32326 - Balkan Contemporary History

Learning outcomes

Student is expected to acquire a sound knowledge of the most relevant historical events in the 20th century Balkans, to develop an in-depth knowledge of integrative and disruptive factors, the role of communism and nationalism, the impact of the external factors and agencies in the regional stabilization/destabilization.

Course contents

Lecture 1: Introduction. SEE in early 20th century. Is there any hope: Balkans from 1918 - 2018?

Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908. The founding of Albania. The Balkan Wars.

Lecture 2: The First World War and the end of the Empires (lecture).

Lecture 3: The Interwar period. Bulgaria in Crisis. The Little Antante (Yugoslavia, Romania, Czechoslovakia), Albanian question. (conversation).

Lecture 4: The rise of Germany, crisis in the SEE. The right-wing groups in Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Italian imperial plans. Metaxas in Greece. (conversation; lecture).

Lecture 5: The Second World War. Nazis and Slavs. New entities within German/Italian system. (lecture)

Lecture 6: After the War, before the Cold War. Superpowers as new imperialists? Yugoslav-Bulgarian-Albanian-Greek alliance-to-be? Yugoslav 1948 and Tito's «no» to Stalin. The Truman Doctrine.

Lecture 7: Socialist and democratic worlds. SEE divided: the Nonaligned Yugoslavia, Stalinist Albania, semi-independent Romania, pro-Soviet Bulgaria, democratic countries?

Lecture 8: The Chinese and the Soviets in SEE – La Cina e vicina? «Big ideas, small nations”: the non-alignment of Yugoslavia and pure communism of Albania. The decline of the communist system.

Lecture 9: The break up of Yugoslavia and the end of the “Communist Empire(s)”.

Lecture 10: The New World Order. Towards another – European/Russian/Ottoman - Empire?

Readings/Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. CRAMPTON, R.J. 2002. The Balkans Since the Second World War. London: Longman  OR
2. GLENNY, Misha 2001.The Balkans. Nationalism, War and the Great Powers 1804-1999. London: Penguin Books.
3. LAMPE, John 2005. Balkans into Southeastern Europe. A Century of War and Transition. Palgrave-Macmillan.
4. MACMILLAN, Margaret 2002. Paris 1919. Six Months that Changer the World. New York: Random House. (selected chapters).

Articles:

1. Connelly, John, Nazis and Slavs: From racial Theory to Racist Practice. Central European History, vol. 32, no. 1, 1999. (1-33)
2. Gibianski, Leonid, The 1948. Soviet-Yugoslav Condlict and the Formation of the “Socialist Camp” Model. Odd Arne Westad, Sven Holtsmark, Iver B. Neumann (ed), The Soviet Union in Eastern Europe, 1945-1989. St. Martin’s Press 1994.
3. Swain, Geoffrey, The Cominform: Tito’s International? The Historical Journal 35, 3 (1992), 641-663.
4. Ristović, Milan, The birth of “Southeastern Europe” and the Death of “The Balkans”. Thetis, Mannheimer Beiträge zur Klassichen Archäologie und Geschicthe Griechenlands un Zyperns. Herausgegeben von Rinchard Stupperich und Heinz A. Richter, Band 2, Mannheim 1995.
5. Daskalov, Roumen. Development in the Balkan Periphery prior to World War Second: Some Reflections. - Südost-Forschungen, München, 1998.
6. Stokes, Gale. The Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. Oxford: Oxford Univerity Press, 1993.

Additional Reading:

1. A History of Romania (The Modern Age: Romanian Lands under Foreign Rule 1848-1918 and further to The Twentieth Century; 330-577).
2. KOLA, Paulin 2003. The Search for Greater Albania. London: Hurst.
3. IATRIDES, John. O. 1968. Balkan Triangle. Birth and Decline o fan Alliance Across Ideological Boundaries. The Hague: Mouton.

Teaching methods

Lectures, discussions.

Assessment methods

Written exam (esseys and ID questions) and class participation.

Every student will be expected to prepare short, 5 minutes long, presentation of some of the most important personalities or events from the region. For example, Alexander Stambolyski, Stjepan Radić or Crna ruka organization, Miroslav Krleža or Dobrica Ćosić, Ana Pauker etc. In that way, I would like to stimulate discussion and make sure students will pay attention to some of the most important phenomenon from the history of the region.

Teaching tools

Power Point presentations, documentaries (DVD)

Office hours

See the website of Tvrtko Jakovina