Yugoslav Wars

"Yugoslav wars" redirects here. For other uses, seeList of wars involving Yugoslavia.

Yugoslav Wars
Part of thepost–Cold War era
Clockwise from top-left: Officers of theSlovenian National Police Forceescort captured soldiers of theYugoslav People's Armyback to their unit during theSlovenian War of Independence;a destroyedM-84during theBattle of Vukovar;anti-tank missile installations of theSerbia-controlled Yugoslav People's Army during thesiege of Dubrovnik;reburial of victims of the1995 Srebrenica massacrein 2010; an armoured vehicle of theUnited Nations Protection Forceduring thesiege of Sarajevo.
Date 31 March 1991 – 13 August 2001 (10 years, 4 months, 1 week and 6 days) Ten-Day War: 27 June – 7 July 1991 (1 week and 3 days) Croatian War of Independence: 31 March 1991 – 12 November 1995 (4 years, 7 months, 1 week and 5 days) Bosnian War: 6 April 1992 – 14 December 1995 (3 years, 8 months, 1 week and 6 days) Insurgency in Kosovo: 27 May 1995 – 27 February 1998 (2 years and 9 months) Kosovo War: 28 February 1998 – 11 June 1999 (1 year, 3 months and 2 weeks) Insurgency in the Preševo Valley: 12 June 1999 – 1 June 2001 (1 year, 11 months, 2 weeks and 6 days) Insurgency in Macedonia: 22 January – 13 August 2001 (6 months, 3 weeks and 1 day) Location Serbia,Croatia,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Slovenia, Montenegro,KosovoandNorth Macedonia Result Breakup of Yugoslaviaand the formation of independent successor states
Total deaths:c.130,000–140,000+ Displaced:c.4,000,000+

TheYugoslav Warswere a series of separate but relatedethnic conflicts,wars of independence, andinsurgenciesthat took place from 1991 to 2001in what had been theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia(SFR Yugoslavia). The conflicts both led up to and resulted from thebreakup of Yugoslavia,which began in mid-1991, into six independent countries matching the sixentities known as republicsthat had previously constituted Yugoslavia:Slovenia,Croatia,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Montenegro,Serbia,andMacedonia(nowcalled North Macedonia). SFR Yugoslavia's constituent republics declared independence due to unresolved tensions between ethnic minorities in the new countries, which fueled the wars. While most of the conflicts ended through peace accords that involved full international recognition of new states, they resulted in a massive number of deaths as well as severe economic damage to the region.

During the initial stages of the breakup of Yugoslavia, theYugoslav People's Army(JNA) sought to preserve the unity of the Yugoslav nation by eradicating all republic governments. However, it increasingly came under the influence ofSlobodan Milošević,whose government invokedSerbian nationalismas an ideological replacement for the weakeningcommunist system.As a result, the JNA began to loseSlovenes,Croats,Kosovar Albanians,Bosniaks,andMacedonians,and effectively became a fighting force of onlySerbsandMontenegrins.According to a 1994 report by theUnited Nations(UN), the Serb side did not aim to restore Yugoslavia; instead, it aimed to create a "Greater Serbia"from parts ofCroatiaandBosnia.Otherirredentistmovements have also been brought into connection with the Yugoslav Wars, such as "Greater Albania"(fromKosovo,idea abandoned following international diplomacy)and "Greater Croatia"(from parts ofHerzegovina,abandoned in 1994 with theWashington Agreement).

Often described as one ofEurope's deadliest armed conflictssinceWorld War II,the Yugoslav Wars were marked by manywar crimes,includinggenocide,crimes against humanity,ethnic cleansing,massacres,andmass wartime rape.TheBosnian genocidewas the first European wartime event to be formally classified as genocidal in character since the military campaigns ofNazi Germany,and many of the key individuals who perpetrated it were subsequently charged with war crimes;theInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia(ICTY) was established by the UN inThe Hague, Netherlands,to prosecute all individuals who had committed war crimes during the conflicts.According to theInternational Center for Transitional Justice,the Yugoslav Wars resulted in the deaths of 140,000 people,while theHumanitarian Law Centerestimates at least 130,000 casualties.Over their decade-long duration, the conflicts resulted in major refugee and humanitarian crises.

Naming

The Yugoslav Wars have alternatively been referred to as:

• "Wars in theBalkans"
• "Wars/conflicts in the former Yugoslavia"
• "Wars of Yugoslav Secession/Succession"
• "Third Balkan War": a term used in the title of a book by British journalistMisha Glennywhich alludes to the two previousBalkan Warswaged from 1912 to 1913.However, some contemporary historians have previously applied this term toWorld War I,because they believe it to be a direct sequel to the 1912–13 wars.
• "Yugoslav/Yugoslavia/Yugoslavian Civil War", "Civil War in Yugoslavia"

Background

Main articles:Creation of Yugoslavia,Breakup of Yugoslavia,andHistory of the Balkans

A map of the six Yugoslav republics and the two autonomous provinces between 1945 and 1992

The state ofYugoslaviawas created in theaftermath of World War I,and its population was mostly composed ofSouth SlavicChristians,though the nation also had a substantialMuslimminority. Clear ethnic conflict between the Yugoslav peoples only became prominent in the 20th century, beginning with tensions over the constitution of theKingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenesin the early 1920s and escalating into violence between Serbs and Croats in the late 1920s after the assassination of Croatian politicianStjepan Radić.This nation lasted from 1918 to 1941, when it wasinvaded by the Axis powersduring World War II, which provided support to the CroatianfascistUstaše(founded in 1929), whoseregimecarried out thegenocide of Serbs,JewsandRomabyexecuting people in concentration campsand committing other systematic and mass crimes inside its territory.

The predominantly SerbChetniks,a Yugoslav Royalist and Serbian nationalist movement andguerrilla force,committedmass crimesagainst Muslims and Croats that are considered a genocide by several authors, and they also supported the instatement of a Serbian monarchy and the establishment of a Yugoslav federation.TheCommunist-ledYugoslav Partisanswere able to appeal to all groups, including Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks, and also engaged in mass killings.In 1945, theFederal People's Republic of Yugoslavia(FPRY) was established underJosip Broz Tito,who maintained a strongly authoritarian leadership that suppressednationalism.

AfterTito's deathin 1980, relations between the six republics of the federation deteriorated.Slovenia,CroatiaandKosovodesired greater autonomy within the Yugoslav confederation, while Serbia sought to strengthen federal authority. As it became clear that there was no solution that was agreeable to all parties, Slovenia and Croatia moved towardsindependence.Although tensions in Yugoslavia had been mounting since the early 1980s, events in 1990 proved to be decisive. In the midst of economic hardship and thefall of communismin eastern Europe in 1989, Yugoslavia was facing rising nationalism among its various ethnic groups. By the early 1990s, there was no effective authority at the federal level. The Federal Presidency consisted of the representatives of the six republics, two provinces and the Yugoslav People's Army, and the communist leadership was divided along national lines.

