YUGOSLAVIA
History, Breakup, & Ethnic
Cleansing
ESTABLISHMENT OF YUGOSLAVIA
Existed as Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes
after WWI (1918)
Gained international recognition as Yugoslavia in
July 1922
Renamed Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1939
Reformed as Federal People’s Republic of
Yugoslavia in 1946 with a communist government
 Acquired territories from Italy
 Ruled by Josip Broz Tito until 1980
Renamed again to the Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia in 1963
TITO’S RULE
Ruled 14 January 1953 – 4 May 1980
Led Partisans in WWII – regarded as most
effective resistance movement in occupied Europe
Presidency criticized as authoritarian, but seen by
many as a ‘benevolent dictator’
 Successful economic & diplomatic policies
 Less repressive than other Eastern European communist states
 Popular in Yugoslavia & abroad
 Unifying symbol (suppressed nationalist sentiment in favor
of brotherhood)
 Maintained peaceful coexistence of Yugoslav federation’s
nations
Chief leader of the Non-Aligned Movement
 Jawaharlal Nehru (India)
 Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt)
 Sukarno (Indonesia)
TITO-STALIN SPLIT
Yugoslavia emerged as a communist country
unlike other postwar Eastern European states
 Limited help of Red Army
 Strong leadership in Tito
Formally, Stalin & Tito were allies
 Soviets set up spy ring early as 1945
 Uneasy alliance
 Bitter fights  Stalin arranged several assassination
attempts
Titoism threatened Stalin’s rule
 Policies & practices based on principle in each country
(Yugoslavia) not by a pattern set in another country
(USSR)
Khrushchev sought to normalize relations in
the de-Stalinization process
 Tito not enthusiastic
 Brezhnev chilled relations again
BREAKUP: 1990-1992
Several Factors
 Cultural & religions divisions [Christians vs. Muslims]
 Memories of WWII atrocities
 Centrifugal nationalist forces
Political events eroded political stability
 Death of Tito, 1980: collective presidency of 8 provincial representatives
held little control over economic, cultural, & political policy
 Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, 1989: removal of Soviet threat
erased incentive for unity & cooperation
 Unification of Germany, 1990
Democratization of Eastern Europe influenced own elections
 Slovenia & Croatia gave non-communist parties control in 1990
 Slovenia declared “sovereignty” 1990, followed by Croatia
Efforts began to form a confederation instead of
federation
 Independent republics declared
Violence erupted
 Serbs attempted to gain independence within other nations & join Serbia,
sparking violence
 In the end, hundreds of thousands dead + millions displaced due to conflict
related to independence movements
BREAKUP: MAP
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC
President of Serbia 1989-2001
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Began as banker in Belgrade
Part of politics in mid-1980s
Head of Serbian Communist Party 1986
Symbol of Serbian nationalism & gained popularity
Took advantage of power vacuum in Yugoslavia to develop
Serbian ultra-nationalism
 Fanned flames of future conflict
 Gained legitimacy at home
 Moved to take away autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina (in Serbia) by
using mass rallies to force leaders to resign
 Reintegrated by 1989
 Headed by Milosevic allies
Led ethnic cleansing program in the Balkans
 Arrested & turned over to the International Crimes Tribunal
 Died in prison in 2006, before trial concluded
BOSNIAN GENOCIDE
Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia April 1992
 Bosnian Serb forces, backed by Serb-dominated Yugoslav army, tarageted Bosniak & Croatian
civilians
 100,000 people estimated dead by 1995
 Worst act of genocide since Holocaust
Ethnic tensions
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Muslims largest single population group initially in Bosnia
More Serbs & Croats emigrated over next few decades
1991: 44% Bosniak, 31% Serb, 17% Croatian
Government was roughly equal in representation, but Serbs formed Serbian National Assembly
& declared Bosnia’s independence in 1992
 Sought joining a dominant Serbian state
 Milosevic support
BOSNIAN GENOCIDE – CONTINUED
Bosnian Serb forces, backed by Yugoslav army
(Milosevic), attacked Bosniak-dominated towns
& bombed Sarajevo
Forcibly expelled civilians
Bosnian government tried to defend territory,
sometimes aided by Croatian army, but failed
 Bosnian Serb forces controlled ¾ of country by end of
1993
 Most Bosnian Croats left the country
 Bosniak population remained only in smaller towns
 Peace proposals failed
UN refused to intervene
 Did have humanitarian campaign to aid displaced,
malnourished, & injured victims though
SREBRENICA, JULY 1995
3 towns in eastern Bosnia remained in control of Bosnian
government by summer 1995: Srebrenica, Zepa, and
Gorazde
UN declared them safe havens in 1993
Disarmed & protected
July 11 – Bosnian Serb forces attacked
 Overwhelmed Dutch peacekeeping forces
 Serbian forces separated civilians
 Women & girls bussed to Bosnian-held territory
 381 concentration/detention camps
 Beatings, torture, mass executions
 Raped or sexually assaulted – estimated 2,000
 Men & boys killed or bussed to mass killing sites
 7-8,000 estimated killed
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
Increased violence gained international attention
Captured Zepa in July too
Exploded a bomb in Sarajevo market
Serbs refused to comply with UN ultimatum in August 1995 
NATO joined efforts with Bosnian & Croatian forces
 3 weeks of bombing in Bosnian Serb positions
 Ground offensive
 Trade sanctions on Serbia
Milosevic agreed to enter negotiations in October
 Peace talks in Dayton, Ohio held November 1995
 Result = federalized Bosnia divided between Croat-Bosniak federation and a Serb
Republic
 60,000 NATO troops stationed to maintain peace
 Left region unstable & factious ever since
UNSC created International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia at the Hague
 First since Nuremberg
 Tried military commanders for genocide & other crimes against humanity
 Milosevic tried in 2002
 Served as own defense lawyer
 Poor health delayed trial
 Found dead in cell in 2006