New York City has a rich, storied history of riots and unrest; just friggin' look if yuz don't believe me. Why have I chosen to focus on the Crown Heights Riots? Well, first off, they actually occurred during my lifetime, and the round-the-clock apocalyptic-seeming news coverage devoted to the riots as they were happening definitely contributed to my childhood belief that New York City was nothing but a lawless, cess-ridden jungle of filth and misery (half truths, all!). Also, last month while talking to a friend who had recently moved to Bedford Stuyvesant I was struggling to come up with actual historical reasons that Bed-Stuy has such a terribly dangerous reputation, other than Billy Joel's boast that he "walked through Bedford Stuy alone" from his song "You May Be Right." [Billy Joel = BADASS, obv.] As can be expected, time has conflated my memories of similar events that occurred when I was growing up. Long story short, I somehow managed to confuse the murder of Yusef Hawkins with the events that led up to the riots in Crown Heights, erroneously attributing both of those events to Bed Stuy. (It's what I do.) Here's what actually happened:
Why did the riot start?
In August, 1991, a police motorcade was escorting a prominent Hasidic rabbi/Holocaust survivor through the streets of Brooklyn. A station wagon in the motorcade (not the vehicle carrying said prominent rabbi), fell behind the rest of the other cars, and, in an attempt to catch up, the driver wound up shooting through an intersection in Crown Heights with a traffic light which, depending upon varying eyewitness accounts, was either yellow or red at the time. The station wagon collided with another car that was coming through the intersection, ricocheting onto the sidewalk and pinning a 7 year old boy of Guyanese descent and his 7 year old cousin beneath. (The boy would be pronounced dead shortly after being taken from the scene; his cousin survived with serious injuries.) The Hasidic driver of the station wagon, unharmed in the accident, was dragged from his car and beaten. At the request of the police, the first ambulance on the scene removed the van driver from the scene while the children still lay pinned beneath the car. This didn't sit well with black community members, who were outraged and felt that the Jewish man was receiving preferential treatment. Over the next few hours, an angry mob formed, spurred on by misinformation about the accident itself, and fortified by preexisting tensions between the Blacks and Jews within the Crown Heights community.
The riot itself
Soon, the mob had mobilized (mob-ilized?) and began mobbin' it over towards a predominantly Hasidic area of Crown Heights, ostensibly for revenge, destroying property and chanting anti-Semitic slogans along their merry way. There, they surrounded a 29 year old Hasidic man who was in the US studying for his doctorate, stabbing him to death and crushing his skull.
The next three days were characterized by violence, looting, and property damage. In fact, even non-residents of Crown Heights were getting in on the act, taking the 2/3/4/5 trains into town for some good ol' fashioned car flippin' and mayhem. By the time the carnival ground to a halt, "152 police officers and 38 civilians were injured, 27 vehicles were destroyed, seven stores were looted or burned, and 225 cases of robbery and burglary were committed. At least 129 arrests were made during the riots, including 122 blacks and seven whites. Property damage was estimated at one million dollars." (Wiki)
The Aftermath
Fortunately, some good came of all of this idiocy. Jewish and Black leaders banded together to attempt to break down stereotypes and to start an open dialogue between the two cultures and provide education.
NYC Mayor David Dinkins was heavily criticized for not deploying sufficient police forces to Crown Heights after the riot was underway, and this failure was one of the principal reasons for his defeat in the 1993 election. Dinkins' opponent harped on his reluctance to use police force in Crown Heights repeatedly on the campaign trail, and, after defeating Dinkins, proceeded to allow the police unprecedented leeway in an attempt to decrease crime in NYC. Dinkins' opponent? Yup, this guy.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Fat Cats! Boss Tweed and the Tamany Hall Machine, whatever the fuck that means
Not a good way to start out something you hope other people might read, but this so wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. I guess the political cartoons in my middle school history books gave El Tweedo an undeserved veneer of interestingness and underworld sleaze. So...what DID he do then...(if you are still reading...)
Defrauded taxpayers out of millions (which was way more in then-time/1870 dollahs---probs billionish). He and his cronies just kind of controlled NYC. He paid people he liked way more than they deserved out of public coffers and people he didn't like nothing. I guess I don't know what I was expecting, but something a little more shysty and macabre?
