The Break-Up of Yugoslavia

Again….nationalism destroys empires!!!

Yugoslavia

• As World War One came to an end - and the Austro-Hungarian Empire crumbled – the Slavs in the dying empire created their own nation on 29 October 1918. It was named Country of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs.

• The Kingdom of Serbia joined the new nation on 1 December 1918 and established the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes with the Serbian city of Belgrade as its capital.

• The new kingdom comprised the modern nations of: Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Kosovo. Ethnic and religious differences were many!!!!

• (this will cause trouble in the 1990s-2000s !!))

• King Peter of Serbia became King Peter of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.

• When he died in 1921, he was succeeded by his son Alexander.

Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes

• Alexander attempted to unite the various ethnic groups in the nation.

• In 1929, he renamed the nation YUGOSLAVIA.

• He married Princess Maria of Romania – great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Tsar Alexander II of Russia

• Alexander never undertook any official functions on Tuesdays – due to the deaths of several of his family members on Tuesdays – HOWEVER – on 9 October 1934 Alexander was on a state visit to France in the city of Marseille. He had to meet with the French Foreign Minister. While driving in an open car, a Macedonian nationalist shot and killed the king.

• It was the first assassination captured on film.• It was a TUESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peter II of Yugoslavia

• Alexander was succeed by his eleven year old son Peter II.

• When the Germans invaded Yugoslavia in 1941, the royal family was forced to flee to Great Britain.

• Peter finished college in Great Britain and joined the Royal Air Force.

• Yugoslavians split into two groups as they fought against the Nazi occupation.

• The Yugoslavian victors were communist led partisans – whose leader was Josip Broz Tito.

• In 1945, as the war in Europe was coming to a close, the Red Army of the USSR moved into Yugoslavia and installed the Tito led communists in power over the nation.

• 29 November 1945 – the Yugoslavian communists deposed Peter II while he was in exile.

• Peter married Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark and spent the rest of his life in the United States.

• He died in Denver in 1970.

Prince Alexander – King????

Josip Broz Tito

• After WWII, Josip Broz Tito led the communist government in Yugoslavia.

• He maintained order, separated Yugoslavia from control of the USSR, and did not allow ancient ethnic and religious differences from dividing the nation. The Nazis had used ethnic groups against each other in order to maintain control during WWII.

• THEN on 5 May 1980, Tito died and Yugoslavia began to crumble.

Communist Yugoslavia

• In the days after the death of Tito, Yugoslavia faced many economic problems – as the internal economic weaknesses of the communist government could not keep up with the global world economy of the late 1980s.

• The economic problems made old ethnic tensions more acute. In 1975, Tito had changed the constitution in order to take power away from Serbia (the largest Yugoslav republic in territory and population). In the 1980s, the Serbs sought to restore their dominance over the other Yugoslav republics

Slobodan Milosevic

• In the late 1980s, Serbian communist leader Slobodan Milosevic sought to increase the power of Serbia – especially at the expense of the autonomous province of Kosovo – which was the ancient home of Serbian nationalism – but by this time was 87% Albanian Muslim.

• In 1990 the 14th League of Communists of Yugoslavia met – Serbia demanded “one person, one vote” which would have meant that the population of Serbia would be dominant.

• The Croats and the Slovenes demanded power devolve to the republics. The Slovenes and Croats walked out and the all-Yugoslav Communist Party was dissolved.

WAR

• As communism fell throughout Europe, each of the Yugoslav republics held separate multi-party elections.

• Slovenia and Croatia decided to begin to pull away from Yugoslavia and rule themselves completely autonomously.

• Serbia and Montenegro favored a united Yugoslavia.• The initial question was – what was the status of ethnic

Serbs who were living in Croatia? Were they to become a minority in the new nation of Croatia? Slovenia possessed a population that was less diverse and therefore nationalism came easier.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/89/Former_Yugoslavia_2008.PNG

Croatia

Slovenia

• In August 1990 war broke out in Croatia when Croats tried to remove ethnic Serbs from positions in the police and military forces. Border police were dominated by Serbs and the border police also came into battle as Croats tried to remove Yugoslav dominated police along the borders.

