90s became another era of bloodshed in the Balkans. Several ethnic wars began on the ruins of Yugoslavia. One of them unfolded in Bosnia between Bosnians, Serbs and Croats. The complicated conflict was resolved only after the international community intervened, primarily the UN and NATO. The armed confrontation has become infamous for its many war crimes.
Background
In 1992, the Bosnian War began. It 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 Bosniaks), Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats. 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 national minorities of the SFRY began to demand independence. A parade of sovereignties began, similar to what was then happening in the Soviet Union.
Slovenia was the first to secede andCroatia. In Yugoslavia, in addition to them, there was the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was the most ethnically diverse 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. The Bosnian Serbs refused to participate in it. Tensions escalated when Sarajevo declared independence from Yugoslavia.
Serbian issue
The actual capital of the Bosnian Serbs was Banja Luka. The conflict was exacerbated 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, Serbs lived more in the north and east of the country. The Bosnian war was a way for them to unite with their compatriots in Yugoslavia. The army of the socialist republic left Bosnia in May 1992. With the disappearance of a third force that could somehow regulate relations between opponents, the last barriers to bloodshed have disappeared.
Yugoslavia (where the predominantly Serb 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 join the armed forces of this unrecognized state.
Which side Russia is on in the Bosnian war, it became clear immediately after the start of the conflict. The official authorities of the Russian Federation tried to act as a peacekeeping force. The rest did the sameinfluential powers of the world community. Politicians sought a compromise by inviting adversaries to negotiate on neutral territory. However, if we talk about public opinion in Russia in the 90s, then 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 have been connected and are connected by a common Slavic culture, Orthodoxy, etc. According to international experts, the Bosnian War became a center of attraction for 4,000 volunteers from the former USSR who supported the Republika Srpska.
Start of war
The third party to the conflict, in addition to the Serbs and Bosnians, were the Croats. They created the Commonwe alth of Herceg-Bosna, which existed as an unrecognized state throughout the war. Mostar became the capital of this republic. In Europe, they felt the approach of war and tried to prevent bloodshed with the help of international instruments. In March 1992, an agreement was signed in Lisbon, according to which 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 Alija Izetbegovic, Serb Radovan Karadzic and Croat Mate Boban.
However, the compromise was short-lived. A few days later, Izetbegovic announced that he was withdrawing the agreement. In fact, this gave carte blanche to start the war. All that was needed was a reason. Already after the beginning of the bloodshed, the opponents named different episodes that served asthe impetus for the first kills. It was a serious ideological moment.
For Serbs, the shooting of the Serbian wedding in Sarajevo became the point of no return. The assassins were Bosniaks. At the same time, Muslims blamed the Serbs for starting the war. They claimed that the Bosnians participating in the street demonstration were the first to die. The bodyguards of Republika Srpska President Radovan Karadzic were suspected in the murder.
Siege of Sarajevo
In May 1992, in the Austrian city of Graz, President of the Republic of Srpska Radovan Karadzic and President of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna Mate Boban signed a bilateral agreement, which became the most important document of the first stage of the armed conflict. The two Slavic unrecognized states have agreed to cease hostilities and unite to establish control over Muslim territories.
After this episode, the Bosnian war moved to Sarajevo. The capital of the state, torn apart by internal strife, was populated mainly by Muslims. However, the Serb majority lived in the suburbs and surrounding villages. This ratio determined the course of the battles. 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 fire. The craters that remained from those shells were filled with a special mixture of resin, plastic and red paint already in peacetime. These "marks" in the press were called "Sarajevoroses". Today they are one of the most famous monuments of that terrible war.
Total War
It should be noted that the Serbian-Bosnian war ran in parallel with the war in Croatia, where a conflict broke out between local Croats and Serbs. This confuses and complicates the situation. A total war has unfolded in Bosnia, that is, a war of all against all. The position of local Croats was especially ambiguous. Some of them supported the Bosniaks, the other part - the Serbs.
In June 1992, a UN peacekeeping contingent appeared in the country. Initially, it was created for the Croatian War, but soon its powers were extended 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). UN peacekeepers delivered humanitarian aid here, which was then distributed throughout the country, since there was not a single area untouched by bloodshed in Bosnia. Civilian refugees were protected by the Red Cross mission, although the efforts of the contingent of this organization were clearly not enough.
War crimes
The cruelty and senselessness of war has become known to the whole world. This was facilitated by the development of the media, television and other ways of disseminating information. The episode that took place in May 1992 became widely publicized. In the city of Tuzla, the combined Bosnian-Croat forces attacked a brigade of the Yugoslav People's Army, which was returning to its homeland due to the collapse of the country. Participated in the attacksnipers who shot cars and thus blocked the road. The attackers killed the wounded in cold blood. More than 200 members of the Yugoslav army were killed. This episode, among many others, clearly demonstrated the violence during the Bosnian War.