The distribution of Serbs and Montenegrins (in light red) in Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia in 1981

The representatives ofVojvodina,Kosovo andMontenegrowere replaced with loyalists of the President of Serbia,Slobodan Milošević.Serbia secured four out of eight federal presidency votesand was able to heavily influence decision-making at the federal level, since all the other Yugoslav republics only had one vote. While Slovenia and Croatia wanted to allow a multi-party system, Serbia, led by Milošević, demanded an even more centralized federation and Serbia's dominant role in it.

At the14th Extraordinary Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslaviain January 1990, theSerbian-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 theCroatianandSloveneparty delegates. This prompted the Croatian and Slovene delegations to walk out and thus thebreak-upof the party,a symbolic event representing the end of "brotherhood and unity".

The survey of Yugoslav citizens that was conducted in 1990 showed that ethnic animosity existed on a small scale.Compared to the results from 25 years before, there was a significant increase in ethnic distance amongSerbsandMontenegrinstowardCroatsandSlovenesand vice versa.

Upon Croatia and Slovenia's declarations of independence in 1991, the Yugoslav federal government attempted to forcibly halt the impendingbreakup of the country,with Yugoslav Prime MinisterAnte Markovićdeclaring that the secessions of Slovenia and Croatia were both illegal and contrary to the constitution of Yugoslavia, and he also expressed his support for the Yugoslav People's Army in order to secure the integral unity of Yugoslavia.The Slovenes (represented byMilan KučanandLojze Peterle)and Croatsargued that the act was not secession but disassociation (Slovene:razdruževanje,Croatian:razdruživanje) from Yugoslavia as the federation was originally established as avoluntary unionof peoples.TheBadinter Commissionruled in November 1991 that the act was not secession but a separation as provided for by the constitution of the second Yugoslavia.

According to Stephen A. Hart, author ofPartisans: War in the Balkans 1941–1945,the ethnically mixed region ofDalmatiaheld close and amicable relations between the Croats and Serbs who lived there in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many early proponents of a united Yugoslavia came from this region, such asAnte Trumbić,a Croat from Dalmatia. However, by the time of the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars, any hospitable relations between Croats and Serbs in Dalmatia had broken down, with Dalmatian Serbs fighting on the side of the self-declaredproto-stateRepublic of Serbian Krajina.

Even though the policies throughout the entire socialist period of Yugoslavia seemed to have been the same (namely that all Serbs should live in one state), political scientist Dejan Guzina argues that "different contexts in each of the subperiods of socialist Serbia and Yugoslavia yielded entirely different results (e.g., in favour of Yugoslavia, or in favour of aGreater Serbia) ". He assumes that the Serbian policy changed from conservative–socialist at the beginning toxenophobicnationalist in the late 1980s and 1990s.

In Serbia and Serb-dominated territories, violent confrontations occurred, particularly between nationalists and non-nationalists who criticized the Serbian government and the Serb political entities in Bosnia and Croatia.Serbs who publicly opposed the nationalist political climate during the Yugoslav wars were reportedly harassed, threatened, or killed.However, following Milošević's rise to power and the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars, numerousanti-war movementsdeveloped in Serbia.Protestswere held against the actions of the Yugoslav People's Army, while protesters demanded thereferendumon a declaration of war and disruption ofmilitary conscription,resulting in numerousdesertionsand emigrations.

With the escalation of the Yugoslav crisis, theJNAbecame heavily dominated by Serbs. According to the former commander of the fifth army in ZagrebMartin Špegelj,50% of the command positions were previously held by Croats, while a few years later at the beginning of the war all key positions were held by Serbs.

History

Conflicts

Slovenian War of Independence (1991)

Main article:Ten-Day War

Ambushed JNA tanks nearNova Gorica,on the border with Italy

The first of the conflicts, known as the Ten-Day War, was initiated by the JNA (Yugoslav People's Army) on 26 June 1991 after the separation 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 andSlovenian Territorial Defenceblockaded barracks and roads, leading to stand-offs and limited skirmishes around the republic. After several dozen casualties, the limited conflict was stopped through negotiation atBrionion 7 July 1991, when Slovenia and Croatiaagreedto a three-month moratorium on separation. The Federal Army completely withdrew from Slovenia by 26 October 1991.

Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995)

Main article:Croatian War of Independence

Damage after the bombing ofDubrovnik.

A JNAM-84 tankdisabled by a mine laid by Croat soldiers inVukovar,November 1991

Fighting in Croatia had begun weeks prior to the Ten-Day War in Slovenia. The Croatian War of Independence began whenSerbs in Croatia,who were opposed toCroatian independence,announced their secession from Croatia.

In the1990 parliamentary electionsin Croatia,Franjo Tuđmanbecame the firstPresident of Croatia.He promoted nationalist policies and had a primary goal of the establishment of an independent Croatia. The new government proposedconstitutional changes,reinstated the traditionalCroatian flagandcoat of arms,and removed the term "Socialist" from the title of the republic.The new Croatian government implemented policies that were seen as openly nationalistic and anti-Serbian in nature, such as the removal of theSerbian Cyrillic scriptfrom correspondence in public offices.In an attempt to counter changes made to the constitution, local Serb politicians organized a referendum on "sovereignty and autonomy of Serbian people in Croatia" on 17 August 1990. Their boycott escalated into an insurrection in areas populated by ethnic Serbs, mostly around Knin, known as theLog Revolution.

Local police in Knin sided with the growing Serbian insurgency, while many government employees, mostly police where commanding positions were mainly held by Serbs and Communists, lost their jobs.The new Croatian constitution was ratified in December 1990, and the Serb National Council formedSAO Krajina,a self-proclaimed Serbian autonomous region.

Ethnic tensions rose, fueled bypropagandain both Croatia and Serbia. On 2 May 1991, one of the first armed clashes between Serb paramilitaries and Croatian police occurred in theBattle of Borovo Selo.On 19 May anindependence referendumwas held, which was largely boycotted byCroatian Serbs,and the majority voted in favour of the independence of Croatia.Croatia declared independence and dissolved its association with Yugoslavia on 25 June 1991. Due to theBrioni Agreement,a three-month moratorium was placed on the implementation of the decision that ended on 8 October.

The armed incidents of early 1991 escalated into an all-out war during the summer, with fronts being formed around the areas of the breakaway SAO Krajina. The JNA had disarmed the Territorial Units of Slovenia and Croatia prior to the declaration of independence, at the behest of Serbian President Slobodan Milošević.This was greatly aggravated by an arms embargo, imposed by the UN on Yugoslavia. The JNA was ostensibly ideologically unitarian, but its officer corps was predominantly staffed by Serbs or Montenegrins (70 percent).