Wait! But he DID improve NYC--widened streets on the Upper West Side, tried to make people donate to ALL denominations, general charity support, money towards Met.
I guess it's one of those times when the middle school books were right--he is most importantly regarded as a victim of perjorative political cartoons at the poison inked fingahs of Thomas Nast.
Live on, ye Ole Boss Tweed, as an example of historical names whose stories weren't as interesting as the cache/glamor of your hard-earned scuzz name.
Defrauded taxpayers out of millions (which was way more in then-time/1870 dollahs---probs billionish). He and his cronies just kind of controlled NYC. He paid people he liked way more than they deserved out of public coffers and people he didn't like nothing. I guess I don't know what I was expecting, but something a little more shysty and macabre?
Wait! But he DID improve NYC--widened streets on the Upper West Side, tried to make people donate to ALL denominations, general charity support, money towards Met.
I guess it's one of those times when the middle school books were right--he is most importantly regarded as a victim of perjorative political cartoons at the poison inked fingahs of Thomas Nast.
Live on, ye Ole Boss Tweed, as an example of historical names whose stories weren't as interesting as the cache/glamor of your hard-earned scuzz name.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Ujamaaaaaaaa!
I am embarrassed to say that, until recently, I did not realize that Ujamaa was anything other than a residence hall at Cornell...I was corrected by a book I am reading called 'The Fate of Africa,' which is basically a (terrifically depressing) account of every country in Africa's transition from colonial rule to independence.
Ujamaa was the philosophy of communal living and economy developed and adhered to by Julius Nyerere, the first President of independent Tanzania. Under this governing philosophy, the economy was nationalized and the government administered through a centralized unit similar to those in communist governments. Ujamaa was supposedly different, however, because it dovetailed with the African tendency towards communal/village living. At first, Nyerere made collective living optional, incentivizing the practice through government subsidies, but soon realized that he would need more people to join into collective living in order for his precarious system to work. Unsurprisingly, Nyerere was 'forced' to mandate collective membership and resorted to violent measures in order to carry out his vision.
While not as abhorrent as the policies and practice of many of his neighbors, Nyerere's originally idyllic notions ended in the same way that most communist experiences seem to: 'reeducation'/indoctrination, sending to work camps, economic collapse. The World Bank and many western powers were embarrassed by their initial optimism and correspondingly generous investment in the program.
It seemed initially that, because Tanzanians had a historic tendency towards some form of communal living, Ujamaa would fare better there than in other places where more materialistic, modern impulses had already taken hold. The philosophy was also rooted in the desire to free Africans from their Western colonial overlords who, even during ostensible 'independence', still exerted an inordinate amount of control over the economic fate of their former colonies. Although the experiment was ill-fated, the notion of 'ujamaa' has persisted as an ideal, a symbol of African pride.
Ujamaa was the philosophy of communal living and economy developed and adhered to by Julius Nyerere, the first President of independent Tanzania. Under this governing philosophy, the economy was nationalized and the government administered through a centralized unit similar to those in communist governments. Ujamaa was supposedly different, however, because it dovetailed with the African tendency towards communal/village living. At first, Nyerere made collective living optional, incentivizing the practice through government subsidies, but soon realized that he would need more people to join into collective living in order for his precarious system to work. Unsurprisingly, Nyerere was 'forced' to mandate collective membership and resorted to violent measures in order to carry out his vision.
While not as abhorrent as the policies and practice of many of his neighbors, Nyerere's originally idyllic notions ended in the same way that most communist experiences seem to: 'reeducation'/indoctrination, sending to work camps, economic collapse. The World Bank and many western powers were embarrassed by their initial optimism and correspondingly generous investment in the program.
It seemed initially that, because Tanzanians had a historic tendency towards some form of communal living, Ujamaa would fare better there than in other places where more materialistic, modern impulses had already taken hold. The philosophy was also rooted in the desire to free Africans from their Western colonial overlords who, even during ostensible 'independence', still exerted an inordinate amount of control over the economic fate of their former colonies. Although the experiment was ill-fated, the notion of 'ujamaa' has persisted as an ideal, a symbol of African pride.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Veni Vidi Vichy
Why Vichy?
