The Yugoslav (Balkan) Wars (1991-1999)

The Yugoslav Wars were the ethnic conflicts fought inside the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The wars resulted in the breakup of the country after the constituent republics declared independence one after the other.

Balkans

Balkans or the Balkan Peninsula is usually referred to a cultural area in Southeast Europe. Some people define the region in terms of cultural and historical sense, yet some others define it in a geographical sense. There is no universal agreement regarding the components of the region. The Balkans got its name from the Balkan Mountains. The Balkan peninsula is bordered by the Adriatic Sea (northwest), the Ionian sea (southwest), the Mediterranean sea (south), Aegean sea (south-east), and the Black Sea (east & northeast). All or parts of the countries like Albania, Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia are said to be located within the Balkan peninsula. Some even include the portions of Greece and Turkey into the peninsula.

Formation of Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia was a country in southeast Europe which came into existence after World War I in 1918. The word Yugoslavia means ‘a homeland of the southern Slavs’. It was internationallyrecognized on 13 July 1922. Historically, the territories of Yugoslavia were part of the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. In 1963, the country was renamed as Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) andJosip Broz Tito was named as the President for life. Tito served as the country’s president until his death in 1980.

Composition

After World War II, Yugoslavia was constituted as a federation of six socialist republics. The borders between the federations were demarcated along ethnic and historical lines. The constituting republics were Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, and Serbia. In addition there existed two autonomous provinces with in Serbia: Vojvodina and Kosovo.

Causes for political stability despite differences

The president of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito maintained a strongly authoritarian leadership and suppressed all the tensions that surfacedbetween various groups. He preached brotherhood and unity among the people of the constituting republics. Tito also followed a policy of non-alignment and he did not align either with the Soviet Union or with the U.S. during the cold war era.

Causes for tension among the republics

Religious causes

The country inherited different religious beliefs from various Empires like the Orthodox Byzantine Empire, Muslim Ottoman Empire, and Catholic Austrian Empire. So, the different regions of the country had different religious beliefs. For instance, the largest region, Serbia was Orthodox, while the richest region, Croatia was Catholic, and the republic of Bosnia was solidly Muslim.

Cultural differences

Though, different regions of the country spoke different languages, all the languages were as similar as American and British English. But, people of Yugoslavia pretended that they were not able to understand the languages of other regions and thus invented cultural differences among themselves.

Economic hardships

Following the oil price shock in the 1970s, the country started facing economic hardships. In 1989, many firms were declared bankrupt or liquidated in the country. The largest concentrations of bankrupt firms were from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo. Eventually, economic crisis fuelled nationalism among the various ethnic groups of the country.

Weak federal authority

By the beginning of 1990s the federal authority became weak and inefficient. In addition, the federal Presidency was made up of the representatives from 6 republics, 2 provinces and the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA). The communist leadership at the top level, too, was highly divided along the national lines.

Dominant Serbia

Serbia was the largest part of Yugoslavia both in terms of population and area. It was the only one region of the country which was independent before. So, it considered itself to be the ruler, and majority stake holder in running the affairs of the country. Even the capital city of Yugoslavia, Belgrade was the capital of Serbia. The dominance of Serbia increased manifold after Slobodan Milošević became the President of Serbia. He replaced the representatives of Vojvodina, Kosovo and Montenegro with his own loyalists. By this, Serbia got four out of eight federal presidency votes, while all other republics got only one vote. This made Serbia as the dominant decision-maker at the federal level. This naturally angered all the other republics, especially the Slovenia and Croatia.

Personality of Slobodan Milošević

Slobodan Milošević was a hardline Serbian nationalist. While he was wildly popular in Serbia, he was widely hated in non-Serb parts of the country, especially in the Croatia. His primary electoral campaign was to run Yugoslavia by putting Serbia first. As he rose to power, Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence.

The Wars

With the death of President Josip Tito, the relationship among the constituting republics of the Yugoslavia started to deteriorate. Upset with President of Serbia, Slobodan Milošević’sattempt at consolidating federal power into a centralized state, republics of Slovenia and Croatia announced their respective intention of secedingfrom the Federation. In a show of force and to prevent the two republics from seceding, Slobodan Milošević’stook control of the Yugoslav National Army and stationed it at the borders of the two republics. From then, the process of disintegration of Yugoslavia effectively began.

The Ten-Day War/ Slovenian War of Independence

On June 25, 1991, Slovenia declared its independence. The Ten-Day War was fought between Slovenia and Yugoslaviafrom June 26 to July 4, 1991. The initial stages of the war were not decisive as both the Slovenian Territorial Defense and Yugoslav National Army struggled to gain the advantage. However, the situation changed on July 2 when Slovenia launched an aggressive offensive. Finally, the conflict ended on July 4. The Slovenian military emerged victorious as it defeated the Yugoslav forces.

Brioni Declaration

On July 7, representatives from Slovenia, Yugoslavia, and the European Community met at the Brioni Islands. A ceasefire agreement, known as the Brioni Accords was signed between Slovenia and Yugoslavia. This officially ended the war. The Recognition of Sovereignty of Slovenia and its official independence were the important components of the Brioni Accords.

