Ancient Aliens TV - Ancient X Files TV - Infamous Assassinations TV - Days that Shook the World TV - Nafeez Ahmed - Paddy Ashdown - Christopher Hitchens - Misha Glenny - The Death of Yugoslavia 1996 - Secret Wars Uncovered TV - Warographics online - Corridors of Power: Should America Police the World? TV -
In 2005 Dr Sam Osmanagich, a professor of anthropology and amateur archaeologist, announced that he had found five ancient pyramids in Bosnia. Ancient Aliens s9e10: Hidden Pyramids
Are these hills actually the world’s largest pyramids hidden for years on the fringes of the iron curtain? Built by a lost civilisation. 7,000 years before the Egyptians. Ancient X Files: Crucifixion Decoded & Bosnian Pyramids, National Geographic 2012
Visoko, Bosnia: a small town in eastern Europe. But according to one Bosnian-American explorer a huge historical discovery. For years they were thought to be strangely symmetrical hills. ibid.
On the sides of the pyramids are sandstone pavements with steps. ibid.
An extraordinary building feat for such an ancient civilisation. ibid.
June 28th 1914, Sarajevo, Bosnia: an open-touring car takes a wrong turn. Its driver tries to reverse in the narrow road. What happens in the next few seconds will cause the deaths of millions of people. Suddenly a young man steps forward, raises a pistol and fires two shots. His target is the heir to one of Europe’s oldest empires. Infamous Assassinations: Archduke Franz Ferdinand
In 1911 a Serbian army officer Colin Dragutin Dimitrijevic sets up a secret society named the Black Hand, dedicated to bringing all territories particularly Bosnia which have large Serb minorities under Serb control. ibid.
July 28th 1914: Austro-Hungary declares war on Serbia, and its forces begin to advance into the country. Faithful to its ally, Germany warns Russia that any form of mobilisation in support of Serbia will be countered by German mobilisation and war. But the Russians are not prepared to be humiliated again. ibid.
Now the rival power blocks in Europe come into play with deadly effect ... In just a week a seemingly local incident has become a world war. ibid.
The history of the twentieth century was defined by two global conflicts: the First World War began with a single bullet fired by a young Serb nationalist. Days that Shook the World s1e2: Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and the Death of Hitler, BBC 2003
This is the Black Hand Gang. ibid.
They [US/GB] landed in Bosnia in various places and they used them to try and manipulate the Bosnia conflict in a certain direction ... We connected ourselves with people connected to terrorism ... Bosnia has been described as a safe haven for terrorists in Europe. Nafeez Ahmed
A lot of this violence was again orchestrated quite consciously by the United States and Britain ... This is mainstream sources. Nafeez Ahmed
Many reports now confirm that in 1993 [Mujahideen] it switched its operation to Bosnia ... A lot of this violence was orchestrated quite consciously by the United States and Britain ... 1996 was when British SAS and American Delta Force instructors had begun training the KLA. The CIA were supplying military assistance up to and during the ’99 bombing campaign – military training manuals, field advice ... That was in Kosovo. Nafeez Ahmed
Bosnia is under my skin. It’s the place you cannot leave behind. I was obsessed by the nightmare of it all; there was this sense of guilt, and an anger that has become something much deeper over these last years. Paddy Ashdown
During the Bosnian war in the late 1990s, I spent several days travelling around the country with Susan Sontag and her son, my dear friend David Rieff. On one occasion, we made a special detour to the town of Zenica, where there was reported to be a serious infiltration of outside Muslim extremists: a charge that was often used to slander the Bosnian government of the time. We found very little evidence of that, but the community itself was much riven as between Muslim, Croat, and Serb. No faction was strong enough to predominate, each was strong enough to veto the other’s candidate for the chairmanship of the city council. Eventually, and in a way that was characteristically Bosnian, all three parties called on one of the town’s few Jews and asked him to assume the job. We called on him, and found that he was also the resident intellectual, with a natural gift for synthesizing matters. After we left him, Susan began to chortle in the car. ‘What do you think?’ she asked. ‘Do you think that the only dentist and the only shrink in Zenica are Jewish also?’ It would be dense to have pretended not to see her joke. Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22: A Memoir
When ... the Muslim-dominated government of Bosnia-Hercegovina found itself squeezed between the two Christian armies of Croatia and Serbia, it appealed to Muslim countries to break the UN weapons embargo and supply it with the means to defend itself. Misha Glenny, McMafia
Bosnia-Hercegovina was mired in an early scandal involving UN peacekeepers and trafficked women, as well as developing a reputation as a regional money-laundering centre. ibid.
