BREAKUP OF YUGOSLAVIA
Jan 19, 2016
BREAKUP OF YUGOSLAVIA
Former Yugoslavia
Creation• Yugoslavia was first formed as a kingdom in 1918 and
then recreated as a Socialist state in 1945 after the Axis powers were defeated in World War II.
• The constitution established six constituent republics in the federation: Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. Serbia also had two autonomous provinces: Kosovo and Vojvodina.
Background Info
• Serbia – mainly Orthodox Christian population• Croatia – mainly Catholic population• Bosnia – mixed Muslim, Serb, and Croat population
Timeline• 1945-1980 - Josip Tito ruled as a charismatic leader of
Yugoslavia employing his own brand of communism (separate from Stalin’s)
Timeline• 1980-1991 - Yugoslavia had a
rotating Presidency headed by a leader of one of the regions
• Late 1980s - Slobodan Milosevic came to power pushing for Serbian nationalism
Slovene/Catholic 91%Croat/Catholic 3%Serb/E Ortho 2%
Croat/Catholic 78%Serb/E Ortho 12%
Serb/ E Ortho 63%Montenegrin/ E Ortho 6%Albanian/Muslim 14%Hungarian/Catholic 4%
Muslims (43.7%)Croats/Catholic (17.3%) Serbs/E Ortho (31.4 %)
66% Macedonian/E Ortho23% Albanian/Muslim2% Serb/E Ortho4% Turk/Muslim
Patterns of Ethnic Settlement
Facilitated the Conflict and Break-up
Bosnia: 40% ofurban couplesethnically mixed
Slovenia• 1991 - broke away from Yugo. (short war)
Croatia• 1992 - Croatia broke away from Yugo. (bloody war)
Bosnia-Herzegovina• 1992 - Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence from
Yugo.
Ethnic Cleansing• Serbs began a campaign of ethnic cleansing against
mainly Bosnian Muslims• (concentration camps, mass murder, mass rapes – to
eradicate Muslims from parts of Bosnia)
Timeline• 1995 - Dayton Accords – tenuous peace agreement for
Bosnia
Serbia and Montenegro• Yugoslavia disappeared from the map of Europe, after 83
years of existence, to be replaced by a looser union called simply Serbia and Montenegro, after the two remaining republics.
Montenegro• Declared independence in 2006
Kosovo• In 2008 declared itself an independent state. • Serbia and a number of other countries do not recognize the secession of Kosovo and consider it a UN-governed entity within its sovereign territory.