East Central Europe: The Former Yugoslavia

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East Central EuropeThe Former Yugoslavia

• A case study in political and cultural geography

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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.

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Brief History
Monte-Negro
Kosovo
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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

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After Titos 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

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• 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.

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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

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