After recently watching the movie Inglourious Basterds (and, yes, fellow wegetlearned-blogger, I know this wasn't your favorite), I was reminded of a topic I have been meaning to learn more about for a while: the Vichy. As with the post on the Balkans in WWII (and I know I need to get back to the Balkans mess, but it really did crush my soul a little bit, the difficulty of finding any real narrative), researching the Vichy presents the opportunity to explore the interplay between Nazi ruthlessness, reaction by the pillaged, and the ever-difficult quandary of opting to stand up to your captors--and face certain punishment and/or death--or pragmatic surrender. We all obviously hope that we would do the former, heroically housing enemies of the Nazi Party, but definitely an uncomfortable question...
Invasion and Surrender
Many in France were confronted with this very dilemma when the Germans invaded in 1940, with France officially surrendering on June 22, 1940. France had declared war on Germany after the Nazi invasion of Poland. The Nazis military might overwhelmed France and their imminent defeat inspired infighting in the military and governmental command, with some factions promoting a move to Northern Africa. An armistice was eventually agreed to between Hitler and the French command.
Formation of the Vichy
The vice-premier at the time of surrender, Petain, was named president and, in July 1940, a new capital was established in Vichy, France. So was born the infamous Vichy regime--a name that would become synonymous with lack of principles, cowardice and 'sleeping with the enemy.' A vote took place at that first meeting in Vichy, the results of which granted Petain full powers to do basically whatever he wanted--including writing a new constitution. Many argue that the vote--and, accordingly, the actions that followed--were not legitimate. Petain executed a full-on collaborationist effort with the Nazi regime, including registration and, eventually, internment of all undesirables (Jews, homosexuals, gypsies) at places such as Camp Gurs--an internment camp set up in Southwestern France.
US reaction to Vichy
The US originally recognized the Vichy government, but, after their offical support of the Nazi Barbarossa campaign against Russia, denounced recognition. All the while, the Free French regime, headed by Charles deGaulle, was stationed in the UK. Roosevelt apparently preferred the Vichy regime to de Gaulle--not sure WHY.
Post-Liberation
Following the Allies invasion of France in 1944, and subsequent Liberation of France/Paris, the Vichy were taken to Germany. The provisional government declared the Vichy unconstitutional, so any actions taken by them were nullified. The laws sanctioning the discrimination against undesirables were loudly denounced. A wave of executions of collaborationists swept France in the immediate aftermath of the Liberation. After the provisional govt took power, random convictions were replaced by commissions and, eventually, amnesty for many former Vichies. Petain was found guilty of treason and sentence to death, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by de Gaulle.
Afterthoughts
There is still much debate regarding whether or not France should take collective responsibility for the horrors perpetrated by the Vichy govt. Some maintain that the actions taken by Petain were in France's best interests and intended to preserve the state during wartime, to stave off complete annihilation. Difficult to say what would have been the best thing to do, but it certainly is a dark and shameful part of France's history...supposedly, 75,000 Jews were deported to internment camps and countless more suffered at the hands of the Vichy.
After recently watching the movie Inglourious Basterds (and, yes, fellow wegetlearned-blogger, I know this wasn't your favorite), I was reminded of a topic I have been meaning to learn more about for a while: the Vichy. As with the post on the Balkans in WWII (and I know I need to get back to the Balkans mess, but it really did crush my soul a little bit, the difficulty of finding any real narrative), researching the Vichy presents the opportunity to explore the interplay between Nazi ruthlessness, reaction by the pillaged, and the ever-difficult quandary of opting to stand up to your captors--and face certain punishment and/or death--or pragmatic surrender. We all obviously hope that we would do the former, heroically housing enemies of the Nazi Party, but definitely an uncomfortable question...
Invasion and Surrender
Many in France were confronted with this very dilemma when the Germans invaded in 1940, with France officially surrendering on June 22, 1940. France had declared war on Germany after the Nazi invasion of Poland. The Nazis military might overwhelmed France and their imminent defeat inspired infighting in the military and governmental command, with some factions promoting a move to Northern Africa. An armistice was eventually agreed to between Hitler and the French command.
Formation of the Vichy
The vice-premier at the time of surrender, Petain, was named president and, in July 1940, a new capital was established in Vichy, France. So was born the infamous Vichy regime--a name that would become synonymous with lack of principles, cowardice and 'sleeping with the enemy.' A vote took place at that first meeting in Vichy, the results of which granted Petain full powers to do basically whatever he wanted--including writing a new constitution. Many argue that the vote--and, accordingly, the actions that followed--were not legitimate. Petain executed a full-on collaborationist effort with the Nazi regime, including registration and, eventually, internment of all undesirables (Jews, homosexuals, gypsies) at places such as Camp Gurs--an internment camp set up in Southwestern France.
