Yugoslav wars
The
Yugoslav wars were a series of violent conflicts in the territory of the former
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia that took place between 1991 and 2001. They comprised two sets of successive wars affecting all of the six former Yugoslav republics. Alternative terms in use include the "War in the Balkans", or "War in (the former) Yugoslavia", "Wars of Yugoslav Secession"; some indviduals invented their personal, short-lived terms, such as, the "Third Balkan War" (a term coined by British journalist
Misha Glenny, alluding to the
Balkan Wars of 1912â€"1913).
The wars were characterised by bitter ethnic conflicts between the peoples of the former Yugoslavia. The conflict had its roots in various underlying political, economic and cultural problems as well as ethnic and religious tensions.
However, much weight has also been given to long-standing ethnic tensions. In the case of Kosovo, they root back to the perceived loss of ancestral Serbian lands (Kosovo was integral to all historical Serbian kingdoms), while other tensions arose from the legacy of
World War II during which Croatian fascists (
Ustaše) and Serbian monarchists (
Chetniks) fought on opposite sides (though not all Croats or Serbs belonged to either of these two movements), with the Ustaše regime (which controlled present day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina within the 'Independent State of Croatia') pursuing an officially hostile and violent policy against Serb inhabitants. Meanwhile, a great number of people from all ethnic groups fought with the anti-fascist
Partisan movement led by the Croat-Slovene communist who would later become the leader of Yugoslavia -
Josip Broz Tito.
The Yugoslav wars ended with much of the former Yugoslavia reduced to poverty, massive economic disruption and persistent instability across the territories where the worst fighting occurred. The wars were the bloodiest conflicts on European soil since the end of World War II. They were also the first conflicts since World War II to have been formally judged
genocidal in character and many key individual participants were subsequently charged with
war crimes.
The Yugoslav wars can be split in two groups of several distinct conflicts:
* Wars during the breakup of SFRY:
*#
War in Slovenia (1991)
*#
War in Croatia (1991-1995)
*#
War in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995)
* Wars in
Albanian-populated areas:
*#
Kosovo War (1999)
*#
Southern Serbia conflict (2001)
*#
Macedonia conflict (2001)
The first phase of fighting started after Yugoslavia's two northwesternmost (and the most prosperous) republics -
Slovenia and
Croatia - declared sovereignty (not independence), fearing
Milošević's plans of a new Yugoslav reorganization, which would favour Serbia.
The zero-phase of these wars was the "
log-revolution" from August of 1990 in central parts of
Croatia (along the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina). "Log-revolution" was a local Serbs' armed rebellion against Croatian government, when local rebel Serbs blocked the roads that connected Croatian north and south. The rebellion was incited from Serbia and helped through Serb-controlled federal Yugoslav army ("JNA") in various ways (at first through
secret service,
military intelligence and
logistics, later through arming and open military intervention against legal action of Croatian police forces).
When all attempts to solve things in political ways failed, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence through "razdruženje" ("de-partnerizing" / dissolving of partnership ; Yugoslavia was supposed to be a partnership of equals - if one leaves, it is not the same partnership anymore). Badinter's Arbitration Committee confirmed [
1] later that these republics haven't seceded, and that Yugoslavia has dissolved .
The first of these conflicts, known as the
Ten-Day War (1991) or the War in Slovenia, was nominally fought to prevent the breakup of Yugoslavia and ended with the withdrawal of the Serb and Montenegrin-controlled
JNA (Yugoslav people's Army) in 1991.
The second in this series of conflicts, the
Croatian War of Independence (1991-1995) was also nominally fought for the same reasons, but in fact it was Serbia's expansionist war against sections of Croatian territory inhabited by native Serbs. In January
1992 the
Vance peace plan proclaimed UN controlled zones for
Serbs 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, with several Croatian liberating operations like the
Operation Medak pocket and
Operation Maslenica.
In 1992, the conflict engulfed
Bosnia (1992-1995). What first started as a two way conflict between
Serbs and the non-Serbs, then later developed into a three way conflict between
Serbs,
Muslims (
Bosniaks) and
Croats, with factional in-fighting in all three ethnic groups at one time or another. It was by far the bloodiest and most widely covered of the Yugoslav wars.