As a result, the JNA opposed Croatian independence and sided with the Croatian Serb rebels. The Croatian Serb rebels were unaffected by the embargo because they were supported and supplied by the JNA. By mid-July 1991, the JNA moved an estimated 70,000 troops to Croatia. The fighting rapidly escalated, eventually spanning hundreds of square kilometers from western Slavonia throughBanijato Dalmatia.

Border regions faced direct attacks from forces within Serbia and Montenegro. In August 1991, theBattle of Vukovarbegan, where fierce fighting took place with around 1,800 Croat fighters blocking the JNA's advance into Slavonia. By the end of October, the town was almost completely devastated as a result of land shelling and air bombardment.TheSiege of Dubrovnikstarted in October with the shelling ofUNESCOWorld Heritage SiteDubrovnik,where the international press was criticised for focusing on the city's architectural heritage, instead of reporting the destruction of Vukovar in which many civilians were killed.

On 18 November 1991, the battle of Vukovar ended after the city ran out of ammunition. TheOvčara massacreoccurred shortly after Vukovar's capture by the JNA.Meanwhile, control over central Croatia was seized by Croatian Serb forces in conjunction with the JNA Corps from Bosnia and Herzegovina, under the leadership ofRatko Mladić.

A destroyedSerbianhouse inSunja,Croatia. Most Serbs fled duringOperation Stormin 1995.

In January 1992, theVance Planestablished UN controlled (UNPA) zones forSerbsin the territory which was claimed by the Serbian rebels as the self-proclaimedproto-stateRepublic of Serbian Krajina(RSK) and brought an end to major military operations, but sporadic artillery attacks on Croatian cities and occasional intrusions into UNPA zones by Croatian forces continued until 1995. The majority of Croatian population in RSK suffered heavily, fleeing or evicted with numerous killings, leading toethnic cleansing.The fighting in Croatia ended in mid-1995, afterOperation FlashandOperation Storm.At the end of these operations, Croatia had reclaimed all of its territory except the UNPA Sector East portion of Slavonia, bordering Serbia. Most of the Serb population in the reclaimed areas fled and became refugees. The areas of "Sector East", unaffected by the Croatian military operations, came under UN administration (UNTAES), and were reintegrated to Croatia in 1998 under the terms of theErdut Agreement.

Bosnian War (1992–1995)

Main article:Bosnian War

On 2 April 1992, a conflict engulfedBosnia and Herzegovinaas it also declared independence fromrumpYugoslavia. The war was predominantly a territorial conflict between theBosniaks,who wanted to preserve the territorial integrity of the newly independentRepublic of Bosnia and Herzegovina,and the self-proclaimedBosnian Serbproto-stateRepublika Srpskaand the self-proclaimed CroatHerzeg-Bosnia,which were led and supplied by Serbia and Croatia respectively, reportedly with a goal of thepartition of Bosnia,which would leave only a small part of land for the Bosniaks.On 18 December 1992, theUnited Nations General Assemblyissued resolution 47/121 in which it condemned Serbian and Montenegrin forces for trying to acquire more territories by force.

People queueing to gather water during theSiege of Sarajevo,1992

The Yugoslav armed forces had disintegrated into a largely Serb-dominated military force. The JNA opposed the Bosnian-majority led government's agenda for independence, and along with other armed nationalist Serb militant forces attempted to prevent Bosnian citizens from voting in the 1992 referendum on independence.They failed to persuade 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, though theSiege of Sarajevohad already begun in April after Bosnia and Herzegovina had declared independence. The conflict, typified by the years-long Sarajevo siege and theSrebrenica genocide,was by far the bloodiest and most widely covered of the Yugoslav wars. The Bosnian Serb faction led by ultra-nationalistRadovan Karadžićpromised 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, Karadžić pursued an agenda of systematic ethnic cleansing primarily against Bosnians through massacre and forced removal of Bosniak populations.Prijedor ethnic cleansing,Višegrad massacres,Foča ethnic cleansing,Doboj massacre,Zvornik massacre,siege of Goraždeand others were reported.

A Serb woman mourns at a grave at the Lion's cemetery inSarajevo,1992

At the end of 1992, tensions betweenBosnian Croatsand Bosniaks rose and their collaboration fell apart. In January 1993, the two former allies engaged in open conflict, resulting in theCroat–Bosniak War.In 1994 the US brokered peace between Croatian forces and the BosnianArmy of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovinawith theWashington Agreement.After the successful Flash and Storm operations, the Croatian Army and the combined Bosnian and Croat forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina conducted an operation codenamedOperation Mistralin September 1995 to push back Bosnian Serb military gains.

The advances on the ground along withNATO air strikesput pressure on the Bosnian Serbs to come to the negotiating table. Pressure was put on all sides to stick to the cease-fire andnegotiate an endto the war in Bosnia. The war ended with the signing of theDayton Agreementon 14 December 1995, with the formation ofRepublika Srpskaas an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina.Along with ending the war, the Dayton Agreement also established the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The constitution is consociational in nature and describes Bosniacs, Croats and Serbs as "constituent peoples," giving each ethnic group far reaching veto powers in government.In 2000, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina required the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska to recognize all "constituent peoples" as entitled to full equality throughout the nation.Similarly, Article X of the constitution declares that the rights and freedoms defined in Article II may not be altered.Features like these are common throughout the constitution in order to assuage feelings of mistrust between the different ethnic groups and maintain lasting stability.

TheCentral Intelligence Agency(CIA) in the United States reported in April 1995 (three months beforeSrebrenica massacre) that nearly 90 percent of all the atrocities in the Yugoslav wars up to that point had been perpetrated by Serb militants.Most of these atrocities occurred inBosnia.

Insurgency in Kosovo (1995–1998)

Main article:Insurgency in Kosovo (1995–1998)

After September 1990 when the1974 Yugoslav Constitutionhad been unilaterally repealed by theSocialist Republic of Serbia,Kosovo's autonomy suffered and so the region was faced with state-organized oppression: from the early 1990s, Albanian language radio and television were restricted and newspapers shut down. Kosovar Albanians were fired in large numbers from public enterprises and institutions, including banks, hospitals, the post office and schools.In June 1991, theUniversity of Prištinaassembly and several faculty councils were dissolved and replaced by Serbs. Kosovar Albanian teachers were prevented from entering school premises for the new school year beginning in September 1991, forcing students to study at home.

