Cassie Niemeier
Bosnia List Paper
Anyone who says that history is black and white clearly slept through class. There is no simplicity to history. Most events in history are like a Jenga tower. Events stack on top of each other creating a less stable structure until it collapses in on itself, or war breaks out. The Bosnian genocide seems very simple on the surface. In fact, genocide is a rare simple thing in history, a group of people want to eliminate another group of people because the second group is perceived as a threat. The justification and the buildup is a bit more complicated. After all, people perceive each other as threats all the time, so why do we only have a few horrific instances of genocide? Is there one single block that …show more content…
In Bosnia there are four major factors that built up the tower. There is a long and bloody history between Christians and Muslims that goes back a thousand years. The area holds many ethnic groups in one area who each have long, distinct histories, which end up getting tangled up in the larger history of the area’s tendency to be dominated by outside forces. Failure to establish a true nation after World War 1 that took into account the actual citizens that made up the area is another contributing factor. But it is the death of the man who unifies his people despite their dividing pasts that finally causes the blocks to tumble. These four issues are long and complicated events themselves that entire novels have been written about. Anyone who claims history is simple, is a fool. The history between Muslims and Christians is violence. We need only to look at our own country today to see this. In the United States, our modern hatred of Muslims stems from the 9/11 tragedies. But when bigots are confronted with the fact that 9/11 was orchestrated by a terrorist group similar to the Christian Ku Klux Klan they cite vague history and inaccurate Qur’an passages. Despite coming from the same area and believing in the same god, it’s no secret that Islam and Christianity are as different as apples and bananas. The extreme view of Christians …show more content…
(Britannica 2) It was part of the Roman Empire, and when that fell it came under control of the Aryans and the Huns. (Spain Exchange 1) In the 6th century Emperor Justinian reconquered the area and it became part of the eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire. (Spain Exchange 1) The migratory Slavs came and settled into the area in two waves adding diversity, which will in turn add conflict. (Spain Exchange 1) Christianity came into the land at this time and Bosnia remained under the control of the Byzantine Empire despite an attempt by Bulgaria and an attempt to band together so Bosnians could rule themselves. (Spain Exchange 2) Then it became the subject of a tug of war between Hungary and the Byzantine Empire where it would fall under the power of the Empire to be annexed by Hungary and so on and so forth. (Britannica B&H 2) Bosnia finally became an independent kingdom in 1377 thanks to the work of Stjepan Il Kotromanic and his nephew Tvrtko but slowly started to fall to the Ottoman Empire (who had taken over the Byzantine Empire) less than a hundred years later in 1463. (Spain Exchange 2) For just over 400 years Bosnia is controlled by the Ottoman Empire until Hungary, now part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire, takes it back again. 400 years is a very long time to control an area though and the effects can be seen in the makeup of the people.
Bosnia List Paper
Anyone who says that history is black and white clearly slept through class. There is no simplicity to history. Most events in history are like a Jenga tower. Events stack on top of each other creating a less stable structure until it collapses in on itself, or war breaks out. The Bosnian genocide seems very simple on the surface. In fact, genocide is a rare simple thing in history, a group of people want to eliminate another group of people because the second group is perceived as a threat. The justification and the buildup is a bit more complicated. After all, people perceive each other as threats all the time, so why do we only have a few horrific instances of genocide? Is there one single block that …show more content…
In Bosnia there are four major factors that built up the tower. There is a long and bloody history between Christians and Muslims that goes back a thousand years. The area holds many ethnic groups in one area who each have long, distinct histories, which end up getting tangled up in the larger history of the area’s tendency to be dominated by outside forces. Failure to establish a true nation after World War 1 that took into account the actual citizens that made up the area is another contributing factor. But it is the death of the man who unifies his people despite their dividing pasts that finally causes the blocks to tumble. These four issues are long and complicated events themselves that entire novels have been written about. Anyone who claims history is simple, is a fool. The history between Muslims and Christians is violence. We need only to look at our own country today to see this. In the United States, our modern hatred of Muslims stems from the 9/11 tragedies. But when bigots are confronted with the fact that 9/11 was orchestrated by a terrorist group similar to the Christian Ku Klux Klan they cite vague history and inaccurate Qur’an passages. Despite coming from the same area and believing in the same god, it’s no secret that Islam and Christianity are as different as apples and bananas. The extreme view of Christians …show more content…
(Britannica 2) It was part of the Roman Empire, and when that fell it came under control of the Aryans and the Huns. (Spain Exchange 1) In the 6th century Emperor Justinian reconquered the area and it became part of the eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire. (Spain Exchange 1) The migratory Slavs came and settled into the area in two waves adding diversity, which will in turn add conflict. (Spain Exchange 1) Christianity came into the land at this time and Bosnia remained under the control of the Byzantine Empire despite an attempt by Bulgaria and an attempt to band together so Bosnians could rule themselves. (Spain Exchange 2) Then it became the subject of a tug of war between Hungary and the Byzantine Empire where it would fall under the power of the Empire to be annexed by Hungary and so on and so forth. (Britannica B&H 2) Bosnia finally became an independent kingdom in 1377 thanks to the work of Stjepan Il Kotromanic and his nephew Tvrtko but slowly started to fall to the Ottoman Empire (who had taken over the Byzantine Empire) less than a hundred years later in 1463. (Spain Exchange 2) For just over 400 years Bosnia is controlled by the Ottoman Empire until Hungary, now part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire, takes it back again. 400 years is a very long time to control an area though and the effects can be seen in the makeup of the people.