The Balkan Peninsula is often referred to as the "powder keg of Europe," but it is more accurately described as the "melting pot of Europe." In The Wars of the Balkan Peninsula: Their Medieval Origins, Alexandru Madgearu discusses the ethnic heterogeneity in modern-day Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia and traces its history. Madgearu examines the historical evolution that led to the genesis of several conflicts in the Balkans. The affected areas and associated events have transformed the Balkan Peninsula into an intricate ethnic mosaic, where no single group of people has the majority. The various ethnic and religious differences these groups possess have survived the many occupations of this land over the years, whether by the Roman, Byzantine, or Ottoman Empires, and then became manifest when the modern Balkan states were created. With the dissolution of the strong outside forces once dominating the area, the Balkan states-prompted by political propaganda and nationalist ideologies-then used history to support territorial claims, defend ethnic-cleansing actions, and justify conflicts with other countries. The Wars of the Balkan Peninsula argues that the current ethnic structure is the basis for the solution of the disputes between the Balkan states and that history should be used to explain, not legitimize, the conflicts. Book jacket.

This authoritative reference follows the history of conflicts in the Balkan Peninsula from the 19th century through the present day. The Balkan Peninsula, which consists of Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, and the former Yugoslavia, resides in the southeastern part of the European continent. Its strategic location as well as its long and bloody history of conflict have helped to define the Balkans' role in global affairs. This singular reference focuses on the events, individuals, organizations, and ideas that have made this region an international player and shaped warfare there for hundreds of years. Historian and author Richard C. Hall traces the sociopolitical history of the area, starting with the early internal conflicts as the Balkan states attempted to break away from the Ottoman Empire to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that ignited World War I to the Yugoslav Wars that erupted in the 1990s and the subsequent war crimes still being investigated today. Additional coverage focuses on how these countries continue to play an important role in global affairs and international politics.

The history of the Balkans incorporates all the major historical themes of the 20th Century--the rise of nationalism, communism and fascism, state-sponsored genocide and urban warfare. Focusing on the centuries opening decades, War in the Balkans seeks to shed new light on the Balkan Wars through approaching each regional and ethnic conflict as a separate actor, before placing them in a wider context. Although top-down 'Great Powers' historiography is often used to describe the beginnings of the World War I, not enough attention has been paid to the events in the region in the years preceding the Archduke Ferdinand's assassination. The Balkan Wars saw the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the end of the Bulgarian Kingdom (then one of the most powerful military countries in the region), an unprecedented hardening of Serbian nationalism, the swallowing up of Slovenes, Croats and Slovaks in a larger Balkan entity, and thus set in place the pattern of border realignments which would become familiar for much of the twentieth century.

In The Balkan Wars 1912-1913, Richard Hall examines the origins, the enactment and the resolution of the Balkan Wars, during which the Ottoman Empire fought a Balkan coalition of Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia. The Balkan Wars of 1912 - 1913 opened an era of conflict in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, which lasted until 1918, and which established a basis for problems which tormented Europe until the end of the century. Based on archival as well as published diplomatic and military sources, this book provides the first comprehensive perspective on the diplomatic and military aspects of the Balkan Wars. It demonstrates that, because of the diplomatic problems raised and the military strategies and tactics pursued to resolve those problems, The Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 were the first phase of the greater and wider conflict of the First World War.

This volume offers a comprehensive account of the wars before the Great War and their role in undermining international instability.

The Second World War was waged across many fronts, economic, political and cultural as well as military. As might be expected in a conflict fuelled by ideology, the war of words and ideas played a central role in the larger conflict. As this book shows, propaganda - be it aimed at a sympathetic audience in enemy controlled lands, or the hostile population itself - was regarded by all sides as a fundamental part of the war effort, and one that received increasing, and increasingly sophisticated, attention. Focussing on the British propaganda effort directed towards the Balkans, the book begins with an introductory chapter on British wartime propaganda from both its home base and British-controlled Middle East. This is followed by two thematically broad chapters, one on British policy to the region, the other on evidence of a regional approach - and common themes - of British propaganda to the Balkans from the outbreak of the war to the German withdrawal. The remaining chapters provide a series of case-studies relating to British propaganda efforts directed towards the five pre-1939 states (except Turkey). These reveal much about Britain's overall approach to propaganda, as well as showing how the British tailored their efforts in response to supposed national characteristics of these countries. By uncovering not only the organisational tangle, the techniques and evolving aims of British wartime propaganda, but also its relation to military strategy and diplomacy, the set of beliefs about the region and its peoples, moral issues and planning for the post-war period the book provides a fascinating insight into the multiple meanings of propaganda and its effectiveness in specific wartime situations.

This book presents a series of lectures delivered in 1914 on the diplomatic crisis which led to the outbreak of the First World War.

Drawing primarily on selected filmic texts from former-Yugoslavia, the book examines key social and political events that triggered the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s. Yugoslav politics and society are set within the broader artistic and cinematic strategies that helped stabilise post-Yugoslav territories strategies that were part of the national desire of looking forward to a time of 'perpetual peace' and its subsequent cosmopolitan norms. It argues that filmic texts demonstrate the degree to which nationalism was at the heart of the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia. Yet, the concern of the argument is not simply to offer a filmic critique but to develop an alternative to nationalism; namely, a theoretical framework through which cosmopolitan humanism is at the forefront of addressing former Yugoslavia's political wounds.