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BALKAN ETHNIC DIVISIONS.
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Conflicts in the 1990s in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Conflicts in the 1990s in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Civil war between Serbs and Croats in Bosnia. Ethnic cleansing. War between Serbs and ethnic Albanians; fall of the Serbian government. Contrasts Yugoslav conflicts to experience of Czechoslovakia which divided peacefully into separate Czech and Slovak national states. Effects of migration. History of the region. Nationalism.
Paper Introduction:
A Comparison of Ethnic Divisions in the
Former Yugoslavia and Former Czechoslovakia
For much of the 1990s, the attention of Europe and the world was riveted on ethnic turmoil in the former Balkan nation of Yugoslavia, as ethnic Serbs and Croats fought a brutal civil war in Bosnia, and then Serbs and ethnic Albanians fought in Kosovo. The first of these wars brought "ethnic cleansing" into the language as a synonym for genocide, while the second led to the fall of the Serbian government and the restoration of uneasy peace. The following discussion will contrast this experience with the contemporary experience of Czechoslovakia, which in 1997 divided peacefully into separate Czech and Slovak national states. Why was one separation along ethnic lines so violent and the other so peaceful?
The Yugo
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Slovaks andCzechs. Northern Ireland was relatively quite during the middle decades ofthe last century. Unlike the Balkan Slavs, however, the Czechs and Slovaks spokedistinct if closely related languages, and thus had some separate "ethnic"identity as peoples from the time they appear in historical records in theMiddle Ages (Buzassyova and Ondrejovic, 1997). A Comparison of Ethnic Divisions in the Former Yugoslavia and Former Czechoslovakia For much of the 199 s, the attention of Europe and the world wasriveted on ethnic turmoil in the former Balkan nation of Yugoslavia, asethnic Serbs and Croats fought a brutal civil war in Bosnia, and then Serbsand ethnic Albanians fought in Kosovo. Out of the Past. A comparison might be drawn here to Protestants and Catholics inNorthern Ireland. Titohimself was an ethnic Serb, but he firmly suppressed ethnic nationalism,and sought to strengthen a pan-Yugoslav identity. It should be noted that, in general, so-called folk migrations inremote historical periods did not necessarily, or even generally, involvemass displacements of populations. Buchsbaum, T.M. The distinction between modern Serbsand Croats was established, in its essentials, by this expansion of rivalempires and kingdoms. The Serbs, in the myth, had always stood alone. Nevertheless, mythology alone does not appear to be an adequateexplanation for explosive outbreaks of ethnic strife, such as took place inthe Balkans, even if such mythology lays a groundwork for it. The subsequent history of the Czechs and Slovaks, however, bearstriking similarity to that of their cousins to the south. A familiar annual image in Northern Irelandis Protestant parades commemorating 17th century victories over theCatholics, and marching through Catholic neighorhoods to drive home thepoint. EuropeanHistory Quarterly, 24, pp. Czechs and Slovaksfound themselves now under Austro-Hungarian rule. The Zionist myth of the promised land likewise encourages Israelisto dismiss their Palestinian cousins as interlopers on "their" land. There had been previous movements in bothdirections - in fact, the word "Scot" originally meant Irish, and becameattached to Scotland when some Irish settled there in the early MiddleAges. By 1914, it was strong enoughthat an Austrian archduke was assassinated by a Serb nationalist. Ethnic identity usually thus followed already-existing boarders. In contrast, in theformer Yugoslavia, ethnic hatreds were stoked by the deliberate policychoices of Slobodan Milosevic, resulting in nearly a decade of bloodshed.Whatever background factors may have led to this result, the conduct of oneman played a great role in bringing it about, and produced enormous humansuffering. Milosevic's policies, like Sharon's, produced a spiral of violence.Heavy-handed pro-Serbian measures provoked responses, sometimes violent, bynon-Serbs. For Serbs above all the Serbian national myth ofheroic resistance and repression gave definition to their history andaspirations. In both regions there were nationalist movements against theAustrians, then the formation of independent federal states after 1918,Nazi conquest that created cleavages along ethnic lines, and finallyCommunist rule in the postwar era. In the Balkans, the wave of ethnic strife through the 199 s waslikewise closely associated with one man: Serbian President SlobodanMilosevic. By along and complex chain of events, this assassination triggered the FirstWorld War. To take two other examples, modern Mexico is predominantly Spanish-speaking, even though the population is descended far more from the pre-existing Indians than from the relatively small number of Spanishconquerors. The history of the Balkanregion is extremely complex, and can only be briefly outlined here. All shared the common experienceof Turkish rule, followed by Austro-Hungarian rule, the sole exception tothe latter being those Serbs -- by no means all of them -- who wereincorporated in the independent 19th century kingdom of Serbia. 