From the early stages of human history, the geographically confined space of the Balkans has been a battleground of fierce conflicts, violent upheavals, and instability.

At the center of all these conditions during the 20th century was a state entity unlike any that had existed in the recent past of Europe; the multinational state of Yugoslavia. Its boundless stability in the name of the communist ideal, maintained by Marshal Josip Broz Tito under the principle of national equality, collapsed at the dawn of the 1990s, when extreme nationalism made a dynamic appearance on the country’s political scene.

The grand nationalism of the Slavic tribes that composed the Yugoslav structure, combined with the interests of foreign powers, triggered an explosion of "civil passions," which would last for about a decade and remain in history as the "Yugoslav Wars."

In the present work, "Yugoslavia 1991-2001 / The Bloody Stalemate of the Balkan Superpower," a brief historical overview is provided on the political-military aspects of these deadly conflicts, which inevitably led to a change in the map of the Balkans, leaving however major issues without substantive resolution (the division of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, the naming of the Republic of Northern Macedonia).

Charalambos Efth. Talantis. Amfissa, 2018