Yugoslavia Conflict essay

Ethnicity was one of the main causes of conflict during the Yugoslavian Civil War, for people in former Yugoslavia identified themselves mainly as Serbs, Croats, or Bosnians. Conflict would arise between these ethnic groups when a certain ethnic group would identify against the "other" and want there to be segregation between the groups. This concept of ethnic segregation was also intertwined with religion. Out of the former Yugoslavian state, the Bosnia and Herzegovina region was one of the biggest conflict areas. 40% of the population of the region was Muslim, also known as Bosniak. 33% was Serbian, also known as Bosnian Serbs, for they were people living in Bosnia that identified with the Serbian ethnicity and the dominant Eastern Orthodox Church of Serbia. 19% of the population in Bosnia identified as Croatian, also known as Bosnian Croat, for they were people living in Bosnia that identified with the Croatian ethnicity and the dominant Roman Catholic Church of Croatia. Serbia wanted to expand its territory and concentrate people that identified as ethnically Serbian in Serbia by expanding its state into enclaves of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Because of the unique distribution of ethnicity and religion throughout Yugoslavia, they played a vital part in the separation of Yugoslavia during the civil war. Nationalism was quite a big factor in the conflict in Yugoslavia. This is because the conflict was oriented around different groups of people with different cultures. With that being said people became more and more loyal to their certain group of people and less friendly and willing to accept other groups of people. None of the groups involved necessarily sided with one another because the Serbs had the strongest army and tried to take control of the area on their own. This created a huge conflict between groups of people in Yugoslavia and eventually lead to the fall of Yugoslavia. Language did not play a huge role in this conflict, but it is worth noting. There were multiple languages spoken in this area due to the different types of cultures that resided there. Language reinforced the ideas of separation, segregation, differentiation. This made people want to stay within their own group even more than before because if they left they would not be able to communicate with others. This is a prime example of how language strengthened the ideas of separation and segregation among the different groups in this area. Politically, the Yugoslavian Civil war was a mess. Not only did Croatia’s constitution guarantee that its minorities were weak, but Serbia still favored a communist system and a united Yugoslavia while Croatia favored independence and a free market democratic system. Countries picked a side. This was the heart of the conflict because like many other wars going on at this time, it was Democracy vs. Communism. While Serbians favored communism, everyone else was trying to break away towards a free market democratic system. Furthermore, the Albanian population of Macedonia, which is 40%, felt like they were being treated like second class citizens. They wanted to break away from Macedonia and become its own country towards the eastern side. This created yet another internal conflict, separate from Democracy Vs. Communism. The communist country Serbia was landlocked at the beginning to the civil war and wanted to take enough Croatian territory to have access to the sea. This meant lots of fighting with the goal of taking over land. This would also further the amount of land the communists controlled, and for all countries whom favored a free market democratic system, giving more land meant giving up more power. Migration attributed to some important events over the course of the civil war. Over 600,000 war refugees existed in Yugoslavia, as they were displaced from their home countries. Citizens in Serbia who didn't want to be ruled by a communist government migrated to surrounding countries that pushed a free market democratic system. Furthermore, because Croatia and Slovakia sided with the Nazis, there was a exodus of the jewish population during the early 40’s, fleeing persecution.