Similarities And Differences In The Bosnian Genocide

These three genocides share a lot in common. One commonality being that the group that carries out the genocide has different religious views than the victims do. While the Nazi’s didn’t follow a specific religion, they were extremely intolerant of Judaism and in 1942, Hitler decided that he wanted to completely wipe out the Jewish population. In the Ottoman Empire, the Turks were mostly Muslim and sought to kill the Christian Armenians and they claimed that these Armenians caused them to lose territory in the Balkans. The Christian Serbs wanted to ethnically cleanse the Muslim Bosnians so they could have more living space and resources. While not all of these genocides occurred for religious differences alone, differences in religion might

have fuelled hatred between the two groups. Another common theme these genocides share is that the victims of the genocide received little help from western countries and by the time help came, too many people had already been killed.

In Europe during World War II, the Allied Powers didn’t focus on liberating the Jews from the Nazis right away was because they were busy fighting decided to focus more on defeating the Axis Powers. In the Ottoman Empire, the Allied didn’t interfere right away because they were busy fighting the Central Powers in World War I. In Yugoslavia, NATO didn’t interfere in the Bosnian Genocide right away because they took the conflict lightly until the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo was bombed by the Serbs. The impact that all of these genocides left was that a great portion of the ethnicity that the victims belonged to were greatly wiped out from the area in which the genocide occurred. Unfortunately, this means that all of these genocides were successful. In Europe, the Nazi’s killed around 5.7 million Jews and a significant portion of the Jewish population no longer lives in Europe. This is either due to being a victim of the Holocaust or from migrating because of the Holocaust. In the Ottoman Empire, 1.2 million Armenians were killed. This caused in Armenian diaspora from the Ottoman

Empire. In Yugoslavia, the Bosnian population was heavily reduced and up to 2.7 million people had become refugees. Before the genocide, only 44% of Bosnia-Herzegovina was Bosnian. After the genocide, Bosnians probably didn’t make up the majority of the population in their own territory. These examples show the few similarities that exist between these genocides.

Despite their similarities, these genocides have obvious differences.

The Holocaust was carried out in order to eradicate Judaism. This was largely supported by the growing amount of racial theories and anti-semitism that spread during this period. The number of Jews that died during the Holocaust greatly outweighed the number of deaths in the other two genocides. The Nazi’s weren’t alone in persecuting Jews as their allies helped carry out the Holocaust as well. This does not hold true for the other genocides. Also, the survivors of the Holocaust were helped a lot by the Allied Powers once the war was over. With the help of western aid, Jews were able to fulfill the ideology of zionism and were able to reestablish Israel. Not only did the Jewish population receive their own country, but the location that it is in is of religious significance to its people. The victims of the most horrible genocide received the greatest reward in the

end.

The Armenian Genocide has many unique features that separate it from the other two genocides. Armenians were largely targeted because the Turks were jealous of their success. Many wealthy and educated Armenians were targeted and successful Armenian businesses were taken by the Turks. The Armenians didn’t have housing that was built for them like the Jews did in the Holocaust. This caused many to die in the desert. Unlike the other genocides, Armenians were forced to immerse themselves in Turkish culture. They were forced to convert to Islam and how to speak the Turkish language. Many Armenians lost a sense of nationalism and many Armenian churches were demolished to further eradicate Armenian culture. The impact that the genocide has in the modern day creates an economic problem for Turkey and Armenia. The Turkish border is closed to Armenians and this halts business between the two countries.

The Bosnian Genocide also had many features that separate it from the other two genocides. The reason why the Bosnians were ethnically cleansed was because the Serbs wanted to remove them so they could have access to their land and therefore have more living space. The genocide was also carried out to stop Bosnian independence which threatened the power of the dominant Serbs. Since the main goal of the genocide was to remove the Bosnians from Bosnia-Herzegovina, an increased amount of refugees was created. Had the goals of the Serbs been similar to the goals of the other two genocides, there would have been a lot more Bosnian casualties. The impact of the Bosnian genocide is that an independent Bosnia was recognized. This differs slightly from the establishment of Israel for a few reasons. One reason being that the Bosnian country is in the same area that the genocide occurred and that means the Bosnians are still near the hostile Serbs. Also, the location of Bosnia isn’t of religious significance for the predominantly Muslim Bosnians.

From these differences, one can see how each genocide was unique in its own way. The goals of the party that carried out the genocide were different in each instance and the impact the genocide had on the victims was different for each group.