Fall of Yugoslavia

• Causes of Balkans war: (1/2)

  • 1980 - death of Tito leaves a vacuum of power - he had a totalitarian hold on Yugoslavia
  • Tito’s failure to develop the economy with foreign capital → economic decline
  • Albanian population more resentful of the perceived privileged position of Serbs and Montenegrins in Kosovo
  • Kosovo was subordinate to Serbrian Belgrade rule - Albanian protests supressed
• Causes of Balkans war: (2/2)

  • appointment of Milosevic as Communist Party chief and then Serbian President
  • Milosevic used Serbian nationalism to win support
  • Nationalist movements were growing throughout Yugoslavia stimulated by collapse of communism in Eastern Europe
  • pluralism spreading with multi-part election (1990) - nationalist politicians did well
• Serbian question:

  • 25% of Serbians lived outside Serbia - within Yugoslavia
  • Milosevic wanted remodelled federation fo Yugoslavia will all Serbians united in a single state
  • Serbs would have the most power as they were the largest ethnic group
• War in Slovenia:

  • 25 June 1991 - Slovenia and Croatia both declare independence despite no US recognition and EU being against it
  • Yugoslavian Army (JNA) and Slovenian Territorial Defence Force in combat
  • 7 July 1991 - peace negotiated with the Brioni Agreement with JNA troops withdrawn
• War in Croatia:

  • December 1990 - Serb Croats recognised as national minority → systematic discrimination, contributing further to Milosevic’s campaign of Serb nationalism
  • March 1991 - Croatian Serb Paramilitaries launched offensive on Croats
  • lasted six months with 10k+ casualities
  • Serb assault on Dubrovnik (city) made international headlines
  • 1992 - UN sent 14k peace keeping troops following ceasefire negotiation
• Causes of the war in Bosnia:

  • January 1992 - recognition of Croatian independence by European Community forced Bosnia to choose between remaining in Yugoslavia or not
  • if Bosnia declared independence → 1.3 million Serbs removed from Serbia (against Serbian Question)
  • February 1992 - referendum held as Bosnia-Herzegovina’s President thought western powers would guarantee sovereignty → Serbia attacked
  • Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats fought the Bosnians (ethnic cleansing)
  • Bosnian Croats wanted to join Croatia and the Bosnian Serbs wanted the country to remain in Yugoslavia
• War in Bosnia - Phase One: (April 1992 - April 1993)

  • January 1992 - Vance-Owen plan launched to find a political solution for Bosnia
  • Bosnia would be divided into 10 cantons, all being ethnically mixed with a central government with Sarajevo (capital)
  • international community against this due to concerns that it would trigger claims for sovereignty by the Albanians in Kosovo (country)
  • plan came close but unsuccessful
• War in Bosnia - Phase Two: (April 1993 - February 1994)

  • debate on whether NATO should use air strikes (recommended by Clinton)
  • early 1994 - NATO put power at disposal of UN
  • mid-1993 sanction from Security Council had imposed on Serbia and Montenegro were having a big impact on the economy
• War in Bosnia - Phase Three: (April 1993 - January 1995)

  • NATO issued ultimatum to Serbs to remove heavy weaponry from exclusion zone around Sarajevo or they would use air strikes
  • Contact Group (mediation group) established, consisting of diplomats from US, Russia, France, UK and Germany
  • 1994 - NATO used air strikes against Serb targets in Bosnia and Croatia
• War in Bosnia - Phase Four: (January - November 1995)

  • Bosnian Serbs refused to return stolen UN weapons → NATO destroyed ammunition dump near Pate
  • Serbs took hostaged 400 UN personnel, using them as a human shield → more British, French, US troops being deployed
  • Dayton Peace Deal (November 1995) - US pressure led to two self-governing entities in Bosnia - Bosnian Serb Republic and Muslim (Bosniak) Croat Federation
  • NATO led peace keeping force to implement the deal
• Kosovo Intervention: (1999)

  • 1998 - after 9 years of the abolition of Kosovo’s autonomy, the Kosovo Liberation Army rebelled against the Serbian rule
  • international pressure on Milosevic to end escalating violence
  • West threatens military action
  • NATO sent air strikes — first attack on sovereign European country
  • caused huge casualties and accidentally bombed and Chinese embassy
  • succeeded in forcing Milosevic to withdraw troops
  • Milosevic in Hague (city in Netherlands) for war crimes
• The UN and international law: (Yugoslavia)

  • International Court of Justice for settling international disputes
  • created special tribunals to prosecute perpetrators of the genocides in Yugoslavia and Rwanda
  • May 1993 - International Criminal Tribunal established to collect evidence on Yugoslavia
  • November 1995 - two Bosnian Serb leaders, Karadzic and Mladic indicted on charges of genocide
• Yugoslavia timeline: (1991-92)

  • June 1991 - Slovenia and Croatia (Yugoslav republics) declares independence
  • September 1991 - Yugoslav Army attacks Croat areas and UN places an arms embargo on Yugoslavia
  • February 1992 - UN sends peacekeeping mission to Yugoslavia
  • 5 April 1992 - Bosnia declares independence and the siege of Sarajevo commences (lasts 4 years)
  • July/August 1992 - Bosnian Serbs gain control of 70% of Bosnia → refugee crisis
• Background to the conflict: (Yugoslavia)

  • Yugoslav federation — Slovenia, Croatia, Bosna, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia
  • greater calls for independence within federation → tensions within Serb-dominated federal government and military
  • movements emerged towards an ethnically based nationalism, such calls driven by economic and political crisis in late 1980s
  • other republics feared the a ‘Greater’ Serbia would attempt to dominate the rest of Yugoslavia
  • Serb nationalists claimed that Tito (Croat) tried to weaken the Serb area
• Course of the conflict: (fall of Yugoslavia) (1/2)

  • Serb-dominated federal parliament rejected the move of Slovenia and Croatia’s independence
  • Slovenia gained its independence after a 10-day war against the Yugoslav Army
  • Milosevic (Serbian President) send the Yugoslav Army into Croatia to protect local Serbs
  • Bosnian Serb nationalists rejected the three-state solution and commenced a program of driving out ethnic Muslims
• Course of the conflict: (fall of Yugoslavia) (2/2)

  • under Karadzic, Serb forces took over two-thirds of Bosnia
  • methods included torture, mass rape, displacement and deportation and property destruction
  • 1992-1995 - estimated 80k Bosnians murdered
• Role and impact of UN forces in former Yugoslavia:

  • February 1992 - UN forces entered Yugoslavia
  • United Nations Protection Force entered the country to create safe havens for local Croats → overran by the Serbs and 300 Dutch troops became hostages
  • Mladic threatened to shoot Dutch hostages if the UN did not call off the air strikes → UN gave in
  • further goal to remove all Serb-dominated Yugoslav Army from Croatia
  • secured Sarajevo’s airport to allow food and medical aid to reach the displaced
• US foreign policy response: (Yugoslavia)

  • Clinton proposed bombing Serb supply lines → eventually accepted by NATO
  • Serbian supply lines and military targets bombed
  • November 1995 - Clinton got both sides to sign the Dayton Peace Accords → division of Bosnia
  • March-June 1999 - bombing campaign on Yugoslavia as a result of ethnic Albanians pressing for independence from Serbia