What countries did Yugoslavia break up into? Countries that were part of Yugoslavia
The city was divided into three parts: the Muslims dug in in the center, under the mosques, the Croats - on the outskirts, closer to their church, the Serbs broke through from the river. There were corpses lying all over the place. It was impossible to walk without stepping on someone's hand or foot; blood flooded the entire pavement. They killed women, children, and old people in a row simply because some were baptized and others prayed to Allah. Not a single intact building remained - they either burned or collapsed. The old bridge was blown up and fell into the water.
"We were swimming in blood"
Taxi driver Aziz takes me through Mostar, a city in Bosnia, on its streets in 1992-1995. former citizens of the former Yugoslavia fought for every block. Some of the houses have been restored (the “Gift of the European Union” signs have been screwed in), but those that are away from the tourist paths still bear traces of bullets and shrapnel on the walls. The bridge was also restored, and now it is like new. Aziz points to the window from where he shot his Croatian neighbor.But I didn't get it. He is more skilled and has a good machine gun. He wounded me in the shoulder.
Why did you shoot at him in the first place? Was the relationship bad?
Why? Great guy, we drank vodka together. It’s just, you know, we used to be Yugoslavs, and then somehow suddenly we started dividing the country. And yesterday's neighbor is the enemy. Believe it or not, I myself don’t understand why we suddenly grabbed knives to cut each other.
...Now Aziz drinks vodka in the evenings again - with the same neighbor who once successfully put a bullet in him. Both try not to remember the past. It should be noted that in the former Yugoslavia they generally do not like to talk about the war. Not a single person could clearly explain to me the reason why he went to kill his neighbors, friends, acquaintances who always lived next to him, side by side. Muslims against Serbs and Croats. Croats against Serbs and Muslims. Serbs against everyone. “We were swimming in blood and couldn’t stop,” the Croatian tells me Stanko Milanovic. “It was mass madness - we devoured human flesh like zombies.” During the fighting in ex-Yugoslavia, 250 thousand people died (out of a population of 20 million), 4 million fled abroad. The ex-capital Belgrade (along with dozens of other cities) was bombed by NATO aircraft, and Yugoslavia disintegrated into ten states: six “official” and four not recognized by anyone. A handful of weak dwarf countries are all that remains of a powerful power that fought against Hitler, who was not afraid to quarrel with Stalin and possessed an army of 600 thousand. Its greatness has turned to dust: some republics survive on beach tourism, others are begging and asking for money from the West, and NATO troops are comfortably stationed on the territory of Bosnia, Serbia and Macedonia.
"Russian? Get out from here!"
We were all running somewhere, he recalls. Maria Kraljic, owner of a cafe in the Bosnian city of Trebinje. - I lived in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and our house was set on fire. My husband and I jumped out the window - he was in shorts, I was in a dressing gown. They wanted to kill us just because we were Serbs. Now we are hiding here and it is clear that we will never return home again.
In Trebinje itself, the old center with Ottoman mosques is empty - the Serbs expelled Muslim residents from the city. Dubrovnik, where Maria fled, is now a luxurious seaside resort, with hotel prices higher than in Moscow. On the outskirts, far from tourists, lurk empty Serbian churches - smoked by fire, with broken windows, painted with graffiti. As soon as you point the camera, well-wishers appear: “Russian? It was you who supported the Serbs. Get out of here while you're still alive! This is not bad - in Kosovo, Orthodox churches are simply blown up. In the capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo, when in 1995 the city was divided into two parts, Serbian and Muslim, the Serbs went to “their” side, even taking the coffins of their fathers and grandfathers from cemeteries so that their bones would not be desecrated by infidels. The war ended, and the neighbors, who overnight became enemies, made peace with difficulty, but did not forgive each other for the massacre. Hell, where the flames have gone out, still remains hell... even if it is cool there now.
Can you tell me how to get to Bill Clinton Boulevard?