US reaction to Vichy
The US originally recognized the Vichy government, but, after their offical support of the Nazi Barbarossa campaign against Russia, denounced recognition. All the while, the Free French regime, headed by Charles deGaulle, was stationed in the UK. Roosevelt apparently preferred the Vichy regime to de Gaulle--not sure WHY.
Post-Liberation
Following the Allies invasion of France in 1944, and subsequent Liberation of France/Paris, the Vichy were taken to Germany. The provisional government declared the Vichy unconstitutional, so any actions taken by them were nullified. The laws sanctioning the discrimination against undesirables were loudly denounced. A wave of executions of collaborationists swept France in the immediate aftermath of the Liberation. After the provisional govt took power, random convictions were replaced by commissions and, eventually, amnesty for many former Vichies. Petain was found guilty of treason and sentence to death, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by de Gaulle.
Afterthoughts
There is still much debate regarding whether or not France should take collective responsibility for the horrors perpetrated by the Vichy govt. Some maintain that the actions taken by Petain were in France's best interests and intended to preserve the state during wartime, to stave off complete annihilation. Difficult to say what would have been the best thing to do, but it certainly is a dark and shameful part of France's history...supposedly, 75,000 Jews were deported to internment camps and countless more suffered at the hands of the Vichy.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Jonestown pt. 2 (belatedly)
Right back in this. Back to Jonestown, continuing where I left off lo those many weeks ago. Future updates shall not be so few-and-far-between. (Tail between legs and such.)
III. Jonestown, settled
--by 1973, things were becoming dicey for the People's Temple, so over the following three years Jones arranged for the purchase of 3800 acres of land in Guyana. Because Guyana itself was experiencing a period of shifting politics (leftwards), and because many Guyanese gov't officials were black (mirroring Jonestown's proposed populace), Jones felt this would be a sympathetic place to set up shop.
--unfortch for the People's Temple, the purchased land was not terribly fertile. As mentioned last time, agricultural failures would be a major blow to their efforts at self-sufficiency.
--the initiative was given the name "The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project."
--of course, even for a nation as economically insignificant as Guyana, this whole deal raised some eyebrows within the country, but Jones was able to convince officials that his were good people, and his implication that they'd be investing a significant amount of cash into Guyana greased the wheels. Guyanese officials were said to admire this attempt at creating a "socialist paradise," etc. Oddly, this endorsement was trumpeted by California Lt. Gov. Dymally, who in a letter to Guyana's Prime Minster referred to Jones as "one of the finest people." Um, yeah.
--Money talks. Eased customs restrictions allowed Jones to import all kinds crazy nonsense, including drugs n' guns. Additionally Jones was able to persuade the alteration of Guyanese emigration policy, making it more difficult for Jonestown residents to flee the country, mirroring the restrictive policies of other communist countries.
--1977 marked the first influx of people to Jonestown. Life was hard and seemingly militaristically regimented, with 11 hour workdays in the fields 6 days a week, with much non-work time devoted to viewing of propaganda films education on socialism, and Jones' own sermons on world events and his take on them.
IV. The Worm Begins to Turn
--over the next year-and-a-half, life at Jonestown became decidedly more unpleasant. Radio towers were installed with speakers blaring Jones' increasingly incoherent ramblings day and night; crop failures/miserable living conditions led to widespread sickness; punishment for insubordination became more brutal and bizarre.
--Additionally The People's Temple was embezzling the welfare monies/etc. of the colonists, raising suspicion with the US Social Security Administration. 75 Temple members were interviewed and each reaffirmed that they were there of their own volition.
--"White Nights"- Jones became preoccupied with the CIA's purported desire to squash Jonestown, and as such began conducting precursors to emergency evacuation procedures during which votes were taken regarding the Temple's course in the face of threat/invasion. On two occasions, the vote favored ritualistic mass suicide, and suicide drills were carried out. Yikes.
--A custody suit followed, in which a former Temple member was demanding the return of a child. Instability ensued, with Jones losing faith in Guyanese officials' pledges to not interfere in the goings on at Jonestown. Jones began inquiring as to a mass exodus to various Communist countries.