By the summer of 1992, the army of the Republika Srpska managed to establish control over the eastern regions of the country. The local Muslim civilian population was repressed. For the Bosnians, concentration camps were created. The abuse of women was commonplace. The merciless violence during the Bosnian War was not accidental. The Balkans have always been considered the explosive barrel of Europe. The nation-states here were short-lived. The multinational population tried to live within the framework of empires, but this option of “respectable neighborhood” was eventually swept aside after the fall of communism. Mutual grievances and claims have accumulated for hundreds of years.
Unclear prospects
The complete blockade of Sarajevo began in the summer of 1993, when the Serbian army managed to complete Operation Lugavac 93. It was a planned attack, which was organized by Ratko Mladic (today he is tried by an international tribunal). During the operation, the Serbs occupied the strategically important passes leading to Sarajevo. The surroundings 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. The army then turned west. The Bosnian War, in short, consisted of many small maneuvers by warring armed factions. 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 given to understand that if they refused to retreat, NATO airstrikes would await them. Karadzic gave up under such pressure. On August 5, 1993, the Serbs left Igman, although the rest of the acquisitions in Bosnia remained with them. Peacekeepers from France took their place on a strategically important mountain.
Bosnian split
Meanwhile, an internal split occurred in the camp of the Bosnians. Some Muslims advocated the preservation of a unitary state. Politician Firet Abdić and his supporters took the opposite 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, Abdic announced the creation of Western Bosnia in the city of Velika Kladusa. It was another unrecognized republic that opposed the government of Izetbegovic in Sarajevo. Abdić became an ally of the Republika Srpska.
Western Bosnia is a prime example of the ever new short-lived political entities that the Bosnian War (1992-1995) spawned. The reasons for this variegation were the huge number of contradictoryinterests. Western Bosnia lasted two years. Its territory was occupied during operations "Tiger 94" and "Storm". In the first case, the Bosnians themselves came out against Abdić.
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 Izetbegovic's government troops. The main battles took place in the Krajina region. An indirect result of Operation Storm was the flight of about 250,000 Serbs from the border Croatian-Bosnian settlements. These people were born and raised in Krajina. Although there was nothing unusual in this emigrant flow. Many were removed from their homes by the Bosnian war. The simple explanation for this population turnover is as follows: the conflict could not end without the definition of clear ethnic and confessional boundaries, so all small diasporas and enclaves were systematically destroyed during the war. The division of the territory affected the Serbs, Bosnians, and Croats.
Genocide and Tribunal
War crimes were committed by both Bosnians and Serbs with Croats. Both of them explained their atrocities as revenge for their compatriots. The Bosnians created groups of "pouchers" to terrorize the Serbian civilian population. They raided peaceful Slavic villages.
The massacre in Srebrenica was the worst Serbian crime. By decision of the UN, in 1993 this city and its surroundings were declared a security zone. Muslim refugees flocked there from all regions of Bosnia. In July 1995, Serbs captured Srebrenica. They perpetrated a massacre in the city, killing, according to various estimates, about 8 thousand peaceful Muslim residents - children, women and the elderly. Today, all over the world, the Bosnian War of 92-95. best known for this inhuman episode.
The massacre in Srebrenica 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 for which the Bosnian War is known. The photo of the convict again spread throughout the 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 secret false name in Belgrade.
International military intervention
Every year the Serbian-Bosnian war with the participation of the Croats became more and more chaotic and confusing. It became clear that neither side of the conflict would achieve its goals through bloodshed. In this situation, the US authorities began to take an active part in the negotiation process. The first step towards resolving the conflict was a treaty that ended the war between Croats and Bosniaks. The relevant papers were signed in March 1994 in Vienna and Washington. The 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 got into foreignpress, shocked the West, but in the Balkans it was perceived as commonplace. Under these conditions, the NATO bloc took the initiative into its own hands. The Americans and their allies, with the support of the UN, 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 push back the Serbs in strategically important regions on the Ozren plateau and in Western Bosnia. The main outcome of NATO intervention was the lifting of the siege of Sarajevo, which lasted several years. After that, the Serbian-Bosnian war came to an end. All sides of the conflict were bled. There is no entire residential, military and industrial infrastructure left on the territory of the state.
Dayton Accords
The final negotiations between the opponents began on neutral territory. A future ceasefire agreement was agreed upon at the American military base in Dayton. The formal signing of the papers took place at the Elysee Palace in Paris on December 14, 1995. Bosnian President Aliya Izetbegovic, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman were the main actors of the ceremony. Preliminary talks were held under the patronage of the 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. Internal borders were drawn in such a way that each subject got an equal part of the territorycountries. In addition, a NATO peacekeeping contingent was sent to Bosnia. These armed forces have become the guarantor of maintaining peace in particularly tense regions.
The violence during the Bosnian War was hotly debated. Documentary evidence of war crimes was transferred to the international tribunal, which is still working today. It judges both ordinary perpetrators and the direct initiators of atrocities "above". Politicians and the military, who organized the genocide of civilians, were removed from power.
According to the official version, the causes of the Bosnian war were the 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 war-scale violence has finally come to an end there. It was a success of international diplomacy (though belated). The Bosnian war and the violence that it caused left a colossal imprint on the fate of the local population. Today there is not a single Bosnian or Serb whose family has not been affected by the inherently terrible conflict of twenty years ago.