Yes, it’s in the very center...see that idol over there? Monument to a former lover Monica Lewinsky It's hard to miss in Pristina. Albanian separatists in Kosovo are extremely grateful to the US President for the decision to bomb Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999. Two million Serbs fled to the north of the republic and are huddled there in shabby houses. Walking down the street, we talk with the Montenegrin driver in a whisper: for speaking Serbian in Kosovo they can kill you - just like that, for no reason. The owner of the hotel in Pec looks at my passport with a double-headed eagle (the same one on the coat of arms of Serbia) and quietly says: “Even if you were the devil himself, I need guests. Move in, just don’t say anywhere that you’re Russian.”
...Perhaps the only thing that now unites the inhabitants of a country torn to shreds is a passionate love for its founder Marshal Josip Broz Tito. “We will never live as cool as we lived under Tito,” sighs the Albanian Hasan, driving me to the Serbian border guards checkpoint. “You never dreamed of this in the Soviet Union,” echoes the Bosnian Jasko. “It was a real paradise: shops are full of food, you can travel to Germany and France without a visa, there is almost no crime.” “In Europe we were respected, but now they consider us to be poor relatives,” the Croatian spits Stephen. “Tito was a great man.” According to polls, if the leader of Yugoslavia, who died in 1980, wished to become the head of state now, 65 (!) percent of the population would vote for him. But the dead are prohibited from running for president - and the country itself is already dead...
“The scenario for the collapse of Yugoslavia was also prepared for the USSR, and is now being planned for Russia.”
YUGOSLAVIA
(Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)
General information
Geographical position. Yugoslavia is located in the heart of the Balkan Peninsula. It borders Bosnia and Herzegovina in the west, Hungary in the north, Romania in the northeast, Bulgaria in the east, and Albania and Macedonia in the south. The new Yugoslavia includes the former socialist republics of Serbia and Montenegro.
Square. The territory of Yugoslavia occupies 102,173 square meters. km.
Main cities, administrative divisions. The capital is Belgrade. The largest cities: Belgrade (1,500 thousand people), Novi Sad (250 thousand people), Nis (230 thousand people), Pristina (210 thousand people) and Subotica (160 thousand people). Yugoslavia consists of two federal republics: Serbia and Montenegro. Serbia consists of two autonomous provinces: Vojvodina and Kosovo.
Political system
Yugoslavia is a federal republic. The head of state is the president. The legislative body is the Union Assembly consisting of 2 chambers (the Assembly of Republics and the Assembly of Citizens).
Relief. Most of the country is occupied by mountains and plateaus. The Pannonian Plain is washed by the Sava, Danube and Tisza rivers in the northeast. The interior of the country and the southern mountains belong to the Balkans, and the coast is called the “hand of the Alps.”
Geological structure and minerals. On the territory of Yugoslavia there are deposits of oil, gas, coal, copper, lead, gold, antimony, zinc, nickel, and chromium.
Climate. In the interior of the country the climate is more continental than on the Adriatic coast in Montenegro. The average temperature in Belgrade is around +17°C from May to September, around +13°C in April and October and around +7°C in March and November.
Inland waters. Most of the rivers flow in a northerly direction and empty into the Danube, which flows through Yugoslavia for 588 km.
Soils and vegetation. The plains are mostly cultivated, large areas in the intermountains and basins are occupied by gardens; on the mountain slopes there are coniferous, mixed and broad-leaved (mainly beech) forests; along the Adriatic coast - Mediterranean shrubby vegetation.
Animal world. The fauna of Yugoslavia is characterized by deer, chamois, fox, wild boar, lynx, bear, hare, as well as woodpecker, turtle dove, cuckoo, partridge, thrush, golden eagle, and vulture.
Population and language
About 11 million people live in Yugoslavia. Of these, 62% are Serbs, 16% are Albanians, 5% are Montenegrins, 3% are Hungarians, 3% are Slavic Muslims. Yugoslavia is also home to small groups of Croats, Roma, Slovaks, Macedonians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Turks and Ukrainians. Language is Serbian. Both Cyrillic and Latin alphabet are used.
