- Mass Market Paperback: 496 pages
- Publisher: Penguin; New Ed edition (4 July 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140289836
- ISBN-13: 978-0140289831
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 486,707 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Unfinest Hour is a remarkable indictment of British policy in the former Yugoslavia when it was Bosnia that dominated the headlines. What happened in Bosnia towards the close of a world-war-splattered century seems small beer this side of the millennium divide and immediate risk of another global confrontation, but it wasn't and still isn't. The Serbian perpetrators of ethnic cleansing are still largely on the loose, and the lessons learned needed to be understood.
Brendon Simms, author of this revealing study, is Director of Studies in History at Peterhouse and lecturer in International Relations at the Centre for International Studies, Cambridge University. What he has to say is that, essentially, Britain's role in the Bosnian tragedy, was nothing short of being disastrous.
He has carried out dozens of interviews, trawled through the documents and come to the conclusion that Britain's political leaders were afflicted by a disabling form of conservative pessimism which not only rejected military intervention by Britain but prevented any other country intervening. Attitudes changed with the change of government by the time of Kosovo for, as the current, much wider crisis only too telling reminds us: isolationism is no longer an option. --Michael Hatfield. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"This is the best sort of polemical book: hard-hitting, well researched and stimulating, with a preference for analysis over sensation."
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First Sentence
In November 1999, four years after the end of the Bosnian conflict, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, released a 155-page report on the Srebrenica massacre of July 1995 and its background. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
In November 1999, four years after the end of the Bosnian conflict, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, released a 155-page report on the Srebrenica massacre of July 1995 and its background. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book is full of important information for anyone interested in what happened in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995. The style is very academic (unsurprising considering that Brendan Simms is a lecturer at Cambridge), comprehensively dissecting events, and so can be heavy reading at times - quite different from the easy readability of Mark Curtis and Robert Fisk.
Unfinest Hour, however, still deserves its 5 stars because of its comprehensive coverage of the topic - there's no other book that deals with the topic so well. Despite it being heavy reading, it can still be a page-turner due to the disturbing revelations within it.
Unfinest Hour, however, still deserves its 5 stars because of its comprehensive coverage of the topic - there's no other book that deals with the topic so well. Despite it being heavy reading, it can still be a page-turner due to the disturbing revelations within it.
30 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Professor Simms has produced a compelling dissection of one of the most shameful episodes in European history, when the Western powers stood aside and knowingly allowed a multi-cultural, democratic, independent European state to be dismembered, during a prolonged period of ethnic cleansing and genocide. In doing so, he ruthlessly pins a great deal of the blame upon those British politicians who not only allowed this to happen but who by their actions, inactions and mis-placed words actually encouraged Serb aggression and racial hatred.
Hurd, Hogg, Rifkind, Major and Owen all find themselves targets in Professor Simms' justifiably angry polemic. Well written and clearly setting out the issues even for those readers who are not familiar with the disgraceful recent history in the Balkans, he reveals the shocking incompetence and serial misjudgements of those who were supposed to steer our foreign policy.
Despite incomprehension our leaders can hardly claim to have been ignorant of Serb intentions. Radovan Keradzic told Alija Izetbegovic, in public and in front of the TV cameras, that in the forthcoming conflict "You Muslims will be exterminated." For once in his life he wasn't lying.
As Professor Simms explains, we then invested millions of dollars in the provision of food and medicine but would do nothing to silence the guns that caused the need for such aid in the first place. As the book makes clear, the stark reality of the West's decision to confine itself to the provision of humanitarian aid is that we were prepared to feed people but stood aside and allowed them to be raped, shot and shelled. It was political cynicism at its worst.
Simms is surprisingly light in his criticism of the UN but does point out that its insistence that it remain impartial and that it required the consent of both sides before acting was actually in violation of its own mandate. Most of the relevant Security Council resolutions were made expressly under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, making them "enforcement" mandates authorising the use of force in order that they be fulfilled.
The book is in some part quite amusing about David Owen ("Let me through, I'm a doctor is the chapter title for the section of the book dealing with his woeful efforts). Owen refused to challenge the Serbs with the evidence that they were operating rape camps on the grounds that "You can't talk to the Serbs like that." Well you can, actually and you should.
Douglas Hurd will be less amused by his place in history as recorded here, although Simms throughout is careful to emphasise that Hurd is an honourable man who believed he was doing the right thing. His "Everybody can see there is going to be no military intervention" was tantamount to telling the Serbs that, whilst we might not approve, they were free to carry on killing. In other words, to secure peace it was necessary to reduce the Bosnians to a state of total hopelessness, an aim shared with the Serbs.
Simms is to be congratulated for producing a well argued, extremely well researched and elegantly written book that turns a much-needed spotlight upon this most shameful episode in history. The fact that both Douglas Hurd and The Economist - those who at the time argued that the West could not and should not intervene and who have since been proved so terribly wrong by the outcome of events in Bosnia - have united in pillorying this book is almost recommendation enough.
Hurd, Hogg, Rifkind, Major and Owen all find themselves targets in Professor Simms' justifiably angry polemic. Well written and clearly setting out the issues even for those readers who are not familiar with the disgraceful recent history in the Balkans, he reveals the shocking incompetence and serial misjudgements of those who were supposed to steer our foreign policy.
