Yugoslav wars
Encyclopedia
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs
(and to a lesser extent, Montenegrins) on the one side and Croats
and Bosniaks
(and to a lesser degree, Slovenes) on the other; but also between Bosniaks
and Croats
in Bosnia
(in addition to a separate conflict fought between rival Bosniak factions in Bosnia). The wars ended in various stages and mostly resulted in full international recognition of new sovereign territories, but with massive economic disruption to the successor states.
Often described as Europe's deadliest conflicts since World War II
, the conflicts have become infamous for the war crimes involved, including mass ethnic cleansing
. These were the first conflicts since World War II to be formally judged genocidal
in character and many key individual participants were subsequently charged with war crimes. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) was established by the UN to prosecute these crimes.
Although tensions in Yugoslavia
had been mounting since the early 1980s, it was 1990 that proved decisive. In the midst of economic hardship, Yugoslavia was facing rising nationalism amongst its various ethnic groups. At the 14th Extraordinary Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in January 1990, the Serbian-dominated assembly agreed to abolish the single-party system; however, Slobodan Milošević
, the head of the Serbian Party branch (League of Communists of Serbia
) used his influence to block and vote-down all other proposals from the Croatian and Slovene party delegates. This prompted the Croatian and Slovene delegations to walk out and thus the break-up of the party, a symbolic event representing the end of "brotherhood and unity
".
According to International Center for Transitional Justice
, the Yugoslav Wars resulted in deaths of 140,000 people. The Humanitarian Law Center
writes that in the conflicts in former Yugoslav republics at least 130,000 people lost their lives.
The Yugoslav Wars may be considered to be three separate but related wars:
, major tensions arose from the first, monarchist Yugoslavia
's multi-ethnic make-up and relative political and demographic domination of the Serbs. Fundamental to the tensions were the different concepts of the new state. The Croats envisaged a federal model where they would enjoy greater autonomy than they had as a separate crown land under Austria-Hungary
. Under Austria-Hungary, Croats enjoyed autonomy with free hands only in education, law, religion and 45% of taxes. The Serbs tended to view the territories as a just reward for their support of the allies in World War I
and the new state as an extension of the Serbian Kingdom.
The Serbs sacrificed their own state (which was in that time a little bit larger than today's Serbia, including much of Kosovo and Macedonia) in order to realize the ideal of a "South Slav state".
Tensions between the two ethnic groups often erupted into open conflict, with the Serb dominated security structure exercising oppression during elections and the assassination in federal parliament of Croat political leaders, including Stjepan Radić
, who opposed the Serbian monarch's absolutism
. The assassination and human rights abuses were subject of concern for the Human Rights League and precipitated voices of protest from intellectuals, including Albert Einstein
. It was in this environment of oppression that the radical insurgent group (later fascist dictatorship), the Ustaše
were formed.
During World War II
, the country's tensions were exploited by the occupying Axis forces which established a Croat puppet state
spanning much of present day Croatia
and Bosnia and Herzegovina
. The Axis powers installed the Ustasha as the leaders of the "Independent State of Croatia
".
The Ustaše resolved that the Serbian minority were a fifth column
of Serbian expansionism, and pursued a policy of persecution against the Serbs. The policy dictated that one third of the Serbian minority were to be killed, one third expelled, and one third converted to Catholicism and assimilated as Croats. Conversely, the Chetniks pursued their own campaign of persecution in parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Sandžak
per the Moljevic plan
("On Our State and Its Borders") and the orders issues by Draža Mihailović
which included "[t]he cleansing of all nation understandings and fighting.
Both Croats and Muslims were recruited as soldiers by the SS
(primarily in the 13th Waffen Mountain Division
).
At the same time, former Royalist General Milan Nedić
was installed by the Axis as head of the Serb puppet state
and local Serbs were recruited into the Gestapo
and the Serbian Volunteer Corps.
Both quisling
s were confronted and eventually defeated by the communist-led anti-fascist Partisan
movement composed of members of all ethnic groups in the area, leading to the formation of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
.
The official Yugoslav post-war estimate of victims
in Yugoslavia during World War II
was 1,704,000. Subsequent data gathering in the 1980s by historians Vladimir Žerjavić
and Bogoljub Kočović
showed that the actual number of dead was about 1 million. Of that number, 330,000–390,000 ethnic Serbs perished from all causes in Croatia and Bosnia.
Despite the federal structure of the new Yugoslavia
, there was still tension between the federalists, primarily Croats and Slovenes who argued for greater autonomy, and unitarists, primarily Serbs. The struggle would occur in cycles of protests for greater individual and national rights (such as the Croatian Spring
) and subsequent repression. The 1974 constitution was an attempt to short-circuit this pattern by entrenching the federal model and formalizing national rights.
By the early 1990s there was no effective authority at the federal level. The Federal Presidency consisted of the representatives of all 6 republics and 2 provinces and JNA (Yugoslav People's Army) and communist leadership was divided along national lines.
The final breakdown occurred at the 14th Congress of the Communist Party when Croat and Slovenian delegates left in protest because the pro-integration majority in the Congress rejected their proposed amendments.
The first of these conflicts, known as the Ten-Day War
, was initiated by the federal Yugoslav People's Army
on 26 June 1991 after the secession of Slovenia from the federation on 25 June 1991.
