BRUTALNOST RATOVA I DOMETI DEOSMANIZACIJE BALKANA (1912–1913)
THE BRUTALITY OF WAR AND THE REACH OF DEOTTOMANIZATION IN THE BALKANS (1912–1913)

Summary/Abstract: During the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, the first large-scale and systematic ethnic cleansings in twentieth-century European history took place. Chauvinistic motives and religious intolerance found their most violent expression in the mass atrocities committed against Muslims, their persecution, and the widespread looting of their property. None of the armies of the Balkan states engaged in the war against the Ottoman Empire lagged behind in such acts. These wars marked the end of a process that had begun in 1877–1878, through which Muslims in the Ottoman part of the Balkans (“Ottoman Europe”) were transformed from a majority and dominant community into a minority within the newly formed Christian states. The de-Ottomanization processes profoundly altered the ethnic and religious composition of the Balkan region. Wars in which the “liberation” of one people results in the elimination of others cannot truly possess a liberating meaning, despite all the mythologized narratives and “victorious truths” that later emerged. Turning points in Balkan history must be presented from the perspectives of all participants, not only the victors.

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