--The parents involved in the aforementioned custody suit formed a group, "Concerned Relatives," which began to shed light publicly on the wackiness that was going on at Jonestown, and began attacking the People's Temple by legal means. Nearly 100 US Congressmen contacted the Guyanese Prime Minister expressing their concern.
--Despite all this, Jones still had his supporters, notably Harvey Milk, Huey Newton, and many civil rights attorneys. Jones himself by this point was suffering from declining health and abusing drugs daily.
--Finally, CA Congressman Leo Ryan announced that he was going to visit Jonestown for a good ol' fashioned look see.
--Guess what happened next...........................
[to be continued and such]
III. Jonestown, settled
--by 1973, things were becoming dicey for the People's Temple, so over the following three years Jones arranged for the purchase of 3800 acres of land in Guyana. Because Guyana itself was experiencing a period of shifting politics (leftwards), and because many Guyanese gov't officials were black (mirroring Jonestown's proposed populace), Jones felt this would be a sympathetic place to set up shop.
--unfortch for the People's Temple, the purchased land was not terribly fertile. As mentioned last time, agricultural failures would be a major blow to their efforts at self-sufficiency.
--the initiative was given the name "The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project."
--of course, even for a nation as economically insignificant as Guyana, this whole deal raised some eyebrows within the country, but Jones was able to convince officials that his were good people, and his implication that they'd be investing a significant amount of cash into Guyana greased the wheels. Guyanese officials were said to admire this attempt at creating a "socialist paradise," etc. Oddly, this endorsement was trumpeted by California Lt. Gov. Dymally, who in a letter to Guyana's Prime Minster referred to Jones as "one of the finest people." Um, yeah.
--Money talks. Eased customs restrictions allowed Jones to import all kinds crazy nonsense, including drugs n' guns. Additionally Jones was able to persuade the alteration of Guyanese emigration policy, making it more difficult for Jonestown residents to flee the country, mirroring the restrictive policies of other communist countries.
--1977 marked the first influx of people to Jonestown. Life was hard and seemingly militaristically regimented, with 11 hour workdays in the fields 6 days a week, with much non-work time devoted to viewing of propaganda films education on socialism, and Jones' own sermons on world events and his take on them.
IV. The Worm Begins to Turn
--over the next year-and-a-half, life at Jonestown became decidedly more unpleasant. Radio towers were installed with speakers blaring Jones' increasingly incoherent ramblings day and night; crop failures/miserable living conditions led to widespread sickness; punishment for insubordination became more brutal and bizarre.
--Additionally The People's Temple was embezzling the welfare monies/etc. of the colonists, raising suspicion with the US Social Security Administration. 75 Temple members were interviewed and each reaffirmed that they were there of their own volition.
--"White Nights"- Jones became preoccupied with the CIA's purported desire to squash Jonestown, and as such began conducting precursors to emergency evacuation procedures during which votes were taken regarding the Temple's course in the face of threat/invasion. On two occasions, the vote favored ritualistic mass suicide, and suicide drills were carried out. Yikes.
--A custody suit followed, in which a former Temple member was demanding the return of a child. Instability ensued, with Jones losing faith in Guyanese officials' pledges to not interfere in the goings on at Jonestown. Jones began inquiring as to a mass exodus to various Communist countries.
--The parents involved in the aforementioned custody suit formed a group, "Concerned Relatives," which began to shed light publicly on the wackiness that was going on at Jonestown, and began attacking the People's Temple by legal means. Nearly 100 US Congressmen contacted the Guyanese Prime Minister expressing their concern.
--Despite all this, Jones still had his supporters, notably Harvey Milk, Huey Newton, and many civil rights attorneys. Jones himself by this point was suffering from declining health and abusing drugs daily.
--Finally, CA Congressman Leo Ryan announced that he was going to visit Jonestown for a good ol' fashioned look see.
--Guess what happened next...........................
[to be continued and such]
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Bataan Death March
So, I thought I would take a brief respite from the Balkans and move into another uplifting chapter in history...the atrocities committed by the Japanese in Southeast Asia! I was definitely familiar with the term 'Bataan Death March,' but only as a hyperbolic expression of something that was long, awful, and painful.
It is more. Here goes:
Bataan is a province in the Philippines and was a gasoline storage site for the US in the Pacific War with Japan during WWII; US forces were stationed there under General King.