Religion
Serbs have Orthodoxy, Hungarians have Catholicism, Albanians have Islam.
Brief historical sketch
The first inhabitants of this territory were the Illyrians. Follow them here in the 4th century. BC e. the Celts came.
The Roman conquest of what is now Serbia began in the 3rd century. BC BC, and under Emperor Augustus the empire expanded to Singidunum (now Belgrade), located on the Danube.
In 395 AD e. Theodosius I divided the empire and present-day Serbia became part of the Byzantine Empire.
In the middle of the 6th century, during the great migration of peoples, Slavic tribes (Serbs, Croats and Slovenes) crossed the Danube and occupied most of the Balkan Peninsula.
In 879, the Serbs converted to Orthodoxy.
In 969, Serbia separated from Byzantium and created an independent state.
The independent Kingdom of Serbia re-emerged in 1217 and, under the reign of Stefan Dusan (1346-1355), became a great and powerful power, comprising most of modern Albania and northern Greece with its borders. During this golden age of the Serbian state, numerous Orthodox monasteries and churches were built.
After the death of Stefan Dušan, Serbia began to decline.
The Battle of Kosovo on June 28, 1389 was the greatest tragedy in the history of the Serbian people. The Serbian army was defeated by the Turks under the leadership of Sultan Murad, and the country fell under Turkish oppression for as long as 500 years. This defeat became the main theme of folklore for many centuries, and the Serbian prince Lazar, who lost the battle, is still considered a national hero and great martyr.
The Serbs were driven to the north of the country, the Turks came to Bosnia in the 15th century, and the Republic of Venice completely occupied the Serbian coast. In 1526, the Turks defeated Hungary, annexing the territory in the north and west of the Danube.
After the defeat in Vienna in 1683, the Turks began to gradually retreat. In 1699 they were expelled from Hungary, and large numbers of Serbs moved north to the Vojvodina region.
Through diplomatic negotiations, the Sultan managed to regain northern Serbia for another century, but the uprising of 1815 led to the declaration of independence of the Serbian state in 1816.
Serbian autonomy was recognized in 1829, the last Turkish troops were withdrawn from the country in 1867, and in 1878, after the defeat of Turkey by Russia, complete independence was proclaimed.
Tension and national contradictions in the country began to grow after Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908. At that time, Serbia was supported by Russia.
In the First Balkan War (1912), Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria united in the fight against Turkey for the liberation of Macedonia. The Second Balkan War (1913) forced Serbia and Greece to unite their armies against Bulgaria, which assumed control of the province of Kosovo.
The First World War exacerbated these contradictions, as Austria-Hungary used the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 as justification for the seizure of Serbia. Russia and France sided with Serbia.
Winter 1915-1916 The defeated Serbian army retreated through the mountains into Montenegro on the Adriatic, from where it was evacuated to Greece. In 1918, the army returned to the country.
After World War I, Croatia, Slovenia and Vojvodina united with Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia into a single Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, headed by the King of Serbia. In 1929, the state began to call itself Yugoslavia. G
After the Nazi invasion in 1941, Yugoslavia was divided between Germany, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria. The Communist Party, led by Josip Broz Tito, launched a liberation struggle. After 1943, Great Britain began to support the communists. Partisans played a major role in the war and liberation of the country.
In 1945 Yugoslavia was completely liberated. It was proclaimed a federal republic and began to develop successfully as a socialist state in which “brotherhood and unity” (the slogan of the Yugoslav communists) reigned.
In 1991, the republics of Slovenia and Croatia decided to secede from the union Yugoslavia. This was the reason for the outbreak of hostilities, in which the UN then intervened.
In 1992, Yugoslavia broke up into several independent states: Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and New Yugoslavia, which included the former union republics of Serbia and Montenegro. Belgrade was again proclaimed the capital of the new state entity.
