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 nationalism re-emerged.

Brief History Kosovo Monte- 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 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 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