Bosnian Genocide
The Bosnia genocide took place in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995. The main groups involved were the Bosnian Serb Army and the Bosnian Muslims. The main cause of this genocide was conflict between the 2 ethnicity's. Up to 7,500 men, and boys over 13 years old, were killed. They were trucked or marched to their places of death. Up to 3,000, many in the act of trying to escape, were shot or decapitated in the fields. Others died in their thousands on farms, football fields, school playgrounds. The whole action was carried out with military efficiency. (It is said that the transport drivers were each forced to kill one man, to deter them from testifying against the Serb troops later.)
First, how did both the United States and the United Nations specifically fail to help stop the Genocide taking place, especially in Srebrenica? Second, study the picture above - what parallels from history can you 'draw' or compare this picture too?
1. When it became evident that there were acts of genocide occurring in Bosnia, the United nations tried to step in and help however they were very ineffective. The UN sent in a peace keeping force that was supposed to establish "safe spots" within the country to help protect the Muslims who were being attacked by the Serb's. However these safe zones were quickly over run by the Serb's, the most infamous being Srebrenica, where the people that were being protected there were slaughtered. Overall the UN attempt to stop the genocide was a failure because they refused to become directly involved in the war. The United States is also at fault because they refused to call this "ethnic cleansing" a genocide. The U.S. would not call this a genocide and nor would the UN because by declaring this a genocide, certain military actions would have to be taken to stop the genocide. Although the genocide eventually ended and the United States helped to form a peace treaty, the country still remains divided into the different ethnic groups. The US and UN could have done more to prevent this but they allowed it to happen. So now, the hatred from the Bosnian genocide has not faded away and the country is still divided.
ReplyDelete2. This picture reminds me of the pictures from the Holocaust. The extremely thin, tortured look of the people that were kept in the concentration camps and deprived of their basic human rights. The Holocaust was a horrible event and that we would allow similar genocides to occur after what the world saw in the Holocaust, the pictures of the emaciated men and women. This picture also shows what looks to be a concentration camp, due to the barbed wire and the extreme thinness of these men.
1. They outright REFUSED to acknowledge that it was a genocide in the first place, stating that it was only "acts of genocide". The UN failed to take appropriate action to guard the "safe areas", and they outright gave up in Srebrenica, withdrawing troops and leaving Bosnian Muslims for dead.
ReplyDelete2. The picture has a distinctive Holocaust feel to it. The emaciated figures bring those who suffered in Nazi concentration camps to mind -- those poor people too were deprived of dignity, of nutrition, and of freedom.
The United Nations failed to provide Bosnians fleeing from the genocide with a properly guarded safe area. In fact, the UN troops assigned to protect the Bosnians in Srebrenica fled due to lack of proper arms or reinforcements. Thus, the remain 8000 Bosnians were left unprotected and subsequently massacred. The United States was pressured by the UN to not get involved, especially from European members. However, they took the lead in assisting the Bosnian army by bombing the Serb military. The U.S also mediated the peace talks between Serbians and Bosnian Muslims and thus the Dayton agreement was created. However the U.S took on its role too late and still failed to address the controversy as genocide.
ReplyDeleteThis picture reminds me of the holocaust with the people in it looking like ghosts and skeletal. It reminds me how horrible the Holocaust was and how the Bosnian genocide parallels those atrocities.
1. Both the UN and the United States failed to help stop the Bosnian genocide. The UN initally tried to get involved by sending over peacekeeping forces and creating "safe areas" in the country. These areas however were highly ineffective as the Bosnian Serb forces still held control over 70 percent of Bosnian territory and soon took over the "safe areas" as well. All areas were "ethnically cleansed" immediately, especially the town of Srebrenica where UN troops withdrew and allowed the killing of Bosnian Muslims. Meanwhile, the United States avoided involvement by refusing to see what was happening in Bosnia as a genocide.