In the 1990s, theKosovo Liberation Army(KLA) was formed. They started carrying out attacks on Serb civilians. By the early 1990s, there were attacks on Serbian police forces and secret-service officials in retaliation for the abuse and murder of Albanian civilians.A Serbian policeman was killed in 1995, allegedly by the KLA.The KLA sought to destabilize the region, hoping the United States and NATO would intervene.Serbian patrols were ambushed and policemen were killed.It was only in the next year that the KLA organization took responsibility for these attacks.

The KLA, originally composed of a few hundred Albanians, attacked several police stations and wounded many police officers in 1996–1997.In February 1996 the KLA undertook a series of attacks against police stations and Yugoslav government employees, saying that the Yugoslav authorities had killed Albanian civilians as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign.On 22 April 1996, four attacks on Serbian security personnel were carried out almost simultaneously in several parts of Kosovo.

In January 1997, Serbian security forces assassinated KLA commanderZahir Pajazitiand two other leaders in a highway attack between Pristina and Mitrovica, and arrested more than 100 Albanian militants.Adem Jashari, as one of the founders and leaders of the KLA, was convicted ofterrorismin absentiaby a Yugoslav court on 11 July 1997.Human Rights Watchsubsequently described the trial, in which fourteen other Kosovo Albanians were also convicted, as "[failing] to conform to international standards".

The NATONorth Atlantic Councilclaimed the KLA was "the main initiator of the violence" and that it had "launched what appears to be a deliberate campaign of provocation".Pursuing Jashari for the murder of a Serb policeman, the Serbian forces again attempted to assault the Jashari compound in Prekaz on 22 January 1998.Between 1991 and 1997, mostly in 1996–97, 39 persons were killed by the KLA.Attacks between 1996 and February 1998 led to the deaths of 10 policemen and 24 civilians.

Kosovo War (1998–1999)

Main article:Kosovo War

ATomahawk cruise missilelaunches from the aft missile deck of the US warshipUSSGonzalezon March 31, 1999

Smoke rising inNovi Sad,Serbia after NATO bombardment in 1999

ANATO-facilitated ceasefire between the KLA and Yugoslav forces was signed on 15 October 1998, but both sides broke it two months later and fighting resumed. When the killing of 45 Kosovar Albanians in theRačak massacrewas reported in January 1999, NATO decided that the conflict could only be settled by introducing a military peacekeeping force to forcibly restrain the two sides.Yugoslavia refused to sign theRambouillet Accords,which among other things called for 30,000 NATO peacekeeping troops in Kosovo; an unhindered right of passage for NATO troops on Yugoslav territory; immunity for NATO and its agents to Yugoslav law; and the right to use local roads, ports, railways, and airports without payment and requisition public facilities for its use free of cost.NATO then prepared to install the peacekeepers by force, using this refusal to justify the bombings.

TheNATO bombing of Yugoslaviafollowed, an intervention against Serbian forces with a mainly bombing campaign, under the command ofGeneral Wesley Clark.Hostilities ended2+1⁄2months later with theKumanovo Agreement.Kosovo was placed under the governmental control of theUnited Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovoand the military protection of theKosovo Force(KFOR). The 15-month war had left thousands of civilians killed on both sides and over a million displaced.

Insurgency in the Preševo Valley (1999–2001)

Main article:Insurgency in the Preševo Valley

The Insurgency in the Preševo Valley was an armed conflict between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and ethnic-Albanian insurgentsof theLiberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac(UÇPMB), beginning in June 1999.There were instances during the conflict in which the Yugoslav government requested KFOR support in suppressing UÇPMB attacks, since the government could only use lightly armed military forces as part of the Kumanovo Agreement, which created a buffer zone so the bulk of the Yugoslav armed forces could not enter.Yugoslav presidentVojislav Koštunicawarned that fresh fighting would erupt if KFOR units did not act to prevent the attacks that were coming from the UÇPMB.

Insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia (2001)

Main article:2001 insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia

The insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia was an armed conflict inTetovowhich began when the ethnicAlbanianNational Liberation Army(NLA) militant group began attacking thesecurity forcesof theRepublic of Macedoniaat the end of January 2001, and ended with theOhrid Agreement.The goal of the NLA was to give greater rights and autonomy to the country's Albanian minority, who made up 25.2% of the population of the Republic of Macedonia (54.7% in Tetovo).There were also claims that the group ultimately wished to see Albanian-majority areas secede from the country,although high-ranking NLA members have denied this.

Arms embargo

TheUnited Nations Security Councilhad imposed an arms embargo in September 1991.Nevertheless, various states had been engaged in, or facilitated, arms sales to the warring factions.In 2012, Chile convicted nine people, including two retired generals, for their part in arms sales.

War crimes

Further information:Serbian war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars,Croatian war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars,andWar crimes in the Kosovo War

Genocide

Main articles:Bosnian genocideandBosnian genocide case

The skull of a victim of the July 1995Srebrenica massacrein an exhumed mass grave outsidePotočari,2007

It is widely believed thatmass murdersagainst Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina escalated into genocide. On 18 December 1992, theUnited Nations General Assemblyissued resolution 47/121 condemning "aggressive acts by the Serbian and Montenegrin forces to acquire more territories by force" and called such ethnic cleansing "a form ofgenocide".Genocide scholars consider the term "ethnic cleansing" itself a euphemism for genocide denial created by Slobodan Milošević and Serbian propagandists.

In its report published on 1 January 1993,Helsinki Watchwas one of the firstcivil rights organisationsthat warned that "the extent of the violence and its selective nature along ethnic and religious lines suggest crimes of genocidal character against Muslim and, to a lesser extent, Croatian populations in Bosnia-Hercegovina".

A telegram sent to theWhite Houseon 8 February 1994 by U.S. Ambassador to Croatia,Peter W. Galbraith,stated that genocide was occurring. The telegram cited "constant and indiscriminate shelling and gunfire" of Sarajevo by Karadzic's Yugoslav People Army; the harassment of minority groups in Northern Bosnia "in an attempt to force them to leave"; and the use of detainees "to do dangerous work on the front lines" as evidence that genocide was being committed.In 2005, theUnited States Congresspassed a resolution declaring that "the Serbian policies of aggression and ethnic cleansing meet the terms defining genocide".

A trial took place before theInternational Court of Justice,following a1993 suitby Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbia and Montenegro alleginggenocide.The ICJ ruling of 26 February 2007 indirectly determined the war's nature to be international, though clearing Serbia of direct responsibility for the genocide committed by the forces ofRepublika SrpskainSrebrenica.The ICJ concluded, however, that Serbia failed to prevent genocide committed by Serb forces in Srebrenica and failed to punish those responsible, and bring them to justice.