The conflict in Croatia did not end until August 1995, when Croatia launched a successful four-day military operation (codenamed
Operation Storm) in which it managed to reclaim over 70% of its occupied territory, entering all UNPA zones except Eastern Slavonia and Western Syrmia, bordering Serbia. Virtually all of the Serb population in these areas had to flee to previously organized exile into Serb-controlled parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia. The occupied parts of Eastern Slavonia and Western Syrmia were peacefully reintegrated into Croatia in 1998.
In
1994 U.S. brokered peace between Bosnia-Herzegovina
Croats forces (HVO) and
Bosnian Muslim forces (Armija BiH) . The
NATO intervention against Bosnia-Herzegovina Serbs following the
Srebrenica massacre and offensive of Croatian troops into Serb areas following
Operation Storm caused Bosnia-Herzegovina Serbs to lose some of the areas controlled by them, and 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
December 14th 1995.
In
Kosovo,
Macedonia, and southern
Serbia, the conflicts were typified by ethnic and political tension between the Serbian and Macedonian governments and
Albanian national minorities which sought autonomy, as was the case in the Republic of Macedonia, or independence, as was the case in Kosovo.
The conflict in Kosovo (
Kosovo War (1996-1999)) became a full-scale war in 1999, while the
Conflict in Macedonia (2001) and
Conflict in Southern Serbia (2001) were characterised by armed clashes between state security forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
The war in Kosovo ended with
NATO intervention against Serbian forces, although further widespread
unrest in Kosovo broke out in 2004. The NATO intervention is often counted as yet another separate war. The conflicts in southern Serbia and in Republic of Macedonia ended with internationally-overseen peace agreements between the insurgents and the government, but the situation in both regions remains fragile.
1966:
Tito sacked
Aleksandar Rankovic, an intelligence officer, and main Serbian cadre, after which a purge of Serbian hard-liner cadres from the establishment followed (on suspicion that this cadre was Serb suprematist in official behaviour).
1968 :Protests in
1968 are echoed in Yugoslavia too. There are student demonstrations, while in Kosovo demonstrators demand greater rights for Albanian minority. Ailing
Tito, a lifetime president in his late 70s, allows some liberalisation, but despite old age, refuses to retire.
1971:National reawakening movement in Croatia, known as
Croatian spring. Government crisis followed.
1974 :New constitution of
SFRY proclaimed, granting more power to federal units, and more power to autonomus provinces Kosovo and Vojvodina of Serbia, giving them a vote in all relevant decisions in the federal government. It was aimed to address grievances of non-Serb nations within Yugoslavia. Among extreme-wing Serbs this was known as
weak Serbia, strong Yugoslavia concept. Among nationally mild political currents, this was considered as an improvement. E.g., some of claims of Croatian communist leaders were fullfilled, although few years before tens of thousands of them were persecuted and imprisoned just because of these claims (see
Croatian spring, "Hrvatsko proljeće").
Bosnian Muslims (after 1993 the name was changed to Muslim-Bosniacs, and finally into
Bosniaks) were recognized as a sixth "nation" of Yugoslavia (note:
nations or officially: "narodi" were Slavic majority peoples, while
nationalities of officially "narodnosti" were all other national minorities) and one of the three constituent peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
May 1980 :Yugoslav leader
Josip Broz Tito dies. For the first time socialist Yugoslavia had to function without Tito's strong leadership and his charismatic influence in political and social life, as well as in country and in abroad.
1981:Big economic crisis in Yugoslavia has began. Albanians demonstrate in Kosovo, demanding status of a republic and more rights (the slogan "Kosovo republika").
1986-
1989:Controversial Memorandum of
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts protests position of
Serbia in
Yugoslavia.:Perceived prosecution of Serbs by Kosovo Albanians fuels growing Serbian nationalist sentiment. Additional police forces were sent to Kosovo to calm down things.:
Hamdija Pozderac, president of the constitutional commission, removed from the power to begin reform of the 1974 constitution.:
Slobodan Milosevic, a high government official at the time, gives a speech to a small group of Kosovo Serbs where he promises that "no one will beat them", which is aired in the main
TV news programme. The "meetings" ("mitinzi") of Kosovo Serbs and Montenegrins in Serbia and Montenegro have began. Milosevic instantly becomes very popular in Serbia.:Milosevic rises to power in Serbia.
