Many commentators claim that the Bosnian war is evidence of the warlike nature of the Balkan peoples. They argue that the Balkans is an unusually savage place where people are uniquely unforgiving and contentious. However, others contend that the internal conflicts that have historically plagued the region are not much different from those that plagued other countries. They point out that England's history, for example, is a chronicle of ceaseless wars between ruling families. Warren Zimmermann argues that "Balkan genes aren't abnormally savage" and discounts the theory that Yugoslavia was uniquely violent. He writes, "Europe, taken as a whole, has endured two civil wars in [the twentieth] century, involving sixty million deaths, including the genocidal annihilation of six million European Jews." And Ramet claims, "Muslims, Serbs, and Croats had lived in peace for most of the 500 years they cohabited in Bosnia."

Indeed, some analysts maintain...