Intro: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: In the fourth century A.D. the Emperor Constantine, in large part for administrative efficiency, divided the Roman Empire into two parts. From that point the Eastern and Western sections of the Empire gradually drew apart and began to develop separately in many ways. The line dividing the two divisions ran through present day Bosnia, and at least since the time of the breach, the area has known almost war and suffering. Essayist Dusko Doder likens the history of this region to the huge tectonic plates that lie just beneath the surface of the earth between which fault lines are the scene of earthquakes and volcanic activity. Over the centuries the two sides of Constantine's line have ground against one another producing near volcanic moral, religious, and ethnic friction.

Those of Slavic heritage with language and ethnic ties to the peoples of north central Europe largely populate the region affected by this turmoil: Poles, Czechs, and Russians. Having this common tribal background did not mean the people of the region are alike. They have come to speak different languages or dialects, write with different scripts, worship in different ways, and, until 1918, had never existed under a common government. The two main ethnic groups, Serbs and Croats, were numbered with other communities such as Macedonians, Montenegrins, Slovenes, Albanians, Greeks, and in the middle, bisected along Constantine's line the extravagant ethnic mixture in Bosnia. Each of these groups had a geographical area in which they were dominant, but often they spilled over the borders and could be found in significant numbers in other regions. The result was a brilliant array of ethnic diversity. More often than not this diversity has led to conflict and war. Next time: The loss of Balkan Independence. The Producer of A Moment in Time is Steve Clark. At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

Resources

Doder, Dusko. "Yugoslavia: New War, Old Hatreds," Foreign Policy (31, Summer, 1993), 3-33.

Dragnich, Alex N. and Slavko Todorovich. The Saga of Kosovo. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984.

Misha, Glenny. The Fall of Yugoslavia. New York: Penguin Books, 1992.

Moodie, Michael. "The Balkan Tragedy," Annals, The American Association of Politics and Social Science (541, September, 1995), 101-115.

Copyright 2002 by Dan Roberts Enterprises, LLC