Hitler's New Disorder: The Second World War in Yugoslavia

Stevan K. Pavlowitch. Hitler's New Disorder: The Second World War in Yugoslavia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. 256 pages. Illustrations. Chronology. List of personalities. Bibliography. Index. $37.50, cloth.Since at least the early 1950s, Yugoslavia has intrigued a number of dedicated scholars. Contentious issues like Josip Broz Tito's supposed third way of national communism and nonalignment after the 1948 split with Joseph Stalin or, more recently, the wars of dissolution have directed scholarship at this rather small and peripheral part of the world. Partly because of Tito's modification to communist ideology, U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War fostered a relatively open and perhaps sympathetic view of Yugoslavia among those in the West. By the 1990s, however, scholars were fighting over questions of ideology, ethnicity, power, and ethnic cleansing to explain why Yugoslavia came together - and shattered - three times in the last century. All those points begged the question of how did Tito, as the champion who emerged from World War II, maintain the peace for so long?Pavlowitch answers the question of Tito's importance by noting that during World War II he was simply the best equipped person to take advantage of critical dilemmas facing the country, most especially nationalism. His movement succeeded in part because of its leader's determination coupled with a genuinely Yugoslav outlook (i.e., not pandering to any particular ethnic group), which nullified any contradictions. This coating, of course, would wear thin over time and Tito's state eventually devolved into chaos, much like King Aleksandar's had in April 1941.As a worthy contribution to the field of Yugoslav history and to a broader understanding of the Balkan theatre of operations during the war (such as how it fit or did not fit within Great Power politics), this book does a commendable job of presenting a host of important data in a small package. But, aside from its value to the field of World War II studies, this work shines for its contribution to the entirety of modern Yugoslav studies. Simply put, reading this work for its history of World War II will certainly edify, but analyzing it in light of the 1990s will truly broaden any understanding of conflict and power in Yugoslavia.Absolute chaos engulfed Yugoslavia during World War II with ustashas, chetniks, domobrans, partisans, Volksdeutsche, Albanian nationalists, and the Axis invaders all competing to promote their government over the territory. Normal folks from all walks of life tragically fell into the crosshairs of this multifaceted battle that left no group untouched by violence. Pavlowitch elucidates the mechanisms through which subalterns became both victims of, and participants in, the brutality of disorder. …

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