With a mixed population of Muslims, Serbs and Croats, Bosnia had most to lose if Yugoslavia descended into civil war. The Death of Yugoslavia II: The Road to War, BBC 1996
Bosnia April 1992: Serbia’s president Milosevic has repeatedly said that the conflict in Bosnia was a civil war for which he could not be blamed. But the men in charge of the murder and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia now describe his role. The Death of Yugoslavia IV: The Gates of Hell
‘I warn you. You’ll drag Bosnia down to hell. You Muslims aren’t ready for war – you could face extinction.’ ibid. Radovan Karadzic, leader Bosnian Serbs
Sarajevo March 1992: For centuries Muslims, Serbs and Croats had lived here together. Now they had to choose a future. ibid.
The streets of the capital fell into the hands of the rival militias. ibid.
In the first months of the war, Srebrenica had become a refuge for thousands of Muslims driven from their homes. The Bosnian Serb army laid siege to the town, attempting to starve its population into submission. In the spring of 1993 they began a final offensive. The Death of Yugoslavia V: A Safe Area
‘Ethnic cleansing: what does that remind you of? And what is our responsibility?’ ibid. The Donahue Show
The Bosnian Croats turned on their former Muslim allies … Responsibility for the camps went right to the top of the Croat government. ibid.
‘The UN stood by and watched. How ironic.’ ibid. Ejup Ganic, vice-president of Bosnia
In August 1995, three months after the fall of Srebrenica, NATO began a huge bombing campaign against the Bosnian Serbs. ibid.
25 June 1995: Year Four of the Bosnian War: Another village in Bosnia was in ruins: this time Muslims from Srebrenica had launched a raid against the Serbs. The Death of Yugoslavia VI: Pax Americana
Those Muslim who couldn’t face the trek clung to the UN for protection. 25,000 Muslims now overwhelmed the UN base in Srebrenica. ibid.
‘A real bombing campaign.’ ibid. Warren Christopher, US Secretary of State
The Bosnian Serb leaders surrendered. ibid.
The conquering armies drove a new wave of Serbian refugees into Serbia and Montenegro. ibid.
The longest siege in modern history was over. ibid.
5th February Sarajevo Bosnia: The capital had been under siege for almost two years. Thousands had died in the city killed by sniper and shell attacks. But this was a dark day even by the standards of the Bosnian war. Secret Wars Uncovered: Battleground Bosnia, History 2020
Western powers were divided over how or whether to intervene. ibid.
The war had already ripped apart a nation. It would go on to threaten the credibility of Nato and the UN. It would force foreign powers into secret and unsavoury alliances. And it would lead to the worst act of genocide in Europe since the Holocaust. ibid.
‘Yugoslavia had succeeded against all the odds in reconciling most of these nationalities roughly into a state. When Tito died, it fell apart and that natural quilt – that patchwork quilt of nationalities – became a source of great instability.’ ibid. Michael Clarke, military specialist
The Federation splintered along national and ethnic lines … Bosnia & Hertzegovina was the most diverse of the Yugoslav republics. ibid.
On 3rd March 1992 the Bosnia parliament in Sarajevo formally declared the country’s independence. ibid.
A plan directed from Belgrade by [Radovan] Karadzic’s key ally – Slobodan Milosevic posed as a strong man. The President of the Serbian republic, he had seized power on a wave of nationalism. Now he sought to carve out a greater Serbia from the remains of Yugoslavia. ibid.
What would the rest of the world do about it? ibid.
All because a Bosnian Serb shot an important guy from Austro-Hungary. This absolute mess was the reality of the First World War. A tangled web of alliances and declarations of war that pulled nearly every power into one devastating conflict. And it was all because of the death of one man, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Well, sort of. Warographics online: The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Youtube 19.20, 2023
Born in 1863, Franz Ferdinand was raised in one of the most important families in the Austro-Hungarian empire. ibid.
The Bosnian crisis which was the rebellion when Austro-Hungary announced the official annexation of Bosnia … Revolutionary groups started popping up. ibid.