Croatian war of independence

The republics of Croatia and Serbia were hostile to each other. Croatia was a Catholic republic and usually aligned with Central Europe, especially Germany. On the other hand, Serbia was Orthodox and aligned itself with the Soviet Union. Due to the friendly ties of Serbs and Russians, Croats could not secede as long as the Soviet Union was strong.But their chance to secede came in the early 1990s as Russia was in chaos with the fall of the Soviet Union. This opportunity was seized by both Slovenia and Croatia and the two republics declared independence.

But, Croatia could not get their independence as quickly as Slovenia could. War between Croatia and Yugoslavia dragged on for years. The war also got spilled into other parts of Yugoslavia. As a turn of events, Bosnia decided to declare its independence. This caused alarms to both Serbia and Croatia. Both the republics were not happy with the independence of Bosnia. They thought that the independence of Muslim-majority Bosnia was bad for Serb and Croat minorities residing in Bosnia . As a result, a three-way war was waged until Bosnia promised special protection for the Serb and Croat minorities in its soil.

With the prolonged war, civilian causalities increased manifold. This prompted the NATO to intervene and by 1995 a peace treaty was signed.

Consequences of the Croatian war of independence

The most important consequence of the war was that it acted as the real catalyst for the disintegration of the Yugoslavia. While the country was united in 1990, it got disintegrated fully by 2010.

The Bosnian War (1992-1995)

Initially, Bosnia acted as a neutral bystander. However, the stances taken by Croatia and Serbia made Bosnia to fight for its independence in 1992. The territory of Bosnia was in between Croatia and Serbia and was occupied by people known as the Bosniaks. For Croatia and Serbia, Bosnia reminded them of a time when the Ottoman Turks ruled the Balkans. The two republics worried about a possible resurgent Turkish presence in their own backyards. Only one thing both the Croatia and Serbia could agree was to eliminate Bosnia.

Karadordevo Agreement

Karadordevo Agreement was signed between Serbia and Croatia to split Bosnia into two countries. The agreement was signed in March 1991.

With these developments, Bosnia declared its independence in March, 1992. Expecting a bloody conflict, the U.N. and the West limited the arms sale to that entire region. This move did not affect Croatia and Serbia as Croatia was able to smuggle arms through its porous borders, and Serbia had control of Yugoslavian army’s equipments. But, the limit imposed on arms sales limited the ability of Bosnians to defend themselves. As a result, by April, the capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo fell into the hands of Serbian forces.

Soon, Bosnia was able to get the support of other nations. A no-fly zone was imposed over Bosnia. Public massacre of 8,000 Bosnian men by Serbian groups garnered worldwide attention. This made the need for a lasting peace even more acute.

Dayton Accords

Finally, a peaceful solution was reached in Dayton, Ohio. The treaty guaranteed independence for Bosnia but also provided for significant rights for non-Bosniaks in Bosnia, especially the Serbs and Croats.

The Kosovo War

Kosovo was an autonomous province within Serbia. During the former President Josip Tito’s tenure, it was given significant abilities of self-government. But with the ascendance of Slobodan Milošević as President of Serbia, Kosovars saw that their rights getting eroded, especially the right of self-government. Soon, Kosovo declared its independence following suit of the other republics. But, Kosovo faced the obstacle mainly in the form of Serbia. Serbia considered the territory of Kosovo to be a part of its historical homeland.

Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the Serbian forces waged a bitter battle. Soon, Serbia and Kosovo were involved in intense ethnic cleansing (removal of all but a given ethnic group). Serbia, in particular pushed around 250,000 Kosovars off their territory. As a result, Kosovo sought the NATO intervention to secure independence. In 1998, NATO launched air strikes in support of Kosovo.

The main difference between this war and the earlier ones was the fact that the Russia was stronger and was in a position to help its friend Serbia. But, the political leadership in Russia was not in favour of supporting Slobodan Milošević in his war against the West.

As a turn of events, Britain wanted to send NATO ground troops in support of Kosovo, and in case if NATO refused, it planned to send its Army to act as peacekeepers. This acted as a threat to Serbia in general and to Slobodan Milošević in particular. Finally, the war got ended with the signing of Kumanovo Agreement in June 1999.

Aftermaths of the war

Kosovo got its independence and was a born as a new country. While many European states recognized the independence of Kosovo, countries like Serbia, China and Russia refuses to recognize it as an independent country.

Present status

The following countries have emerged as the successor states to the former Yugoslavia:

• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Croatia
• Kosovo
• Macedonia
• Montenegro
• Serbia
• Slovenia

Ethnic cleansing

The most important feature of the Yugoslav Wars was ethnic cleansing. Ethnic cleansing is a practice of eliminating all trace of an unwanted ethnic group in a particular area. It aims to completely destroy the history of a past ethnic group from a territory. This practice at times turned violent and included acts of genocide. It highlights the extent the different ethnic groups went in order to claim the territory as their own.