The 90s was another era of bloodshed in the Balkans. On the wreckage of Yugoslavia, several ethnic wars began. One of them unfolded in Bosnia between Bosnians, Serbs and Croats. The tangled conflict was resolved only after the international community intervened in it, primarily the UN and NATO. The armed clash became notorious for its many war crimes.
Background
In 1992, the Bosnian war began. This happened against the backdrop of the collapse of Yugoslavia and the fall of communism in the Old World. The main warring parties were Muslim Bosnians (or Bosnians), Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Catholics. The conflict was multifaceted: political, ethnic and confessional.
It all started with the collapse of Yugoslavia. A variety of peoples lived in this federal socialist state - Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Macedonians, Slovenes, etc. When the Berlin Wall fell and the communist system lost the Cold War, the ethnic minorities of the SFRY began to demand independence. A parade of sovereignty began by analogy with what was then happening in the Soviet Union.
The first to separate were Slovenia and Croatia. In Yugoslavia, besides them, there was the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was the most ethnically motley region of the once united country. About 45% of Bosnians, 30% of Serbs and 16% of Croats lived in the republic. On February 29, 1992, the local government (located in the capital Sarajevo) held a referendum on independence. Bosnian Serbs refused to participate in it. When independence from Yugoslavia was proclaimed in Sarajevo, an escalation of tension began.
Serbian Question
The actual capital of the Bosnian Serbs is Banja Luka. The conflict was compounded by the fact that both peoples lived side by side for many years, and because of this, in some areas there were many ethnically mixed families. In general, more Serbs lived in the north and east of the country. The Bosnian war for them became a way to unite with compatriots in Yugoslavia. The army of the socialist republic left Bosnia in May 1992. With the disappearance of the third force, which could at least somehow regulate relations between opponents, the last barriers that hinder bloodshed have disappeared.
Yugoslavia (where the mainly Serbian population lived ) from the very beginning supported the Bosnian Serbs, who created their own Republika Srpska. Many officers of the former unified army began to move into the armed forces of this unrecognized state.
On whose side Russia is in the Bosnian war, it became clear immediately after the conflict began. The official authorities of the Russian Federation tried to act as a peacekeeping force. The other influential powers of the world community did the same. Politicians sought a compromise, inviting opponents to negotiations on neutral territory. However, if we talk about the public opinion of Russia in the 90s, we can say with confidence that the sympathies of ordinary people were on the side of the Serbs. This is not surprising, because the two peoples linked and are connected by a common Slavic culture, Orthodoxy, etc. According to international experts, the Bosnian war has become a center of attraction for 4 thousand volunteers from the former USSR who supported the Republika Srpska.
Start of war
Apart from the Serbs and Bosnians, the Croats became the third party to the conflict. They created the community of Herceg-Bosn, which throughout the war existed as an unrecognized state. The capital of this republic was the city of Mostar. In Europe, they felt the approach of war and tried using international instruments to prevent bloodshed. In March 1992, an agreement was signed in Lisbon, according to which the power in the country was to be divided along ethnic lines. In addition, the parties agreed that the federal center will share powers with local municipalities. The document was signed by Bosnian Aliya Izetbegovic, Serb Radovan Karadzic and Croatian Mate Boban.
However, the compromise was short-lived. Within a few days, Izetbegovic announced that he was withdrawing the agreement. In fact, this gave carte blanche to the outbreak of war. All that was needed was a pretext. Already after the start of the bloodshed, the opponents called various episodes that served as the impetus for the first killings. It was a serious ideological moment.
For the Serbs, the point of no return was the shooting of a Serbian wedding in Sarajevo. The killers were the Bosnians. At the same time, Muslims blamed the Serbs for starting a war. They claimed that the Bosnians participating in the street demonstration were the first to die. The bodyguards of the President of the Republika Srpska Radovan Karadzic were suspected of murder.
Siege of Sarajevo
In May 1992, in the Austrian city of Graz, President of the Republika Srpska Radovan Karadzic and President of the Croatian Republic Herceg-Bosna Mate Boban signed a bilateral agreement, which became the most important document of the first stage of the armed conflict. Two Slavic unrecognized states agreed to cease hostilities and rally in order to establish control over Muslim territories.