Initially, the federal government ordered the Yugoslav People's Army to secure border crossings in Slovenia. Slovenian police and Slovenian Territorial Defence
blockaded barracks and roads, leading to stand-offs and limited skirmishes around the republic. After several dozen casualties, the limited conflict was stopped through negotiation at Brioni
on 9 July 1991, when Slovenia and Croatia agreed to a three-month moratorium on secession. The Federal army completely withdrew from Slovenia by 26 October 1991.
began when Serbs in Croatia
, who were opposed to Croatian independence, announced their secession from Croatia
. This was triggered by a provision in the new Croatian Constitution that replaced an explicit reference to Serbs in Croatia as a "constituent nation" with a generic reference to all other nations, and was interpreted by Serbs as being reclassified as a "national minority".
The JNA
had disarmed the Territorial Units of the two northernmost republics prior to the declaration of independence, so the fledgling Croatia
n state had to form its military from scratch. This was hindered by an arms embargo, imposed by the UN on Yugoslavia.
The Yugoslav People's Army
(JNA) was ostensibly ideologically unitarian, but its officer corps was predominantly staffed by Serbs. As a result the JNA opposed Croatian independence and sided with the Croatian Serb rebels. The Croatian Serb rebels were unaffected by the embargo as they had the support of and access to supplies of the JNA.
The border regions faced direct attacks from forces within Serbia and Montenegro, and saw the shelling of UNESCO
world heritage site
Dubrovnik
, where the international press was criticised for focusing on the city's architectural heritage, instead of reporting the destruction of Vukovar, a pivotal battle involving many civilian deaths.
took place between Franjo Tuđman and Slobodan Milošević. The two presidents tried to reach an agreement on the disintegration process of Yugoslavia, but their main concern was Bosnia, or more precisely its partition.
Meanwhile, control over central Croatia was seized by Croatian Serb forces in conjunction with the JNA Corps from Bosnia and Herzegovina, under the leadership of Ratko Mladić
.
These attacks were marked by the killings of captured soldiers and heavy civilian casualties (Ovčara
; Škabrnja
), and were the subject of war crimes indictments by the ICTY for elements of the Serb political and military leadership.
In January 1992, the Vance-Owen peace plan proclaimed UN controlled (UNPA) zones for Serbs
in territory claimed by Serbian rebels as the Republic of Serbian Krajina
and brought an end to major military operations, though sporadic artillery attacks on Croatian cities and occasional intrusions of Croatian forces into UNPA zones continued until 1995.
In 1992, conflict engulfed Bosnia and Herzegovina
. The war was predominantly a territorial conflict between local Bosniaks
and Croats backed by Zagreb
, and Serbs
backed by the Yugoslav People's Army
and Serbia.
The Yugoslav armed forces had disintegrated into a largely Serb-dominated military force. Opposed to the Bosnian-majority led government's agenda for independence, and along with other armed nationalist Serb militant forces, the JNA attempted to prevent Bosnian citizens from voting in the 1992 referendum on independence. This did not succeed in persuading people not to vote and instead the intimidating atmosphere combined with a Serb boycott of the vote resulted in a resounding 99% vote in support for independence.
On 19 June 1992, the war in Bosnia broke out. The conflict, typified by the siege of Sarajevo
and Srebrenica
, was by far the bloodiest and most widely covered of the Yugoslav wars. Bosnia's Serb faction led by ultra-nationalist Radovan Karadžić
promised independence for all Serb areas of Bosnia from the majority-Bosniak government of Bosnia.
To link the disjointed parts of territories populated by Serbs and areas claimed by Serbs, Karadzic pursued an agenda of systematic ethnic cleansing primarily against Bosnians through genocide and forced removal of Bosniak populations.
The Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) in the United States reported in April 1995 that 90 percent of all the atrocities in the Yugoslav wars up to that point had been committed by Serb militants. Most of these atrocities occurred in Bosnia.
In 1994 the US brokered peace between Croatia
n forces and the Bosnian Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
. After the successful Flash
and Storm
operations, the Croatian Army and the combined Bosnian and Croat forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, conducted an operation codenamed Operation Maestral to push back Bosnian Serb military gains.
Together with NATO air strikes on the Bosnian Serbs, the successes on the ground put pressure on the Serbs to come to the negotiating table. The fighting in Croatia ended in mid-1995, after Operation Flash
and Operation Storm
. At the end of these operations, Croatia had managed to reclaim all of its territory except the UNPA Sector East bordering Serbia
, however most of the Serbian population in these areas had become refugees, and these operations have led to war crimes indictments by the ICTY against elements of the Croat military leadership. The areas uncaptured by the Croations forces in "Sector East" came under UN administration (UNTAES), and were reintegrated to Croatia in 1998.
Pressure was put on all sides to stick to the cease-fire and finally negotiate
an end to the war in Bosnia.
The war ended with the signing of the Dayton Agreement
on the 14 December 1995, with the formation of Republika Srpska
as an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina being the resolution for Bosnian Serb demands.
During the Bosnian War, "rape camps" aimed at the birth of a new generation of Serb children, were reportedly used. The purpose of these camps was to impregnate the Bosnian and Croatian women. Because of the patrilineal make-up of the society, in which children inherit their father's ethnicity, this was used a method of ethnic cleansing. In the camps, women were kept in confinement until the late stage of their pregnancy.
According to the Women's Group Tresnjevka more than 35,000 women and children were held in such Serb-run "rape camps". Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovač, and Zoran Vuković
were convicted for rape, torture, and enslavement committed during the Foča massacres
.
The evidence of the magnitude of rape in Bosnia and Herzegovina
prompted the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) to deal openly with these abuses. Reports of sexual violence during the Bosnian War
(1992–1995) and Kosovo War
(1996–1999) perpetrated by the Serbian regular and irregular forces have been described as "especially alarming". Since the entry of the NATO-led Kosovo Force, rapes of Albanian, Roma and Serbian women by Serbs and members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, have been documented.
