diff --git a/docs/examples/ModalStatic.js b/docs/examples/ModalStatic.js
index 545efbee73..f01a4d058e 100644
--- a/docs/examples/ModalStatic.js
+++ b/docs/examples/ModalStatic.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 const modalInstance = (
   <div className='static-modal'>
     <Modal title='Modal title'
+      enforceFocus={false}
       backdrop={false}
       animation={false}
       container={mountNode}
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6e9621437f..91c0e227d2 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
     "test": "npm run lint && npm run build && karma start --single-run && _mocha --compilers js:babel-core/register test/server/*Spec.js",
     "lint": "eslint ./",
     "docs-build": "babel-node tools/build-cli.js --docs-only",
-    "docs": "docs/dev-run",
+    "docs": "babel-node docs/dev-run",
     "docs-prod": "npm run docs-build && NODE_ENV=production babel-node docs/server.js",
     "docs-prod-unoptimized": "npm run docs-build -- --dev && NODE_ENV=production babel-node docs/server.js"
   },
diff --git a/src/Modal.js b/src/Modal.js
index 13e426ef74..2f5ade2f84 100644
--- a/src/Modal.js
+++ b/src/Modal.js
@@ -31,6 +31,28 @@ function getContainer(context){
     domUtils.ownerDocument(context).body;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Firefox doesn't have a focusin event so using capture is easiest way to get bubbling
+ * IE8 can't do addEventListener, but does have onfocus in, so we use that in ie8
+ * @param  {ReactElement|HTMLElement} context
+ * @param  {Function} handler
+ */
+function onFocus(context, handler) {
+  let doc = domUtils.ownerDocument(context);
+  let useFocusin = !doc.addEventListener
+    , remove;
+
+  if (useFocusin) {
+    document.attachEvent('onfocusin', handler);
+    remove = () => document.detachEvent('onfocusin', handler);
+  } else {
+    document.addEventListener('focus', handler, true);
+    remove = () => document.removeEventListener('focus', handler, true);
+  }
+  return { remove };
+}
+
+let scrollbarSize;
 
 if ( domUtils.canUseDom) {
   let scrollDiv = document.createElement('div');
@@ -60,7 +82,8 @@ const Modal = React.createClass({
     closeButton: React.PropTypes.bool,
     animation: React.PropTypes.bool,
     onRequestHide: React.PropTypes.func.isRequired,
-    dialogClassName: React.PropTypes.string
+    dialogClassName: React.PropTypes.string,
+    enforceFocus: React.PropTypes.bool
   },
 
   getDefaultProps() {
@@ -69,10 +92,15 @@ const Modal = React.createClass({
       backdrop: true,
       keyboard: true,
       animation: true,
-      closeButton: true
+      closeButton: true,
+      enforceFocus: true
     };
   },
 
+  getInitialState(){
+    return { };
+  },
+
   render() {
     let state = this.state;
     let modalStyle = { ...state.dialogStyles, display: 'block'};
@@ -107,7 +135,7 @@ const Modal = React.createClass({
     );
 
     return this.props.backdrop ?
-      this.renderBackdrop(modal) : modal;
+      this.renderBackdrop(modal, state.backdropStyles) : modal;
   },
 
   renderBackdrop(modal) {
@@ -132,8 +160,8 @@ const Modal = React.createClass({
     let closeButton;
     if (this.props.closeButton) {
       closeButton = (
-          <button type="button" className="close" aria-hidden="true" onClick={this.props.onRequestHide}>&times;</button>
-        );
+        <button type="button" className="close" aria-hidden="true" onClick={this.props.onRequestHide}>&times;</button>
+      );
     }
 
     return (
@@ -169,6 +197,10 @@ const Modal = React.createClass({
     this._onWindowResizeListener =
         EventListener.listen(win, 'resize', this.handleWindowResize);
 
+    if (this.props.enforceFocus) {
+      this._onFocusinListener = onFocus(this, this.enforceFocus);
+    }
+
     let container = getContainer(this);
 
     container.className += container.className.length ? ' modal-open' : 'modal-open';
@@ -199,6 +231,10 @@ const Modal = React.createClass({
     this._onDocumentKeyupListener.remove();
     this._onWindowResizeListener.remove();
 
+    if (this._onFocusinListener) {
+      this._onFocusinListener.remove();
+    }
+
     let container = getContainer(this);
 
     container.className = container.className.replace(/ ?modal-open/, '');
@@ -237,6 +273,19 @@ const Modal = React.createClass({
     }
   },
 
+  enforceFocus() {
+    if ( !this.isMounted() ) {
+      return;
+    }
+
+    let active = domUtils.activeElement(this)
+      , modal = React.findDOMNode(this.refs.modal);
+
+    if (modal !== active && !domUtils.contains(modal, active)){
+      modal.focus();
+    }
+  },
+
   _getStyles() {
     if ( !domUtils.canUseDom ) { return {}; }
 
diff --git a/src/utils/domUtils.js b/src/utils/domUtils.js
index ae56eb210d..31fa7c0340 100644
--- a/src/utils/domUtils.js
+++ b/src/utils/domUtils.js
@@ -26,6 +26,20 @@ function ownerWindow(componentOrElement) {
        : doc.parentWindow;
 }
 
+/**
+ * get the active element, safe in IE
+ * @return {HTMLElement}
+ */
+function getActiveElement(componentOrElement){
+  let doc = ownerDocument(componentOrElement);
+
+  try {
+    return doc.activeElement || doc.body;
+  } catch (e) {
+    return doc.body;
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Shortcut to compute element style
  *
@@ -160,5 +174,6 @@ export default {
   getComputedStyles,
   getOffset,
   getPosition,
+  activeElement: getActiveElement,
   offsetParent: offsetParentFunc
 };