After this episode, the Bosnian war moved to Sarajevo. The capital of the state, torn by internal strife, was populated mainly by Muslims. However, the Serbian majority lived in the suburbs and surrounding villages. This ratio determined the course of the fighting. On April 6, 1992, the siege of Sarajevo began. The Serbian army surrounded the city. The siege continued throughout the war (more than three years) and was lifted only after the signing of the final Dayton Accords.
During the siege of Sarajevo, the city was subjected to intense artillery shelling. The funnels that were left from those shells were already poured in peacetime with a special mixture of resin, plastic and red paint. These "marks" in the press were called "Sarajevo roses." Today they are one of the most famous monuments of that terrible war.
Total war
It should be noted that the Serbo-Bosnian war went on in parallel with the war in Croatia, where a conflict broke out between local Croats and Serbs. This confused and complicated the situation. A total war has unfolded in Bosnia, that is, the war of all against all. The situation of the local Croats was especially ambiguous. Some of them supported the Bosniaks, the other part - the Serbs.
In June 1992, the UN peacekeeping contingent appeared in the country. Initially, it was created for the Croatian war, but soon its powers were expanded to Bosnia. These armed forces took control of the Sarajevo airport (before that it was occupied by the Serbs, they had to leave this important transport hub). Here UN peacekeepers delivered humanitarian aid, which then spread throughout the country, since in Bosnia there was not a single area untouched by bloodshed. Civilian refugees were defended by a Red Cross mission, although the efforts of the contingent of this organization were clearly insufficient.
War crimes
The cruelty and meaninglessness of the war became known throughout the world. This was facilitated by the development of the media, television and other ways of disseminating information. The episode that occurred in May 1992 became widely publicized. In the city of Tuzla, the combined Bosnian-Croat forces attacked the brigade of the Yugoslav People’s Army, returning to their homeland due to the collapse of the country. The attack was attended by snipers who shot cars and thus blocked the road. The attackers calmly finished off the wounded. Killed more than 200 troops of the Yugoslav army. This episode, among many others, clearly demonstrated violence during the Bosnian war.
By the summer of 1992, the Republika Srpska army managed to establish control over the eastern regions of the country. The local Muslim civilian population was repressed. For Bosnians, concentration camps were created. The maltreatment of women was commonplace. The ruthless violence during the Bosnian war did not arise by chance. The Balkans have always been considered the explosive barrel of Europe. The local national states were short-lived. The multinational population tried to live within the framework of empires, but this option of “good neighborhood” was eventually marked after the fall of communism. Mutual grievances and claims have accumulated over hundreds of years.
Unclear prospects
The complete blockade of Sarajevo came in the summer of 1993, when the Serbian army managed to complete the operation "Lugavac 93". This was a planned attack organized by Ratko Mladic (today he is being tried by an international tribunal). During the operation, the Serbs occupied strategically important passes leading to Sarajevo. The outskirts of the capital and most of the country are mountainous terrain with rugged terrain. In such natural conditions, passes and gorges become places of decisive battles.
Having captured Trnov, the Serbs were able to unite their possessions in two regions - Herzegovina and Podrinje. Then the army turned west. The Bosnian war, in short, consisted of numerous small maneuvers of warring armed groups. In July 1993, the Serbs managed to establish control over the passes near Mount Igman. This news alarmed the world community. Western diplomats began to put pressure on the leadership of the Republic and personally Radovan Karadzic. At the Geneva talks, the Serbs were made clear that in case of refusal to retreat, NATO air strikes would be waiting for them. Karadzic rescued under such pressure. On August 5, 1993, the Serbs left Igman, although the rest of the acquisitions in Bosnia remained with them. On a strategically important mountain, their place was taken by peacekeepers from France.
Bosnian split
Meanwhile, an internal schism occurred in the Bosnian camp. Some Muslims advocated the preservation of a unitary state. Politician Firet Abdic and his supporters held the opposite point of view. They wanted to make the state federal and believed that only with the help of such a compromise would the Bosnian War (1992–1995) end. In short, this led to the emergence of two irreconcilable camps. Finally, in September 1993, Abdich in the city of Velika Kladusha announced the creation of Western Bosnia. It was another unrecognized republic that opposed the Isetbegovic government in Sarajevo. Abdic became an ally of the Republika Srpska.
Western Bosnia is a clear example of how ever new short-term political entities emerged that were created by the Bosnian War (1992–1995). The reasons for this variegation were a huge number of conflicting interests. Western Bosnia lasted two years. Its territory was occupied during operations Tiger 94 and Storm. In the first case, the Bosnians themselves opposed Abdich.
