Getting Started
Following the devastation of World War II, many European leaders sought to build a lasting peace through economic cooperation and political integration. However, this trend toward unity was frequently challenged by powerful, older forces. Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, resurgent nationalism and long-simmering ethnic tensions periodically disrupted the postwar peace, leading to political conflict and, in the most extreme cases, mass atrocities.
What You Should Be Able to Do
Explain the causes of nationalist and separatist movements in Europe after World War II.
Describe the methods and goals of specific nationalist and separatist groups.
Explain the causes and effects of ethnic conflict and mass atrocities in the Balkans.
Analyze the relationship between the rise of "new nationalisms" and the outbreak of war and genocide.
Key Developments & Analysis
This section explores the causes and effects of the nationalist and ethnic conflicts that reshaped parts of Europe after 1945. The primary historical reasoning skill here is Causation, as we trace the path from underlying tensions to violent outcomes.
Causes of Postwar Conflict and Atrocities
The relative peace of the Cold War era often masked deep-seated divisions that erupted with great force toward the end of the century.
Enduring Nationalist and Separatist Identities: In Western Europe, some regions with distinct linguistic, cultural, and historical identities never fully integrated into their larger nation-states. This led to the rise of separatist movements, which are political movements advocating for a degree of autonomy or full independence for a given territory.
The Basque people, located in a region spanning northern Spain and southwestern France, maintained a unique language and culture. Frustration with the central Spanish government, particularly its past repression, fueled a desire for independence.
In Belgium, linguistic and economic divides between the Dutch-speaking Flemish population in the north and the French-speaking Walloons in the south fueled a powerful, though largely non-violent, nationalist movement seeking greater political autonomy.
Collapse of Multi-Ethnic Communist States: In Central and Eastern Europe, authoritarian communist governments had suppressed ethnic and national rivalries for decades. The collapse of communism in the late 1980s and early 1990s removed this control, creating a power vacuum.
In Yugoslavia, a federation of diverse republics, the death of its long-time leader and the fall of communism allowed long-suppressed grievances to surface.
This environment gave rise to new nationalisms, aggressive and often intolerant ideologies that emphasized the superiority of one ethnic group and its right to dominate a territory. Political leaders used nationalist rhetoric to mobilize support, often by stoking fear and hatred of other ethnic groups.
Effects of Postwar Conflict and Atrocities
The re-emergence of these forces had profoundly disruptive and often tragic effects, ranging from political instability to systematic mass murder.
Political Disruption and Violence: In Western Europe, separatist movements challenged the stability of established states. The most prominent example was Basque ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna), a militant separatist group in Spain that used terrorism, including bombings and assassinations, in its campaign for an independent Basque homeland. This disrupted civic life and created a climate of fear for decades.
War and Genocide in the Balkans: The most devastating effects occurred in the former Yugoslavia. The "new nationalisms," particularly Serbian nationalism, led directly to a series of brutal wars in the 1990s.
As Yugoslavia fractured, competing ethnic groups fought for territory and control, leading to mass atrocities.
The conflict was characterized by ethnic cleansing, the systematic forced removal of ethnic or religious groups from a given territory by a more powerful ethnic group, often involving intimidation, violence, and murder. This was used extensively against Bosnian Muslims.
In the worst cases, ethnic cleansing escalated to genocide, the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. The massacre of Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995 is the most infamous example of genocide in Europe since the Holocaust.
Later in the decade, similar violence erupted in the province of Kosovo, where Serbian forces carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Albanian Muslims of Kosovo, prompting international intervention.
Data & Organization Tools
The following table compares the goals, methods, and impacts of the key nationalist and ethnic conflicts mentioned in this period.
| Region/Group | Primary Goal(s) | Dominant Methods | Primary Impact/Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basque (ETA) | Full independence from Spain and France for the Basque Country. | Political activism and armed struggle, including terrorism and assassination. | Decades of violence and political tension within Spain; eventual ceasefire and disarmament. |
| Flemish Nationalists | Greater political and cultural autonomy for the Flemish-speaking region of Belgium. | Peaceful political organizing, electoral participation, and legislative reform. | Significant devolution of power, transforming Belgium into a federal state. |
| Bosnian Muslims | Preservation of a multi-ethnic, independent Bosnia and Herzegovina; physical survival. | Self-defense through a newly formed army; diplomacy. | Victims of widespread ethnic cleansing and genocide; a fragile peace was established by international treaty. |
| Albanian Muslims of Kosovo | Greater autonomy within, and later independence from, Serbia/Yugoslavia. | Political protest, followed by armed insurgency. | Victims of a systematic ethnic cleansing campaign, leading to NATO intervention and eventual independence. |
Evidence Bank
Nationalism: An ideology and movement that promotes the interests of a particular nation (a group of people), especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining the nation's sovereignty over its homeland.
