east central europe: the former yugoslavia a case study in political and cultural geography
TRANSCRIPT
East Central Europe:The Former Yugoslavia
A case study in political and cultural geography
Brief History• End of WWI many boundaries
redrawn.
• Yugoslavia home of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
• Serbs took charge - caused tensions with other groups
• After WWII Tito took strong control-communism not compatible with nationalism of groups
• Set up six republics & two autonomous regions
• Tito died in 1980 - nationalism re-emerged.
Brief History
KosovoMonte-Negro
Nationalist Groups
• Slovenes & Croats - in north, Roman Catholic. Use the Roman alphabet
• Serbs & Macedonians - in south are Eastern Orthodox. Use the cyrillic alphabet
• Bosnians - in centre are Muslim and Eastern Orthodox
• Albanian - Muslim,in south. Separate state from Yugoslavia, but large numbers of ethnic group in southern Yugoslavia
After Tito’s death in 1980
• Slovenes and Croats, in the north,felt dominated by Serbs. Declared independence in 1991.
• Macedonia, in the south, making plans for secession
• Bosnia-Herzegovina in centre most ethnically varied yet dominated by Serbs
• Bosnian government supported Serbs; Serbs afraid Bosnia would become Muslim state; Muslims remain loyal to government.
• UN peacekeepers still remain
• Macedonia declared independence in 1992.• Within the state of Yugoslavia, Serbs were becoming uneasy with Muslims,
Croats and Albanian nationals, many had higher birth rates and were economically dependent
• Slobodan Milosevic power started war against Albanian nationals in the sw Yugoslavian province of Kosovo.
• Kosovo was site of important religious sites in Eastern Orthodox religion.
Kosovo
• Milosevic attacked Albanians
• NATO intervened and bombed Kosovo
• Milosevic arrested and charged with crimes against humanity
• “Ethnic Cleansing” of Muslims in order to eradicate other nationals from state:– assimilation, expulsion and extermination– Rape as a war crime