Others have estimated that during the Bosnian War between 20,000 and 50,000 women, mainly Muslim, were raped. A Commission of Experts appointed in October 1992 by the United Nations concluded that
Although men also became victim of sexual violence, war rape was disproportionately directed against women who were (gang) raped in the streets, in their homes and/or in front of family members.
War rape in the Yugoslav Wars has often been characterized as genocide. Rape perpetrated by Serb forces served to destroy cultural and social ties of the victims and their communities. Serbian policies urged soldiers to rape Bosnian women until they became pregnant as an attempt towards ethnic cleansing. Serbian soldiers hoped to force Bosnian women to carry Serbian children through repeated rape. Often Bosnian women were held in captivity for an extended period of time and only released slightly before the birth of a child conceived of rape.
The systematic rape of Bosnian women may have carried further reaching repercussions than the initial displacement of rape victims. Stress caused by the trauma of rape coupled with the lack of access to reproductive health care often experienced by displaced peoples lead to serious health risks for victimized women.
1971
1974
1980
1981
1986-1989
1988-1989
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
(and to a lesser extent, Montenegrins) on the one side and Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
and Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
(and to a lesser degree, Slovenes) on the other; but also between Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
and Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
in Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
(in addition to a separate conflict fought between rival Bosniak factions in Bosnia). The wars ended in various stages and mostly resulted in full international recognition of new sovereign territories, but with massive economic disruption to the successor states.
Often described as Europe's deadliest conflicts since World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the conflicts have become infamous for the war crimes involved, including mass ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
. These were the first conflicts since World War II to be formally judged genocidal
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
in character and many key individual participants were subsequently charged with war crimes. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
(ICTY) was established by the UN to prosecute these crimes.
Although tensions in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
had been mounting since the early 1980s, it was 1990 that proved decisive. In the midst of economic hardship, Yugoslavia was facing rising nationalism amongst its various ethnic groups. At the 14th Extraordinary Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in January 1990, the Serbian-dominated assembly agreed to abolish the single-party system; however, Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
, the head of the Serbian Party branch (League of Communists of Serbia
League of Communists of Serbia
The League of Communists of Serbia was the Serbian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1990. Under a new constitution ratified in 1974, greater power was devolved to the various republic level branches. In the late 1980s, the party was...
) used his influence to block and vote-down all other proposals from the Croatian and Slovene party delegates. This prompted the Croatian and Slovene delegations to walk out and thus the break-up of the party, a symbolic event representing the end of "brotherhood and unity
Brotherhood and unity
Brotherhood and Unity was a popular slogan of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia that was coined during the Yugoslav People's Liberation War , and which evolved into a guiding principle of Yugoslavia's post-war inter-ethnic policy....
".
According to International Center for Transitional Justice
International Center for Transitional Justice
The International Center for Transitional Justice was founded in 2001 as a non-profit organization dedicated to pursuing accountability for mass atrocity and human rights abuse through transitional justice mechanisms.-Mission statement:...
, the Yugoslav Wars resulted in deaths of 140,000 people. The Humanitarian Law Center
Humanitarian Law Center
Humanitarian Law Center is a non-governmental organisation with offices in Belgrade, Serbia, and Pristina, Kosovo. It was founded in 1992, by Nataša Kandić, to document human rights violations being perpetrated across the former Yugoslavia in armed conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina...
writes that in the conflicts in former Yugoslav republics at least 130,000 people lost their lives.
The Yugoslav Wars may be considered to be three separate but related wars:
- War in SloveniaTen-Day WarThe Ten-Day War or the Slovenian Independence War was a military conflict between the Slovenian Territorial Defence and the Yugoslav People's Army in 1991 following Slovenia's declaration of independence.-Background:...
(1991) - Croatian War of IndependenceCroatian War of IndependenceThe Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
(1991–1995) - Bosnian WarBosnian WarThe Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
(1992–1995)
Terminology
The war(s) have alternatively been called:- "War in the Balkans": largely inappropriate, partly because the war affected not only the Western Balkans but also because certain areas which saw fighting (e.g. most of SloveniaSloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, the Croatian land of SlavoniaSlavoniaSlavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
) are often seen as belonging to Central Europe and not the BalkansBalkansThe Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
.
- The "Balkan War against Milosevic" (stresses the US participation and mission).
- "War in (the former) Yugoslavia"
- "Wars of Yugoslav Secession/Succession"
- "Third Balkan War": a term suggested by British journalist Misha GlennyMisha GlennyMisha Glenny is a British journalist who specializes in southeastern Europe and global organized crime.-Biography:Glenny is the son of the late Russian studies academic Michael Glenny...
in the title of his book, alluding to the two previous Balkan WarsBalkan WarsThe Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
fought 1912–1913. In fact, the term has already been applied by contemporary historians to World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
as an allusion that it was a direct sequel of the 1912–1913 Balkan wars.
- "Yugoslavia Civil War/Yugoslav civil war/Yugoslavian civil war/civil war in yugoslavia"
Background
Before World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, major tensions arose from the first, monarchist Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
's multi-ethnic make-up and relative political and demographic domination of the Serbs. Fundamental to the tensions were the different concepts of the new state. The Croats envisaged a federal model where they would enjoy greater autonomy than they had as a separate crown land under Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. Under Austria-Hungary, Croats enjoyed autonomy with free hands only in education, law, religion and 45% of taxes. The Serbs tended to view the territories as a just reward for their support of the allies in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the new state as an extension of the Serbian Kingdom.
The Serbs sacrificed their own state (which was in that time a little bit larger than today's Serbia, including much of Kosovo and Macedonia) in order to realize the ideal of a "South Slav state".
