Course co-directors: Vladimir Petrović (NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Amsterdam) and Sven Milekić (University of Rijeka)
The end of the Cold War and the reunification of Germany marked a period of relative peace and stability for much of the European continent—but not for its southeastern region. There, Yugoslavia and its successor states experienced a series of bloody conflicts that resulted in an estimated 140,000 dead and missing, millions of refugees and displaced persons, numerous war crimes, and the redrawing of Europe’s political map. Meanwhile, on the eastern side of the continent, the Soviet Union disintegrated largely peacefully, although its collapse was also accompanied by several localized conflicts.
The goal of this course is to analyze the impact of the Yugoslav Wars—also referred to as the Wars in the Former Yugoslavia, the Wars for the Yugoslav Succession, or the Third Balkan War. The diversity of these terms reflects the fact that historians have not reached a consensus on a single name for the conflicts. The course will examine how these wars have shaped the contemporary states and entities born out of the wartime de facto states of the Western Balkans, as well as the societies that emerged following the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia. It will also, to some extent, explore the broader political, social, and cultural consequences of these conflicts for other parts of Europe that were not directly affected by the fighting.