In August 1995, at the final stage of the war, when the last separatist formations were liquidated, Croats and a limited contingent of NATO joined the government forces of Izetbegovic. The main battles took place in the Krajina region. An indirect result of Operation Storm was the flight of about 250 thousand Serbs from the border Croatian-Bosnian settlements. These people were born and raised in Krajina. Although there was nothing unusual in this émigré stream. The Bosnian war removed many from their homes. A simple explanation for this population turnover is this: the conflict could not end without defining clear ethnic and religious boundaries, so all the small diasporas and enclaves were systematically destroyed during the war. The division of the territory affected Serbs, Bosnians, and Croats.
Genocide and tribunal
War crimes were committed by both Bosnians and Serbs with Croats. Both those and others explained their atrocities by revenge for compatriots. The Bosnians created terrorist units for terrorizing the Serbian civilian population. They raided peaceful Slavic villages.
The worst Serbian crime was the massacre in Srebrenica. By a decision of the UN, in 1993 this city and its environs were declared a safety zone. Muslim refugees from all regions of Bosnia reached there. In July 1995, the Serbs captured Srebrenica. They committed reprisals in the city, killing, according to various estimates, about 8 thousand Muslim civilians - children, women and the elderly. Today, the entire Bosnian War of 92-95. best known for precisely this inhuman episode.
The Srebrenica massacre is still under investigation at the international tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. On March 24, 2016, former President of Republika Srpska Radovan Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He initiated many of the crimes that the Bosnian War is known for. The photo of the convict again circulated the entire world press, as in the previous 90s. Karadzic is also responsible for what happened in Srebrenica. The secret services caught him after a ten-year life under a covert fictitious name in Belgrade.
International military intervention
Every year, the Serbo-Bosnian war with the participation of the Croats became more and more chaotic and confusing. It became clear that none of the parties to the conflict will achieve its goals through bloodshed. In this situation, the US authorities began to take an active part in the negotiation process. The first step to resolving the conflict was a treaty that put an end to the war of the Croats and Bosnians. Corresponding papers were signed in March 1994 in Vienna and Washington. Bosnian Serbs were also invited to the negotiating table, but they did not send their diplomats.
The Bosnian war, photos from the fields of which regularly fell into the foreign press, shocked the West, but in the Balkans it was perceived as commonplace. Under these conditions, the NATO bloc took over the initiative. The Americans and their allies with the support of the United Nations began to prepare a plan for aerial bombing of Serbian positions. The military operation "Deliberate Force" began on August 30. The bombing helped the Bosnians and Croats to oust the Serbs in strategically important regions on the Ozren Plateau and in Western Bosnia. The main result of NATO intervention was the lifting of the siege of Sarajevo, which lasted several years. After this, the Serbo-Bosnian war came to an end. All parties to the conflict were bloodless. On the territory of the state there was no whole residential, military and industrial infrastructure.
Dayton Accords
Final negotiations between the opponents began on neutral territory. A future ceasefire was agreed at the US military base in Dayton. The formal signing of the papers took place at the Champs Elysees in Paris on December 14, 1995. The protagonists of the ceremony were the President of Bosnia Alia Izetbegovic, the President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic and the President of Croatia Franjo Tudjman. Preliminary negotiations took place under the patronage of observer countries - Great Britain, Germany, Russia, the USA and France.
According to the signed agreement, a new state was created - the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the Republika Srpska. The internal borders were drawn in such a way that each entity got an equal part of the country's territory. In addition, NATO peacekeeping contingent was introduced into Bosnia. These armed forces have become the guarantor of peace in particularly tense regions.
The violence during the Bosnian war was hotly debated. Documentary evidence of war crimes has been submitted to the international tribunal, which operates today. It judges both ordinary performers and the immediate initiators of the atrocities “above”. The politicians and military who organized the genocide of the civilian population were removed from power.
According to the official version, the causes of the Bosnian war were ethnic conflict in the disintegrated Yugoslavia. The Dayton Accords served as a compromise formula for a divided society. Although the Balkans remain a source of tension for all of Europe, open violence on the scale of the war there has finally ceased. It was the success of international diplomacy (albeit belated). The Bosnian war and the violence it caused left a huge imprint on the fate of the local population. Today there is not a single Bosnian or Serb whose family would not be affected by the terrible inherently conflict of twenty years ago.