Brief Economic Sketch
Yugoslavia is an industrial-agrarian country. Extraction of lignite and brown coal, oil, copper, lead and zinc ores, uranium, bauxite. In the manufacturing industry, the leading place is occupied by mechanical engineering and metalworking (machine tool building, transport, including automobile, and agricultural engineering, electrical and radio-electronic industries). Non-ferrous (smelting of copper, lead, zinc, aluminum, etc.) and ferrous metallurgy, chemical, pharmaceutical, woodworking industries. The textile, leather and footwear, and food industries are developed. The main branch of agriculture is crop production. They grow cereals (mainly corn and wheat), sugar beets, sunflowers, hemp, tobacco, potatoes and vegetables. Fruit growing (Yugoslavia is the world's largest supplier of prunes), viticulture. Breeding cattle, pigs, sheep; poultry farming. Export of raw materials and semi-finished products, consumer and food products, machinery and industrial equipment.
The monetary unit is the Yugoslav dinar.
Brief sketch of culture
Art and architecture. At the beginning of the 19th century. Secular art began to take shape in Serbia (portraits of painters K. Ivanovic and J. Tominc). With the development of the educational and national liberation movement in Serbia in the middle of the 19th century. national historical and landscape painting appeared. Romantic features were combined in it with realistic tendencies (works by D. Avramovic, J. Krstic and J. Jaksic). In architecture, from the second half of the 19th century, ceremonial buildings in the spirit of European eclecticism began to spread (the University of Belgrade).
Belgrade. Kalemegdan Fortress - the largest museum in the city (Roman baths and wells, weapons exhibitions, two art galleries and a zoo, as well as the symbol of Belgrade - the “Victor” statue); Cathedral; the palace of Princess Ljubica, built in the Balkan style in 1831; Church of St. Sava is one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world, the construction of which has not yet been completed; Russian Church of Alexander Nevsky (Baron Wrangel is buried in the cemetery at the church); Orthodox Church of St. Brand (built from 1907 to 1932). Novi Sad. Petrovara-dinskaya fortress (1699-1780, the work of the French architect Vauban); Fruska Gora is a former island of the Pannonian Sea, and currently the National Park is one of the largest linden forests in Europe with 15 monasteries built from the 15th to the 18th centuries; Vojvodina Museum; Museum of the City of Novi Sad; Gallery of Matica Serbian; Gallery named after Pavel Belyansky; building of the Serbian National Theater (1981).
The science. P. Savich (b. 1909) - physicist and chemist, author of works on nuclear physics, low temperatures, high pressures.
Literature. J. Jakšić (1832-1878) - author of patriotic poems, lyric epic poems, as well as romantic dramas in verse (“Resettlement of the Serbs”, “Stanoye Glavaš”); R. Zogovich (1907-1986), Montenegrin poet, author of civil lyrics (collections “Fist”, “Stubborn Stanzas”, “Articulated Word”, “Personally, Very Personally”). The works of the Nobel laureate have gained worldwide fame
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) was formed in 1945 as a result of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany. Partisans of many nationalities and peoples, who later became part of the new state, made a great contribution to this on their own soil. It is worth recalling that the liberation army, merciless to the fascists, under the leadership of the only Marshal (1943) Josip Broz Tito, the permanent leader of Yugoslavia until his death in 1980, was radically different from the French Resistance, the importance of which is greatly exaggerated, including in order to taste delicious France, which fed and in every possible way appeased the German occupiers, at the end of the Second World War, France suddenly miraculously, incomprehensibly entered the close circle of victorious countries, becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council with the right of veto (!) along with the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition - Great Britain, the USA, really, seriously , who fought hard with the Japanese Empire and China. What states did Yugoslavia break up into? Some of the answers to this difficult question can be found if we remember how it was created.
Words from the poem by A.S. Pushkin’s “Poltava” fully reflects what socialist Yugoslavia was like, created, directed and “wisely” led by the country’s Communist Party.
The peoples and nationalities that were part of it were too different - Serbs, related Montenegrins, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Bosnians, Albanians, as well as Slovaks, Hungarians, Romanians, Turks. Some were Orthodox Christians, others were Catholics, others professed Islam, and others did not believe in anything or anyone. For the majority, the native language was the Cyrillic alphabet, and for the rest - the Latin alphabet.