9. The ethnic distinction between Serbs and Croats is not a true ethnicdifference, even to the limited degree to which ethnic differences evercorrespond to any actual difference of genetic background. Some smaller and already distinct ethnicgroups -- notably the Albanians -- did become Muslims, but Serbs and Croatsremained Christians. References Baugh, Albert; and Cable, Thomas (1978). Those South Slavs who came under Byzantine rulebecame Orthodox, and used the Cyrillic alphabet. The first of these wars brought"ethnic cleansing" into the language as a synonym for genocide, while thesecond led to the fall of the Serbian government and the restoration ofuneasy peace. Nevertheless, with urbanization and literacy, these revivedidentities were reinforced. People in Francelearned to think of themselves as French long after a French state existed. No such movement of populations was involved in the respectiveformation of Serb and Croat identities. A difference isthat the Turkish presence in Central Europe began later and ended earlier;for example, no Muslim communities grew up in the region. By the 19th century, Ottoman control over the Balkans collapsed. No similar cycle of violence arose in Czechoslovakia, essentiallybecause neither Czech nor Slovak leaders chose to provoke it. In the Croat version,these roles were reversed. These in turn could be used to arouse Serb public opinion insupport of still more repressive measures, as well as supplying a pretextfor suppressing internal opposition or dissent among the Serbs themselves.The cycle of violence led to a succession of civil wars, which ended onlywhen Serbia's defeat by a NATO coalition in 1999 discredited Milosevic andled to his fall from power. By "myths" we do not here imply falsity (though a gooddeal of falsification of history was involved). Until the final stage, though, most of the violence tookplace between ethnic Serbs and Croats. In some cases, "ethnic cleansing" mighttake place in a particular district. For example, Serbo-Croatian isregarded by linguists as a single language (Baugh, 1978, p. National Minorities Issues from CentralEurope's History: Haunting Today's Europe. In Thinking Fundamentals, IWM Junior Visiting FellowsConferences, v. All of these instances suggest that we must look not only athistorical or mythologized background, but at the course of events thatleads to ethnic strife, and particularly to the role of leadership. Ingeneral the Croats are better-educated and Croatia more industrialized,while Serbs have lower educational and economic levels. In Yugoslavia, too,relative ethnic peace continued for several years even after the firm handof Tito was removed. Likewise, the modern Palestinians are not a group of relativenewcomers who came to Palestine only after the Arab conquest of the region. The spoken languages, however, are nearly identical. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. The war toppled the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Third Edition. Human Affairs, 7, pp. Also unlike the BalkanSlavs, however, both Czechs and Slovaks were Christianized from the West,and thus became Catholics. Czechoslovakia remained Soviet-dominated until thecollapse of the Soviet bloc in the late 198 s. Vienna: Published Paper. Both are drawn from a singlepopulation pool, descended ultimately from Slavic-speakers who migratedinto the Balkans around the sixth to tenth centuries (about the same timethat "Scots" migrated from Ireland to Scotland). This may be the case even if the two groups share a more commonorigin in a more distant past, as in the case of the Irish Catholics andthe -- partly Irish-descended -- Scots who formed the Ulster Plantation. After the war, Marshall Tito, leader of the wartime resistance, cameto power and established a Communist government. The following discussion will contrast this experience withthe contemporary experience of Czechoslovakia, which in 1997 dividedpeacefully into separate Czech and Slovak national states. They were perpetuated by theresulting rise of hard-line leaders on both sides of the Irish ethnicdivide. Gallagher, Tom (1999). Nor did they choose to follow a repressive course ofaction against the Slovaks as an instrument in "internal" Czech politics. Nationalism in WesternEurope had followed the formation of nation-states. A regional Communist functionary in the Tito era, Milosevicrose to prominence after Tito's death. (2 2). In the course ofdiscussion, we will also consider examples of other recent conflicts alongethnic lines for the sake of illustration. Such mythologizing seems to play a powerful role in perpetuating andenergizing ethnic conflicts. Religion is particularly powerful in creating sucha differentiation, since people tend strongly to marry with their co-religionists. There was thus no equivalent to the distinctByzantine and Western influences that acted upon the Serbs and Croatsrespectively. No back-and-forth migration, however, is needed to produce this sortof pseudo-ethnic differentiation. To find sharper distinctions, we must look back farther into thepast, to the contrasting cultural influences, Byzantine and Western, thatirradiated the Serbs and Croats respectively. Both Serbs and Croats, thus, are in large measure descended not onlyfrom a single Slavic migration into the Balkans, not distinguished by proto-Serb and proto-Croatian sub-migrations. 