Despite incomprehension our leaders can hardly claim to have been ignorant of Serb intentions. Radovan Keradzic told Alija Izetbegovic, in public and in front of the TV cameras, that in the forthcoming conflict "You Muslims will be exterminated." For once in his life he wasn't lying.
As Professor Simms explains, we then invested millions of dollars in the provision of food and medicine but would do nothing to silence the guns that caused the need for such aid in the first place. As the book makes clear, the stark reality of the West's decision to confine itself to the provision of humanitarian aid is that we were prepared to feed people but stood aside and allowed them to be raped, shot and shelled. It was political cynicism at its worst.
Simms is surprisingly light in his criticism of the UN but does point out that its insistence that it remain impartial and that it required the consent of both sides before acting was actually in violation of its own mandate. Most of the relevant Security Council resolutions were made expressly under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, making them "enforcement" mandates authorising the use of force in order that they be fulfilled.
The book is in some part quite amusing about David Owen ("Let me through, I'm a doctor is the chapter title for the section of the book dealing with his woeful efforts). Owen refused to challenge the Serbs with the evidence that they were operating rape camps on the grounds that "You can't talk to the Serbs like that." Well you can, actually and you should.
Douglas Hurd will be less amused by his place in history as recorded here, although Simms throughout is careful to emphasise that Hurd is an honourable man who believed he was doing the right thing. His "Everybody can see there is going to be no military intervention" was tantamount to telling the Serbs that, whilst we might not approve, they were free to carry on killing. In other words, to secure peace it was necessary to reduce the Bosnians to a state of total hopelessness, an aim shared with the Serbs.
Simms is to be congratulated for producing a well argued, extremely well researched and elegantly written book that turns a much-needed spotlight upon this most shameful episode in history. The fact that both Douglas Hurd and The Economist - those who at the time argued that the West could not and should not intervene and who have since been proved so terribly wrong by the outcome of events in Bosnia - have united in pillorying this book is almost recommendation enough.
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I had no idea at the time of just how sinister a role was played by the UK establishment in condemning Bosnia to it's fate. I always believed that more should have been done to intervene but now I know why it was not and, most interestingly, how assistance to Bosnia was prevented. Unsurprisingly, cabinet members at the time, notably Hogg, Hurd and Rifkind, all receive much criticism as does "the perfect popinjay" David Owen, but I didn't realise Thatcher and David Trimball had taken such admirable positions on the issue, not to mention our lovable cousins across the Atlantic.
The book is well written, occasionally humorous, and the overwhelming majority (but not all) of the arguments it presents are coherent and well referenced. It certainly does have an agenda but this is in no way disguised. My only main complaint is the length of the chapters. At approximately fifty pages each, it is hard going to find a suitable place for a break, especially as some of the material is relatively mentally taxing. That said, the author presents what is a demanding subject in a style that maintains interest.
The material covered in this book is highly relevant to current events in Iraq, on which we all have an opinion. I found it very interesting to see that many of the voices who are today complaining about western imperialism, the immorality of military intervention etc were the same as those who lent their support to British foreign policy in the early 1990s, with appalling consequences.
Note: this is not a history of the break-up of Yugoslavia, which is covered with great skill in the excellent "Death of Yugoslavia" by Silber and Little.
The book is well written, occasionally humorous, and the overwhelming majority (but not all) of the arguments it presents are coherent and well referenced. It certainly does have an agenda but this is in no way disguised. My only main complaint is the length of the chapters. At approximately fifty pages each, it is hard going to find a suitable place for a break, especially as some of the material is relatively mentally taxing. That said, the author presents what is a demanding subject in a style that maintains interest.
The material covered in this book is highly relevant to current events in Iraq, on which we all have an opinion. I found it very interesting to see that many of the voices who are today complaining about western imperialism, the immorality of military intervention etc were the same as those who lent their support to British foreign policy in the early 1990s, with appalling consequences.
Note: this is not a history of the break-up of Yugoslavia, which is covered with great skill in the excellent "Death of Yugoslavia" by Silber and Little.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not sure if it's worth the time
This is definitely a topic worth reading about. I found the book to be informative and I'm glad I read it. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Basak Yildizbayrak
The Trial of Major and Hurd
In November 1993,according to Dr.Simms,the Bosnian government threatened to put Britain on trial in front of the International Court of Justice as accomplices to genocide. Read more
Published on 1 April 2008 by PygmyTwylyte
Very enlightening...
I found the book very enlightening, not only does it give a very detailed account of the Britain and France's obstructivness and the ignorant & decrepid line of the Major... Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2004 by A. J. Helan
Unfinest hour, finest read
Although complex, unless you have an understanding of key events and of key persons, i found the book superb. Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2003 by D R Sharnock
Complicated if you were not there, but well worth reading.
Brendan Simms book describes the UK Government's views in the Bosnia war as ostensibly neutral, whilst in effect pro-Serb. Read more
Published on 6 Dec 2001 by "rachurcher"
Excrutiatingly true history
There can be no greater historian alive today than Brendan Simms. I found 'Unfinest Hour' meticulous, exhaustive, and while Simms is scrupulously evenhanded the effect of his... Read more
Published on 28 Nov 2001 by Thomas Leveritt
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