The SFRY included six socialist republics:
- Serbia. Leader of a united Yugoslavia, including because 40% of the population of the new state were ethnic Serbs. By the end of the country's existence in 1991, other members of the Federation no longer liked this very much. Conflicts and strife began in the country over any even slightly significant issue.
- Croatia.
- Slovenia.
- Montenegro.
- Macedonia.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- And also two autonomous regions - Kosovo and Vojvodina, where the first was mainly inhabited by Albanians, and the second by Hungarians.
During the years of Yugoslavia's existence (1945–1991), its population grew from 15.77 to 23.53 million people. It must be said that ethnic and religious strife became one of the main reasons for the disintegration of a single country into separate, independent states. A clear example: basically, only children from mixed marriages, who in 1981 made up 5.4% of the total population of the SFRY, officially recognized and defined themselves as Yugoslavs, in contrast to the remaining 94.6% of citizens.
For many years, the SFRY was, along with the GDR, the leader of the socialist part of Europe, often called the Eastern, both geographically and figuratively, opposed to the Western, led by the Federal Republic of Germany, and other US satellites. The economy and standard of living in Yugoslavia and the GDR compared favorably with most countries that were part of the socialist “European Union”, united under the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the military Warsaw Pact. The army of Yugoslavia was a well-armed, trained formidable force, reaching a maximum of 600 thousand soldiers and officers during the country's existence.
The general economic and ideological decline, later called stagnation, that struck the Soviet Union and other countries of the socialist camp could not bypass Yugoslavia. All the problems kept under the shadow of a rigid state (interethnic, economic, ideological) broke free in 1990, when nationalists came to power as a result of local elections throughout the country. Centrifugal forces, destroying state and ideological foundations, successfully fueled by the West, began to rapidly gain momentum.
This multinational, multi-religious state (Orthodox, Catholics, Muslims) could not resist collapse in 1991. However, to our great regret, at the same time as our “big brother” – the Soviet Union. The most daring, long-awaited aspirations of the enemies of the Slavic world came true. Fortunately, the fate of the SFRY did not befall the RSFSR, from which modern Russia was reborn, a worthy successor to the power of the USSR and the Russian Empire.
From one SFRY initially six independent states emerged:
With the withdrawal of Montenegro from Lesser Yugoslavia, the successor union state and the last territorial remnant of the SFRY, in early 2006, the former Yugoslavia finally ceased to exist.
Later in 2008, after years of armed conflict between Serbs and ethnic Albanians, Kosovo seceded as an autonomous region within Serbia. This became largely possible as a result of arrogant, unprincipled pressure on Serbia, starting in 1999 during the war in Kosovo, accompanied by “high-precision” bombing of Yugoslavia, including Belgrade, by NATO led by the United States, which was the first to recognize an absolutely illegitimate state formation. on par with the extremely democratic but duplicitous European Union.
This example, as well as the situation with the armed pro-fascist seizure of power in Ukraine, inspired by, the friendly non-recognition of Crimea as part of the Russian Federation, the introduction of economic sanctions against our country clearly showed the rest of the world how convenient it is to be, in every sense, a tolerant “common” European or North American , with an externally customizable, selective worldview.
The answer to the question "What states did Yugoslavia break up into?" simple and complex at the same time. After all, behind it lie the fates of millions of Slavic brothers whom Russia, torn apart by its own problems, was unable to help in its time.
Yugoslavia has long been a significant and important state on the world stage: developed economy and industry, especially the production of weapons, cars and chemicals; a huge army, the number of which exceeded 600 thousand soldiers... But the internal strife and conflicts that tormented the country reached their apogee in the 90s of the last century and led to the collapse of Yugoslavia. Today all schoolchildren who study history know which states it was divided into. These are Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Kosovo, a partially recognized power.
