

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Issues lingering today

• WWII relationship with Nazi Germany
• Ustashe collaboration with Nazis under Pavelic
• Who did what then?
• Communism under Tito equilibrium, but

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Next Kaplan Chapters

• Old Serbia
• Albania
• Macedonia
• Beograd

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Serbia Issues

• Religion Serbian Orthodoxy as strong part of
  identity
• Spirituality, suffering, martyrdom as themes
• Importance of monasteries Gracanica

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History Nemanjic dynasty (Kaplan)

• Stefan Nemanja first independent state, end of
  12th (free from Byzantine control)
• Son St. Sava prominence to Serbian Orthodox
  Church

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14th Century

• Beginning of 14th King Milutin glory days
• Architecture, women
• Died 1321 succeeded by son Stefan Uros
• Grandson Stefan Dushan huge kingdom
• B-H Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, N. Greece,
  Bulgaria
• Succeeded by son last of dynasty
• Elected Prince (Knez) Lazar (famous for 1389 loss)

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Ottoman Yoke Origins of Myth

• Serbia sacrificed to save Europe
• Serbia will be rewarded in heaven
• Turkish domination for centuries

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Post-Ottoman transformation

• TurksAlbanians
• Kosovo can be returned to Serbia now
• Famous speech by Miloevic in 1987
• Tito held all in fragile equilibrium

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Religion and Politics

• Close alliance in Serbia
• Victimization and suffering
• World War II experience, anti-Communism intensify
  feeling
• Momentum for violence builds from late 80s

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Conflict

• Focus on Kosovo Christianity vs. Islam
• Threat Albanians plan to cleanse land of Serbs

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Kosovo

• Prishtina-capital
• Tito built it from village
• Built university

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Kosovo, Kosova
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Myth of Kosovo

• Based on folk epics
• Sung and passed down by guslar
• One-stringed instrument gusle
• Songs collected by Vuk Karadic in 19th century

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Myth-2

• Prince Lazar defeated
• Chose heavenly kingdom focus on his oath
• Captured and beheaded martyrdom
• Other hero Milos Obilic

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Long literary and cultural heritage

• Cultural-political meaning lost battle must be
  avenged forces of good vs. evil
• Be patient accept suffering revolt redemption

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Albania

• 20th Century World Wars, Tito and Hoxha
• Post-Tito Kosovo again

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Albania

• Population 3.2 million (UN 2004)
• Illyrian heritage (pre-Greek)
• Occupied territory long before Slavs
• Distinctive language
• Centuries of Turkish occupation
• Occupied Kosovo, but never held it long
• Complex role in WWII
• Very secular state
• Animosity based on memory of massacres

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Ottoman domination 1479-1912

• 1878 Albanian League begins struggle for
  independence (in Kosova)
• Uprisings in 1881, 1910, 1912
• Declaration of Independence in 1912
• Territory ceded to Serbia in 1913 by London
  Ambassadors Conference

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WWI-WWII

• Occupied by Greece, France, Italy, Serbia,
  Austria-Hugary
• Enver Hoxha (Communist) led resistance in 1940s,
  WWII
• Peoples Republic in 1946
• Maintained independence and isolation from world
  powers, with special Chinese connections

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After Communism

• Hoxha died in 1985
• Communist rule ended in 1992
• Severe economic problems
• Migration of workers abroad
• Territory claims by Greece (which calls part of
  Albania Northern Epiros)
• Support for Kosova and Macedonian Albanians

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Enver Hoxha
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Politics

• President Alfred Moisiu
• Prime minister Sali Berisha

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Greater Albania
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Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Empire
(4th c. BCE)

• Whether the Macedonians of Alexander's time and
  before were Hellenes (Greeks) is disputed by
  scholars
• The question partly depends on the classification
  of the Ancient Macedonian language
• It also depends on how HE saw himself and his
  heritage, and how others saw him

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Empire
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Macedonias Complex History
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(No Transcript)
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FYROM Today (use for Kaplan)
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Ethnicities

• Slavs
• Albanians
• Turks
• Greeks
• Bulgars

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Kaplan Chapter 3 Macedonia

• Complex stories
• Competing nationalisms
• Common elements hatred and fear

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Skopje Bridge over Vardar
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Churches
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Mosques
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Topics

• 1877 Treaty of San Stefano
• 1878 Congress of Berlin
• Gotse Delchev
• Balkan wars, 1912 and 1913
• WWI
• Bulgaria and Bulgarians
• Okhrid as cultural center

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Kaplan Chapter 4 White City

• Beograd (Belgrade)
• Danube and Sava Rivers
• Border of two empires

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Milovan Djilas

• Right-hand of Tito in late 40s, early 50s
• Importance in break with Stalin
• Change in views dissident
• Imprisonment disgrace in 60s
• Literary, cultural output
• Died in 1995
• Significance for Serbian culture, politics

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Map of Balkan Peninsula
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Hall, Part I

• How do Croats regard Slovenes?
• How do Croats regard Serbs?
• Attitudes change, relations change toward the end
  of the section
• What happened?

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Early History of Balkans
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Early developments

• Large, indefinite areas
• Frequent migrations, invasions
• Questionable linguistic and ethnic identities

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Early Balkan Peoples

• During Neolithic Period (6,200-2,800 BC)
  Macedonia and Thrace were occupied by people of a
  different culture than those in the South of the
  Balkan Peninsula.
• In Middle Bronze Age (2500-2200 BC) and then
  again in Late Bronze Age (400-350 BC)
  Indo-European speakers arrive, among them Greek
  migrants from Pontic regions.

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2000 BC Indo-European Culture

• West - Istrians, Liburnians, Dalmatians,
  Illyrians
• North - Pannonians
• East - Daco-Mysians, Thracians, Phrygians
• South - Greeks, Macedonians, Pelasgians
• Scythian invasion eighth century BC
• Celtic incursions fourth century BC

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Classical antiquity

• is a broad term for a long period of cultural
  history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, which
  begins roughly with the earliest recorded Greek
  poetry of Homer (7th century BC), and continues
  through the rise of Christianity and the fall of
  the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD), to end
  in the dissolution of Classical culture with the
  close of Late Antiquity.

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Roman Empire 400 AD
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Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Empires

• Arrival of Avars, Bulgars
• Arrival of Slavs
• Bulgarian and Serbian Kingdoms
• Ottoman Empire

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7th-8th centuries

• Byzantine Empire (former Roman world south of
  Danube) becomes Greek under Heraclius I (610-641)
• Asiatic warriors (Avars Bulgars) arrive
• Slavic tribes disperse throughout region
• 1st Bulgarian Khanate (681) established under
  Khan Asparuch
• Bulgars assimilated by Slavs