Tensions between the two ethnic groups often erupted into open conflict, with the Serb dominated security structure exercising oppression during elections and the assassination in federal parliament of Croat political leaders, including Stjepan Radić
Stjepan Radic
Stjepan Radić was a Croatian politician and the founder of the Croatian Peasant Party in 1905. Radić is credited with galvanizing the peasantry of Croatia into a viable political force...
, who opposed the Serbian monarch's absolutism
Absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy is a monarchical form of government in which the monarch exercises ultimate governing authority as head of state and head of government, his or her power not being limited by a constitution or by the law. An absolute monarch thus wields unrestricted political power over the...
. The assassination and human rights abuses were subject of concern for the Human Rights League and precipitated voices of protest from intellectuals, including Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
. It was in this environment of oppression that the radical insurgent group (later fascist dictatorship), the Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
were formed.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the country's tensions were exploited by the occupying Axis forces which established a Croat puppet state
Puppet state
A puppet state is a nominal sovereign of a state who is de facto controlled by a foreign power. The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette...
spanning much of present day Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
. The Axis powers installed the Ustasha as the leaders of the "Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
".
The Ustaše resolved that the Serbian minority were a fifth column
Fifth column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within.-Origin:The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War...
of Serbian expansionism, and pursued a policy of persecution against the Serbs. The policy dictated that one third of the Serbian minority were to be killed, one third expelled, and one third converted to Catholicism and assimilated as Croats. Conversely, the Chetniks pursued their own campaign of persecution in parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
and Sandžak
Sandžak
Sandžak also known as Raška is a historical region lying along the border between Serbia and Montenegro...
per the Moljevic plan
Stevan Moljevic
Dr Stevan Moljević was Serbian and Yugoslav politician, lawyer and publicist, president of the Yugoslav-French Club, president of the Yugoslav-British Club, president of Rotary International Club of Yugoslavia and member of the Central National Committee of Yugoslavia in World War II...
("On Our State and Its Borders") and the orders issues by Draža Mihailović
Draža Mihailovic
Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović was a Yugoslav Serbian general during World War II...
which included "[t]he cleansing of all nation understandings and fighting.
Both Croats and Muslims were recruited as soldiers by the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
(primarily in the 13th Waffen Mountain Division
13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian)
The 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar was one of the thirty-eight divisions fielded as part of the Waffen-SS during World War II. Its recruits were composed of Muslim Bosniaks. The Handschar division was a mountain infantry formation, the equivalent of the German "Gebirgsjäger" ...
).
At the same time, former Royalist General Milan Nedić
Milan Nedic
Milan Nedić was a Serbian general and politician, he was the chief of the general staff of the Yugoslav Army, minister of war in the Royal Yugoslav Government and the prime minister of a Nazi-backed Serbian puppet government during World War II.After the war, Yugoslav communist authorities...
was installed by the Axis as head of the Serb puppet state
Nedic's Serbia
Serbia under German occupation refers to an administrative area in occupied Yugoslavia established by Nazi Germany following the invasion and dismantling of Yugoslavia in April of 1941...
and local Serbs were recruited into the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and the Serbian Volunteer Corps.
Both quisling
Quisling
Quisling is a term used in reference to fascist and collaborationist political parties and military and paramilitary forces in occupied Allied countries which collaborated with Axis occupiers in World War II, as well as for their members and other collaborators.- Etymology :The term was coined by...
s were confronted and eventually defeated by the communist-led anti-fascist Partisan
Partisans (Yugoslavia)
The Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II anti-fascist resistance movement in Yugoslavia...
movement composed of members of all ethnic groups in the area, leading to the formation of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
.
The official Yugoslav post-war estimate of victims
World War II casualties
World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history. Over 60 million people were killed, which was over 2.5% of the world population. The tables below give a detailed country-by-country count of human losses.-Total dead:...
in Yugoslavia during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
was 1,704,000. Subsequent data gathering in the 1980s by historians Vladimir Žerjavić
Vladimir Žerjavic
Vladimir Žerjavić was a Croatian economist and a United Nations expert. He published a series of historical articles and books during the 1980s and 1990s in which he argued that the scope of the Holocaust in World War II-era territory of Yugoslavia was intentionally exaggerated...
and Bogoljub Kočović
Bogoljub Kocovic
Bogoljub Kočović is a Bosnian jurist and statistician, Yugoslav by ethnic affiliation.Kočović was born in Sarajevo; his father was a Serb and mother French by origin. He obtained a MA in economy at the Roosevelt University in Chicago, and a Ph. D. in law in Paris...
showed that the actual number of dead was about 1 million. Of that number, 330,000–390,000 ethnic Serbs perished from all causes in Croatia and Bosnia.
Despite the federal structure of the new Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, there was still tension between the federalists, primarily Croats and Slovenes who argued for greater autonomy, and unitarists, primarily Serbs. The struggle would occur in cycles of protests for greater individual and national rights (such as the Croatian Spring
Croatian Spring
The Croatian Spring was a political movement from the early 1970s that called for greater rights for Croatia which was then part of Yugoslavia as well as democratic and economic reforms.-History:...
) and subsequent repression. The 1974 constitution was an attempt to short-circuit this pattern by entrenching the federal model and formalizing national rights.
SFR Yugoslav dissolution wars
In the years leading up to the Yugoslav wars, relations among the republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia deteriorated. Slovenia and Croatia desired greater autonomy within the Yugoslav confederation, while Serbia sought to strengthen federal authority. As it became clearer that there was no solution agreeable to all parties, Slovenia and Croatia moved toward secession.By the early 1990s there was no effective authority at the federal level. The Federal Presidency consisted of the representatives of all 6 republics and 2 provinces and JNA (Yugoslav People's Army) and communist leadership was divided along national lines.