Japanese forces invaded the Philippines in December of 1941. The American/Filipino troops retreated to the Bataan Peninsula, but were attacked by the Japanese in January 1942. King surrendered after months of siege in April; at the time of the surrender, King commanded 75,000 troops, consisting of 67,000 Filipinos, 1,000 Chinese Filipinos, and 11,796 Americans.
The March: Began on April 10, 1942, it was 61 miles (some sources say 70), from Mariveles (on the tip of Bataan) to San Fernando. If you tarried or fell behind, you were executed or left for dead. Prisoners were beaten, denied food and water and allowed little time for rest or sleep. One account has several prisoners who stopped to fill their canteens being shot immediately by their captors. For part of the march, the prisoners were crammed into boxcars and many suffocated, but the rest was on foot--and completed in a week. 54,000/75,000 troops made it to the destination.
The villain: Lt. General Masuhuro Homma. Basically, he decided that, because more men surrendered than he had anticipated, most of them would just have to walk. He was later tried, convicted and executed for his role in the March.
Aftermath: this is sweet/creepy--apparently groups ranging from the Boy Scouts to the National Guard arrange 'death marches', honoring those who survived/died at Bataan. It's like a Race to End MS, but, er, more macabre...
It is more. Here goes:
Bataan is a province in the Philippines and was a gasoline storage site for the US in the Pacific War with Japan during WWII; US forces were stationed there under General King.
Japanese forces invaded the Philippines in December of 1941. The American/Filipino troops retreated to the Bataan Peninsula, but were attacked by the Japanese in January 1942. King surrendered after months of siege in April; at the time of the surrender, King commanded 75,000 troops, consisting of 67,000 Filipinos, 1,000 Chinese Filipinos, and 11,796 Americans.
The March: Began on April 10, 1942, it was 61 miles (some sources say 70), from Mariveles (on the tip of Bataan) to San Fernando. If you tarried or fell behind, you were executed or left for dead. Prisoners were beaten, denied food and water and allowed little time for rest or sleep. One account has several prisoners who stopped to fill their canteens being shot immediately by their captors. For part of the march, the prisoners were crammed into boxcars and many suffocated, but the rest was on foot--and completed in a week. 54,000/75,000 troops made it to the destination.
The villain: Lt. General Masuhuro Homma. Basically, he decided that, because more men surrendered than he had anticipated, most of them would just have to walk. He was later tried, convicted and executed for his role in the March.
Aftermath: this is sweet/creepy--apparently groups ranging from the Boy Scouts to the National Guard arrange 'death marches', honoring those who survived/died at Bataan. It's like a Race to End MS, but, er, more macabre...
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Sowing the Seeds of Ethnic Clashes: Hungarian Stormtroopers???
From the last two posts on the Balkans, you can see that the region is terrifically diverse, both ethnically and religiously. Now that the ethnic and religious divides have been loosely spelled out, the next step is to try and highlight some of the specific historical events that sowed the seeds of division and all-out rancor.
WWII
In the early part of WWII, the Balkans were relatively unaffected, and, until 1941, the only violence the region experienced was a war fought along the Greek/Italy border. However, before Hitler dispatched his troops on their grand, ill-fated march up to Russia, he ordered the securing of the Balkans. This was not a tall order, given the decentralized nature of the region and its corresponding lack of military might; the campaign ended around the same time it started, with a few more feathers in the now-overcrowded Nazi cap.
This left the Balkan states with essentially one of three fates:
(1) Get directly in bed with Germany/Sell soul, etc.
(2) Squirm, but ultimately surrender, as the puppetmaster pulls the strings on your sham gov't
(3) Run for the hills and serve out ineffectual existence in exile
(a): spearhead guerrilla insurrection all but destined for immediate and total suppression by Nazis
Bowing to the Nazis
Bad options all, but the more, shall we say, pragmatic favored the short-term bliss of surrendering to their Nazi bride...and lived to regret it. This group included Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.
