In Hoc Signo Vinces: Religious Symbolism in the Balkan Wars 1991-1995

Abstract

Some of the most common explanations for the Balkan wars of the 1990s have been that they were, in the final analysis, religious wars, or the consequence of national incompatibilities and cultural differences, or a return of old myths, or a thirst for revenge for historical injustices, or the logical result of the bloodthirsty 'national character' of the Balkan peoples, etc.Deliberately or not, both local and foreign commentators perceived these developments as being rationally inexplicable, spontaneous, completely unreasonable, and contrary to any sense of rationality.In sharp contrast to, for example, the Gulf war, the Balkan wars were comprehended and portrayed as obscure, dirty, mean, uncivilised, cruel, etc.Needless to say, every social action--in our case war--has parallel 'rational' and 'irrational' dimensions, which must be studied carefully.Belligerent groups were very often from different religious and ideological backgrounds.If we limit ourselves to the secularized twentieth century, we find mythic constructs, religious rhetoric and archaic iconography at different times and in different parts of the world.Many nations perceived and may still perceive themselves to be the Most Ancient, even Holy, Sacred, or Heavenly, as representing Christ among the nations, as the Elect, or having a God-given mission to fulfil; others are self-declared warrants of democracy or cultured nations.In history we remember military campaigns called the Crusades; various dictators were glorified as being sent (or chosen) by God Himself, or as the incorporation of the Will of the Nation; politicians have often referred to religious traditions and values and swear before God at their inauguration.The struggle of the proletariat against the 1 This paper was presented at the international conference "Nationality and Citizenship in Post-communist Europe", Paris, July 9-10, 2001.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 9 citations exist upstream.