In AP Euro, the Balkan Wars refer to the 1990s conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, where new nationalisms in central and eastern Europe produced war, ethnic cleansing, and genocide, most notoriously against Bosnian Muslims and the Albanian Muslims of Kosovo (KC-4.2.V.D.ii).
The Balkan Wars of the 1990s broke out as Yugoslavia, a multiethnic communist federation, fell apart after the Cold War ended. Once the glue of communist rule dissolved, nationalist leaders in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, and elsewhere stoked ethnic identity as the new basis for political power. The result was a chain of brutal wars in which armies and militias targeted civilians based on ethnicity and religion.
The CED is specific about what you need to know. New nationalisms in central and eastern Europe resulted in war and genocide in the Balkans (KC-4.2.V.D.ii), and the two named victim groups are Bosnian Muslims and the Albanian Muslims of Kosovo. The term to attach here is ethnic cleansing, the forced removal or murder of an ethnic group from a territory. The Srebrenica massacre of Bosnian Muslims is the era's clearest example of genocide on European soil after the Holocaust. The bigger point the CED wants you to grasp is that nationalist and ethnic violence did not end in 1945; it periodically disrupted the postwar peace (KC-4.1.V).
This term lives in Unit 9 (Cold War and Contemporary Europe), Topic 9.5: Mass Atrocities Since 1945. It directly supports learning objective 9.5.A, which asks you to explain the causes and effects of mass atrocities from World War II to the present. The Balkan Wars are the CED's headline example proving that 'never again' did not hold. Genocide returned to Europe within living memory of the Holocaust. For exam purposes, this is your go-to evidence for nationalism as a persistent, destructive force in modern European history, and for continuity arguments connecting 20th-century atrocities across the century.
Keep studying AP® Euro Unit 9
Dissolution of Yugoslavia (Unit 9)
This is the cause; the Balkan Wars are the effect. When the communist federation collapsed in the early 1990s, republics like Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia declared independence, and competing nationalist claims over the same territory turned secession into war.
Ethnic Cleansing (Unit 9)
Ethnic cleansing is the concept, and the Balkan Wars are the CED's main case study of it. Serb forces' campaigns against Bosnian Muslims and Kosovar Albanians are the two examples named in the essential knowledge, so pair the term and the example in your writing.
Nazi Regime and the Holocaust (Unit 8)
The Balkans give you the continuity half of a powerful argument. The Holocaust was supposed to make genocide in Europe unthinkable, yet roughly fifty years later it happened again, which is exactly the kind of change-and-continuity claim AP Euro essays reward.
ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) (Unit 9)
Topic 9.5 groups the Balkans with other postwar nationalist and separatist movements like the Basque ETA, Flemish separatism, Ireland, and Chechnya. The Balkans show the extreme end of the same spectrum, where nationalism escalates from separatist politics to genocide.
Expect multiple-choice questions that ask you to identify an example of genocide or ethnic cleansing in the post-World War II period; the Bosnian genocide against Bosnian Muslims is a textbook correct answer there. Stems may also pair a passage about 1990s Yugoslavia with questions about the causes (collapse of communism, resurgent nationalism) or effects (ethnic cleansing, international intervention) of the conflict. No released FRQ has used the term verbatim, but the Balkan Wars are strong LEQ and DBQ evidence for prompts on nationalism, the post-Cold War order, or continuity in European violence across the 20th century. The move that earns points is connecting cause to effect, so name new nationalism as the cause and ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims and Kosovar Albanians as the effect.
Same name, different century. The Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 were pre-World War I conflicts where Balkan states fought the Ottoman Empire (and then each other), helping turn the region into the 'powder keg' that ignited WWI in Unit 8. The Balkan Wars in Topic 9.5 are the 1990s Yugoslav conflicts after the Cold War. Check the dates in any prompt. If it mentions the Ottomans or the lead-up to 1914, it's the early wars; if it mentions Yugoslavia, Bosnia, or Kosovo, it's the 1990s.
In AP Euro Topic 9.5, the Balkan Wars are the 1990s conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, not the 1912-1913 wars against the Ottomans.
The CED's causal chain is direct: new nationalisms in central and eastern Europe resulted in war and genocide in the Balkans (KC-4.2.V.D.ii).
The two victim groups named in the CED are Bosnian Muslims and the Albanian Muslims of Kosovo, both targets of ethnic cleansing.
The wars followed the dissolution of Yugoslavia, when the end of communist rule let ethnic nationalism fill the political vacuum.
The Balkan Wars prove that ethnic conflict and genocide continued to disrupt the post-1945 peace, making them prime evidence for continuity arguments about nationalism in Europe.
In AP Euro, the Balkan Wars refer to the 1990s conflicts that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia, in which resurgent nationalism led to war, ethnic cleansing, and genocide against groups like the Bosnian Muslims and the Albanian Muslims of Kosovo. They're the central example in Topic 9.5, Mass Atrocities Since 1945.
No. The Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 were fought against the Ottoman Empire and helped set the stage for WWI (Unit 8). The Balkan Wars tested in Topic 9.5 happened in the 1990s after Yugoslavia dissolved. Always check the dates in the prompt.
Yes. The CED states directly that new nationalisms resulted in war and genocide in the Balkans, and the Srebrenica massacre of Bosnian Muslims is internationally recognized as genocide. On the exam, the Bosnian genocide is a standard correct answer for post-WWII genocide questions.
The collapse of communism and the dissolution of Yugoslavia removed the federation holding rival ethnic groups together, and nationalist leaders exploited ethnic identity to claim territory. The CED frames the cause as 'new nationalisms in central and eastern Europe.'
Ethnic cleansing means forcibly removing an ethnic group from a territory through expulsion, terror, or killing, while genocide means the deliberate destruction of a group. In the Balkans they overlapped, and Srebrenica is where ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims crossed clearly into genocide. Knowing both terms and their Balkan examples covers you for LO 9.5.A.
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