The final breakdown occurred at the 14th Congress of the Communist Party when Croat and Slovenian delegates left in protest because the pro-integration majority in the Congress rejected their proposed amendments.
Ten-Day War (1991)
Ten-Day War
The Ten-Day War or the Slovenian Independence War was a military conflict between the Slovenian Territorial Defence and the Yugoslav People's Army in 1991 following Slovenia's declaration of independence.-Background:...
, was initiated by the federal Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
on 26 June 1991 after the secession of Slovenia from the federation on 25 June 1991.
Initially, the federal government ordered the Yugoslav People's Army to secure border crossings in Slovenia. Slovenian police and Slovenian Territorial Defence
Slovenian Territorial Defence
The Territorial Defence of the Republic of Slovenia, also the Territorial Defence of Slovenia was the predecessor of the Slovenian Armed Forces.- History :...
blockaded barracks and roads, leading to stand-offs and limited skirmishes around the republic. After several dozen casualties, the limited conflict was stopped through negotiation at Brioni
Brijuni
The Brijuni or the Brijuni Islands are a group of fourteen small islands in the Croatian part of the northern Adriatic Sea, separated from the west coast of the Istrian peninsula by the narrow Fažana Strait...
on 9 July 1991, when Slovenia and Croatia agreed to a three-month moratorium on secession. The Federal army completely withdrew from Slovenia by 26 October 1991.
Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995)
Fighting in this region had begun weeks prior to the Ten-Day War in Slovenia. The Croatian War of IndependenceCroatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
began when Serbs in Croatia
Serbs of Croatia
Višeslav of Serbia, a contemporary of Charlemagne , ruled the Županias of Neretva, Tara, Piva, Lim, his ancestral lands. According to the Royal Frankish Annals , Duke of Pannonia Ljudevit Posavski fled, during the Frankish invasion, from his seat in Sisak to the Serbs in western Bosnia, who...
, who were opposed to Croatian independence, announced their secession from Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. This was triggered by a provision in the new Croatian Constitution that replaced an explicit reference to Serbs in Croatia as a "constituent nation" with a generic reference to all other nations, and was interpreted by Serbs as being reclassified as a "national minority".
The JNA
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
had disarmed the Territorial Units of the two northernmost republics prior to the declaration of independence, so the fledgling Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n state had to form its military from scratch. This was hindered by an arms embargo, imposed by the UN on Yugoslavia.
The Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
(JNA) was ostensibly ideologically unitarian, but its officer corps was predominantly staffed by Serbs. As a result the JNA opposed Croatian independence and sided with the Croatian Serb rebels. The Croatian Serb rebels were unaffected by the embargo as they had the support of and access to supplies of the JNA.
The border regions faced direct attacks from forces within Serbia and Montenegro, and saw the shelling of UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
world heritage site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
, where the international press was criticised for focusing on the city's architectural heritage, instead of reporting the destruction of Vukovar, a pivotal battle involving many civilian deaths.
Bosnian War (1992–1995)
In March 1991, the Karađorđevo agreementKarađorđevo agreement
In 1991, Croatian president Franjo Tuđman and Serbian president Slobodan Milošević had a series of discussions which became known as the Karađorđevo agreement or, less commonly, the Karađorđevo meeting. These discussions commenced as early as March, 1991...
took place between Franjo Tuđman and Slobodan Milošević. The two presidents tried to reach an agreement on the disintegration process of Yugoslavia, but their main concern was Bosnia, or more precisely its partition.
Meanwhile, control over central Croatia was seized by Croatian Serb forces in conjunction with the JNA Corps from Bosnia and Herzegovina, under the leadership of Ratko Mladić
Ratko Mladić
Ratko Mladić is an accused war criminal and a former Bosnian Serb military leader. On May 31, 2011, Mladić was extradited to The Hague, where he was processed at the detention center that holds suspects for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia...
.
These attacks were marked by the killings of captured soldiers and heavy civilian casualties (Ovčara
Vukovar massacre
The Vukovar massacre, also known as Vukovar hospital massacre or simply Ovčara, was a war crime that took place between November 20 and November 21, 1991 near the city of Vukovar, a mixed Croat/Serb community in northeastern Croatia...
; Škabrnja
Škabrnja massacre
Škabrnja massacre was a war crime committed by Serb Army forces during the Croatian War of Independence. On November 18, 1991, Serb paramilitaries, supported by the JNA, captured the village of Škabrnja and killed 25 Prisoners of war and 61 civilians over the next several days.-Before the...
), and were the subject of war crimes indictments by the ICTY for elements of the Serb political and military leadership.
In January 1992, the Vance-Owen peace plan proclaimed UN controlled (UNPA) zones for Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
in territory claimed by Serbian rebels as the Republic of Serbian Krajina
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed Serb entity within Croatia. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. It formally existed from 1991 to 1995, having been initiated a year earlier via smaller separatist regions. The name Krajina means "frontier"...
and brought an end to major military operations, though sporadic artillery attacks on Croatian cities and occasional intrusions of Croatian forces into UNPA zones continued until 1995.
In 1992, conflict engulfed Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
. The war was predominantly a territorial conflict between local Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
and Croats backed by Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, and Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
backed by the Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
and Serbia.
The Yugoslav armed forces had disintegrated into a largely Serb-dominated military force. Opposed to the Bosnian-majority led government's agenda for independence, and along with other armed nationalist Serb militant forces, the JNA attempted to prevent Bosnian citizens from voting in the 1992 referendum on independence. This did not succeed in persuading people not to vote and instead the intimidating atmosphere combined with a Serb boycott of the vote resulted in a resounding 99% vote in support for independence.
