European History : Yugoslavia Death of a Nation
The Fall of Yugoslavia: The Third Balkan War, Third Revised Edition | 
 | 80% Recommended by our customers.
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 Very sad
This book gives a very clear-cut picture of the disintegration of Yugoslavia. The main protagonist was Slobodan Milosevic and the key ingredient was Serbian nationalism and expansionism. The Serbs wanted and obtained ethnic cleansing in Croatia and then Bosnia Herzegovina. All the pent-up hatred and nationalism that had been suppressed (at times violently) during the Tito years sprang to the surface like the bursting of a simmering volcano.
The religious -ethnic divide of Serbs (Orthodox Christians) and Croats (Catholics) were the first to go.
The violence first started outwardly in Slovenia (which was the most civil break-up) and moved inward, becoming with the violence, increasingly closer to Serbia proper.
Milosevic manipulated and controlled the media - using it to play on Serb history and its' supposed martyrdom by the Turks six hundred long years ago. He played the Serb-Croat and Serb-Muslim antagonisms superbly. Unfortunately it all started to go wrong as the Croats also started to use their own nationalistic animosities to the Serbs. And unfortunately caught in the middle of all this hatred were the Muslims of Bosnia Herzegovina who were the least powerful and the least protected. The Croatians received more aid as the war and the killings mounted.
Finally Milosevic - from increased international pressure - like economic isolation and NATO military escalation - was forced to back away from his Serb `brothers' in both Croatia and Bosnia.
But the cleansing had been done and the hatred remains. Sarajevo was a city that was integrated with mixed neighbourhoods of Serb, Croatian and Muslims, but now Sarajevo is bleak and segregated. All this reinforces the maxim that `might is right'. Villages were destroyed which had existed for hundreds of years. Some were re-populated, others were abandoned and entire areas were re-settled (cleansed).
In Bosnia Herzegovina half the population was killed or expelled.
The U.N. has a long term commitment to Yugoslavia. The European community sat far too long on the sidelines while the killings were being done. You would think that from all the experiences of World War II, they would have been far more proactive in preventing another European war. Why were negotiations with Lord Oliver going on at the same time that the killings were well under way in Croatia? After a war is under way it is too late to simply talk.
Excellent, but with 4 weaknesses
PROS:
- Cold, dispassionate summary of the causes of the Yugoslav Wars.
- Highly detailed (sometimes too detailed).
- Well-researched and documented.
CONS:
1. DETAILS VS. ANALYSIS: I wish I could trade off some of the incredible detail (which can be tedious to read after a while) for a bit more big-picture analysis, including some more about lessoned learned.
2. A BIT TOO BIASED AGAINST THE SERBS: The book is not nearly as "one-sided" as some Amazon reviewers claim. The authors fault nearly all the players. Yes, they fault the Serbs the most, but certainly not exclusively. Indeed, they point out how near the end Milosevic was a more eager peacemaker than any of the other participants.
3. OUT OF DATE: Written in 1996, it misses the Kosovo crisis. It could use a chapter with an update. Still, if you want to understand how the breakup happened, this book is fantastic.
4. SLOVENIA-SERBIA COLLUSION ARGUMENT IS WEAK: The book implies that Slovenia and Serbia were in cahoots. The argument isn't convincing.
CONCLUSION: Ex-Yugoslavs are often hysterically passionate about their region, making calm analysis difficult. I know, because I'm writing a book about Eastern Europe. Therefore, this book is valuable and useful despite the 4 flaws I listed.
Great Starting Point
I took a great interest in the Balkan war of the 1990's. At the time, i would have been listening to BBC reports & reading the Independent & Guardian.
In the past 5 years i have made several trips to the region. However, this is my first serious book on the subject. I read the book in 3 days instead of my normal 1-2 weeks. I just couldn't put it down whenever i had a spare moment.
It's a great starting point to learn the facts of the war rather than looking at the theories behind it. I would love to find a book which can bring me up to date with how things have evolved since 95/96.
As it's my first book i have read on the subject i cannot comment on whether i think it's biased towards one side. I am planning to start reading as many books on the subject as possible & hope that they are as fascinating as this one.
As a side-note, i am just planning my next trip to Bosnia. I looked at the arrival board on the Sarajevo aiport website. Most of the flights were from Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Banja Luka & Skopje. I heartening sight i believe!
Insightful, Deep, and Troubling
This book is an outstanding account of the political, cultural, and ethnic factors behind the meltdown and genocide in Yugoslavia between 1991-1995. If you are not familiar with the conflict, this work may be a bit dense as an introduction. However, if you are familiar with the basic Serb-Croat, and Bosnia-Muslim differences, this book will spell out in very exact detail many of the key events that led to the conflict there. It may refresh your memory and give you new insights. Offering a rich blend of history and current events, Silber and Little have produced a work of lasting value to anyone interested in those terrible years. It also makes one reflect, in a way yet unanswered, as to how people can plunge to such terrible depth of barbarity, yet also hopeful that the "ethnic cleansing" was ultimately brought to a halt.
Very detailed, but never boring
Probably the best account of what exactly happened in Bosnia, and how the whole thing started (not just Bosnia, but Kosovo and Croatia as well). Authors go into extensive detail, providing the reader with a solid background to the war(s). While I was intimately familiar with the conflicts, or so I thought, this book shed some much needed light on some of the doubts I had, some confusing contradictions I picked up through the media, etc. The book, contrary to what some people are saying here, is not biased at all. That one side is portrayed in an "evil" tone is merely a result of what that "side" did during the conflicts, as documented by thousands of media outlets, historians, cameras and photographs. Of course, no one is an angel, but that should not diminish the fact that - there are demons and then there are DEMONS. Or whatever the daily word for evil, bad, ruthless people is.
The book is thoroughly researched with a lot of important and verifiable information. It focuses on Croatia and Bosnia, mostly in Bosnia. It is the most accurate account that I've encountered yet; written in a clear and harmonious way. Did not get bored for one second, even though most of the information was not new to me. But what was new to me was certainly worth the wait.
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