Historical Methods

The sources in Chapter Seven; The Devil’s Finger: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia were very extensive and varied. There were many books, articles, and speeches cited. Of the books and articles that were used the one thing I didn’t like was the fact that many of them were from the United States (several universities) and a few from other countries but not many from Yugoslavia, which I believed could have possibly caused a slight biased reaction. The speeches used in this chapter were from ordinary people as well as high ranking officials like Milosevic. The sources do a good job as well to show the ethnic division within Yugoslavia between the Serbian, Slovens, Croatians, and others because there are specific sources cited that state what ethnicity they are. Their was a variety of books and articles that were written after the Revolution and during it (many out of date ones and up to date) that I think they give a mixed perception of the time period and a biased opinion in a way since it is long after 1989. However the sources still gave a good outside perspective at how bad Yugoslavia was and then an even more descriptive description from a person within Yugoslavia. Overall, Stoke did a great job in finding his resources and the mix produces a well informed chapter.

Stokes main point was I believe to describe to the reader how communism fell in Eastern Europe. It fell because the leaders of the countries could hold it together, the economic system didn’t make sense when compared to other countries, inflation caused problems, it was hard to keep the people under control so the military and secret police had become involved, just basically that communism couldn’t be held together. Gorbachev finally made people see that a change needed to occur and though he didn’t want to get rid of communism he did in Russia and other communist countries in Eastern Europe followed. The important thing to remember is that Gorbie really didn’t want to get rid of communism it was just a mistake the public made and he went with it because of the public and his policies swayed that way.

Other more detailed points Stokes made was that the secret police were out of control and no one could be trusted and neither could the military. In Romania it was the worst and they spiraled out of control for a little. Yugoslavia was just a mess, but one thing that wasn’t made clear to me was how they winded up, good or bad. East Germany had it the best out of all the communist nations during that time when they decided to become democratic due to West Germany’s help. Also that Solidarity in Poland was seen as a bad thing at first but in the end helped out the country immensely. What is learned through this book is that though these Eastern European countries started out communist and ended democratic the trip there wasn’t a smooth one.

After reading the first part of Stokes’ book I realized that communism was a total failure in Easter Europe and it was doing nothing but hurt its own people. Poland had a rough time with Solidarity, getting its people food, and giving its people the self respect and dignity that they deserved. Solidarity helped the Polish people and it seemed as if the government could never get away from it and ultimately had to accept it.

All the citizens in Romania despised their country, and so did the rest of Europe. Its political leaders and secret police were out of control and citizens feared for their lives. The secret police wasn’t just a problem in Romania but in numerous other Eastern European countries as well. Hungary fought hard for its democracy and eventually won it and completely eliminated communism like the other Eastern European countries.

East Germany had a huge leg up when compared to the other Eastern European countries trying to get away from communism. Its transition to democracy went relatively smoothly and so did its economic life. Why? Mainly because West Germany helped them out immensly.

After reading the first part of Stokes’s book I came to the conclusion that Gorbie was the main player in getting the Eastern European nations to rethink their governmen. Although Gorbie didn’t want to due away with communism completely, he accidently did and his policies helped create a great government in Russia. Everyone around the world loved him and gave him multitudes of respect.

The Yugoslavia situation was unlike any other situation in any other Eastern European country during this time. The book spoke of how it was if God picked Yugoslavia out of every country in the world and decided that everything that could go wrong would go wrong in this country. There was turmoil going on all around the country, but it didn’t compare to the turmoil within the country.

It seemed as if the Serbs, Slovens, and Croatians would never get along no matter what anybody did including if a new government was established. Finally after a long period of time and hard work six new governments were formed within Yugoslavia, however these governments clashed and some of their political leaders were questionable. It seems to me that while elections were suppose to be free ones not all of them were. Also the Macedonians were pretty much forgotten during this time period and there after. Although Yugoslavia was on the right path away from communism it was still hitting plenty of bumps in the road on the way to the finish line.