Modern Ethnic Conflict:
Yugoslavia
Logan Bishop-Van Horn
Period 3
Roots of Conflict
 The conflicts in former Yugoslavia can
be traced back to before the founding
of the country (then the Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes) in 1918.
 The three peoples were somewhat forced
together. The Serbs had by far the most
power among the three groups.
 The Croatians felt that they were being
exploited by the relatively small (40%
of population), but powerful Serbs.
World War II
 Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia beginning
in WWII in both divided and united the
country.
 Serbo-Croatian conflict was
intensified, but anti-German sentiment
extended beyond nationalism.
 Led by a powerful new Communist, the
Yugoslavs revolted against the Nazis in
the early 1940s. This led to 800,000
German deaths. However, 350,000
Yugoslavs (mostly Croatians) perished
as well.
Adolf Hitler and Prince Paul of Yugoslavia during the
destructive Nazi occupation of World War II.
Tito’s Rule
 Marshal Josip Tito assumed power in
Yugoslavia in the mid 1940s. He was a very
strong leader. After driving the Nazis out
of Yugoslavia, he made the country into a
Communist state comprised of six republics.
 In the 1960s and ‘70s, backlash against the
repressive police force led to outbursts of
nationalism in two of the six republics:
Kosovo and Croatia. Tito’s powerful
personality, however, temporarily contained
any real revolts.
Overwhelming Nationalism
 In 1980, Tito died, leaving the country
without the strong, if repressive,
leader it so badly needed.
 Near the end of the 1980s, tensions in
Kosovo were reaching a boiling point.
 Slobodan Milosevic emerged as a strong
voice for Serbian nationalism and
became the leader of the Yugoslav
government.
 Under Milosevic’s rule, the country
became increasingly dominated by Serbs.
Disintegration
 In early 1990, Communist parties were
voted out of power in Slovenia and
Croatia.
 The predominantly Croat voters in
Croatia favored a confederate
government. This triggered backlash
from the 600,000 Serbs in the republic.
 Serbs began to organize militias and
declare autonomy from Croatia.
Disintegration
 In 1991, Western countries began
encouraging both Slovenia and Croatia
to secede from Yugoslavia.
 When Slovenia and Croatia both declared
independence on June 25, 1991, war
broke out between the republics and the
government.
 Civil war in Slovenia was relatively
brief, but the Yugoslav government and
Serb forces worked together to fight
Croatia.
Croatia’s War of Independence.
Bosnian Independence
 In February 1992, the government held a
vote on Bosnian independence from
Yugoslavia.
 Serbs solidly opposed independence (because
the Yugoslav government was largely
Serbian), while both Croats and Muslims
(Bosniaks) strongly supported it.
 Bosnia soon declared its independence, and
the U.N. deployed peacekeeping efforts.
 Bosnian Serbs, upset at their independence,
quickly organized militias, which were
supplied heavily by the Yugoslav
government.
Bosnian Conflict
 The Bosnian Conflict, which lasted more
than three years, was essentially
Croats and Bosniaks united against
Serbs and the Serb-run Yugoslav
government. (By 1993, Yugoslavia had
gone from six republics to two: Serbia
and Montenegro.)
 The war involved some violence between
Croats and Bosniaks, even though they
were originally united against the
Serbs.
Bosnian Conflict
 Fighting included civilian shelling, the arming
of extremist militias, the use of rape as a
weapon, and ethnic cleansing resulting in mass
graves.
 The large city of Sarajevo became a city of
murder, its citizens were forced to live
underground in fear of snipers.
Bosnian Conflict
 Fighting included civilian shelling, the
arming of extremist militias, the use of
rape as a weapon, and ethnic cleansing
resulting in mass graves.
 The large city of Sarajevo became a city
of murder, its citizens were forced to
live underground in fear of snipers.
The Sehidska Cemetery, final resting place of more than
11,000 soldiers killed in the conflict.
Civilians duck to avoid sniper fire at a peace
march in Sarajevo in 1992.
Rape As a Weapon
 Systematic mass rape was a common tool of
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terror in the Bosnian conflict.
Women of all ethnicities were subject to the
atrocity, but the Serb armed forces were
responsible for most.
According to estimates, anywhere from
20,000-60,000 Bosnian women were raped.
Only twelve of these cases have been
prosecuted.
The affects, both emotional and physical,
are still manifesting themselves in Bosnian
women today.
As Bosnia-Herzegovina works to recover as a
new nation, the country is facing the
children born as a result of the brutality.
Global Peacekeeping Efforts
 The UN frequently
went into combat,
attempting to arrange
cease-fires between
the two sides.
 At other times, the
UN peacekeeping
forces were simply
outgunned and
powerless in stopping
the genocide.
 Countless
peacekeeping efforts
came and went, but
none were able to
stop the violence.
NATO Intervention
 Finally, the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) was able to deploy
enough military power to slow the
violence enough for diplomacy to act.
 In 1995, 60,000 NATO troops were
deployed to Bosnia to preserve an
October 6 cease-fire.
 On November 21, the Dayton Agreement
went into effect and both sides agreed
to solve disagreements peacefully.
The conflict in former Yugoslavia can
be used as evidence in both the case for
Bowen’s “Myth of Ethnic Conflict” argument
and Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations”
theory.
There is no doubt that the root of the
conflict was ethnic identity, an “if you
aren’t us, you’re against us” mentality.
However, the conflict would not have
escalated to the point that it did if it
weren’t for the role of the Yugoslavian
government. They essentially funded the
ethnic cleansing of Bosniaks by Serbs.
Other countries irresponsibly
encouraged Croatia and Bosnia to secede
from Yugoslavia without providing them the
support they needed.
In the end, an estimated 200,000
people died in the disintegration of
Yugoslavia. Tens, if not hundreds, of
thousands more were scarred for life
emotionally, physically, or both.
Even today, social and political
tensions live on, particularly in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, where Bosniaks are
trying to rebuild after having nearly
been wiped out.
Despite peacekeeping and rebuilding
efforts from all over the world,
Bosnia-Herzegovina is still a country
deeply divided along ethnic lines and
hurting from its years of civil war
and genocide.
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