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| RESOURCES |
| historical context | bibliography | links |
| | Historical Context of Palace of the Fields |
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The seeds of Serbian hatred for all Muslims began in 1398 when Turks invaded Serbian territory known as Kosovo. The Turks had invaded a number of times before, but this invasion was particularly remembered as some 20,000 Serbs were killed. To this day Kosovo is considered sacred ground, and Serbs, who are mainly Serbian Orthodox, still harbor intense feelings for the Muslim Turks because of what happened in Kosovo 600 years ago. Croatia and Slovenia, by their proximity to Europe, were strongly influenced by European culture, language, and religion (Roman Catholic). During World War II, the Croatians sided with Germany and Italy and fought brutally against the Serbs in an attempt to become independent. They formed a military group known as the Ustashi. Not to be without their own fighting force, the Serbs created the Chetniks. The Chetniks and Ustashi fought each other fiercely on Yugoslavian soil. The battles were bitter and bloody, and over one million Yugoslavians died in World War II. Caught in the middle of this conflict was Bosnia and Herzegovina. While the province of Serbia is made up largely of Orthodox Christian Serbs, and Croatia is mostly Roman Catholic Croatians, the same cannot be said for Bosnia-Herzegovina. Slightly more Muslims than Serbs live in Bosnia, as well as a sizeable number of Croatians. Through all of the centuries, the population in Bosnia seemed to be able to live, work, and play together, and nationalism was not an issue. Once Yugoslavian leader Tito and his style of communism died in 1980, however, the Yugoslavian union began to fall apart. By 1990, Slovenia and Croatia wanted to secede and become independent. Serbia wanted them to stay and sent troops to enforce its position. Croatia and Slovenia, however, were better organized than the Yugoslavian army. Relatively few Serbs were living in these republics, so Serbia was not eager to lose lives just to keep the republics together. The conflict with Slovenia and Croatia was quickly over. The loss of these northern-most republics, however, created an urgent need for Serbia to keep Bosnia as part of the Yugoslavian state. The leader of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic, stirred up Serbian nationalist feelings and reminded Serbs of how Turks and Croats had been their historic enemy. He created in them the belief that in order to be safe from further invasion, Serbs must have their own homeland and drive away anyone who was not Serbian. Thus, the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina began, and the Bosnians responded with an effort to create an independent state of their own. |
| | Links to Websites |
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www.bosniaaftermath.com
www.glasnik.net
www.IowaComposers.org
www.beyond9-11.org
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