Yugoslavia, the ruthless fragmentation of a socialist country

The pathology of nationalism

Can a country be built with 8 languages, innumerable dialects, three religions, two alphabets and 7 deep-rooted nationalist sentiments?

It can but probably can't be very durable.

This is what happened in the former Yugoslavia. The country was formed but the processes of dissolution gave rise to clashes, wars, much destruction, thousands of deaths and massive emigrations.

As we said, the country we are referring to is Yugoslavia and the languages ​​we mentioned are Serbian, Croatian, Montenegrin and the Bosnian language, which are sometimes considered dialects of the same language called Serbo-Croatian, the Slovenian language, Macedonian and Albanian. ,

In Yugoslavia, two alphabets were used: the Latin and the Cyrillic, not to mention that a century ago the Arabic alphabet had been used. And the religions were Catholicism, the Orthodox Church and Islam, to which should be added the atheism of the Yugoslav Communist Party in power during the socialist government of Josef Tito.

Well, it might be interesting to know this dramatic story of a frustrated confederation due to the pathology of intolerant and fanatical nationalisms.

The progressive disappearance of Ottoman power in Europe, as well as the results of the Balkan wars of 1912-1913, with its outcome favorable to Serbia, contributed decisively to increasing Pan-Slavic sentiment among the peoples of that region. , in order to overcome the political and religious divisions between them, based on belonging to a common ethnic group.

The creation of the new state arose from the union of the Kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro (both independent from the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century) and to which a substantial amount of the territory that was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was incorporated.

These formerly Austro-Hungarian areas that were part of the new kingdom included Croatia, Slovenia, and Vol-vodina from the Hungarian part of the empire; Carniola, part of Styria, and most of Dalmatia on the Austrian side, plus the imperial province of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On December 1, 1918, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed. Serbia's royal family, the Karadjordjevics, became the ruling family of the new country, which the Kingdom of Montenegro had joined on November 26, 1918. The country was officially called by that name until 1929, when it became Yugoslavia. .

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers Germany and Italy in 1941, and due to the Nazi occupation and the outbreak of World War II it was officially abolished between 1943 and 1945.

After this bloody war in which more than 10 percent of the country's population died, Josip Broz Tito's partisans emerged victorious. After the victory in 1945. They organized the refoundation of the country, creating a new socialist Yugoslavia called the People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

This second Yugoslavia covered practically the same territory as its predecessor, with the addition of lands acquired from Italy in Istria and Dalmatia.

The Tito regime accentuated the socialist character of the federation by introducing the socioeconomic system called self-managing socialism, which was widely perceived as a third way alternative to both the United States and the Soviet Union.

It was a socialist state formed by a federation of six ethnic republics. The federation brought together Serbs, Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Slovenians, Macedonians and Albanians. Tensions between these groups were successfully controlled under the leadership of President Tito and his communist partisans.

The federal and socialist character of the Yugoslav state was established in the Yugoslav Constitution of 1974, which greatly reinforced the power of self-management of the republics (and even the Serbian provinces) that comprised it.

In 1963, the country was renamed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). The six constituent republics that made up the SFRY were the SR of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the SR of Croatia, the SR of Macedonia, the SR of Montenegro, the SR of Serbia and the SR of Slovenia. (which included the autonomous provinces of Volvodina and Kosovo and Metojia.

However, the ethnic, linguistic, religious and nationalistic heterogeneity of the multicultural country augured future disaster and presaged the fragmentation of the state.

The Belgian writer and journalist Léon Thorens explained in this way, in 1969, what Yugoslavia was:

The Yugoslavs themselves define their country as if they were counting the pieces of a mosaic: six republics, five nations, four cultures, three languages, two alphabets, one state. Eventually the count could be lengthened and also mention seven religions, eight cultural roots, nine national catastrophes, ten foreign influences...

Starting in 1991, the Socialist Federative Republic disintegrated due to the Yugoslav Wars that followed the secession of most of the country's constituent entities. The next named state, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, already with a different geographical composition, existed from 1992 to 2003, the year in which it was renamed Serbia and Montenegro. In 1998 there was a confrontation between the Serbian government and the pro-independence forces of the Kosovo Liberation Army which involved NATO bombing strategic centers in Serbia and which ended with the effective separation of Kosovo. Kosovo would later declare its independence.

Serbia and Montenegro continued to exist until 2006, when Montenegro left the union through a referendum. At the same time, Serbia also declared its independence.

Currently in the former Yugoslavia there are seven countries:

Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Kosovo.

Two decades have passed since the last war in Yugoslavia ended, but in places where nationalism acquires pathological dimensions, there is no guarantee that it will not break out again.