ReplyDelete2. The picture showing the conditions of people suffering during the Bosnian genocide can draw the parallel of the horrific Holocaust that occurred in Nazi Germany. Pictures from both genocides show how sickly and weak people were as they were caged in like animals, awaiting their eventual death. It is clear that both events were inexcusable, torturous murder.
The UN and the United States both played a major role in the failure of protecting the Bosnian Muslims. The UN made an effort by sending troops and establishing safe areas for refuge, however these areas ended up being not as safe as they were advertised to be. The UN ended up pulling out, and many Bosnians were massacred because of the UN going back on their promise. The article also states that the Serbs controlled 70% of the Bosnian territory, despite the UN's efforts. Similar to what the US did with other genocides, America played a minimal part in the genocide. The United States refused to categorize what the Bosnians were suffering from as "genocide" therefore they saw no need to get involved.
ReplyDeleteTh picture can be related to the Holocaust in many ways. The concentration camps that were infested with suffering human beings were very similar in structure (as we can see by the picture through the barbed wire and starving people). Both events had similarities drawn between them and both events are a shameful and dark period of our history.
The UN and the US failed to stop the Bosnian Genocide because they both refused to admit that it was genocide. The UN made somewhat of an effort by sending in a peacekeeping force and establishing "safe spots." At these "safe spots" they used lightly armed troops which were no match for the angry Serbs. The Serbs took over and everyone, including the European troops were "ethnically cleansed." In Srebrenica, the UN troops withdrew after promising to protect Bosnian Muslims and as a result, approximately eight thousand Bosnians were killed. The US did nothing. When Europe implied that they didn't want us over there, we took that as an easy out. Both the UN and the US refusing to define the problem as what it was, genocide, lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths.
ReplyDeleteThis picture is similar many pictures of concentration camps that we have seen from the Holocaust. The people were obviously suffering, appearing malnourished and dirty. Detaining and dehumanizing these people and placing them under such awful conditions makes it clear that the Bosnian genocide was just as much of a genocide as the Holocaust.
First off, the UN as well as the United States both failed to stop the genocide that was occurring in Bosnia. The US government claimed that the events in Bosnia were "acts of genocide" rather than calling them a true genocide. Along with that, the UN made little effort to help those in Bosnia by sending a peacekeeping force who established six "safe areas" with lightly armed troops which proved no help against the Serbs. Soon enough 70 percent of Bosnia's territory was controlled by Serb forces who continued to "ethnically cleanse" the area. Later, around 8,000 Bosnians were massacred as a result of the UN troops withdrawing from Srebrenica, where they were sent to protect Bosnian Muslims. As a result of the refusal to name the events taken place in Bosnia as an actual genocide, the UN and US sat back and watched as some 100,000 Bosnians were killed and approximately 2 million were relocated.
ReplyDeleteAs for the picture above, one can easily see a connection between it and those of the holocaust. Concentration camps where Jews were sent to to starve and die and work during the years of the holocaust clearly relate to the picture where men are seen malnourished, sickly, crowded, and trapped within the barbed wire walls. Both events, or genocides clearly depict the horrible acts that our history has encountered.
The peacekeeping efforts by the US and UN proved ineffective. The Serbs took control of the safe areas set up by the UN. Once the Serbs took control of these areas they ethnically cleansed the area. The UN also withdrew the troops they had sent to protect the Bosnian Muslims. The US declared that what happened in Bosnia were only acts of genocide not actual genocide. Since it was not genocide the US refused to get wholeheartedly involved in the Bosnian affairs.
ReplyDeleteIf someone did not tell me the picture was from the Bosnian conflict I would have thought it was the Holocaust. A picture of sickly ill fed men and women crowding around a barbed wire is a typical Holocaust picture. The Holocaust is the most infamous genocide in history, and if we can draw strong parallels between the Holocaust and the Bosnian genocide then it is very clear that the Bosnian conflict was in fact a genocide.
The US and UN both failed to stop the genocide in Bosnia.The six safe areas that the UN set up proved to be ineffective, and the ethnic cleansing continued. When UN troops withdrew out of Srebrenica, 8000 Bosnians were massacred.