War crimes were conducted simultaneously by different Serb forces in different parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially inBijeljina,Sarajevo,Prijedor,Zvornik,VišegradandFoča.The judges however ruled that the criteria for genocide with the specific intent (dolus specialis) to destroy Bosnian Muslims were met only in Srebrenica in 1995.The court concluded that other crimes, outside Srebrenica, committed during the 1992–1995 war, may amount tocrimes against humanityaccording to the international law, but that these acts did not, in themselves, constitute genocide per se.

The crime of genocide in the Srebrenica enclave was confirmed in several guilty verdicts handed down by the ICTY, most notably in the conviction of the Bosnian Serb leaderRadovan Karadžić.

Ethnic cleansing

Main article:Ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War

Map of refugees and IDs as percentage of total population per republic during the Yugoslav Wars

Detainees in theManjača camp,near Banja Luka, 1992

Ethnic cleansingwas a common phenomenon in the wars in Croatia, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This entailed intimidation,forced expulsion,orkillingof the unwanted ethnic group as well as the destruction of the places of worship, cemeteries and cultural and historical buildings of that ethnic group in order to alter the population composition of an area in the favour of another ethnic group which would become the majority. These examples ofterritorial nationalismandterritorial aspirationsare part of the goal of anethno-state.Detention camps such asOmarskaandTrnopoljewere also designated as an integral part of the overall ethnic cleansing strategy of the authorities.

According to numerous ICTY verdicts and indictments, Serband Croatforces performedethnic cleansingof their territories planned by their political leadership to create ethnically pure states (Republika SrpskaandRepublic of Serbian Krajinaby the Serbs; andHerzeg-Bosniaby the Croats).

According to the ICTY, Serb forces from the SAO Krajina deported at least 80–100,000 Croats and other non-Serb civilians in 1991–92.The total number of exiled Croats and other non-Serbs range from 170,000 (ICTY),to a quarter of a million people (Human Rights Watch).The number of Croats in Serb-occupiedRepublic of Serbian Krajinadropped from 203,656 (37% of population) in 1991to 30,350 (7% of population) in 1993.Also, at least 700,000 to as many as 863,000 Albanians were deported from Kosovo in 1999.More than 80% of the total population of Kosovo was displaced by June 1999.Further hundreds of thousands of Muslims were forced out of their homes by the Serb forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina.By one estimate, the Serb forces drove at least 700,000 Bosnian Muslims from the area of Bosnia under their control.According to a 1994 U.N. report, Croatian forces also engaged in ethnic cleansing against Serbs ineasternand western Slavonia and parts of theKrajinaregion, though on a more restricted scale and in lesser numbers.

Survivors of the ethnic cleansing were left severely traumatized as a consequence of this campaign.

Wartime sexual violence and rape

Main articles:Rape in the Bosnian WarandWartime sexual violence § Former Yugoslavia

War rapeoccurred as a matter of official orders as part ofethnic cleansing,to displace the targeted ethnic group.According to the Trešnjevka Women's Group, more than 35,000 women and children were held in such Serb-run "rape camps".Dragoljub Kunarac,Radomir Kovač,andZoran Vukovićwere convicted ofcrimes against humanityfor rape, torture, and enslavement committed during theFoča massacres.

The evidence of the magnitude of rape in Bosnia and Herzegovina prompted the ICTY to openly deal with these abuses.Reports of sexual violence during theBosnian War(1992–1995) and Kosovo War (1998–1999) perpetrated by the Serbian regular and irregular forces have been described as "especially alarming".The NATO-led Kosovo Force documented rapes of Albanian, Roma and Serbian women by both Serbs and members of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Others have estimated that during the Bosnian War, between 20,000 and 50,000 women, mostly Bosniak, were raped.There are few reports of rape and sexual assault between members of the same ethnic group.

War rape in the Yugoslav Wars has often been characterized as acrime against humanity.Rapes which were perpetrated by Serb forces served to destroy the cultural and social ties which existed between the victims and their communities.Serbian policies allegedly urged soldiers to rape Bosniak women until they became pregnant as an attempt towards ethnic cleansing. Serbian soldiers hoped to force Bosniak women to carry Serbian children through repeated rape.Often Bosniak 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 Bosniak 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, led to serious health risks for victimized women.

During the Kosovo War, thousands of Kosovo Albanian women and girls became victims of sexual violence. War rape was used as a weapon of war and it was also used as an instrument of systematicethnic cleansing;rape was used to terrorize the civilian population, extort money from families, and force people to flee their homes. According to a report by theHuman Rights Watchgroup in 2000, rape in the Kosovo War can generally be subdivided into three categories: rapes in women's homes, rapes during flight, and rapes in detention.The majority of the perpetrators were Serbian paramilitaries, but also included Serbian special police or Yugoslav army soldiers. Virtually all of the sexual assaults Human Rights Watch documented were gang rapes involving at least two perpetrators.Since the end of the war, rapes of Serbian, Albanian, and Roma women by ethnic Albanians – sometimes by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) – have been documented, but they have not occurred on a similar scale.Rapes frequently occurred in the presence, and with the acquiescence, of military officers. Soldiers, police, and paramilitaries often raped their victims in the full view of numerous witnesses.

A 2013 report by theUnited Nations Development Programme(UNDP) in Croatia entitled 'Assessment of the Number of Sexual Violence Victims during the Homeland War on the Territory of the Republic of Croatia and Optimal Forms of Compensation and Support of Victims', determined the estimated victims (male and female) ofrapeand other forms ofsexual assaulton both sides to number between approximately 1,470 and 2,205 or 1,501 and 2,437 victims.Most victims were non-Serbs assaulted by Serbs.By region, the largest number of rapes and acts of sexual violence occurred in Eastern Slavonia, with an estimated 380–570 victims.According to the UNDP report, between 300 and 600 men (4.4–6.6% of those imprisoned) and between 279 and 466 women (or 30–50% of those imprisoned) suffered from various forms of sexual abuse while being held in Serbian detention camps and prisons (including those in Serbia proper).Between 412 and 611 Croat women were raped in the Serb-occupied territories, outside of detention camps, from 1991 to 1995.Croat forces were also known to have committed rapes and acts of sexual violence against Serb women during OperationsFlashandStorm,with an estimated 94–140 victims.Sexual abuse of Serb prisoners also occurred in the Croat-runLoraandKerestineccamps.

Humanitarian consequences and material damage

Casualties

UN peacekeepers collecting corpses after theAhmići massacre

Kosovo, Croatian and Bosnian War death toll compared to other modern European wars

Some estimates put the number of killed in the Yugoslav Wars at 140,000.TheHumanitarian Law Centerestimates that in the conflicts in former Yugoslav republics at least 130,000 people lost their lives.Slovenia's involvement in the conflicts was brief, thus avoiding higher casualties, and around 70 people were killed in its ten-day conflict. The War in Croatia left an estimated 22,000 people dead, of which 15,000 were Croats and 7,000 Serbs.

