With a tip o’ the hat to the late, great Jackie Gleason, we’ve packed our bags and are heading for an area of Europe that remains largely a mystery. YouTube videos and library tour books can only provide so much insight into what we will experience over the next two weeks.
Since our body clocks are about to be thrown 7 hours into the future after a grueling day of doing naught but hurrying and then waiting, this is my opportunity to share some random thoughts regarding our destination.
Despite the large number of Eastern Europeans that migrated to the United States between 1900 and 1914, Americans generally exhibit little interest in this region, either historically or present-day.
Yes, there are still vague memories of the brutal wars here in the 1990s. But Western involvement came under the NATO umbrella, so our participation was America-adjacent rather than boots-on-the-ground. And news coverage of events in the region, excluding the Ukraine conflict, are rare to non-existent.
Of course, World War I began here. The assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne) and his wife started the conflict. But then, for the American student, the war’s narrative shifted focus. It became all about the Western Front with its trench warfare, gas masks, Flanders Fields and the occasional sidebar on a begrudging little mustachioed Austrian dispatch runner.
I recently watched a lecture series on WWI that opened my eyes to the completely different and much larger conflict that was fought in central and eastern Europe. And one of the biggest outcomes of that war? The victors redrew the map of Europe.
Four…count ’em: four…empires were eradicated: the Hapsburg Empire of Austria-Hungary; the Russian Empire; the German Empire (or Second Reich); and the Ottoman Empire. They had ruled the roost…until their former realms were parsed, mostly along ethnic lines. New states emerged, like Czechoslovakia and Hungary, while the “land(s) of the South Slavs” were united as the nation of Yugoslavia. That is until the ethno-religious wars that brought the term “ethnic-cleansing” back into popular discourse and another new slew of countries emerged during the 90s.
We will be visiting two of them: Serbia and Croatia. As the Alpha Male of Yugoslavia, Serbia was maligned as the Bad Boy of the Balkan wars. But, since the demise of the USSR, it is often forgotten that Yugoslavia, with its benevolent dictator Tito, was considered by the West as a bit of an ally during the Cold War. While a player in the Eastern sphere, he nonetheless did his own thing Communist-ically, which pleased the Good Guys in the West. He sort of gave the middle finger to the Kremlin…but from behind his back so as not to capsize the boat! I think visiting Belgrade will be a fascinating stop.
Croatia is best known for its Adriatic Coast and the tourist towns of Split and Dubrovnik. Similar to Cleveland positing itself on America’s North Coast, we will be entering Croatia from its East Coast, the Danube. And while the Adriatic offers Roman and Venetian sites, our stop will be in one of the hardest-hit towns of the war and a symbol of Croatia’s struggle for independence.
Return to the Previous Page
Eastern Europe: Black Sea to Budapest 