• Similar events occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina.• Ethnic Serbs were forced out of sections of Croatia as

well as Bosnia – others left because of social pressure and oppression – ETHNIC CLEANSING

• 25 June 1991 – Croatia and Slovenia declared independence

• 8 September 1991 the Republic of Macedonia declared independence

Macedonia

• When Macedonia declared independence and called itself Macedonia – this caused tremendous problems for Greece.

• The north of Greece contains the ancient land of Macedonia and the Greek government feared that a nation across its border also named Macedonia may cause some Greeks in the north of Greece to break away and join Macedonia.

• Some nations still maintain that the nation is to be called the Yugoslav republic of Macedonia.

• In March 2008, Greece stopped Macedonia’s plans to join NATO in large part because of the name crisis.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

• November 1991 – Serbs living in Bosnia and Herzegovina voted to form their own Serbian republic within Bosnia that would be linked with Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)

• 9 January 1992 – the Republic of the Serb people of Bosnia and Herzegovina was declared by the Serbs within Bosnia – NOT the Bosnian government – which declared the new Serb Bosnian government illegal

• February 1992 – the Bosnian government held a referendum that declared independence from Yugoslavia – this was declared illegal by the Serbs in Bosnia!!!

• 5 April 1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence from Yugoslavia – the Bosnian Serb republic declared its own independence from Bosnia

• Croats in Bosnia declared their own republic• WAR broke out between the government of Bosnia, the Bosnian

Serbs, the Bosnian Croats – with Croatia and Yugoslavia providing arms for their ethnic compatriots

• Mass killings, torture, mass rapes, etc. were committed in the Bosnian War – especially by the Serb forces

• The most infamous case was the mass murder at the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in July 1995.

• Bosnian Serb forces led by Ratko Mladic took 8,373 men and boys from the town and murdered them – burying their bodies in mass graves.

• The UN had declared Srebrenica to be part of a safe territory protected by Dutch peacekeepers. The Dutch tried to keep the warring parties apart – but the Bosnian Serbs took the town of Srebrenica and the men.

The Bosnian Serbs videotaped the massacre

Murdered Bosnian Muslims

Excavation of Mass Graves

Srebrenica Massacre Reburials

Dayton Agreement

• In November 1995, the warring parties in Bosnia were brought to Dayton, Ohio where they signed a peace treaty – Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia.

• The agreement ended the fighting – with a divided Bosnia – the Bosnian Serb republic exists within Bosnia and Herzegovina with some aspects of autonomy.

• For their roles in the ethnic cleansing and massacres – Slobodan Milosevic and Ratko Mladic were indicted by the World Court at The Hague in the Netherlands. Milosevic was eventually arrested and died during his trial. Mladic has been in hiding.

Signing the Dayton Accords

Kosovo

• Before the invasion of the Ottoman Turks, the region of Kosovo was the secular and spiritual center of Serbia.

• 1455-1912 – Kosovo was controlled by the Ottoman Empire – many within its borders became Muslim and ethnic Albanians moved into the region – becoming a majority within the province.

• 1912 – The First Balkan War – Serbia took possession of Kosovo

• Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic consolidated his power in Serbia by raising Serbian nationalism – invoking historic memories of Kosovo.

• Kosovars who wanted independence from Serbia and its Serbian Orthodox Church established the Kosovo Liberation Army.

• Some Kosovars declared independence in 1990.• Milosevic and the Serbs began a system of ethnic cleansing –

attempting to rid Kosovo of ethnic Albanians • 1999 – NATO forced bombed Serb forces in an attempt to stop the

Serbian attacks on the Kosovars – since that time the United Nations declared Kosovo to be an autonomous region within Serbia – NATO forces remain as peacekeepers.

• 2008 – Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia – the US, France, the UK, and Germany recognize Kosovo independence while Russia and China consider the move to be illegal.

Montenegro

• March 2002 – Serbia and Montenegro agreed to reorganize Yugoslavia with more power given to the republics

• 21 May 2006 – the people of Montenegro voted to separate permanently from Yugoslavia

• 3 June 2006 – Montenegro declared it independence

• 5 June 2006 – Serbia declared its independence – ending the institution known as Yugoslavia

Serbia

Kosovo