Perks: regaining lands lost in Treaty of Versailles through partitioning of Czechoslovakia (Hungary); strength of Nazi state at your back (all)
Downsides: being forced to dispatch troops for German-led campaigns in the horrific wars on the Eastern front with the creatively brutal and macabre Russian troops (Hungary); losing lands/being used as a pawn between Russia and Germany (Romania); lasting stigma/fallout of alliance with Nazis (all)
Yugoslavia
Initially, Yugoslavia's leader signed an alliance deal with the Nazis, but was overthrown by lusty freedom-fighting Serbs. However, the Germans did not countenance this for long: Yugoslavia was soon invaded and partitioned. Croatia, including Bosnia, was placed under puppet rule; Serbia was under German military rule; Macedonia was given to Bulgaria.
Germany's policies were specifically aimed at denigrating Serbs and, when there were rumblings of armed insurgency, the Germans suppressed them swiftly and brutally.
Life in Exile...
Greece: Greek Royals fled to Egypt, and the remaining Greeks were all across the board in terms of allegiances and alliances. Some communist guerrillas engaged in armed resistance; others were actively involved with British Commandos. There were also some factions who did not recognize the Royal gov't anyway.
Nazi Puppet Strings
Croatia: the Germans set up a government ruled by the Utashe based on anti-Serb/anti-Orthodox sentiments. The Utashe went into Serb villages and forced residents to convert to Catholicism and many enemies of the puppet state were sent to death camps. The Bosnian Muslims were left alone, inexplicably. This is where we start to see the fires stoked even more. Like colonial regimes in Rwanda and Indonesia , ethnic and cultural distinctions were exploited for the overlords' gain (between Hutus and Tutsis and Chinese and Indonesian, respectively), aggravating fault lines that would later be prodded by poorly drawn boundaries or the mere side-by-side existence of these ethnic enemies.
WWII
In the early part of WWII, the Balkans were relatively unaffected, and, until 1941, the only violence the region experienced was a war fought along the Greek/Italy border. However, before Hitler dispatched his troops on their grand, ill-fated march up to Russia, he ordered the securing of the Balkans. This was not a tall order, given the decentralized nature of the region and its corresponding lack of military might; the campaign ended around the same time it started, with a few more feathers in the now-overcrowded Nazi cap.
This left the Balkan states with essentially one of three fates:
(1) Get directly in bed with Germany/Sell soul, etc.
(2) Squirm, but ultimately surrender, as the puppetmaster pulls the strings on your sham gov't
(3) Run for the hills and serve out ineffectual existence in exile
(a): spearhead guerrilla insurrection all but destined for immediate and total suppression by Nazis
Bowing to the Nazis
Bad options all, but the more, shall we say, pragmatic favored the short-term bliss of surrendering to their Nazi bride...and lived to regret it. This group included Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.
Perks: regaining lands lost in Treaty of Versailles through partitioning of Czechoslovakia (Hungary); strength of Nazi state at your back (all)
Downsides: being forced to dispatch troops for German-led campaigns in the horrific wars on the Eastern front with the creatively brutal and macabre Russian troops (Hungary); losing lands/being used as a pawn between Russia and Germany (Romania); lasting stigma/fallout of alliance with Nazis (all)
Yugoslavia
Initially, Yugoslavia's leader signed an alliance deal with the Nazis, but was overthrown by lusty freedom-fighting Serbs. However, the Germans did not countenance this for long: Yugoslavia was soon invaded and partitioned. Croatia, including Bosnia, was placed under puppet rule; Serbia was under German military rule; Macedonia was given to Bulgaria.
Germany's policies were specifically aimed at denigrating Serbs and, when there were rumblings of armed insurgency, the Germans suppressed them swiftly and brutally.
Life in Exile...
Greece: Greek Royals fled to Egypt, and the remaining Greeks were all across the board in terms of allegiances and alliances. Some communist guerrillas engaged in armed resistance; others were actively involved with British Commandos. There were also some factions who did not recognize the Royal gov't anyway.
Nazi Puppet Strings
Croatia: the Germans set up a government ruled by the Utashe based on anti-Serb/anti-Orthodox sentiments. The Utashe went into Serb villages and forced residents to convert to Catholicism and many enemies of the puppet state were sent to death camps. The Bosnian Muslims were left alone, inexplicably. This is where we start to see the fires stoked even more. Like colonial regimes in Rwanda and Indonesia , ethnic and cultural distinctions were exploited for the overlords' gain (between Hutus and Tutsis and Chinese and Indonesian, respectively), aggravating fault lines that would later be prodded by poorly drawn boundaries or the mere side-by-side existence of these ethnic enemies.
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