Chapter II
War, Dystopia
'War is not about victory or defeat. It is about
the total failure of human spirit. When you see the things I see, you would
never support war ever again.' (Robert Fisk)
Chapter 2, ‘War, dystopia: The holy trinity of militarism, imperialism and nationalism’, describes the impact of the Spanish Civil War and Second World War on the author's grandfathers as well as on one of her grandmothers. It gives context to the author's own indirect dealings with these massive events of collective violence, the impact they had on her as a child, and on her family as well as their society. While the Second World War experiences are also touched on in Chapter 1, there Milojević focuses more on totalitarianism and repression by the state. Chapter 2 continues with these topics while predominantly focusing on wars and inter-ethnic conflict. Chapter 2 introduces yet another major theme within this book: the analysis of some of the mechanisms behind acts of collective violence and the devastating, long-term impact they have on the fabric of a society. As is apparent from the subtitle of this chapter, the three themes given most attention here are those of (social) militarism, imperialism (including the issue of ‘balkanism’) and nationalism.
Chapter 2, ‘War, dystopia: The holy trinity of militarism, imperialism and nationalism’, describes the impact of the Spanish Civil War and Second World War on the author's grandfathers as well as on one of her grandmothers. It gives context to the author's own indirect dealings with these massive events of collective violence, the impact they had on her as a child, and on her family as well as their society. While the Second World War experiences are also touched on in Chapter 1, there Milojević focuses more on totalitarianism and repression by the state. Chapter 2 continues with these topics while predominantly focusing on wars and inter-ethnic conflict. Chapter 2 introduces yet another major theme within this book: the analysis of some of the mechanisms behind acts of collective violence and the devastating, long-term impact they have on the fabric of a society. As is apparent from the subtitle of this chapter, the three themes given most attention here are those of (social) militarism, imperialism (including the issue of ‘balkanism’) and nationalism.