Bosnia and Herzegovina suffered the heaviest burden of the fighting: between 97,207 and 102,622 people were killed in the war, including 64,036 Bosniaks, 24,905 Serbs, and 7,788 Croats.By share, 65% of the killed were Bosniaks, 25% Serbs, and 8% Croats.In the Kosovo conflict, 13,535 people were killed, including 10,812 Albanians (80%) and 2,197 Serbs (16%).The highest death toll was inSarajevo:with around 14,000 killed during the siege,the city lost almost as many people as the entire war in Kosovo.

In relative and absolute numbers, Bosniaks suffered the heaviest losses: 64,036 of their people were killed in Bosnia, which represents a death toll of over 3% of their entire ethnic group.Of that number, 33,070 Bosniaks were civilians (52%) and 30,966 were soldiers (48%).They experienced the worst plight in theSrebrenica massacre,where themortality rateof the Bosniak men (irrespective of their age or civilian status) reached 33% in July 1995. The share of Bosniaks among all the civilian fatalities during the Bosnian War was around 83%, rising to almost 95% in Eastern Bosnia.

During the War in Croatia, 43.4% of the killed on the Croatian side were civilians.

Internally displaced persons and refugees

Bosnian refugees in 1993

Kosovo Albanian refugees in 1999

Kosovo Serb refugees in 1999

The Yugoslav Wars causedone of the largest refugee crisesin European history. It is estimated that the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo produced about 2.4 millionrefugeesand an additional 2 millioninternally displacedpersons.

The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina caused 2.2 million refugees or displaced, of which over half were Bosniaks.Up until 2001, there were still 650,000 displaced Bosniaks, while 200,000 left the country permanently.

The Kosovo War caused 862,979 Albanian refugees who were either expelled from the Serb forces or fled from the battle front.In addition, 500,000 to 600,000 wereinternally displaced,which means that, according to theOSCE,almost 90% of all Albanians were displaced from their homes in Kosovo by June 1999.After the end of the war, Albanians returned, but over 200,000 Serbs, Romani and other non-Albanians fled Kosovo. By the end of 2000, Serbia thus became the host of 700,000 Serb refugees or internally displaced from Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia.

From the perspective ofasylumfor internally displaced or refugees, Croatia took the brunt of the crisis. According to some sources, in 1992 Croatia was the host to almost 750,000 refugees or internally displaced, which represents a quota of almost 16% of its population of 4.7 million inhabitants: these figures included 420 to 450,000 Bosnian refugees, 35,000 refugees from Serbia (mostly from Vojvodina and Kosovo) while a further 265,000 persons from other parts of Croatia itself were internally displaced. This would be equivalent of Germany being a host to 10 million displaced people or France to 8 million people.

OfficialUNHCRdata indicate that Croatia was the host to 287,000 refugees and 344,000 internally displaced in 1993. This is a ratio of 64.7 refugees per 1000 inhabitants.In its 1992 report, UNHCR placed Croatia #7 on its list of 50 most refugee burdened countries: it registered 316 thousand refugees, which is a ratio of 15:1 relative to its total population.Together with those internally displaced, Croatia was the host to at least 648,000 people in need of an accommodation in 1992.In comparison,Macedoniahad 10.5 refugees per 1000 inhabitants in 1999.

Slovenia was the host to 45,000 refugees in 1993, which is 22.7 refugees per 1000 inhabitants.Serbia and Montenegrowere the host to 479,111 refugees in 1993, which is a ratio of 45.5 refugees per 1000 inhabitants. By 1998 this grew to 502,037 refugees (or 47.7 refugees per 1000 inhabitants). By 2000 the number of refugees fell to 484,391 persons, but the number of internally displaced grew to 267,500, or a combined total of 751,891 persons who were displaced and in need of an accommodation.

Number of refugees or internally displaced in 1991–2000

Country, region	Albanians	Bosniaks	Croats	Serbs	Others(Hungarians,Gorani,Romani)
Croatia	—	—	247,000	300,000	—
Bosnia and Herzegovina	—	1,270,000	490,000	540,000	—
Kosovo	1,200,000–1,450,000	—	35,000–40,000	143,000	67,000
Vojvodina, Sandžak	—	30,000–40,000		–	60,000
Total	~1,200,000–1,450,000	~1,300,000–1,310,000	~772,000–777,000	~983,000	~127,000

Material damage

War damage on a Sarajevo building

Material and economic damages brought by the conflicts were catastrophic. Bosnia and Herzegovina had aGDPof between $8–9 billion before the war. The government estimated the overall war damages at $50–$70 billion. It also registered a GDP decline of 75% after the war.60% of the housing in the country had been either damaged or destroyed, which proved a problem when trying to bring all the refugees back home.Bosnia also became the mostlandminecontaminated country of Europe: 1820 km²of its territory were contaminated with these explosives, which represent 3.6% of its land surface. Between 3 and 6 million landmines were scattered throughout Bosnia. Five thousand people died from them, of which 1,520 were killed after the war.

In 1999, theCroatian Parliamentpassed a bill estimating war damages of the country at $37 billion.The government alleges that between 1991 and April 1993 an estimated total of 210,000 buildings in Croatia (including schools, hospitals andrefugee camps) were either damaged or destroyed from shelling by theRepublic of Serbian Krajinaand the JNA forces. Cities affected by the shelling wereKarlovac,Gospić,Ogulin,Zadar,Biogradand others.The Croatian government also acknowledged that 7,489 buildings belonging to Croatian Serbs were damaged or destroyed by explosives, arson or other deliberate means by the end of 1992. From January to March 1993 another 220 buildings were also damaged or destroyed. Criminal charges were brought against 126 Croats for such acts.

Sanctions against FR Yugoslaviacreated ahyperinflationof 300 million percent of theYugoslav dinar.By 1995, almost 1 million workers lost their jobs while the gross domestic product had fallen 55 percent since 1989.The1999 NATO bombing of Serbiaresulted in additional damages. One of the most severe was the bombing of thePančevopetrochemical factory, which caused the release of 80,000 tonnes of burning fuel into the environment.Approximately 31,000 rounds ofdepleted Uraniumammunition were used during this bombing.

International war crimes trials: ICTY/IRMCT

Main articles:International Criminal Tribunal for the former YugoslaviaandInternational Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals

Several people were convicted by the ICTY for crimes during the Yugoslav wars, including (from left)Radovan Karadžić,Ratko Mladić,Milan LukićandSlobodan Praljak

TheInternational Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia(ICTY) was a body of theUnited Nationsestablished to prosecute serious crimes committed during the Yugoslav Wars, and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal was anad hoccourt located inThe Hague,Netherlands.One of the most prominenttrials involved ex-Serbian President Slobodan Milošević,who was in 2002 indicted on 66 counts ofcrimes against humanity,war crimesandgenocideallegedly committed in wars in Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia.His trial remained incomplete since he died in 2006, before a verdict was reached.Nonetheless, ICTY's trial "helped to delegitimize Milosevic's leadership", as one scholar put it.