Antibureaucratic revolution demonstrations bring pro-Milosevic governments to Vojvodina, Kosovo and Montenegro. :Kosovo Albanian miners strike in the Stari Trg mine. Slovenian government holds a big rally in the Cankar Congress centre, supporting the Kosovo Albanians. Albanians outside Serbia (mostly in Slovenia and Croatia) pledge for help from Croatia and Slovenia.:Relations between Slovenia and Serbia deteriorate. Unofficial embargo on Slovenian products introduced in Serbian stores (see
Radmila Anđelković) . Slovenia is increasingly talking about independence. :600th anniversary of the
Battle of Kosovo is celebrated by Serbs across Yugoslavia.
Slobodan Milosevic gives, what is perceived as, nationalist speech at
Kosovo.
1990:Communist party dissolves on republic (and partially on national) lines at the 14th Congress of Yugoslav Communist Party (SKJ, Savez komunista Jugoslavije), with Slovenian and Croatian communists leaving the Congress. Pro-Serb Yugoslav communist party members voted for new organization of SKJ, the principle "one voter-one vote" This system is fair in homogenous communities, while in heterogeneous communities it favores the communities that have majority. Knowing what has been done with communist leadership in Vojvodina, Kosovo and Montenegro with yoghurt-revolution/antibureaucratic revolution, that turned those units into Serbia's puppets, and having reasonable fear that new organizations of SKJ could endanger the status of their republics, Slovenians, and then Croatian party members left the Congress.:Constitutional changes in Serbia revoke some of the powers granted to Kosovo and Vojvodina by the constitution of 1974, including a power to cast a vote in the federal council completely independently from Serbia, which in fact stripped off their nigh-to-republic status. This effectively gave Serbia 3 out of 8 votes in the federal council.:Serb nationalist meetings were held in some Serb-populated areas of Croatia, with iconography that was considered provocative and anti-Croat.
May 1990:First democratic elections in 45 years are held in Yugoslavia in an attempt to bring the Yugoslav socialist model into the new, post-Cold War world. The elections were held in Croatia and in Slovenia. Nationally conscious options won majority. Although those elections Slovenia and Croatia were under attack of Serbian media and communist leadership, marking the organizers and winners of those elections as "anti-Yugoslav", "anti-revolutionary", several months later the elections were held in all other republics, including Serbia, without dramatization. Nationally conscious options won majority in almost all republics.
August 1990:Croatian Serbs start a rebellion against the newly elected government, an event frequently referred to as the "Balvan revolution" (tree-log revolution).
December 1990:Constitutional changes in Croatia deny the status of a constituent nation to Serbs in Croatia, equalizing them with all other minorities. :Slovenia holds a referendum on independence from Yugoslavia which passes with 88.5% of the electorate in favour of independence.
January 1991:
Evidence of arming of Croatia and preparations for the war aired on
TV.:Unsuccessful negotiations between heads of the republics were held in several rounds
March 1991:Opposition demonstrations in Belgrade against Milosevic rule, ending in two deaths. Army puts tanks on the streets.
May - June 1991 :Rising ethnic violence in Croatia.
Slovenia and
Croatia declare independence. The ethnic homogenity of Slovenia allows the country to avoid much fighting. The Yugoslav army agrees to leave Slovenia but supports rebel Serb forces in Croatia.
July 1991 :A three month cease fire agreed on Brijuni. Yugoslav forces would retreat from Slovenia, and Croatia and Slovenia put a hold on their independence for three months.
September 1991 :EU propose
Carrington-Cutileiro plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina. All sides agree, but Izetbegovic later withdraws his signature.
October 1991:The last Yugoslav National Army soldier leaves Slovenia.
October 1991-December 1991 :Full scale war in Croatia. Fall of
Vukovar.
January 1992 :Vance peace plan signed, creating 4 UNPA zones for Serbs, and ending large scale military operations in Croatia.:
Macedonia declares independence. No wars erupted in this area. Slovenia and Croatia are internationally recognized (European Community countries, several EFTA and Central European countries).
April 1992 :
Bosnia declares independence.
Bosnian war begins.:The
siege of Sarajevo begins. Bosnian Serb forces mounted the siege against
Sarajevo population. 12,000 killed by 1995.:
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia proclaimed, consisting of
Serbia and
Montenegro, the only two remaining republics.
May 1992:Yugoslav army "officially" retreats from
Bosnia and Herzegovina, leaving a large part of its armory to Bosnian Serbs. Most military personnel retain ranks in the newly-founded VRS.:United Nations impose sanctions against
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and accept Slovenia and Croatia as members.
December 1992:
Serbia elects
Slobodan Milošević as a president for the second time. Bosnian Serb in Bosnia and Herzegovina offensive subsides. Large portions of
Podrinje and
Bosanska Krajina territories are
ethnically cleansed from non-Serb population creating more than 1 million refugees.
