The Breakup of Yugoslavia

In 1929, the name of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was changed to Yugoslavia in an attempt to persuade its citizens to 'forget their old identities and think of themselves instead as a single people'. Despite the change of name, however, King Alexander 'found it impossible to create Yugoslavs'.

This telling phrase neatly encapsulates the main reasons which eventually lead, some 60 years later, to the breakup of Yugoslavia, for the name concealed a bewildering mixture of languages, religions, cultures and even alphabets.

Martyn Rady has succeeded in clearly and concisely unravelling the multifarious threads of this tangled historical web. He identifies the main social, economic and political factors which have played such a crucial role in determining the fate of the six republics from the beginning of the century through to the Second World War, the rise of Tito and the communists, expulsion from the soviet Bloc, a bankrupt economy and the emergence of today's political figures.

In clarifying past issues so succinctly, Dr Rady enables his readers to gain an insight into the bitterness and hatred underlying the current bloody conflict and appreciate why finding a solution is proving such a complex task.