At the origins
Yugoslavia was once the largest state. The peoples living on these lands had very different customs and traditions, culture and even religion. But, despite this, they all lived in the same country: Catholics and Orthodox, those who wrote in Latin and those who wrote in Cyrillic.
Yugoslavia has always been a tasty morsel for many conquerors. Thus, Hungary captured Croatia back in the 12th century. Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of the Ottoman Empire, and many residents of these lands were forced to convert to Islam. And only Montenegro remained free and independent for a long time. Over time, the Turkish state lost its influence and power, so Austria took possession of the Yugoslav territories that previously belonged to the Ottomans. Only in the 19th century did Serbia manage to be reborn as an independent state.
It was this country that united all the scattered Balkan lands. The King of Serbia became the ruler of the Croats, Slovenes and other Yugoslav peoples. One of the monarchs, Alexander I, organized a coup in 1929 and gave the state a new name - Yugoslavia, which translates as “land of the southern Slavs.”
Federal Republic
The history of Yugoslavia in the 20th century took shape against the backdrop of world wars. During World War II, a powerful anti-fascist movement was created here. The communists organized a partisan underground. But after the victory over Hitler, Yugoslavia never became part of the Soviet Union as expected. It remained free, but there was only one leading party - the communist one.
At the beginning of 1946, a constitution was adopted here, which marked the creation of the new Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. It consisted of six independent units. Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as two autonomous provinces - Kosovo and Vojvodina - formed a new power. What countries would Yugoslavia break up into in the future? It is these small and original republics, among which Serbia has always been the leader. Its inhabitants constituted the largest ethnic group: almost 40% of all Yugoslavia. It is logical that other members of the federation did not like this much, and conflicts and strife began within the state.
Beginning of the End
Tensions between different ethnic groups are the main reason Yugoslavia fell apart. To which states did the leaders of the uprisings direct their discontent and aggression? First of all, to northwestern Croatia and Slovenia, which flourished and seemed to tease poorer peoples with their high standard of living. Anger and tension among the masses grew. The Yugoslavs stopped considering themselves a single people, despite the fact that they had lived side by side for 60 years.
In 1980, the leader of the communists, Marshal Tito, died. After this, the Chairman of the Presidium was elected every year in May from among the candidates submitted by each republic. Despite this equality, people still remained dissatisfied and dissatisfied. Since 1988, the standard of living of all residents of Yugoslavia has sharply deteriorated, production began to decline, and instead inflation and unemployment flourished. The country's leaders, led by Mikulic, resigned, Slovenia wanted full sovereignty, and nationalist sentiments tore Kosovo apart. These events were the beginning of the end and led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia. What states it was divided into is demonstrated by the current world map, where such independent countries as Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina are clearly identified.
Slobodan Milosevic
This active leader came to power in 1988, at the peak of civil strife. He primarily directed his policy towards returning under the wing of the federal and Vojvodina. And although there were very few ethnic Serbs in these lands, many residents of the country supported him. Milosevic's actions only made the situation worse. Whether he wanted to create a powerful Serbian state or simply took advantage of internal conflicts to take a warm government seat, no one knows. But in the end, Yugoslavia fell apart. Today even children know which states it was divided into. The history of the Balkan Peninsula is given more than one paragraph in textbooks.
In 1989, the economy and politics in the FPRY experienced a rapid decline. Ante Marković, the new prime minister, tried to introduce a number of reforms, but it was too late. Inflation reached 1000%, the country's debt to other states grew to $21 billion. Against this background, Serbia adopted a new constitution that deprived Vojvodina and Kosovo of autonomy. Slovenia, meanwhile, entered into an alliance with Croatia.
Introduction of a multi-party system
The history of Yugoslavia as a single indivisible state ends in the early 1990s. In those years, they were still trying to save the country from collapse: the communists decided to share power with other parties that would be freely and independently chosen by the people. The expression of will was held in 1990. Milosevic's Communist Party won the lion's share of the votes, but complete victory could only be said in Montenegro and Serbia.
