Conflict has always been a part of human history, and things haven’t changed. Conflicts today, however, are more often between ethnic groups than between nations.

A History of Conflicts

The world has always been at war, or so it seems. Look at the history of almost any region and you’ll see that people have always had trouble living with neighbors. So it is not surprising that the time line of world history is studded with violence. The United States has fought nine major wars in its brief history. And that doesn’t count numerous against Native Americans.

Most conflicts in the past few centuries have been between or among nations. The United States fought Great Britain twice. Russia fought Japan. Israel fought its Arab neighbors four times in a span of 25 years. Germany has fought France three times since 1870. And the French and British have probably lost track of the number of times they have gone to war with each other.

Ethnic and Religious Conflicts

Wars have not decreased in recent years. But something has changed. Fewer wars are being fought between nations. Instead, conflicts now are more likely to be between ethnic or religious groups within one nation. All wars are horrible. But ethnic or religious wars are especially heartless.

One reason is that ethnic or religious hatred often has a long history. Both sides can find plenty of excuses to justify their cruelty. Each side is forever getting even for something the other side did.

Many ethnic or religious conflicts have broken out in recent years. The list is depressingly long. It includes Ethiopia, Somalia, Iraq, Northern Ireland, Rwanda, India and Sri Lanka. Just this year, there have been on going conflicts in Egypt, Libya and in some other places, too..

Yugoslavia: A Case Study of Ethnic Conflicts

One classic example of ethnic conflict is Yugoslavia. This country was unified in 1918 under Peter I, a Serbian king. The new nation combine six ethnic groups – Bosnian Muslims, Croats, Serbs, Macedonians, Montenegrins, and Slovenes. The people within this nation were also split along religious lines – Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Muslim.

After World War II, Yugoslavia became a Communist country. It was then organized as a federal republic. The republics were divided more or less along ethnic lines. Marshal Tito, the Communist leader, kept a lid on ethnic differences.

Tito died in 1980. After that, things began to fall apart. The economy worsened. Unemployment hit 20 percent and inflation soared by 250 percent. Some ethnic groups began complaining that the federal government was favoring the other ethnic groups.

Ethnic Violence

Finally, in 1990, communism collapsed. Without its dictatorial rule, Yugoslavia quickly broke up along ethnic lines. Croatia and Slovenia declared independence in 1991. Serbia and Montenegro joined to create the new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

But old ethnic and religious divisions – long buried – began to surface again. Although the Serbs clashed with the Croats, the biggest trouble spot was Bosnia and Herzegovina. Here Serbs lived with Muslims. The Serbs tried to drive the Muslims out of Bosnia. Suddenly Serbs felt justified in attacking someone just because that person was a Bosnian Muslim. The scale of the violence shocked the rest of the world.

In 1995, at the prodding of the United States, representatives of the warring states men in Dayton, Ohio. A treaty was hammered out and later signed in Paris, with the hope that it should solve many of the problems.

With what is going on now around us, we can’t just help but wonder when will the nations be at peace with each other? When can we make the world a better place for every one?