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Michael Greene
Professor David Pettigrew
JST 204.02
April 23, 2018
A Preliminary Analysis of the Bosnian Genocide
Genocide has had a profound impact on not only the countries where they originated but for
countries throughout the world. Genocide is the deliberate and systematic extermination of a
particular group of people based on their race, religion, or political beliefs. There have been
several cases of the government or militia groups targeting their own citizens in order to fulfill
their political agenda. Throughout this paper the following books and primary sources will be
used to show what caused the Bosnian Genocide; The Key to My Neighbor’s House: Seeking
Justice in Bosnia and Rwanda by Elizabeth Neuffer, A Problem from Hell by Samantha,
Geography of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Bosnian Genocide
was committed mostly by Bosnian Serb Forces and the army of Republika Srpska. The Bosnian
Genocide was caused by numerous factors such as Milosevic’s ultra-nationalistic agenda of
Greater Serbia, Milosevic’s appropriation of Kosovo, propaganda, and the failure to intervene as
a result of those causes; outcomes such as concentration camps, assault on civilians, ethnic
cleansing, and eliticide. This paper will explore the extent to which selected primary sources to
allow us to identify the causes and effects of the Bosnian Genocide
The nationalist agenda of Greater Serbia manifested through Serbian president Slobodan
Milosevic in the aftermath of World War 2. When the longtime leader of Federal People’s
Republic of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito died in1980, the Balkan states under his dominion began
to fight for independence especially after Milosevic successfully seceded. (Power 247-249,252)
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Yugoslavia began to lose a grasp on their power during the 1980s. An excerpt from The Key to
My Neighbor’s House Seeking Justice in Bosnia and Rwanda state
“In the 1980s, economic hard times arrived Europe, in recession, cut back on jobs for the
Yugoslavs and unemployment soared again. Inflation surged hitting 2,500 percent in 1989,
industries, still indebted and not yet profitable, foundered. The collective presidency Tito created
to succeed him swiftly proved unworkable. It failed to keep hold of Yugoslavia, allowing power
to devolve back to republics” (Neuffer 8)
Milosevic took advantage of the states that newly declared independence and quickly invaded
Croatia, and Slovenia however in Bosnia the war was more severe and longer than the previous
ones. The Serbs in Bosnia created a mini state called Republika Srpska where they created
restrictive laws for all non-Serbs. (Neuffer 92)