At the same time, debates were raging in other regions. Kosovo resisted harsh measures taken to quell Albanian nationalism. In Croatia, the Serbs decided to create their own autonomy. But the biggest blow was the announcement of independence by little Slovenia, for which the local population voted in a referendum. After this, the FPRY began to burst at the seams. What countries did Yugoslavia break up into? In addition to Slovenia, Macedonia and Croatia also quickly separated, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina. Over time, Montenegro and Serbia became separate states, which until the last supported the integrity of the Balkan power.
War in Yugoslavia
The FRN government has long tried to preserve the once powerful and wealthy country. Troops were sent to Croatia to eliminate the riots that arose there amid the struggle for independence. The history of the collapse of Yugoslavia began precisely from this region, and also from Slovenia - these two republics were the first to rebel. During the years of hostilities, tens of thousands of people were killed here, hundreds of thousands lost their homes forever.
Further violence erupted in Bosnia and Kosovo. The blood of innocent people has been shed here almost every day for almost a decade. For a long time, neither the ruling authorities nor the peacekeeping troops sent here by the West could cut the so-called Yugoslav knot. Subsequently, NATO and the European Union already waged war on Milosevic himself, exposing his massacres of civilians and atrocities against prisoners of war in camps. As a result, he was court-martialed.
How many countries did Yugoslavia break up into? After many years of confrontation, instead of one power, six were formed on the world map. These are Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is also Kosovo, but not all countries have recognized its independence. Among those who did this first were the European Union and the United States.
Yugoslavia - history, collapse, war.
Events in Yugoslavia in the early 1990s shocked the whole world. The horrors of civil war, the atrocities of “national cleansing”, genocide, mass flight from the country - since 1945, Europe has not seen anything like it.
Until 1991, Yugoslavia was the largest state in the Balkans. Historically, the country has been home to people of many nationalities, and differences between ethnic groups have increased over time. Thus, the Slovenes and Croats in the northwestern part of the country became Catholics and USED the Latin alphabet, while the Serbs and Montenegrins who lived closer to the south. accepted the Orthodox faith and used the Cyrillic alphabet for writing.
These lands attracted many conquerors. Croatia was captured by Hungary. 2 subsequently became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; Serbia, like most of the Balkans, was annexed to the Ottoman Empire, and only Montenegro was able to defend its independence. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, due to political and religious factors, many residents converted to Islam.
When the Ottoman Empire began to lose its former power, Austria captured Bosnia and Herzegovina, thereby expanding its influence in the Balkans. In 1882, Serbia was reborn as an independent state: the desire to free the Slavic brothers from the yoke of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy united many Serbs.
Federal Republic
On January 31, 1946, the Constitution of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY) was adopted, which established its federal structure consisting of six republics - Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro, as well as two autonomous (self-governing) regions - Vojvodina and Kosovo.
Serbs made up the largest ethnic group in Yugoslavia with 36% of the inhabitants. They inhabited not only Serbia, nearby Montenegro and Vojvodina: many Serbs also lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo. In addition to the Serbs, the country was inhabited by Slovenes, Croats, Macedonians, Albanians (in Kosovo), a national minority of Hungarians in the Vojvodina region, as well as many other small ethnic groups. Fairly or not, representatives of other national groups believed that the Serbs were trying to gain power over the entire country.
Beginning of the End
National issues in socialist Yugoslavia were considered a relic of the past. However, one of the most serious internal problems has been tensions between different ethnic groups. The northwestern republics - Slovenia and Croatia - prospered, while the standard of living of the southeastern republics left much to be desired. Massive indignation was growing in the country - a sign that the Yugoslavs did not at all consider themselves a single people, despite 60 years of existence within one power.
In 1990, in response to events in Central and Eastern Europe, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia decided to introduce a multi-party system in the country. In the 1990 elections, Milosevic's socialist (formerly communist) party won large numbers of votes in many regions, but achieved a decisive victory only in Serbia and Montenegro.
