The Death of Yugoslavia
The Death of Yugoslavia is a BAFTA-award winning BBC documentary series first broadcast in 1995. It covers the collapse of the former Yugoslavia. It is notable in its combination of never-before-seen archive footage interspersed with interviews of most of the main players in the conflict, including Slobodan Milošević, the then President of Serbia. Norma Percy won the 1996 BAFTA TV Award for 'Best Factual Series' for the documentary. However, it has been argued that it presents a potentially slightly biased point-of-view; for instance during the trial of Milošević before the ICTY in The Hague, Judge Bonomy called the nature of much of the commentary "tendentious" (partisan).
Overview
The Death of Yugoslavia is a BAFTA-award winning BBC documentary series first broadcast in 1995. It covers the collapse of the former Yugoslavia. It is notable in its combination of never-before-seen archive footage interspersed with interviews of most of the main players in the conflict, including Slobodan Milošević, the then President of Serbia. Norma Percy won the 1996 BAFTA TV Award for 'Best Factual Series' for the documentary. However, it has been argued that it presents a potentially slightly biased point-of-view; for instance during the trial of Milošević before the ICTY in The Hague, Judge Bonomy called the nature of much of the commentary "tendentious" (partisan).
Brian Lapping
Creator / EP
Norma Percy
Producer
Episodes
1. Enter Nationalism
Nationalist feelings are let loose in Yugoslavia. Especially in Kosovo Serb nationalist are pressing the central authority. Milosevic starts out in Tito's spirit trying to deal with the problems without acknowledging the Kosovo-serbs claim that the troubles are ethnic related, but soon finds that he can build his power base faster by supporting the Serb nationalists and play this against the sitting president of the Yugoslav federation. Rumours of attacks on Serbs in Kosovo increases ethnic frictions. The rethoric between Milosevic in Belgrade and the regional authorities in Kosovo, Croatia and Slovenia gets harsher.
2. The Road to War
Croatia tries to strenghten its independence in the federation. Episodes of violence between Croats and Serbs leads to a state of emergency. The US ambassador puts some pressure on to stop the use of military forces in Croatia. President Tudjman of Croatia and the Serbian leaders he fought against chart how the Serb rebellion which began in Croatia in 1990 led to war in Yugoslavia.
3. Wars of Independence
June 25 1991 Croatia and Slovenia declares their independence. The European Community tries to intervene. Serbian militia groups take control of a series of towns and villages. Internal conflict in Croatia. The extreme nationalists wants conflict and contributes to the violence. Mladic goes to Croatia. Lord Carrington is the EC envoy. His proposal is independence for the republics. This threatens Milosevic power base and Serbia puts pressure on Montenegro to reject the proposal, and negotiations fail. The war starts.
Cast & Crew
Robin Ellis
Narrator
Slobodan Milošević
Self
Franjo Tuđman
Self
Borisav Jović
Self
Momir Bulatović
Self
Stipe Mesić
Self