On 19 June 1992, the war in Bosnia broke out. The conflict, typified by the siege of Sarajevo
Siege of Sarajevo
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...
and Srebrenica
Srebrenica massacre
The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, refers to the July 1995 killing, during the Bosnian War, of more than 8,000 Bosniaks , mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of...
, was by far the bloodiest and most widely covered of the Yugoslav wars. Bosnia's Serb faction led by ultra-nationalist Radovan Karadžić
Radovan Karadžic
Radovan Karadžić is a former Bosnian Serb politician. He is detained in the United Nations Detention Unit of Scheveningen, accused of war crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats during the Siege of Sarajevo, as well as ordering the Srebrenica massacre.Educated as a...
promised independence for all Serb areas of Bosnia from the majority-Bosniak government of Bosnia.
To link the disjointed parts of territories populated by Serbs and areas claimed by Serbs, Karadzic pursued an agenda of systematic ethnic cleansing primarily against Bosnians through genocide and forced removal of Bosniak populations.
The Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA) in the United States reported in April 1995 that 90 percent of all the atrocities in the Yugoslav wars up to that point had been committed by Serb militants. Most of these atrocities occurred in Bosnia.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n forces and the Bosnian Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was the military force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina established by the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 following the outbreak of the Bosnian War...
. After the successful Flash
Operation Flash
The Serbs in western Slavonia took part in the organized rebellion against the government of the Republic of Croatia that had just proclaimed independence in June 1991, by proclaiming the Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Western Slavonia in August 1991...
and Storm
Operation Storm
Operation Storm is the code name given to a large-scale military operation carried out by Croatian Armed Forces, in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to gain back control of parts of Croatia which had been claimed by separatist ethnic Serbs, since early...
operations, the Croatian Army and the combined Bosnian and Croat forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, conducted an operation codenamed Operation Maestral to push back Bosnian Serb military gains.
Together with NATO air strikes on the Bosnian Serbs, the successes on the ground put pressure on the Serbs to come to the negotiating table. The fighting in Croatia ended in mid-1995, after Operation Flash
Operation Flash
The Serbs in western Slavonia took part in the organized rebellion against the government of the Republic of Croatia that had just proclaimed independence in June 1991, by proclaiming the Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Western Slavonia in August 1991...
and Operation Storm
Operation Storm
Operation Storm is the code name given to a large-scale military operation carried out by Croatian Armed Forces, in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to gain back control of parts of Croatia which had been claimed by separatist ethnic Serbs, since early...
. At the end of these operations, Croatia had managed to reclaim all of its territory except the UNPA Sector East bordering Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, however most of the Serbian population in these areas had become refugees, and these operations have led to war crimes indictments by the ICTY against elements of the Croat military leadership. The areas uncaptured by the Croations forces in "Sector East" came under UN administration (UNTAES), and were reintegrated to Croatia in 1998.
Pressure was put on all sides to stick to the cease-fire and finally negotiate
Peace plans offered before and during the Bosnian War
Four major peace plans were offered before and during the Bosnian-Herzegovina War, commonly known as the Bosnian War, by European Community and United Nations diplomats before the conflict was settled by the Dayton Agreement in 1995....
an end to the war in Bosnia.
The war ended with the signing of the Dayton Agreement
Dayton Agreement
The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement, Dayton Accords, Paris Protocol or Dayton-Paris Agreement, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on...
on the 14 December 1995, with the formation of Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
as an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina being the resolution for Bosnian Serb demands.
War rape
War rape occurred as a matter of official orders as part of ethnic cleansing, to displace the targeted ethnic group.During the Bosnian War, "rape camps" aimed at the birth of a new generation of Serb children, were reportedly used. The purpose of these camps was to impregnate the Bosnian and Croatian women. Because of the patrilineal make-up of the society, in which children inherit their father's ethnicity, this was used a method of ethnic cleansing. In the camps, women were kept in confinement until the late stage of their pregnancy.
According to the Women's Group Tresnjevka more than 35,000 women and children were held in such Serb-run "rape camps". Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovač, and Zoran Vuković
Zoran Vukovic
Zoran Vuković is a Bosnian Serb who was charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for his actions in the city of Foča during the Bosnian War...
were convicted for rape, torture, and enslavement committed during the Foča massacres
Foca massacres
The Foča massacres, also known as the Foča genocide, were a series of killings committed by Serb military, police and paramilitary forces on Bosniak civilians in the Foča region of Bosnia and Herzegovina from April 7, 1992 to January 1994...
.
The evidence of the magnitude of rape in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
prompted the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
(ICTY) to deal openly with these abuses. Reports of sexual violence during the Bosnian War
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
(1992–1995) and Kosovo War
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
(1996–1999) perpetrated by the Serbian regular and irregular forces have been described as "especially alarming". Since the entry of the NATO-led Kosovo Force, rapes of Albanian, Roma and Serbian women by Serbs and members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, have been documented.
Others have estimated that during the Bosnian War between 20,000 and 50,000 women, mainly Muslim, were raped. A Commission of Experts appointed in October 1992 by the United Nations concluded that
Rape has been reported to have been committed by all sides to the conflict. However, the largest number of reported victims have been Bosnian Muslims, and the largest number of alleged perpetrators have been Bosnian Serbs.
There are few reports of rape and sexual assault between members of the same ethnic group.
Although men also became victim of sexual violence, war rape was disproportionately directed against women who were (gang) raped in the streets, in their homes and/or in front of family members.
