Analysis of Ethnic Cleansing - Research Paper Example

Analysis of Ethnic Cleansing Introduction As social beings, humans are vulnerable to conflicts and their resultant negative implications. In essence, human conflicts stem from the relationships that they establish and share with each other. Most recently, the surge in human conflicts is attributable to the dwindling and depletion of the natural resource base. This scenario has further been compounded by the increasing population of humans and rising social and economic demands. Perhaps the most pervasive aspect of human conflicts pertains to the issue of ethnic cleansing. The practice dates back in historical times and as old as the eleventh century. Just like modern populations, ancient communities also grappled with conflicts and wide ranging social problems. The compelling urge for power is the main reason why respective communities engaged in gruesome practices such as ethnic cleansing. It is against this background that this paper reviews the various episodes of ethnic cleansing that occurred before as well as during the two World Wars. In addition, it explains the extent to which the nature of these World Wars contributed to the state of affairs. To ensure a harmonic consideration, it begins by defining the term ethnic cleansing. Ethnic cleansing is an all encompassing term that is closely related to the concept of genocide. It refers to the removal from a certain territory a faction of a population through intimidation and violence (Thum, 2010). It is comprehensive and includes population transfer, forced migration and or deportation. In most instances, this occurs between neighboring communities and is geared towards ensuring purity of a certain population. Historical evidence ascertains that it is a major cause of genocide that occurs on a wider scale. Comparatively, genocide tends to be more violent and has wide ranging implications on both the perpetrating and affected community. Also worth noting is the fact that the relative negative implications are lasting and contribute significantly to future conflicts. As indicated earlier, ethnic cleansing is a historical occurrence that has its roots in ancient conflicts. According to Brubaker (1996), conflicts are a common characteristic of both current and historical populations. However, the complexity of conflicts and relative wars increased during the twentieth century. These further culminated in the first and second world wars. Notably, ethnic cleansing was a common occurrence during both instances. Thus apart from being one of the contributory factors, it can also be considered to have been a major product of the two world wars. There are various instances of ethnic cleansing that attest to the foregoing preposition. To begin with, between 1919 and 1920, there was an ethnic cleansing occurrence between the Bolshevik regime and Don Cossacks. This took place during the Russian civil war and its implications were immense. In particular, it saw a significant 500,000 Don Cossacks being deported within this short period of time (Merriman, 2010). Another episode of ethnic cleansing occurred in 1923 between the Greeks and Turkish. In this regard, there was major population exchange between Turkey and Greece that can be defined as ethnic cleansing. Greece was further affected during the later stages of the Second World War. Thum (2010) indicates that close to 30,000 Albanian Muslims got cleansed form northwestern Greece and specifically in Chameria. Perhaps more frequent incidences of ethnic cleansing took place during the 1940’s. Between, 1941 and 1945, there occurred an ethnic cleansing between the Serbs and the Jews. In this respect, Brubaker (1996) shows that at least 30,000 Jews, 30,000 Romans and 330,000 Serbs were killed by the then Croatian fascist regime. He also indicates that further in 1944, the Serbians killed more 40,000 Hungarian civilians in what was considered revenge. The most significant episode in this respect pertains to the cleansing of Azerbaijanis from their initial Soviet Socialist Republic by the Armenians. This act was typically forced resettlement and is classified as ethnic cleansing. Notably, Hungary, Germany and FDN committed a host of war crimes against the Roma, Serbs and Jews. These populations initially occupied the current Yugoslavia region. Populations were not only murdered, but they were also arrested, tortured and in some instances raped (Churchill, 1946). This culminated in widespread deaths that greatly affected the abovementioned populations. During the 1920s, Libya also suffered significantly from the episodes of ethnic cleansing that occurred within its geographical confines. Relative acts were perpetrated by the Italian authorities. The most affected region according was Cyrenaica. In this, Thum (2010) affirms that a total of 100,000 individuals were forcibly removed and relocated from their lands. The Italian settlers wanted to use this land for Agricultural production because comparatively, the land was more productive. For this reason, indigenous populations inhabiting the region were forcibly removed from the region. Still in the 1930s during the second Sino-Japanese war, Imperial Japanese Army reportedly invaded China. In this, Camus (1955) shows that millions of the Chinese population, including the military personnel and civilians were killed. This invasion was guided by the principles of the Three Alls guidelines and policy. This postulated that all individuals be killed, all property be burned, and ultimately, all that could not be affected by the foregoing be seized. This can be used to explain why the war was characterized by massive destruction and deaths. At this point, it cannot be disputed that ethnic cleansing was a common episode before as well as during the two World Wars. Notably, populations were very hostile and engaged in conflicts from time to time. From the preceding analysis, the respective conflicts were triggered by limited resources. To a great extent, the then violent environment contributed a great deal to incidences of ethnic cleansing. Perhaps the major contributory factor to this state of affairs pertained to the two World Wars. This is particularly so because a significant percentage of the ethnic cleansing episodes occurred during and after the period between the two world wars. The two world wars contributed in different ways to the occurrence of ethnic cleansing. To begin with, the wars triggered a state of lawlessness between and within nation states. In this regard, the social and legal structures of most populations were disrupted. Since the relative structures are vital in establishing the laws and regulations employed for enhancing law and order within populations, Camus (1958) implies that this increased the vulnerability of the respective populations to violence. Violence in this regard was all encompassing ranging from verbal threats to physical harm. This increased tension within populations and ultimately culminated to incidences of ethnic cleansing. The inherent lawlessness gave the perpetrators of the war an easy time to further trigger violence without being brought to book. The technological advancements employed in war that were discovered during this period also contributed in different ways to ethnic cleansing. In this respect, local populations took measures to explore the use of the then technology in war. They planned the relative activities and proceeded to executing them in a bid to determine the effectiveness of the then technology in war. This greatly affected the welfare of populations that did not have access to this technology. In his research, Thum (2010) asserts that indeed, technological advancements in weaponry triggered the urge for populations to test the respective instruments on a local scale before proceeding for the Second World War. Also worth mentioning is the violent environment that was characteristic of the wars (Brubaker, 1996). This triggered tension and conflicts that contributed to ethnic cleansing. From a psychological point of view, violent environments make the affected individuals insensitive to their activities. As such, the populations tend to engage in wars and other forms of violence frequently, without fearing the after effects of these. Conclusion In sum, ethnic cleansing is indeed a gruesome act that characterized the two major World wars. It is akin to deportation and constitutes forcible relocation of populations from their original settlements. As it has come out from the study, episodes of ethnic cleansing were numerous during the two world wars. Various populations including the Libyans, Greeks, Serbs and Romans amongst others were directly affected by these episodes. They moved in significant numbers from their settlements to other areas. As indicated in the study, a significant percentage of the affected populations lost their lives and property too. The above mentioned episodes were influenced by the violent and lawless nature of the two world wars. Also, relative technological advancements during this period contributed to the state of affairs. References Brubaker, R. (1996). Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  Camus, A. (1958) “Algeria,” in Lim et al., eds., The West, pp. 346-347. Churchill, W. (1946). “Fulton Address,” in Kishlansky, ed., Sources, pp. 313-316. Merriman, J. (2010). A History of Modern Europe, From the Renaissance to the Present. Third Edition. New York: Norton. Thum, G. (2010). “Cleansed Memory: The New Polish Wrocław/Breslau, and the Expulsion of the Germans.” In: Tooley, Várdy, Huszár Várdy. Ed. Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe. New York: Columbia University Press. Read More