Although much media attention has been devoted to the conflict in former Yugoslavia, the historical roots that led to it are not widely understood. However, the astonished disbelief that the Western world naturally feels for the atrocities committed can give way to understanding once the origins of deep prejudice embedded in the mentality of Balkan peoples become apparent. Thus, the division of the Roman Empire in the fourth century sowed the seeds of opposition between the Catholic West and the Orthodox East; the centuries‐long occupation of the area by the Ottoman Turks established deep distrust between (especially) the Orthodox Serbs and the Muslims; the artificial assembly of the different southern Slav peoples under an essentially Serb monarchy as Yugoslavia contributed to the tension; the Croatian puppet Nazi government during the Second World War committed awful crimes mainly against other Slavs; the communist rule of Tito recognized but failed to resolve the underlying nationalist tensions; and fi...