587-94. Even the level of violence between Israelis andPalestinians has increased sharply from the 199 s, when the Israeligovernment was making halting steps toward a peace settlement, to the levelproduced by the iron-fisted policies of Sharon. Rather, it is aculturally ascribed and accepted identity separation, within a populationthat is otherwise indistinguishable. Nationalist intellectuals and writers in bothpopulations drew on the old ballads and stories to create a heroic image oftheir historical past (Deak, 1998). Nevertheless, with nationalism rife in the late 19th and early 2 thcentury, the "ethnic" distinctions between Serbs and Croats were reinforcedand in a sense renewed. Thesewere -- and have continued to be -- reinforced by economic differences. Rather, by myths we meanstories that form a comprehensive world view, an overall framework forinterpreting events. Slovaks Narrating their DemocratizationProcess. Deak, Istvan (1998). Nevertheless, the difference between Northern Irish Protestants andCatholics is not purely ascriptive; there is a significant difference ingeographical background. The two countries enjoy good relations, their commoninterests as independent countries being stronger than the residue ofethnic dissatisfactions that led to the breakup. In "racial" terms, they are effectivelyindistinguishable. As a result, the breakup of Czechoslovakia into separate Czech andSlovak republics took place peacefully ("The Twentieth Century," n.d.) TheSlovaks did not have to fight to leave, and the Czechs did not fight tohold onto them. Later, in the Middle Ages, parts of the northern Balkans wereabsorbed by the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire, while other parts wereabsorbed by the Western Catholic Christian Holy Roman Empire, or by the(also Catholic) Kingdom of Hungary. They became "Arabs" by coming to regard themselves asArabs, and by adopting the Arabic language in place of their previous (andclosely related) Aramaic language. With the collapse of Communismthroughout Eastern Europe, he abandoned ideology as a political instrument,and took up instead the cause of ethnic Serb nationalism as a means tofurther his personal ambitions (Gallagher, 1999). 38-39. Both Serbs and Croats were restlessunder Austro-Hungarian rule, but the Serbs far more so than the Croats.The latter's traditions looked back past the era of Turkish rule to a timewhen they had had ties to an earlier Austria and Hungary. Even though both fell underTurkish rule over 5 years ago, these distant pasts were kept alive inmemory by the strong heroic folk traditions of both Balkan nations (Deak,1998), traditions that have no direct counterpart among Czechs and Slovaks. TheSouth Slavic migration that brought the Serbo-Croatian language to theregion took place in the obscure period after the fall of the Roman Empire. The Northern Protestants are substantiallydescended from colonists, the "Ulster Plantation," who came over fromScotland in the 17th century. Before examining the immediate circumstances that led to the ethnicexplosion in Yugoslavia after 1992, we may now turn to the historicalexperience of the Czechs and Slovaks. More generally, however, newcomer andexisting populations mingle in various ways. Someethnic tension appeared, and was exacerbated -- as in Yugoslavia -- byGerman conquest, when a puppet government was established under anextremist Slovak leader (Buchsbaum, 2 2). These old traditions are also relevant because they provided the rawmaterial from which 19th century Serb and Croat nationalists forgednational myths. The entire northern Balkans were conquered by Ottoman Turkey in the14th and 15th centuries. In such cases, people tend (forexample) to marry within their own group rather than intermarrying withneighbors of the other group. As a result, pan-Yugoslavism took no real hold, andinternal ethnic tensions continued to simmer just beneath the surface.Such was the situation upon Tito's death. Buzassyova, Klara; and Ondrejovic, Slavomir (1997). Since religious boundaries often correspond to politicalboundaries, religious and political identities -- and religious andpolitical distinctions -- tend to be closely related. Nevertheless, differences can be established by actual migration,particularly if in relatively recent centuries, as in the case of theUlster Plantation. Peasant villagers during the Turkish periodmust have been only vaguely aware of the Serb-Croat distinction, but by19 , it was being continually reinforced. Why was oneseparation along ethnic lines so violent and the other so peaceful? The Twentieth Century (no date).http://www.slovakia.org/history6.htm With the fall of the Nazis, Czechoslovakia again became independent,only to fall under Soviet domination in 1948. Germany invaded Yugoslavia during the Second World War, and the warfurther exacerbated ethnic tensions. These movements, however, tended on the wholeto bring Czechs and Slovaks together in a common cause, much more stronglythan had been the case in what became Yugoslavia. States associated with one ethnicity would thus invariablyinclude many members of other ethnicities (Gallagher, 1999). With the endof Soviet domination, ethnic fissures swiftly appeared between Slovaks andthe more dominant Czechs. Unlike the case inYugoslavia, the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia was strictly a Sovietpuppet, a status reinforced by suppression of the "Prague spring"liberalization in 1968. The German puppet government drewheavily on Croats, with their historical Germanic ties, while the Communistresistance movement was particularly strong among Serbs (Buchsbaum, 2 2). Vienna. In addition, theCzechs and Slovaks as communities played little role in the