The Birth and Death of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia – Developing Polypeitharchic History
The Birth and Death of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia – Developing Polypeitharchic History

Author(s): Srđan Mladenov Jovanović
Subject(s): History, Economic history, Political history, Special Historiographies:, History of Communism, Post-Communist Transformation
Published by: Helsinški odbor za ljudska prava u Srbiji
Keywords: Yugoslavia; Czechoslovakia; political history; 20th century; political system; unity; national framework; culture; identity; Balkans;
Summary/Abstract: A third of my adult life I have lived in what used to be known as the capital of Yugoslavia, Belgrade. The second third I have spent in what was known as Czechoslovakia, in the Moravian city of Olomouc. Yet both countries came into existence and ceased to exist within the 20th century. Many would say that similarities were aplenty. Both countries were formed in the immediate aftermath of the Great War (though Yugoslavia was initially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes), both suffered immensely during World War II, both endured almost half a century of Communist rule, both expired by the end of the century. However, the differences were far greater than the similarities, especially when it comes to the breakup of the two states, as ‘the process of that breakup was vastly different in the two states: it was virtually painless in Czechoslovakia, while it is excruciatingly painful in Yugoslavia’ (Bookman 1994, 175). Much has been written on the two topics, with the death of Yugoslavia probably receiving the most attention, due to the sheer brutality of the bloody breakup during the 1990s, yet a comparative research – to my knowledge – has seen scant attention, with a few notable exceptions (Bookman 1994, Bunce 1999). [...]

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