Several convictions were handed over by the ICTY and its successor, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT). The first notable verdict confirming genocide in Srebrenica was the case against Serb GeneralRadislav Krstić:he was sentenced in 2001, while the Appeals Chamber confirmed the verdict in 2004.Another verdict was against ex-Bosnian Serb leader,Radovan Karadžić,who was also convicted for genocide.On 22 November 2017, generalRatko Mladićwas sentenced to alife in prison.

Other important convictions included those of ultranationalistVojislav Šešelj,paramilitary leaderMilan Lukić,Bosnian Serb politicianMomčilo Krajišnik,Bosnian Serb generalStanislav Galić,who was convicted for thesiege of Sarajevo,the former Assistant Minister of theSerbian Ministry of Internal Affairsand Chief of its Public Security Department,Vlastimir Đorđević,who was convicted for crimes in Kosovo,ex-JNA commanderMile Mrkšićas well as both ofRepublic of Serbian Krajinaex-PresidentsMilan MartićandMilan Babić.The follow-upInternational Residual Mechanism for Criminal TribunalsconvictedJovica StanišićandFranko Simatović,State Security Serviceofficers within theMinistry of Internal Affairs of Serbia,and concluded:

The Trial Chamber emphasized that the crimes were not committed in a random or disorganized manner, but rather during the course of well-planned and coordinated operations, demonstrating the existence of a common criminal purpose. In this respect, it emphasized the systematic pattern of crimes committed against non-Serb civilians in all regions covered by the Indictment. In this context, the Trial Chamber concluded that these crimes formed part of thecommon criminal purposeto forcibly and permanently remove non-Serbs from large areas ofCroatiaandBosnia and Herzegovinathrough the crimes ofpersecution,murder, deportation, and inhumane acts (forcible transfer) charged in the Indictment. It further found that this common purpose was shared by senior political and military officials, includingSlobodan Milošević,Radmilo Bogdanović,Radovan Stojičić(Badža),Mihalj Kertes,Milan Martić, Milan Babić,Goran Hadžić,Radovan Karadžić, Ratko Mladić, Momčilo Krajišnik,Biljana Plavšić,andŽeljko Ražnatović (Arkan).

The ICTY also declared about the political goals of the war:

The political goals of the Serbian authorities in Belgrade appear to have been to carve a new set of territories for the Serbs out of both Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to be added to Serbia and Montenegro. These coincided with the attempts of the JNA forces to prevent each of the Republics from achieving effective independence.

Several Croats, Bosniaks and Albanians were convicted for crimes, as well, including ex-Herzegovina Croat leaderJadranko Prlićand commanderSlobodan Praljak,Bosnian Croat military commanderMladen Naletilić,ex-Bosnian Army commanderEnver Hadžihasanovićand ex-Kosovo commanderHaradin Bala.

In theTrial of Gotovina et al,Croatian GeneralsAnte GotovinaandMladen Markačwere ultimately acquitted on appeal in 2012.

By 2019, based on its statute,the ICTY concluded that the Serb officials were found guilty ofpersecutions,deportationand/orforcible transfer(crimes against humanity,Article 5) in Croatia,Bosnia and Herzegovina,KosovoandVojvodina.They were also found guilty ofmurder(crimes against humanity, Article 5) in Croatia,Bosnia and Herzegovinaand Kosovo;as well asterror(violations ofthe laws or customs of war,Article 3)and genocide (Article 4)in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Croat forces were not found guilty of anything in Croatia, but were found guilty of deportation, other inhumane acts (forcible transfer), murder and persecutions (crimes against humanity, Article 5) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.The Bosniak forces were found guilty of inhuman treatment (grave breaches of theGeneva Conventions,Article 2), murder; cruel treatment (violations of the laws or customs of war, Article 3) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.One Albanian official was found guilty of torture, cruel treatment, murder (violations of the laws or customs of war, Article 3) in Kosovo.

Aftermath

Gunrunning

After the fighting ended, millions of weapons were left with civilians who held on to them in case violence should resurface. These weapons later turned up on the arms black market of Europe.

In 2018 there were no exact official figures on how many firearms are missing; in Serbia authorities have given estimates ranging from 250,000 to 900,000 of different kinds are in circulation. In Bosnia, public reports state a figure of 750,000. At the end of 2017, a man entered a bus in Banja Luka carrying two bags with 36 hand grenades, three assault rifles, seven handguns, a mine and hundreds of cartridges with Gothenburg as the destination. He was stopped in the neighbouring country of Slovenia. A 26-year-old woman was stopped at the border to Croatia with three antitank weapons and a hand grenade. Police found four machine guns, three battle rifles, three assault rifles and a large quantity of explosives at the home of a 79-year-old man. According to a UNDP official, getting civilians to give up their arms to state authorities is complicated as people are then forced to trust that authorities will protect them. Instead, criminals collect the weapons.Some of the missing weapons were used in theNovember 2015 Paris attacksduring which 130 people were killed by jihadists. Other arms were assault rifles used in the2015 Gothenburg pub shooting.

Successor-state government efforts to reduce the prevalence of illegally held arms are co-ordinated through a Regional Approach to Stockpile Reduction (RASR) focused on reducing stockpiles, arms diversion and unexplained explosions in South-east Europe. Partners include the European Union, the US Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and NATO's Support and Procurement Agency.Funded by the US Government, activities include annual workshops attended by US government officials from the Departments of State and Defense and defense ministry representatives from the Yugoslav successor states.

Drug trafficking

Since the beginning of hostilities between warring factions in the formerYugoslavia,theKosovo Liberation Armyas well as theSerbian mafiahave been involved in theillegal drug trade,particularly withWest Asian heroinentering Central andWestern Europe.In the early 1990s, 2,000 Albanians fromKosovowere held in Swiss jails on charges of arms and drug smuggling. Over the course of the war, a total of several tons of heroin were confiscated byInterpoland local law enforcement. Illegal drug smuggling operations also led to additional crimes all across Western Europe, which included bank robberies and extortion committed by criminal gangs operating out ofEastern Europe.The intensification of heroin consumption in Western Europe led to the expansion of open air drug markets, particularly inSwitzerland.Bosnian criminal gangs continue to have a significant impact on global drug trafficking, through entering the lucrativecocaine trade.

Timeline

Main article:Timeline of the Yugoslav Wars

1990

• Log Revolution.SAO Krajinais proclaimed over an indefinite area of Croatia.