There were heated debates in other regions. Tough measures aimed at crushing Albanian nationalism met with decisive resistance in Kosovo. In Croatia, the Serb minority (12% of the population) held a referendum in which it was decided to achieve autonomy; Frequent clashes with the Croats led to a rebellion among the local Serbs. The biggest blow for the Yugoslav state was the referendum in December 1990, which declared the independence of Slovenia.
Of all the republics, only Serbia and Montenegro now sought to maintain a strong, relatively centralized state; in addition, they had an impressive advantage - the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), which could become a trump card during future debates.
Yugoslav War
In 1991, the SFRY disintegrated. In May, Croats voted to secede from Yugoslavia, and on June 25, Slovenia and Croatia officially declared their independence. There were battles in Slovenia, but the federal positions were not strong enough, and soon the JNA troops were withdrawn from the territory of the former republic.
The Yugoslav army also acted against the rebels in Croatia; in the war that broke out, thousands of people were killed, hundreds of thousands were forced to leave their homes. All attempts by the European community and the UN to force the parties to cease fire in Croatia were in vain. The West was initially reluctant to watch the collapse of Yugoslavia, but soon began to condemn the “Great Serbian ambitions.”
The Serbs and Montenegrins accepted the inevitable split and proclaimed the creation of a new state - the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The hostilities in Croatia were over, although the conflict was not over. A new nightmare began when national tensions in Bosnia worsened.
UN peacekeeping forces were sent to Bosnia, and with varying degrees of success they succeeded in stopping the massacre, easing the fate of the besieged and starving population, and creating “safe zones” for Muslims. In August 1992, the world was shocked by revelations of the brutal treatment of people in prison camps. The United States and other countries openly accused the Serbs of genocide and war crimes, but still did not allow their troops to intervene in the conflict; later, however, it turned out that not only the Serbs were involved in the atrocities of that time.
Threats of UN air attacks forced the JNA to surrender its position and end the siege of Sarajevo, but it was clear that peacekeeping efforts to preserve multi-ethnic Bosnia had failed.
In 1996, a number of opposition parties formed a coalition called Unity, which soon organized mass demonstrations against the ruling regime in Belgrade and other major cities in Yugoslavia. However, in the elections held in the summer of 1997, Milosevic was again elected president of the FRY.
After fruitless negotiations between the government of the FRY and the Albanian leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (blood was still shed in this conflict), NATO announced an ultimatum to Milosevic. Starting from the end of March 1999, missile and bomb attacks began to be carried out almost every night on the territory of Yugoslavia; they ended only on June 10, after representatives of the FRY and NATO signed an agreement on the deployment of international security forces (KFOR) to Kosovo.
Among the refugees who left Kosovo during the hostilities, there were approximately 350 thousand people of non-Albanian nationality. Many of them settled in Serbia, where the total number of displaced people reached 800 thousand, and the number of people who lost their jobs reached about 500 thousand people.
In 2000, parliamentary and presidential elections were held in the FRY and local elections in Serbia and Kosovo. Opposition parties nominated a single candidate - the leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia, Vojislav Kostunica - for the presidency. On September 24, he won the elections with more than 50% of the votes (Milosevic - only 37%). In the summer of 2001, the former president of the FRY was extradited to the International Tribunal in The Hague as a war criminal.
On March 14, 2002, through the mediation of the European Union, an agreement was signed on the creation of a new state - Serbia and Montenegro (Vojvodina had recently become autonomous). However, interethnic relations are still too fragile, and the internal political and economic situation in the country is unstable. In the summer of 2001, shots were fired again: Kosovo militants became more active, and this gradually developed into an open conflict between Albanian Kosovo and Macedonia, which lasted about a year. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who authorized the transfer of Milosevic to the tribunal, was killed by a sniper rifle shot on March 12, 2003. Apparently, the “Balkan knot” will not be untangled anytime soon.
In 2006, Montenegro finally separated from Serbia and became an independent state. The European Union and the United States made an unprecedented decision and recognized the independence of Kosovo as a sovereign state.
