The Fall of Yugoslavia

One of the clearest, most precise and compassionate books I have ever read on the topic of break-up of Yugoslavia. Should be recommended in schools across former Yugoslavia as the rare objective (yet compassionate) approach to the horrible events that unfolded in my home country and neighbouring countries.

A balanced and very well researched book, but only up to 1996, and things have changed, particularly in BH, since then. Some of his predictions have come true. He is very scathing about many of the interventions (and lack of them) from Western Leaders during the period from 1990 to 1996. One hopes that present leaders might read such a book and avoid the same mistakes.

I first found this book confusing and frustrating then absorbing and fascinating as it morphed from derring-do and reportage to geopolitical analysis. I chose it as Glenny was very much "Our Man in the Balkans" from a UK point of view during the chaos and destruction of the meltdown of Yugoslavia in the early nineties. The crisis in Croatia sees Glenny on the ground either soaking up the war stories along with the rakija in some dive of a bar in Knin or risking a bullet blagging his way though a roadblock manned by very jumpy and trigger-happy Serb or Croat irregulars half-way up a mountain. He certainly earned every journalistic award he won. Glenny takes you into the thick of the action and does not spare the detail in his account of the atrocities on all sides. You have to bear with the confusion about the geography and to some extent the dates and timeline in the excitement and the danger. Cautious checking with Wikipedia may help keep some factual grip.As the war progresses and becomes the multifaceted and destructive battle for shares of Bosnia, Glenny steps back and takes us into the complex diplomatic processes of the European Union and Washington as they meshed (or often failed to) with the post-Tito aspirations of peoples still wounded by the Partizan/Chetnik/Ustashe conflicts of World War II. Glenny demonstrates these political manoeuvres were not mere sideshows but central actions in ratcheting up the tensions and military intervention. His analysis of Germany's premature recognition of Croatia and the EU's failure to agree a comprehensive solution to the Yugoslav problem as the cause of the conflict in Bosnia is utterly convincing. Equally so is his argument that Tudjman's treatment of the Serb minority in Croatia and promotion of the the Bosnian Croats in Western Hercegovina was just as culpable as Milosovic's attempt to salvage a "Greater Serbia" out of the rump of the former Yugoslavia. Glenny is a man of strong opinions, not least about the complicity of Tudjman and Milosovic at Karadjordjevo in 91 and later their proxies in Graz in carving up Bosnia without reference to the majority Bosnian Muslims. He clearly demonstrates Milosovic's final repudiation of his former henchman Radovan Karadzic in Bosnia and the Croatian Serbs in the Krajina as the EU and NATO belatedly upped the pressure of sanctions on Serbia proper. At the end the blood of ethnic cleansing is on everyone's hands but the Bosnian Serbs under Karadzic and Mlatko Radic bear the greatest shame, especially for the massacre at Srebrenica and the shelling of Vukovar.The book ends at the end of 95/beginning of 96, as the ink was barely dry on the Dayton Accord, with Glenny struggling to keep up with events as the publisher's deadline loomed closer. With the value of hindsight Glenny's major doubts about the viability of the emergent Bosnia-Hercegovina were (fortunately) mostly misplaced and his growing obsession with a major southern Balkan conflagration based on the breakdown of Macedonia rather ludicrous. He was obviously right about Kosovo, although both the timing and the turn of events there were remarkable.From the point of view of late 2009 the book misses much of the immediate aftermath of the war and obviously the ICTY trials in the Hague, which continue as I write. The history of the war in the Balkans will continue to be re-written as the evidence becomes clearer. Nevertheless Glenny's account will stand amongst the forefront as both testimony and analysis of the highest order.

A thorough expose of those dreadful few years in the early 1990s. The book needs more maps and a much better glossary and there are a few literal errors, some quite misleading. But you must read it.

I have been enjoying reading this book which elaborates the fall of Yugoslavia and the consequently following war between JNA which sided along with Serb interest and separatist ambition of other republics which were pushed for independence through Milosevic's ambition of creation of constitution which was obsolete and not aplicable anymore for Yugoslavia, namely reaffirmation of centralised and firm federation. He also gives account of nationalist ideas and ambitions of Croatian president Tudjman and his plans with Milosevic of expelling Serb population from Croatia and devision of Bosnia. Misha also goes into the occurences which he lived through in Yugoslavia covering all what was happening around him from wars in Croatia to Bosnia coalescing it with loquacious language. It is a concise description of demise and obliteration of Yugoslavia, and what nationalism which was "in vogue" as he describes it is capable of doing it. It is a must for everyone who is keen to know more about crisis which had befallen the Yugoslavs. Misha gives an unprecedented and objective insight into the Yugoslav crisis and therefore would gladly recommend it.

One of the best books on the Yugoslav conflict. very informative and easy to read. 2nd copy bought, this one was a gift.Was recommended to me by a Bosnian friend who felt it was a balanced portrayal of the war.

Authoritative account of a complex conflict. Not easy to find a book on the subject. Book arrived ahead of time and was in very nearly mint condition.

On a recent visit to Korchula, Croatia and Mostar in Bosnia, it dawned on me that we all know so much about WWII yet most of us know little about the recent civil war in Jugoslavia where many people died. I researched a number books on the subject and gravitated towards this book as my first read about this tragic area.

Buy the paper back instead

Very well covered history of the Balkan conflict written in an engrossing way

If you’re into Balkan history, this piece definitely shall form part of your collection.

The bad: the style is boring. It's like if you bunfle together a thousand articles about the third Balkan war and you have all the details almost in a day by day basis. Don't miss one point or you are lost for the whole book. There is little synthesis.The good. It's a very complete cronic of the events that happened there. You understand the feelings and the conflict very easily. It's very complete.

Questo autore riesce a mantenere equidistanza rispetto ai vari "attori" in campo:spesso in occidente si tende ad attribuire le responsabilità del conflitto nella ex Yugoslavia esclusivamente ai serbi.Glenny sottolinea invece le responsabilità di tutti:croati ed islamici bosniaci compresi;un punto di vista indispensabile per comprendere meglio il crollo di quella nazione.L'autore non è tenero con Tito,ma a me pare che se si tiene conto delle atrocità che si sono verificate nel conflitto,non possiamo che dare atto al dittatore di aver saputo tenere sotto "controllo" le varie etnie che compongono il paese per alcuni decenni ...