The Serbs and the Great War revisited on the anniversary of the June 28th assassination

Amazon.com ^ | June 22, 2008 | John P. Maher

[Ravnagora]

Professor John P. Maher reviews "July 1914: Soldiers, Statesmen, and the Coming of the Great War: A Brief Documentary History." Edited by Samuel R. Williamson and Russel Van Wyk. 2003. Bedford / St Martin's Press.

A commonplace in recent books on the Balkans is to draw parallels between 1990s Serbia and the Third Reich. Williamson and Van Wyk confirm the consensus view that that Germany and Austria-Hungary started the Great War, but fail to pursue another parallel.

They say nothing about activities of Germany and Austria in the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. But policy and press in those countries are re-runs of the war hysteria of 1914. Germany and Austria, despite their atrocities in WW I and WW II have deployed troops in "enemy territory" - the Serb lands, after arming, training and diplomatically recognizing secessionists in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo-Metohia. The parallel is identical to the 1914 war to destroy Serbia and annex (1914) or economically dominate (1991- present) this strategic territory.

Williamson and Van Wyk, though they blame the Central Powers for 1914, nevertheless revert to the PR of those powers regarding Serbia 1914 and 1991ff. I quote: "...murderous colleagues...... the same Serbian military pretensions that drove Apis would ... lead to the virtual Serbian takeover of the Yugoslav government in the 1990s. These moves in turn set in motion the forces that would ultimately see post-World War II Yugoslavia split apart in the 1990s. This dissolution would come in part from the relentless political struggles between another volatile Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic, and his Serb military associates. Pasic and Apis would have felt right at home in Belgrade of the 1990s." They adduce not one document in their "documentary history" which would permit the reader to confirm their characterization of "Serbian military pretensions" or the "volatility" of Slobodan Milosevic.

If they are going to interject Milosevic here, it would be consistent to include the man who sent the Yugoslavian federal army to take over the border posts between Italy and Austria and Slovenia (a Yugoslavian federal unit). Slovenian irregulars, in Austrian kit, murdered federal unarmed army recruits, holding hands-up (screened on Austrian TV). The Prime Minister who sent in the army as commander in chief was the Croat Ante Markovic. The President of the federal presidency who published a book "How I destroyed Yugoslavia" was not Slobodan Milosevic, but the Croat opportunist Stijepan Mesic. - His family operated under the name "Tovarish" (Russian for `comrade') in communist days.

Williamson and Van Wyk would also have to mention Alija (Ali) Izetbegovic, the USA's "son of a bitch" (remember LBJ on Somoza?). His "Islamic Declaration" was re-issued in 1990 in Sarajevo. If Williamson and Van Wyk can't, I can provide the documentary evidence of his 1984 sentence for trying to re-establish political Islam in the Balkans. including details of his travels to Vienna, Istanbul and Teheran. - Oh yes, Osama Bin Laden received his Bosnian passport in Vienna. During Bill Clinton's tenure Osama was often in Bosnia. Williamson and Van Wyk could have saved themselves from this morass of incompetence by sticking to things they know. That would, however, take more homework, too.

"Apis" - no bull. Getting back to July 1914, Williamson and Van Wyk are in over their linguistic heads. On page 19 is a purported explanation of the nickname of the head of Serbian military intelligence, Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic. "nicknamed for his bull-like appearance". If Williamson and Van Wyk could read Serbian and the Latin required in secondary schools of a century ago, they would have known that the constantly working APIS got his moniker not from Egypt's BULL, but from Rome's busy BEE: Apis mellifica. There's more.

In a footnote (page 41) "Documents on the Foreign Policy of the Kingdom of Serbia", Williamson and Van Wyk leave out a crucial letter that changes everything. Not many nouveaux balcanistes seem to know Balkan languages. Williamson and Van Wyk's text has "Dokumenti o spolnoj politici Kraljevine Srbije". There should be a letter "j" between the "l" and the "n" of "spolnih", i.e. it should be "spoljnih"; then it would mean what they say, but what they have printed reads "Sexual Policy of the Kingdom of Serbia".

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[Diocletian]

Amazing...no mention of the Serbian terrorist Gavrilo Princip.

[rmlew]

Some of us remember the Black Hand and Gavrilo Princip.
Serbia was an expansionist state whose intelligence committed terrorism and assasinations abroad. Austria-Hungary should have clobbered the thugs in peace.