1991

People observing new death notifications on a wall inDubrovnikduring the siege, December 1991

• Slovenia and Croatia declare independence in June, North Macedonia in September.War in Slovenialasts ten days, and results in dozens of fatalities. The Yugoslav army leaves Slovenia after intervention of the UN which insisted that Slovenia be allowed to leave, but supports rebel Serb forces in Croatia. TheCroatian War of Independencebegins in Croatia. Serb areas in Croatia declare independence, but are recognized only by Belgrade.
• Vukovaris devastated by bombardments and shelling, and other cities such asDubrovnik,KarlovacandOsijeksustain extensive damage.Refugees from war zones overwhelm Croatia, while Europe is slow to accept refugees.
• In Croatia, about 250,000 Croats and other non-Serbs forced from their homes or fled the violence.

1992

Besieged residents collect firewood in the bitter winter of 1992 during theSiege of Sarajevo.

• Vance Plansigned, creating fourUnited Nations Protection Forcezones for Serbs and ending large-scale fighting in Croatia.
• Bosnia declares independence.Bosnian warbegins with the Bosnian Serb military leadership, most notablyRatko Mladić,trying to create a new, separate Serb state,Republika Srpska,through which they would conquer as much of Bosnia as possible for the vision of either a Greater Serbiaor arumpYugoslavia.
• Federal Republic of Yugoslaviaproclaimed, consisting ofSerbiaandMontenegro,the two remaining republics.
• United Nations imposesanctions against FR Yugoslaviafor its support of the unrecognizedRepublic of Serbian Krajinain Croatia andRepublika Srpskain Bosnia.In May 1992, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia become UN 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'.
• The Yugoslav army retreats from Bosnia, but leaves its weapons to the army of Republika Srpska, which attacks poorly armed Bosnian cities of Zvornik, Kotor Varoš, Prijedor, Foča,Višegrad,Doboj.Prijedor ethnic cleansingandsiege of Sarajevostart. Hundreds of thousands of non-Serbian refugees flee.
• Bosniak-Croat conflictbegins in Bosnia.

1993

TwoCroatian Defense Council(HVO)T-55Main Battle Tanks pull into firing position during a three-day exercise held at the Barbara Range inGlamoč,Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Srebrenica Genocide MemorialStone atPotočari

• Fighting begins in the Bihaćregion between Bosnian Government forces loyal toAlija Izetbegović,and Bosniaks loyal toFikret Abdić,also supported by the Serbs.
• Sanctions in FR Yugoslavia, now isolated, create hyperinflation of 300 million percent of the Yugoslav dinar.
• Ahmići massacre:the Croat forces kill over a hundred Bosnian Muslims.
• Battle of Mostar.UNESCO World Heritage SiteStari Most(The Old Bridge) inMostar,built in 1566, was destroyed by CroatianHVOforces.It was rebuilt in 2003.
• ARBiHlaunchOperation Neretva '93againstHVOinHerzegovinawhich ended in a stalemate.

1994

• Markale market shellingin Sarajevo.
• Peace treatybetween Bosniaks and Croats arbitrated by the United States,Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovinaformed.
• FR Yugoslavia starts slowly suspending its financial and military support for Republika Srpska.

1995

• Srebrenica massacrereported. 8,000 Bosniaks killed by Serb forces.
• Croatia launchesOperation Flash,recapturing a part of its territory, but tens of thousands of Serb civilians flee from the area. The RSK responds with theZagreb rocket attack.
• Croatia launchesOperation Storm,reclaiming all UNPA zones except Eastern Slavonia, and resulting in exodus of 150,000–200,000 Serbs from the zones. Yugoslav forces do not intervene. War in Croatia ends.
• NATO launches a series of air strikeson Bosnian Serb artillery and other military targets. Croatian and Bosnian army start a joint offensive againstRepublika Srpska.
• Dayton Agreementsigned in Paris. War in Bosnia and Herzegovina ends. Aftermath of war is over 100,000 killed and missing and two million people internally displaced or refugees.

1996

• FR Yugoslavia recognizes Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
• Fighting breaks out in Kosovo between Albanians rebels and FR Yugoslav authorities.
• Following allegations of fraud in local elections, tens of thousands of Serbs demonstrate in Belgrade against the Milošević government for three months.

1998

• Eastern Slavoniapeacefully reintegrated into Croatia, following a gradual three-year handover of power.
• Fighting in Kosovo gradually escalates between Albanians demanding independence and the state.

1999

• Račak massacre,Rambouillet talks fail. NATO starts a military campaign in Kosovo and bombards FR Yugoslavia inOperation Allied Force.
• Following Milošević's signing of an agreement, control of Kosovo is handed to the United Nations, but still remains a part of Yugoslavia's federation. After losing wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, numerous Serbs leave those regions to find refuge in remainder of Serbia. In 1999, Serbia was host to some 700,000 Serb refugees or internally displaced.
• Fresh fightingerupts between Albanians and Yugoslav security forces in Albanian populated areas outside of Kosovo, with the intent of joining three municipalities to Kosovo (Preševo,BujanovacandMedveđa).
• Franjo Tuđmandies. Shortly after, his party loses the elections.

Yugoslav Ministry of Defencebuilding in Belgrade, destroyed during the1999 NATO bombing

2000

• Slobodan Milošević is voted out of office, andVojislav Koštunicabecomes the new president of Yugoslavia. With Milošević ousted and a new government in place, FR Yugoslavia restores ties with the west. The political and economic sanctions are suspended in total, and FRY is reinstated in many political and economic organizations, as well as becoming a candidate for other collaborative efforts.

2001

• An Albanianinsurgencybegins inMacedonia.
• Conflict in Southern Serbia ends in defeat for Albanians.
• Conflict in Macedonia ends with theOhrid Agreement.

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External links

• Di Lellio, Anna (2009)."The Missing Democratic Revolution and Serbia's Anti-European Choice 1989–2009".International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society.22(3): 373–384.JSTOR25621931.
• Bogoeva, Julija (2017)."The War in Yugoslavia in ICTY Judgements: The Goals of the Warring Parties and Nature of the Conflict".Brussels: Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher.
• Video on the Conflict in the Former Yugoslaviafrom theDean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
• Information and links on the Third Balkan War (1991–2001)
• Nation, R. Craig."War in the Balkans 1991–2002"Archived25 March 2009 at theWayback Machine
• Radović, Bora,Jugoslovenski ratovi 1991–1999 i neke od njihovih društvenih posledica(PDF)(in Serbian), RS: IAN, archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 March 2016,retrieved8 February2016
• Bitter Land,a multilingual database of mass graves in the Yugoslav Wars byBalkan Investigative Reporting Network