Andrew #20 Bell-Fialkoff : A Brief History of Ethnic Cleansing
This article basically talks about the history of ethnic cleansing and how it has been around for a long time. Ethnic cleansing is first noted in 745-727 BC under the first Assyrina ruler. The article gives many examples of other types of ethnic cleansing such as in many European states, but many times it was applied primarily to religious minorities instead of ethnic minorities. The first ethnic cleansing were primarily carried out in England in 1600's when the English tried to expel Irish Catholics. In America, Native Americans were forced to move, and once relocated, the state opened up their land to white settlers. It was in the 1800's that the complete destruction of an ethnic group was the goal of the state. Turkey wanted to cleanse its state of Greeks and Armenians. Ethnic Cleansing was at its height when Nazi's tried to eliminate Jews because The Germans planned to remove Jews from territories of the Reich. They used deportation, expulsion, population transfer, massacre, and genocide. Hitler used reverse cleansing; he exported ethnic Germans to occupied territories to spread Hitler's agenda. The Czech government expelled Hungarians; Soviet Union also cleansed people after the war Croatian Nationalists out carried massacres of Serb civilians in a Nazi puppet state. The Croatian state massacred thousands of Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies. After the Croatian army surrendered, the Serbs retaliated by killing many Croats and forcing them to march long distances. The most 1990 tension between the croats and the serbs is a result of the atrocities on both sides less than 50 yrs ago. Massive population transfers increased as fighting intensified among Yugoslavia's various factions. 1/3 of all Serbs who lived in Croatia left and 10% of the Croat population fled. Not all refugees are considered to have been cleansed because some left voluntarily when tension rose and others that fled once their town was taken by the enemy. The line between voluntary refugees and those cleansed is very blurry but different. These campaigns to create ethnically homogenous regions are unique in a only a few regards: 1 much EC has been carried out by civilian forces which shows the very personal nature of the animosities in the Balkans. 2 A unique innovation of the Balkans EC is Serbs held Muslim and Croats in prisons until their families would agree to leave the territory. 3 organized rape is fairly rare in war, but the Serbs used mass rape to drive women and their families away.