ReplyDeleteThis picture can easily be related to the Holocaust. If the Holocaust was genocide, then the conflict in Bosnia was definitely genocide as well.
1. The U.S. and the UN troops failed to stop the genocide because they did not try hard enough to put an end to it. The UN did initially try to prevent the genocide from getting worse by setting up "safe areas", however they went in with too few troops and pulled out too soon. This caused the promised safe areas to be overtaken by the Serbs leading to the Muslims and Croats that were dependent on the UN for protection to be killed. The U.S. was also failed to stop the genocide from occurring because they were too slow in stepping in. The main reason for this is that the U.S. was reluctant to call the killings in Bosnia genocide and this dramatically slowed aid from coming in because the situation seems much less urgent when there are acts of genocide occurring rather than full blown genocide. In the end the U.S. was the main force responsible for ended the genocide, which goes to show that all along they had the power to prevent the killings from happening altogether, however they did not make a decision of what to so fast enough to make such an impact.
ReplyDelete2. This picture is very similar to many ones that we studied when we learned about the Holocaust. It especially reminds me of the pictures taken as American troops came to liberate the concentration camps and saw with their own eyes helpless, starving people locked in cramped conditions that the entire world knew nothing about. In both of these pictures a large group of people was thrown into crowded and filthy concentration camps where disease spread quickly and the "prisoners" were starved and not provided with adequate clothing or shelter.
1: The United States were "reluctant" to even call what happened in Bosnia a "genocide". The United States stepped back from helping out because european leaders said they could take care of it. They didn't help and thousands of Bosnians died.
ReplyDelete2: The picture reminds me of ones I have seen about the Holocaust. The people are emaciated and stuck behind a barbed wire fence like they were animals. We watched a movie in 10th grade about the Holocaust and this reminds me of when they are rescued.
1. The US and the UN failed to stop the genocide in Bosnia. The UN had originally stepped up and got involved by creating areas that they promised would be safe. these areas did not end up being safe and the UN ended up being scared and pulled out of the county. then once the UN left the number of killing increased dramatically.
ReplyDelete2. This picture reminds me of the one that you see from the Holocaust. The men are very thin and they are trapped behind the barbed wire and looking to escape. It looks like the picture of the people in the concentration camps except they are not all wearing the same thing.
The United States and the International community failed because they did not do enough. They sent in peace keeping troops but not forces that would actually be able to do anything to end the fighting. They did do a bombing campaign but it was too late. They tried to set up a peace agreement but it failed.
ReplyDeleteThe picture is similar to the Holocaust, the Jews in the concentration camps. The people look starved, skinny and malnurished. After WWII this was something that was never supposed to happen again, but the international community failed.
1.) The United States and UN failed miserably to stop the genocide in Bosnia. I mean yes at first, the UN did help in some ways (creating areas that they considered to be safe) but that's not what happened. In fact they ended up pulling out of the country. They also called it "acts of genocide" when they knew it was genocide taking place. Therefore, it was all a fail.
ReplyDelete2.) This picture reminds of the Holocaust. How the Jews were left in concentration camps to die and the people in the picture look similar to that such that they also seem to be at a a camp, behind a wired fence. Starved, skinny, and fearful people is what I observe from this photo.
1. not only the USA but the world as a whole failed to help and didnt even try to help out at all. even though the Un made what they called efforts to help they in reality did nothing whatsoever to help out and failed miserably.
ReplyDelete2. the picture shown reminds me of the concentration camps especially after the germans fled and left the prisoners there to die without any food and water.
1) The United States and the United Nations failed to help the Genocide taking place because the never identified the events taking place as actually being genocide. Although the United Nations sent in a peacekeeping force to attempt to create “safe areas”. But these “safe areas” turned out not to be safe and were eventually ethnically cleansed by the Serbs.
ReplyDelete2) The picture above reminds me of the Holocaust. The extremely thin and starving humans corralled behind fences are very similar to pictures of concentration camps during the Holocaust where people were tortured and deprived of their basic human rights.