The positive and negative features of nationalism Bosnia

1. THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE
FEATURES OF NATIONALISMFEATURES OF NATIONALISM
Grade: 11
Term: 3
Topic: 4 – NATIONALISMS – SOUTH AFRICA, THE
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
Sub-Topic: CHAPTER 6 – THE POSITIVE AND
NEGATIVE FEATURES OF NATIONALISM: BOSNIA
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2. The destructive face of nationalism in
Eastern Europe
• Nationalism can be a force for good.
Unfortunately, it can lead to
xenophobia and other evilxenophobia and other evil
consequences.
• XENOPHOBIA: dislike of or prejudice
against people from other countries.
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3. Xenophobia, war, and ethnic
cleansing in Yugoslavia
What was Yugoslavia?
• Yugoslavia was established after World War One.
It consisted of six states and two regions. Its
population was very mixed and consisted of at
least seven different ethnic groups or ‘nations’,least seven different ethnic groups or ‘nations’,
each with their own traditions and languages.
• To make nation-building more complicated, each
nation had a very different history, because until
1918 the region had been ruled by either the
Turkish Ottoman Empire or by the Austro-
Hungarian Empire.
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6. • Although Yugoslavia had been a one-party
communist dictatorship since 1945, its
communist dictator, Tito, had managed to
keep Yugoslavia independent of both the
Soviet East and the capitalist West.
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• To keep ethnic nationalism under control,
he banned and imprisoned anyone who
tried to encourage nationalism and
separatism in any of Yugoslavia’s six states.

7. • In 1991, communist control in Yugoslavia collapsed.
• Ethnic nationalism of the most destructive kind
immediately flared up and soon virtually the whole
country was in a state of war.
• People stopped thinking of themselves as Yugoslavs
and took on their ethnic identity, demanding
independence and the exclusion of everyone else
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independence and the exclusion of everyone else
from their territory.
• Xenophobia swept across the whole country as
people turned against their neighbours they had
lived in harmony with for years, but who happened
to belong to a different ethnic group.

8. • Today, the area which was called
‘Yugoslavia’ until 1991, contains six
independent and separate states: Slovenia,
Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Montenegro and Macedonia.
• You do not need to know the details of all
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• You do not need to know the details of all
the wars that happened, all of which were
caused by destructive nationalism.
• We will focus on what happened in one of
the six -states, Bosnia.

9. What was Bosnia?
• Bosnia had been one of the six
republics of communist Yugoslavia.
• Bosnia was Yugoslavia’s most multi-• Bosnia was Yugoslavia’s most multi-
ethnic state.
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11. • Though all its inhabitants were of the same race
and spoke the same language, 40 per cent of them
were Bosnian Muslims.
• They are known as Bosniaks, the descendants of
people who had converted to Islam during the
centuries of Turkish rule over the area.
• About 30 per cent of the population was Bosnian
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• About 30 per cent of the population was Bosnian
Serb, with strong links to neighbouring Serbia.
• Less than 20 per cent were Bosnian Croats with
links to Croatia.
• Croats and Serbs are both Christians, though they
belong to different churches.

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13. • We can see that Bosnia’s population was very
mixed, yet its people had lived in harmony for
many years, respecting each other’s differences,
and often making friends and inter-marrying
with each other.
• This was particularly the case in towns,
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• This was particularly the case in towns,
especially in the beautiful capital city of
Sarajevo.
• In the rural areas, the different groups usually
lived in separate parts of the country.

14. Sarajevo
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15. • In March 1992, Bosniaks and Croats
voted in a referendum for
independence from Yugoslavia.
• In April, the European Union and the
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• In April, the European Union and the
United Nations officially recognised
Bosnia’s independence.

16. War in Bosnia, 1992-1995
• Bosnian Serbs were bitterly opposed to independence.
• The powerful president of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic,
wanted to create a ‘Greater Serbia’ by grabbing most of
Bosnia and adding it to his own country.
• He provided the Bosnian Serbs with weapons and
soldiers.
• They immediately surrounded Sarajevo and shot• They immediately surrounded Sarajevo and shot
anything that moved, from their positions on the hills.
• Sarajevo was under siege for more than three years,
bringing great danger and hardship for all its
inhabitants.
• Many people were killed.
• Large parts of the city were destroyed.
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17. • In the three years of war which
followed, the worst genocide in
Europe since World War Two
occurred.
• There were also widespread cases of
ethnic cleansing.
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ethnic cleansing.
• The war happened right across the
country in both towns and rural areas.
• It has left terrible scars behind.

18. War in Bosnia
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19. Ethnic cleansing in Bosnia
• Ethnic cleansing (a Serbian expression) meant clearing
out non-Serbs from areas in Bosnia which Serbs wanted.
• Soldiers and armed civilians rounded up the inhabitants.
• Some were shot and the rest were told to go and live
elsewhere.
During the three years of war, some two million people• During the three years of war, some two million people
out of a total population of four million became
refugees.
• Many of them, especially the men, were taken prisoner
and put into concentration camps.
• Their women were often raped.
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20. International involvement in the
Bosnian war
• This terrible war took place in the heart of Europe, which
was supposed to be too ‘civilised’ for such horrors.
• It was widely reported in the media. Everyone knew what
was going on.
• Refugees flooded into rich West European countries like
Germany.
• Refugees flooded into rich West European countries like
Germany.
• The UN, the European Union (EU), and the North Atlantic
Treaty Organisation (NATO) made many attempts to bring
about a cease-fire and get the three groups to negotiate.
• The UN stationed forces on the ground in Bosnia to try
keep the warring factions apart and prevent atrocities.
• Finally, in August 1995, NATO planes bombed Bosnian
Serb positions, forcing them to agree to negotiations.
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21. Genocide in Bosnia
• The United Nations had peace-keeping forces in Bosnia as
early as 1992.
• To try to keep the civilian population in the worst-affected
areas safe, they set up ‘safe havens’ in which civilians
could be protected from attack.
• Although ethnic cleansing also involved genocide, since
many were killed because of their race, the worst case of
genocide since World War Two happened under UN
many were killed because of their race, the worst case of
genocide since World War Two happened under UN
protection in July 1995.
• The UN had set up a ‘safe haven’ camp outside the silver
mining town of Srebrenica, east of Sarajevo.
• Here, some 8000 Bosniak men and boys were massacred
by Serb soldiers.
• They were supposed to be protected by Dutch UN forces,
but the Dutch did nothing to prevent the slaughter.
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24. The Dayton Accord
• In November 1995 the US government, led by
President Bill Clinton, hosted a peace conference at
Dayton Ohio.
• It was attended by the leaders of all three ethnic
groups in Bosnia and also by Serbia’s president.
• It was agreed to partition (divide) Bosnia into two• It was agreed to partition (divide) Bosnia into two
parts - a Serb Republic and a Bosniak-Croat
Federation, each with their own government and a
national government in Sarajevo.
• International advisers were sent to help Bosnians
set this arrangement up and forces from the
European Union were stationed there to help keep
order.
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25. Bosnia after the war
• Although Bosnia has been at peace since 1995,
nation-building has not gone smoothly.
• There are frequent disagreements between all
three groups and the Bosnian Serbs are determined
to keep their territory as separate as possible.
• Refugees have been helped to return home, though
many are too frightened to do so.
• The scars left by the war are too deep and too
recent to be sure that the country will ever succeed
in its present, partitioned, form. A truly united
Bosnian nation still seems far away.
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