struggle; therewas no heroic ballad tradition comparable to those among the South Slavs. They are primarily descended from people who lived in Palestine fromprehistoric times. By the 18th century, the Turks were in retreat. Their ancestors, or a component oftheir ancestors, were part of the same broad Slavic linguistic and culturalexpansion that established Slavic languages in the northern Balkans. After the First World War, Czechoslovakia was established as anindependent country, contemporary with the formation of Yugoslavia. Newcomers may, however,impose their language and culture (more often informally than formally), orthe pre-existing population may assimilate to it. Those who were ruled bythe Holy Roman Empire (Austria) or by Hungary became Catholics, and usedthe Roman Alphabet. New Republic (June 8), pp. The distinction between Serbs and Croatsdeveloped as a result of shifting political and religious boundaries,boundaries that were formed, and shifted in various ways, after both weresettled more or less, where they now live. The Slovak and Czech languages (The Ethno-Significative,Culturological, Psychological, and Sociolinguistic Aspects of the RelationsBetween Two Nations and Their Languages. Thus, Serbs and Croats cannot read one another'snewspapers. In the 19th century,nationalist movements arose. Political Change in Eastern Europe. Israeli-Palestinian violence exploded in the wake of Sharon's tripto al-Aqsa, or the Holy Mount, accompanied by a massive praetorianbodyguard. Moreover, their struggle against the Turks, thoughultimately unsuccessful, gave rise to heroic folklore ballads thatpreserved the memory of a heroic past (Deak, 1998). Themodern Irish "troubles" were triggered by violent British repression oflargely peaceful demonstrations in 1968. In the Serb version the Serbs wereheroes, the Croats villains or at best bystanders. The Czech leadership was thus was not pushedtoward repression. The Turks, however, imposed neither theirlanguage or their Islamic faith. Nor are they descendedfrom different migrating groups. Thus, the histories of the Czech and Slovak nexus, and that of theSerb and Croat nexus, have far more in common for at least the last twohundred years than they have in contrast. Israelis, returning toan ancestral Palestine, are sharply distinguished by culture and self-chosen identity from Palestinians who are literally their cousins. Most especially, such differences can be preserved andreinforced if they correspond to enduring political or culturaldistinctions that keep two groups apart. Astriking modern case is Israelis and Palestinians. The Protestant immigrationwas large enough and recent enough -- and dramatic enough in its politicaland social consequences -- to create a persisting and "real" ethnicdifference, however muted the genetic difference in the two populations. A History of the EnglishLanguage. Slovak opposition leaders chose a nonviolentcourse (Stullerova, 2 ). They were ruledby the medieval kingdom of Hungary, only to pass under Ottoman Turkish rulein the 15th and 16th century ("The Middle Ages," n.d.). It iswritten in the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet by Serbs, and in the Latinalphabet by Croats. Anindependent kingdom of Serbia was established, while other parts of theregion -- including some with historically Serb populations -- passed underrule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They also speak the same language, English, and in thiscase also write it in the same alphabet. 3 ). EasternEurope, however, was ruled by multinational empires. By 1948, he broke withStalin, and while Yugoslavia remained Communist, Tito steered it toward anindependent foreign policy and relative economic liberalization. 141-58. It may occur in among populations whohave never migrated, or whose migrations took place before thedifferentiation arose. Discussion of the Balkan strugglewill therefore concentrate on those two groups. The tempo ofconflict, after all, varies widely. Whether Serb or Croat -- or Czech or Slovak -- ethnic nationalism inEastern Europe faced a fundamental contradiction. Ethnic groups wereintermixed. The Middle Ages (no date).http://www.slovakia.org/history3.htm Stullerova, Kamila (2 ). In contrast, the Northern Catholics are descended from the populationwho lived there prior to the Ulster Plantation. The people, even if descended from a Christianized population in Romantimes, became pagan as they became Slavic-speakers. They are also, probably, in largemeasure descended from the populations who lived there before some Slavicnewcomers imposed themselves, and local populations assimilated to Slaviclanguage and culture. Serbia and Croatia wereunited in the new state of Yugoslavia, the name meaning "South Slavia."Considerable ethnic tensions developed between Serbs and Croats. The Yugoslav picture was immensely complicated, with multiple ethnicgroups involved. Although not particularly repressive by Communist standards, Titonevertheless ruled with an iron hand, permitting only minimal and narrowlyconstrained dissent. Such is the case for Serbs and Croats. Except for the independence of Tito'sYugoslavia, as compared to the puppet status of Communist Czechoslovakia,remarkably little distinguishes the overall modern historical experience ofthe two pairs. Irish nationalists cultivateGaelic as a matter of national identity, but it is not the language ofeveryday use in Northern Ireland (or indeed anywhere else in Ireland).
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