War rape in the Yugoslav Wars has often been characterized as genocide. Rape perpetrated by Serb forces served to destroy cultural and social ties of the victims and their communities. Serbian policies urged soldiers to rape Bosnian women until they became pregnant as an attempt towards ethnic cleansing. Serbian soldiers hoped to force Bosnian women to carry Serbian children through repeated rape. Often Bosnian women were held in captivity for an extended period of time and only released slightly before the birth of a child conceived of rape.
The systematic rape of Bosnian women may have carried further reaching repercussions than the initial displacement of rape victims. Stress caused by the trauma of rape coupled with the lack of access to reproductive health care often experienced by displaced peoples lead to serious health risks for victimized women.
A brief timeline of the Yugoslav Wars including events leading to conflict
1968- Students in Kosovo demand greater rights for the Albanian minority during the worldwide May 1968 protests.
1971
- Demonstrations in Croatia, known as the Croatian springCroatian SpringThe Croatian Spring was a political movement from the early 1970s that called for greater rights for Croatia which was then part of Yugoslavia as well as democratic and economic reforms.-History:...
, are condemned by the communist government. Many participants were later convicted as nationalists, including Stipe Mesić and Franjo Tuđman. Government crisis follows.
1974
- A new SFRY constitution is proclaimed, granting more power to federal units, and more power to autonomous provinces Kosovo and VojvodinaVojvodinaVojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
of Serbia, giving them all a single vote in all relevant decisions in the federal government, which is now headed by the joint Presidency with a rotating President. MuslimsMuslims by nationalityMuslims by nationality was a term used in Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as an official designation of nationality of Slavic Muslims. They were one of the constitutive groups of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
were recognized as a constituent nation of Yugoslavia, becoming the primary ethnic group of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
1980
- Yugoslav leader Josip Broz TitoJosip Broz TitoMarshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
dies.
1981
- Economic crisis in Yugoslavia has begun. Albanian students demonstrate in Kosovo, demanding federal unit status.
1986-1989
- The controversial Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsMemorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsThe Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts was a draft document produced by a 14-member committee composed by members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts from 1985 to 1986, presided by Kosta Mihailović...
claims SerbiaSerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
has a weak position in YugoslaviaYugoslaviaYugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. - Slobodan MiloševićSlobodan MiloševićSlobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
rises to power in Serbia, promising to defend and promote the interests of Serbs across Yugoslavia and challenge politicians who were deemed to be repressing the interests of Serbs. Antibureaucratic revolution demonstrations overthrow Communist party leadership and bring pro-Milošević governments to power in Vojvodina, Kosovo and Montenegro. The other republics' leaderships oppose Milošević's coups
1988-1989
- Anti-bureaucratic revolutionAnti-bureaucratic revolutionAnti-bureaucratic revolution as a term, refers to a series of mass protests against governments of Yugoslavian republics and autonomous provinces during 1988 and 1989, which led to resignations of leaderships of Kosovo, Vojvodina and Montenegro, and the capture of power by politicians close to...
in VojvodinaVojvodinaVojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
1989
- Kosovar Albanians continued to demonstrate throughout 1989 after Milosevic adopted amendments to the Serbian Constitution that took away Kosovo’s control over the police force, civil defense, economic, civil and criminal courts, social and education policy. The amendments also effectively prohibited the use of Albanian as an official language in Kosovo and forbade the sale of property to Albanians. This was followed by the closure of the Albanian language newspaper, and the Kosovo Academy of Sciences. Some 80,000 Kosovo Albanians were fired from state employment.
1990
- The League of Communists of YugoslaviaLeague of Communists of YugoslaviaLeague of Communists of Yugoslavia , before 1952 the Communist Party of Yugoslavia League of Communists of Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian: Savez komunista Jugoslavije/Савез комуниста Југославије, Slovene: Zveza komunistov Jugoslavije, Macedonian: Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na...
dissolves on republican and ethnic lines at its 14th Congress with Slovene and Croatian delegations leaving amid claims that Milošević is usurping power. - The first democratic elections are held in socialist Yugoslavia. Nationalist parties win the majority in almost all republics.
- Constitutional changes in Serbia revoke some of the powers granted to Kosovo and Vojvodina, effectively giving Serbia 3 out of 8 votes in the federal council. Along with allied Montenegro, this gives extreme power to the Serbian elite. With these votes, Serbian representatives attempt to institute martial lawMartial lawMartial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
to stop democratic changes – their attempt fails as Bosnia's representative (an ethnic Serb) votes against in the crucial last vote. - In Serbian capital of Belgrade, student protests against Milošević end with police crackdown: one student is killed.
- Albanian miners go on strike in Kosovo, which Milošević ends with a police and army crackdown.
- Croatian Serbs start a rebellionLog RevolutionThe Log Revolution was an insurrection which started on August 17, 1990 in areas of the Republic of Croatia which were populated significantly by ethnic Serbs....
against the newly elected Croatian government led by Franjo Tuđman, severing land ties between Dalmatia and remainder of Croatia.
- Slovenia and Croatia declare independence in June, Macedonia in September. War in SloveniaTen-Day WarThe Ten-Day War or the Slovenian Independence War was a military conflict between the Slovenian Territorial Defence and the Yugoslav People's Army in 1991 following Slovenia's declaration of independence.-Background:...
lasts ten days. - The Yugoslav army leaves Slovenia, but supports rebel Serb forces in Croatia. The Croatian War of IndependenceCroatian War of IndependenceThe Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
begins in Croatia. Serb areas in Croatia declare independence, but are recognized only by Belgrade. - Cities of VukovarVukovarVukovar is a city in eastern Croatia, and the biggest river port in Croatia located at the confluence of the Vuka river and the Danube. Vukovar is the center of the Vukovar-Syrmia County...
, DubrovnikDubrovnikDubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
and OsijekOsijekOsijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
are devastated by bombardments and shelling. A flood of refugees from the war zones and ethnic cleansing overwhelm entire Croatia. Countries of Europe are slow in accepting refugees. - In Croatia, more than 400 000 Croats and other non-Serbs were either removed out of their homes by the Serb forces or fled the violence.
- Macedonia declares independence in September.
1992
- Vance peace plan signed, creating four UNPA zones for Serbs and ending large scale fighting in Croatia.
- BosniaBosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
declares independence. Bosnian warBosnian WarThe Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
begins. - Federal Republic of Yugoslavia proclaimed, consisting of SerbiaSerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and MontenegroMontenegroMontenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, the only two remaining republics. - United Nations impose sanctions against FR Yugoslavia and accepts Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia as members. FR Yugoslavia claims being sole legal heir to SFRY, which is disputed by other republics. UN envoys agree that Yugoslavia had 'dissolved into constituent republics'.
- Approx. 600,000 non-Serbian refugees.
- Bosniak-Croat conflict begins in Bosnia.
- Fighting begins in the BihaćBihacBihać is a city and municipality on the river Una in the north-western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosanska Krajina region. Bihać is located in the Una-Sana Canton in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.-History:...
region between Bosnian Government forces loyal to Alija IzetbegovićAlija IzetbegovicAlija Izetbegović was a Bosniak activist, lawyer, author, philosopher and politician, who, in 1990, became the first president of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He served in this role until 1996, when he became a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving until 2000...
, and Bosniaks loyal to Fikret AbdićFikret AbdicFikret Abdić is a politician and businessman from Bosnia and Herzegovina, convicted of war crimes against Bosniaks in the region of Velika Kladuša....
who is supported by Serbs. - Sanctions and in F.R. Yugoslavia, now isolated, create hyperinflation of 3.6 million percent a year of the Yugoslav dinar; this had never been known previously. The inflation exceeds that experienced in the Great Depression of 1929.
- The Stari MostStari mostStari Most is a 16th century Ottoman bridge in the city of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina that crosses the river Neretva and connects two parts of the city. The Old Bridge stood for 427 years, until it was destroyed on November 9, 1993 during the Croat-Bosniak War...
(The Old Bridge) in Mostar, built in 1566, was destroyed by Bosnian Croat forces. It was rebuilt in 2003.
1994
- Peace treatyWashington AgreementThe Washington Agreement was a ceasefire agreement between the warring Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, signed in Washington on 18 March 1994 and Vienna. It was signed by Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdžić, Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granić and...
between Bosniaks and Croats arbitrated by the United States, Federation of Bosnia and HerzegovinaFederation of Bosnia and HerzegovinaThe Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the two political entities that compose the sovereign country of Bosnia and Herzegovina . The two entities are delineated by the Inter-Entity Boundary Line...
formed. - F.R. Yugoslavia stabilizes economy structure with Economic Implementation Framework.
1995
- Srebrenica massacreSrebrenica massacreThe Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, refers to the July 1995 killing, during the Bosnian War, of more than 8,000 Bosniaks , mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of...
reported, 8,372 Bosniaks killed by Serb forces. - Croatia launches Oluja, reclaiming all UNPA zones except Eastern Slavonia, and resulting in exodus of 150,000–200,000 Serbs from the zones. War in Croatia ends.
- NATO launches a series of air strikes on Bosnian Serb artillery and other military targets.
- Dayton AgreementDayton AgreementThe General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement, Dayton Accords, Paris Protocol or Dayton-Paris Agreement, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on...
signed in Paris. War in Bosnia and Herzegovina ends. Aftermath of war is over 100,000 killed and missing and 2.5 million people internally displaced among the former republics. Serb defeat in Croatia and West Bosnia allows Croatian and Bosniak refugees to return to their homes, but many refugees of all nationalities are still displaced today. - After signing the Dayton Agreement, Yugoslavia is granted with looser sanctions, still affecting much of its economy (trade, tourism, industrial production and exports of final products), but allowing for its citizens to exit Yugoslavia, for a limited time.
See also
- Arbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on the former YugoslaviaArbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on the former YugoslaviaThe Arbitration Commission of the Conference on Yugoslavia was a commission set up by the Council of Ministers of the European Economic Community on 27 August 1991 to provide the Conference on Yugoslavia with legal advice...
- BalkanizationBalkanizationBalkanization, or Balkanisation, is a geopolitical term, originally used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or non-cooperative with each other, and it is considered pejorative.The term refers to the...
- Breakup of Yugoslavia
- Timeline of Yugoslav breakupTimeline of Yugoslav breakupThe Breakup of Yugoslavia was a process in which the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was broken up into constituent republics, and over the course of which the Yugoslav wars started....
- Serbia in the Yugoslav WarsSerbia in the Yugoslav WarsSerbia was involved in the Yugoslav Wars in the period between 1991 and 1999 - the war in Slovenia, the war in Croatia, the war in Bosnia and the war in Kosovo. During this period, Slobodan Milošević was the authoritarian leader of Serbia, which was in turn part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
External links
- Bora Radović: Jugoslovenski ratovi 1991–1999 i neke od njihovih društvenih posledica.
- Information and links on the Third Balkan War (1991–2001)
- Wiebes, Cees. Intelligence and the War in Bosnia 1992–1995, Publisher: Lit Verlag, 2003
- http://srebrenica.brightside.nl/srebrenica/
- Dr. R. Craig Nation. "War in the Balkans 1991–2002."
- "Yugoslavia: the outworn structure" (CIA) Report from November 1970
- Operation Storm
- Strategic Studies Institute, 2002, ISBN 1-58487-134-2