January 1993:
Vance-Owen peace plan offered. Under pressure from
Milosevic Karadzic signs the plan, but after a vote in assembly of Bosnian Serbs he withdraws his signature.
March 1993 :Fighting begins between Bosniaks and Croats.
July 1993 :
Owen-Stoltenberg peace plan offered. Refused by Izetbegovic in August.
September 1993:Fighting begins in the
Bihac region between Bosnian Government and Bosniaks loyal to
Fikret Abdic. It lasts until August
1995.
March 1994 :Peace treaty between Bosniaks and Croats is signed. The treaty was arbitrated by the
United States.
February-October 1994:Contact Group (U.S., Russia, France, Britain, and Germany) made steady progress towards a negotiated settlement of the conflict in Bosnia, but no agreement was reached.
August 1994 :Serbia closes border with Bosnian Serb republic and imposes embargo, as a measure of pressure to accept the plan of Contact Group
May 1995:Croatia launches
Operation Flash and in 2 days enters Western Slavonia UNPA zone. The exodus of 30,000 Serbian refugees follows.
July 1995:
Srebrenica massacre takes place. 8,000 Bosniaks are executed.
August 1995:Croatia launches
Operation Storm and reclaims over 70% of its pre-war territory, entering all UNPA zones except Eastern Slavonia. Often termed by critics as the "biggest ethnic cleansing operation of the Yugoslav Wars", it resulted in the exodus of the entire Serbian population in these areas, approximately 250,000 refugees.:
NATO decides to launch a series of air strikes on Bosnian Serb artillery and other military targets on August 30th, after many incidents with civilian deaths during the years of siege of Sarajevo and in particular the
Srebrenica and
Markale massacres.
November 1995 :
Milosevic,
Tudjman and
Izetbegovic lead negotiations in Dayton, Ohio.
December 1995:
Dayton Agreement signed in
Paris, marking end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1996 :
FR Yugoslavia recognizes Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
winter 1996/97:Following a fraud in local elections, hundreds of thousands of Serbs demonstrate in Belgrade against Milosevic regime for 3 months. The West quietly supports Milosevic, who is branded
the main factor of stability in the Balkans after Dayton, and Milosevic remains in power, after issuing
lex specialis and admitting victory of opposition at the local level.
March 1998:Fighting breaks out between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanians in
Kosovo. Milosevic sends in troops.
March 1999:NATO starts the military campaign
Operation Allied Force in Kosovo.:Albanian refugees pour into Macedonia and Albania in hundreds of thousands until the end of the bombing.
June 1999:Control of Kosovo is given to the United Nations, but still remains a part of Serbia.:An exodus of 200,000 of Serbs and other non-Albanians follows in the wake of revenge attacks by Kosovo Albanians.
December 1999:
Franjo Tudjman dies.
HDZ loses Croatian elections in early 2000.
October 2000 :Slobodan Milošević is voted out of office, and
Vojislav Kostunica becomes new president of Yugoslavia.
2001:
Fighting between Albanian militants and Macedonians erupts in Macedonia, but ends later on in 2001. :Brief
Conflict in Southern Serbia between Albanian militants and Serbian security forces ends in cease fire.
February 2002 :Milošević is put on trial in
The Hague on charges of war crimes in Kosovo, to which charges of violating the laws or customs of war and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions in Croatia and Bosnia and genocide in Bosnia were latter added. Defiant Milosevic did not recognize the court and represented himself. His defence is aired in former Yugoslavia and his popularity among Serbs greatly increased as a result.
February 2003:Yugoslavia becomes the nation of
Serbia and Montenegro.
October 2003:
Alija Izetbegovic dies.
March 2004:
Peak of anti-Serbian violence in Kosovo. Hundreds of ancient Orthodox-Christian Serbian monasteries and churches were burned up to that point.
January 2006:
Ibrahim Rugova dies.
March 2006:
Slobodan Milošević dies in the Hague prison, ending the proceedings with no verdict reached on any of the counts.
May 21st 2006:Montenegrins vote for independence from the
State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in the
Montenegrin independence referendum, 2006.
|
Countries of former Yugoslavia |
*
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://213.222.3.5/srebrenica/
*Dr. R. Craig Nation.
"War in the Balkans 1991-2002." Strategic Studies Institute, 2002, ISBN 1-58487-134-2
