Civil War and the Collapse of Yugoslavia Yugoslav leader Tito keeps the many different ethnic and national groups under control – his death in 1980 eventually leads the country into chaos and civil war. Nationalist leaders Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia and Franjo Tudjman in Croatia gain authority. Josip Tito Slobodan Milosevic

A popular refrain: “Yugoslavia has 7 neighbors 6 republics 5 nationalities 4 official languages 3 major religions 2 alphabets 1 dinar (national currency)

Patterns of Ethnic Settlement Facilitated the Conflict and Break-up Slovene/Catholic 91% Croat/Catholic 3% Serb/E Ortho 2% Croat/Catholic 78% Serb/E Ortho 12% Muslims (43.7%) Croats/Catholic (17.3%) Serbs/E Ortho (31.4 %) Serb/ E Ortho 63% Montenegrin/ E Ortho 6% Albanian/Muslim 14% Hungarian/Catholic 4% Bosnia: 40% of urban couples ethnically mixed Patterns of Ethnic Settlement Facilitated the Conflict and Break-up 66% Macedonian/E Ortho 23% Albanian/Muslim 2% Serb/E Ortho 4% Turk/Muslim

Ethnic diversity at its finest

Yugoslavia and Civil War 1991 – Slovenia and Croatia declare independence from Yugoslavia civil war erupts in 1992 between Serbs and Croatians Serbia accuses Croatia of fascism / while Croatia accuses Serbia of being a Stalinist regime both forces attempt to divide up Bosnia- Herzegovina Muslims in Bosnia are caught in the middle and are subject to “ethnic cleansing” by the Serbs Balkanization Divide (a region or body) into smaller mutually hostile states or groups

Ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic or religious groups from a given territory by a more powerful ethnic group, with the intent of making it ethnically homogeneous. The forces applied may be various forms of forced migration (deportation, population transfer), intimidation, as well as mass murder and genocidal rape. Ethnic cleansing is usually accompanied with the efforts to remove physical and cultural evidence of the targeted group in the territory through the destruction of homes, social centers, farms, and infrastructure, and by the desecration of monuments, cemeteries, and places of worship. Initially used by the perpetrators during the Yugoslav Wars and cited in this context as a euphemism akin to that of the "Final Solution", by the 1990s the term gained widespread acceptance due to journalism and the media's heightened use of the term in its generic meaning.

Bosnian Genocide (1992), Bosniak (Bosnian Muslims) prisoners in Trnopolje concentration camp near Prijedor. Ron Haviv, Blood & Honey.

Bosnian Genocide (1992), Serb soldier kick and kill Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) civilians on the streets of Bijeljina. Credits: Ron Haviv, Blood & Honey.

Bosnian Genocide (1995), Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 men and boys, 30,000 women and children ethnically cleansed, many women brutally raped....

A Bosnian Muslim woman, survivor of the Srebrenica 1995 massacre, searches for remains of her relative at a memorial cemetery in the village of Potocarion near Srebrenica, on July 10, 2014 (AFP Photo/Elvis Barukcic)

The Bosnian Settlement Due to the atrocities that were being done by the Serbs, the US and other NATO nations got involved to stop the killing. This led to the US-brokered Dayton Accords of 1995 which ushered in an era of precarious peace in Bosnia. The US and UN sent peacekeepers to protect the Bosnian Muslims. War Crimes trials were held to convict those responsible for the ethnic cleansing.

Kosovo A new war erupted in 1998 over Kosovo, an autonomous, or self- governing province within Yugoslavia. After Slobodan Milosevic stripped Kosovo of its autonomy in 1989, groups of ethnic Albanians founded the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and began a campaign against Serbian rule. To crush the KLA, Serb forces massacred ethnic Albanians. Graves in the town of Velika Krusa of ethnic Albanian killed in March 1999

Kosovo The United States and NATO allies worked on a settlement that would end the killing. The Albanians in Kosovo regained their autonomy in 1999. Milosevic’s rule ended in 2000. While on trial for his role in the massacre of Kosovo civilians, Milosevic died in 2006. Peace established, after 800,000 Kosovars displaced   Tides of refugees from Kosovo are still hoping to cross over into neighbouring Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro, as aid agencies struggle to help those who have already found sanctuary there.

No More Yugoslavia The last political vestiges of Yugoslavia ceased to exist in 2004 when the government officially renamed the country Serbia and Montenegro. The people of Montenegro voted for independence in 2006; and in 2008, Kosovo declared its independence. Thus, all six republics that formed Yugoslavia in 1918 were again independent nations, and a new one (Kosovo) was born.