Military Review English Edition November-December 2014 | Page 127

GENOCIDE “limited war of pacification,” and a “genocidal war of pacification.” In shaping the concept of ethnic cleansing and genocide, Naimark makes other useful distinctions and generalizations. For instance, throughout the work the author sees most recent conflicts, as opposed to ancient hatreds, to be causal to ethnic cleansing. He states, “Comparative reflection on the problems of ethnic cleansing also leads to the conclusion that each case must be understood in its full complexity, in its own immediate context, rather than merely as part of a long-term historical conflict between nations.” The comparatively recent conflict that took place in the Balkans during 1990 provides an example. Naimark notes that though the Serbs deliberately roused glorified memories of Milos Obilic—a medieval Serbian knight who figured prominently in the war between Serbs and the Ottoman Empire and whose memory was well-polished by the centuries since 1389—to mobilize nationalist fervor against Albanians and Croats, the causes for conflict were actually proximate.3 He asserts, “ the brutal, uncompromising nature … of the struggle in Croatia and later in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s had much more to do with the history of the region since 1940 … than it did with the inheritance of the distant past.” Thus, he does not attribute the violence mainly to any ancient history of animosity between ethnic groups, but asserts that the main causes of that conflict were recent in origin, which “can be traced to Turkish and Armenian reactions to the loss of the Ottoman lands in the Balkan Wars of 1912-13.” This insistence that genocide stems from recent and current causes of hatred, regardless of the past, is one of his key leitmotifs. In terms of style, Naimark refrains from condemning those nations or agencies that stood by and did not intervene in genocides. Rather, his narrative unfolds with relative objectivity from the ground-level perspective of individual victims and perpetrators. When he refers to interveners, he tells stories of neighbors, not nations. For example, he describes the actions of Serbians who assisted their Croat neighbors, or of Turks who hid Armenian women. Consequently, Naimark rarely refers to instances in which organizations failed to intervene. Only anomalously does he mention Dutch peacekeepers who “stood aside as the Bosnian Serbs advanced” at Srebrenica. MILITARY REVIEW  November-December 2014 Some critics misinterpret Naimark’s approach. For example, Baron describes Naimark’s narrative as unduly pessimistic and “dismal.”4 However, I disagree. Baron has not fully accounted for the nature of the subject matter in his analysis. Ethnic cleansing and genocide can only ever be gloomy topics. Taken in this context, Fires of Hatred is not a pessimistic prediction that future genocides are unavoidable. On the contrary, it is a book that is respectful and deliberately measured, while still challenging the reader’s moral sensibilities. Naimark invokes a sense of horror without sensationalizing, as when he reflects on the use of terror endemic to ethnic cleansing: the chopped off ears and fingers, the brandings, the mutilated genitals, the brains of babies splattered against walls, the gauntlets victims are forced to run, and the sexual assaults. The litany of abuses is unending, and it repeats itself from case to case throughout the century.4 Naimark closes with a warning, “Does the international community have the will to act promptly and decisively? If not, the horrors recounted in this book will surely happen again.”5 This admonition is the only homily in the book, and it is made all the more impactful by the history Naimark recounted so remarkably well. Fires of Hatred is a thorough, discerning, and eloquent work on a dismal subject. However, it is not sensationalized or maudlin. Even the title, Fires of Hatred, demonstrates Naimark’s effort to appeal to the intellect rather than the emotion. As such, it is an indispensable resource for any scholar studying mass atrocities and ethnic cleansing. Chaplain (Maj.) Mark Beals, U.S. Army, Fort Polk, Louisiana Notes 1. Ara Sanjian, “Review of Fires of Hatred; Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth Century Europe,” Bulletin of the Royal Institute of Inter-Faith Studies, 5(1)(Spring/Summer 2003): 3, http://www. academia.edu/838318/Norman_Naimark_Fires_of_Hatred_Ethnic_Cleansing_in_Twentieth-Century_Europe_2003_book_review_in_English_. 2. Nick P. Baron, “Review of Fires of Hatred; Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth Century Europe,” School of History and Classics, University of Manchester published on H-Genocide March, 2004, 2, https://networks.h-net.org/node/3180/reviews/6267/ 125