As we head off for a road trip in April to the former Yugoslavia (assuming, you know, we aren’t in the midst of WW3 by then), it makes sense to get context. I don’t see the point of travel if I don’t understand a little bit of the history of the place I am visiting. How did it come to be, who the local people are, how did they get to be there, and why is it the way it is today?
For someone having the same curiosity, I highly recommend this documentary series from the BBC, which was shot six months after the end of the Yugoslav Wars. It is a most comprehensive, day-by-day account of the events leading to the war, with interviews and points of view from the very people who both caused and stopped the war. Several of these leaders would be tried for war crimes in the coming years, so to watch them explain the recent years and their very random rationalization of everything that transpired is both chilling and illuminating.
To get insights straight from Milošević and Tuđman, and to see the forces that led to the eventual fall of Yugoslavia, is a valuable history lesson on what happens when we let nationalist forces divide us. Yes, it led to the path of self-determination for the six republics of Yugoslavia, but the way it happened was hateful, destructive, and has further divided people along ethnic lines.
Of course, it’s a BBC documentary, so the US and UK are presented in a positive light. I almost laughed out loud when I learned that the UK’s Lord Carrington was tasked with providing a proposal on what the new, divided map of Yugoslavia looks like. Of course, if anyone can slice up maps willy-nilly, then our resident expert is the former empire.
If you are a history or politics buff, this is one of the most incredible documentaries I have ever seen.
