Louisville to Dubrovnik - Day 1

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Last January I saw a movie at the International Film Festival in Palm Springs entitled "A Death in Sarajevo." It was about the 100 year anniversary of the start of WWI, but the back story was about all the unresolved issues that still exist in that region. 

I've always been fascinated by WWI because we don't study much about it in school, but I believe it gave rise to WWII and many of the conflicts in our world today.

So what better way to learn more than to visit the place where it started -- the Balkans. I'm off on another adventure with Road Scholar to visit 5 countries of the former Yugoslavia -- Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovenia.

I have no delusions of answering "why" WWI. Scholars have combed through archives from Belgrade to Berlin looking for answers. More than 30,000 articles and books have been published in English alone. 

The issues range from ambitions of great men at the time, momentum of modern militarism, rise of nationalism, particularly in smaller areas, competing ideologies like communism and fascism, and maybe just the end of an era of great empires where the wealthy dominate.

What made this war a surprise was that there had been an extraordinary period of relative peace in Europe since 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The leaders of 3 of the great empires were cousins -- Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and King George V were first cousins, grandsons of Queen Victoria. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and George were first cousins since their mothers were sisters. Wilhelm and Nicholas were 3rd cousins and all 3 were 5th cousins, being equal descendants of King George II of England. But like all families, there was dysfunction and rivalry.

Because of the tentacles of these European empires, 30 nations had declared war by 1918, with the majority on the side of the Allies.

So how did it get started -- with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir apparent to the Austrian-Hungarian empire by a Bosnian-Serb. Well, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia so Russia chose to become Serbia's protector and declared war on A-H. Germany felt it had to support A-H and declared war on Russia. Because of alliances over decades, France and Britain were drawn in to fight along side Russia. These last 3 were the Allies, joined by the US in the last year of the war -- 100 years ago which makes my trip somewhat commemorative.

A question posed by the aforementioned film was "Gavrilo Princip, the Bosnian Serb assassinator, a hero or a terrorist?"  I look forward to finding out how he is viewed. Apparently they keep putting up statues of him and then taking them down, depending on the current political perspectives. Sound familiar?

And I haven't even begun to explore all the issues with the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Balkan War in the last decade of the 20th century.

Should be a good trip -- with lots of wonderful scenery to highlight the region. I'm trading the bourbon for some Slovenian wines (and hopefully "Melania cake) so I'm off.