Independent Studies, Prof. Maria Todorova, Fall 1994

Jelavich, Barbara. History of the Balkans: Twentieth Century. vol. 2. Cambridge University Press, 1983.

In this survey, Barbara Jelavich summarizes the efforts of several organizations and scholars (among them the Joint Committee on Eastern Europe of the American Council of Learned Societies, the Social Science Research Council, and her husband Charles Jelavich) to produce a wide-ranging and up-to-date history of the Balkans. Jelavich links the narrative from the first to the second volume by covering the events in the late nineteenth century.

Following a chronological order, Jelavich divides the narrative into two major parts: the period from 1880's, a time when Balkan national liberation movements culminated in the greater part of the peninsula into Balkan national monarchies until 1941, when "the involvement in the war, [marked] the end of a major epoch in Balkan history."(238) The second part takes over from the World War II and continues until the 1980's. The emergence of Balkan nationalist states, and the "imperial drives of Britain, France, Russia, the Habsburg Empire, and later Italy and Germany" (440) presented in the first part of the book, are juxtaposed to the second part with the imposition of Communist control over a greater part of the peninsula, and to the "emerging of the United States and the Soviet Union as the only two great powers...able to exert the major influence" in this region (443).

The structure of the book reflects the author's ability to organize enormous amount of information and to present it digestibly to the reader. In the first part, divided in six chapters, Jelavich scrutinizes the internal development of each of the Balkan nations. The Balkan states which emerged from the Ottoman empire (grouped in the first chapter "Balkan national monarchies") are contrasted to the nations in the Northwestern part of the peninsula (grouped in the second chapter), which were still part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Jelavich also extends her survey beyond Balkan history (e.g. Czech nationalism in the Dual monarchy (55); interaction of pan-German, pan-Slavic, and social-democratic ideas (54)). She justifies this addition as necessary explanation of differences, influences, and interchange between the 'Ottoman' and 'Habsburg' heritages in the Balkans.

In the third chapter, Jelavich further explores the legacy of the Ottoman Empire by introducing the reader to the Albanian and Macedonian questions. She constructs similarly the forth and fifth chapters by revolving the Balkan states' affairs around the events of the First World War and the its aftermath. Thus, Jelavich explains the processes in the Balkans on the dominant background of the European course (the war treaties, the Great Depression, etc.). Even though in the sixth chapter "Balkan authoritarian regimes" Jelavich goes back to a 'country-by-country' presentation, she continues to reveals through a division in sub-chapters the course of European affairs and their impact on the Balkans. This structural decision allows the author to establish a connection between the first and second major parts of the book: "Although the Balkans remained out of center of great-power attention until 1940, each major change in the European balance had repercussions in this area...A drift toward the Axis camp was to be seen in foreign relations." (213)

In the second part, Jelavich continues to unfold the history of the Balkans country by country. However, in the remaining part of the book, she organizes the post-second World War period in what she calls "readjustments": the Greek Civil War and the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict (301). She also introduces the reader to internal and foreign policies of the Communist governments (devoting separate sub-chapters for theoretical and practical approach). 'Equipped' with this essential information, the reader is then prepared to scrutinize the comparison of the Bulgarian, Romanian, and Albanian Communist regimes (contrasted separately to each other) to the Yugoslav variant and to the Greek alternative.

While in the first part of the book, European and Balkan affairs are depicted parallel in their interaction, in the second part, Jelavich narrows the focus of her study. Cold War events are presented strictly through the Balkan perspective. Moreover, in the last chapter of the second part (titled the Greek Alternative), Jelavich highlights the American involvement in the Balkan (Greek) policies. As she states: "...judging contemporary societies is singularly difficult; predicting their future is almost impossible," (445) and "[d]espite sharp protests in the United States and Western Europe against harsher aspects of the Communist systems, it would be best to judge them by their own standards." (445) While Jelavich avoids taking active position about contemporary (1980's) Balkan states, she clearly states the negative consequences of American presence in the Balkans after the World War II. (406)

As a whole, however, Jelavich avoids an active standpoint and adheres inasmuch as possible to a politically 'neutral' and historically conservative survey of political, economic and cultural developments of the Balkans. She accentuates on important political and philosophical theories. Jelavich elucidates revolutionary ideologies of the Agrarian and Communists parties and trends toward the right(191) as one of the main forces in the twentieth century Balkan history. Another important theory, scrutinized by the author, is the "militant nationalism of the Balkan states forced by constant interference by outside powers" (440). The danger of this nationalism continue to glow in the unsolved minorities question.(44) Nationalism carved left and right Balkan ideologies and influenced economic development.(441) Balkan nationalism, "the greatest single force in shaping the political life of the Balkan people," (242) had a significant part in the process of establishment of postwar Communist regimes.

Noteworthy to be mentioned is the helpful application of maps. The bibliography for the second volume is limited to books in English; articles and works in other languages are omitted. (447) However, the literature cited in footnotes, reflects major Balkan and foreign monographs and firsthand sources and indicates author's excellent knowledge and proficiency in selection.