Separatist Movements: Political movements in which a group advocates for secession or separation from a larger political unit to which it belongs, often based on distinct ethnic, linguistic, or cultural identity.
Basque ETA: A militant Basque nationalist and separatist organization that used armed struggle, including terrorism, from 1959 to 2018 in its campaign for an independent state in the Basque Country.
Flemish Nationalism: A political movement seeking greater autonomy for the Dutch-speaking northern region of Belgium (Flanders), which successfully transformed Belgium from a unitary to a federal state through primarily peaceful, political means.
The Balkans: A geographic region in Southeast Europe that, in the 1990s, was the site of intense ethnic conflict, war, and genocide following the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks): One of the main ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who were the primary victims of ethnic cleansing and genocide during the Bosnian War (1992–1995).
Albanian Muslims of Kosovo: The majority ethnic group in Kosovo, who were targeted by Serbian forces in a campaign of ethnic cleansing during the Kosovo War (1998–1999).
Ethnic Cleansing: The practice of using force or intimidation to remove a given ethnic or religious group from a geographic area, with the goal of creating an ethnically homogeneous region.
Genocide: The deliberate and systematic killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that group.
Skill Snapshots
Causation:
The collapse of the authoritarian communist state in Yugoslavia → created a power vacuum that allowed competing nationalisms to emerge.
Aggressive Serbian nationalism under Slobodan Milošević → led to wars of expansion and the ethnic cleansing of non-Serb populations, such as Bosnian Muslims.
A strong sense of unique cultural and linguistic identity → fueled separatist movements like those of the Basques and Flemish.
Comparison:
While both were separatist movements, the Basque ETA primarily used violence, whereas Flemish nationalism achieved its goals through peaceful political processes.
Nationalist conflict in the Balkans resulted in genocide and the creation of new states, while nationalist conflict in Spain disrupted domestic peace but did not fundamentally alter state borders.
Both the Bosnian Muslims and Albanian Muslims of Kosovo were targeted due to their ethnicity and religion by Serbian nationalist forces.
Continuity and Change Over Time (CCOT):
Baseline: In the decades immediately after 1945, European integration and the Cold War balance of power largely suppressed violent nationalism.
Change: The end of the Cold War (c. 1989–1991) unleashed a new, virulent form of ethnic nationalism in Eastern Europe.
Change: Separatist movements in Western Europe successfully used political pressure (Flemish) or violence (Basque) to challenge the authority of centralized states.
Continuity: Nationalism, a powerful force since the 19th century, remained a primary cause of political instability and violent conflict in Europe.
Common Misconceptions & Clarifications
"Nationalism is always violent." This is incorrect. While it can lead to violence (e.g., the Balkans, ETA), it can also be a peaceful political movement, as seen with the Flemish in Belgium who achieved their goals of autonomy through democratic and legislative means.
"Ethnic cleansing and genocide are the same thing." They are related but distinct. Ethnic cleansing is the expulsion of a group from a territory. Genocide is the intent to destroy the group itself, in whole or in part. Genocide can be a tool of ethnic cleansing, but the core intent is different.
"These conflicts were an 'Eastern European' problem." While the most extreme violence occurred in the Balkans, significant and long-running nationalist and separatist conflicts also took place in Western Europe, most notably in Spain with the Basque ETA.
"The end of the Cold War brought peace to Europe." For many in Central and Eastern Europe, the end of Soviet domination brought freedom. However, for the people of Yugoslavia, it unleashed a decade of horrific warfare that was far more violent than anything they had experienced during the Cold War.
One-Paragraph Summary
The period after World War II, while often characterized by moves toward European unity, was periodically fractured by the powerful forces of nationalism and ethnic identity. In Western Europe, this manifested as separatist movements, such as the violent campaign of the Basque ETA in Spain and the peaceful political pressure of Flemish nationalists in Belgium. The most catastrophic resurgence of nationalism occurred in Central and Eastern Europe following the collapse of communism. In the former Yugoslavia, the rise of "new nationalisms" ignited a series of brutal wars in the 1990s, marked by systematic ethnic cleansing and genocide against groups like the Bosnian Muslims and Albanian Muslims of Kosovo. These events served as a tragic reminder that despite decades of peace and integration, extreme nationalism remained a potent and destructive force in modern Europe.