Balkan Conflict Report help

[RA88IT]

I doing a report on the subject. I am VERY VERY VERY AWARE of What it can come too. I been on these forums. Anyways I need to know the facts or at lease something damn close to a fact. I tried wikipedia, which of course didn't work. Reading books didn't work. Few facts, background info, in the nutshell.

I am doing a page on the BALKAN WAR. I Need help Understanding by not understanding it. Meaning the questions you would normally ask about a war you couldn't ask about the turmoil in the Balkans. That you could ask. It appears from my previous research. That the more you try to understand the conflict the less likely your going to. Anyhow I am just praying for some good info and this thread itself doesn't turn into flame war.

I am already have myself covered in front of the computer screen.:)

[Bombtrack]

PM Macs for a first hand account.

[PsihoKeke]

Which Balkan war? The First and Second, or the breakup of Yugoslavia?

[Lokos]

Which Balkan war?

Hahahaha... Brilliant, PsihoKekec. We do have a lot of wars to choose from, RA88IT. Be specific.

Otherwise, I'm not sure what you're after here. Most of the info, however biased, is available on Wikipedia.

Lokos

[RA88IT]

The breakup or better yet all the wars that fueled it to be the region it is today.

[The Balkan]

Hahahaha... Brilliant, PsihoKekec. We do have a lot of wars to choose from, RA88IT. Be specific.

Otherwise, I'm not sure what you're after here. Most of the info, however biased, is available on Wikipedia.

Lokos

Yea wiki IS a good source for at least the basic info.


The breakup or better yet all the wars that fueled it to be the region it is today.

lol...you're gonna have ALOT of reading to do.

[Vorian]

The breakup or better yet all the wars that fueled it to be the region it is today.

You have to start from the breakup of the Ottoman empire for that I am afraid...

[RA88IT]

For starters. I need reinforcement on the primary factions on the break up of Yugoslavia. Who hated who? Who backed who? Who's religion was that? This is what I got from the kiddie pool(wikipedia)

Serbs where Orthodox Christians
Croats where Roman Catholic Christians
Bosnian where Muslims

Did I forget anyone, did they fall under these religions, did religion even apply to the cause of war, and did I miss something? Can you add something?

:| HEADACHE

[Crna Strela]

Rabbit,

I think you are looking at the micro level of what happened -

- Don't fall into the trap of searching for answers with the christian vs muslins and orthodox vs. catholic cliches, these were used as weapons to achieve the final result.

- Every war is due to the Economy. Its all about securing resources and paths to expanding markets be it by diplomatic negitiations or when that fails use force.

Since the start of the break up of Yugoslavia it was always known this area is a Geopolitical strategic location between the East and West. Plans for energy suppies to Western Europe had to go through this region be it Bulgaria/Romania/Hungary or Bulgaria/Yugoslavia. So control of this region is going to be a priority for Companies/Countries selling resources via pipeline to Markets in the West.

Everything else is a tool from ethnic cleansing to Genocide to achieve this control. It is all now becoming obvious as contracts are being signed and competition between the US companies and Russian interests intensify.

This is the root of the issue in the former Yugoslavia ... believe it or not its up to you .. I have been following it for 15 years and this is what my conclusion resulted in.

Map of the piplelines below and some article links ... you can google this all you want .. there is and was so much information out there and if you just read between the rhetoric it becomes quite clear this battle was geo-political rather than religious.


http://www.serbia-info.com/news/2001-02/16/22419.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7195522.stm

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/06/F662C232-3B64-4FDD-8AD2-DDDFD43D2903.html


Strela

[The Balkan]

For starters. I need reinforcement on the primary factions on the break up of Yugoslavia. Who hated who? Who backed who? Who's religion was that? This is what I got from the kiddie pool(wikipedia)

Serbs where Orthodox Christians
Croats where Roman Catholic Christians
Bosnian where Muslims

Did I forget anyone, did they fall under these religions, did religion even apply to the cause of war, and did I miss something? Can you add something?

:| HEADACHE


Most Croats are Catholic.
Most Serbs are Orthodox.
Most Bosniaks are Muslims.
Most Kosovo Albanians are Muslim.

Serbs hate Croats.
Croats hate Serbs.
Bosniaks hate Serbs.
Serbs hate Bosniaks.
Kosovo Albanians hate Serbs.
Serbs hate Kosovo Albanians.


And then Croats and Bosniaks also hated eachother but to a lesser extent, and were allied at some points of the war and fighting at other points like in Central Bosnia.

Religion wasn't the REASON for the war but it was one major difference between all the factions so obviosly it was one more thing to fuel hate and separate. Religion is a big part of each groups ethnic identity.