Croatian War of Independence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Croatian War of Independence (Croatian: Domovinski rat (Homeland war), Serbian: Рат у Хрватској or Rat u Hrvatskoj (War in Croatia)), was a war in Croatia from 1991 to 1995, between the Croatian government and enclaves of rebelled Croatian Serbs, who were backed by the Serb-led Yugoslav People's Army. The Croatian side aimed to establish sovereignty for the Republic of Croatia, previously a socialist republic in Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, Croatia's Serbs, incited from nationalist circles in Serbia, wanted to stay in Yugoslavia, effectively seeking new boundaries in those parts of Croatia with a Serb majority or with an influential Serbian minority. The war was striking for its brutality in a relatively developed society in Europe, and in modern times.
[edit] Background - dissent throughout Yugoslavia
The war in Croatia resulted from the dissolution of Yugoslavia, and the rise of nationalism. A crisis emerged in Yugoslavia with the weakening of the communist states in Eastern Europe towards the end of the Cold War, as symbolised by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. In Yugoslavia, the national communist party, officially called Alliance or the League of Communists, had lost its ideological potency.
In the 1980s, Albanian secessionist movements in Kosovo lead to severe repression of the Albanian majority in Serbia's southern province. The more prosperous republics of Slovenia and Croatia wanted to move increasingly towards decentralisation and democracy. In contrast, Serbia, headed by Milošević, still adhered to centralism and one party rule through the Yugoslav Communist Party, and even more to expansion of Serbia. Milošević effectively ended autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina autonomous regions,
At the same time, Yugoslav Peoples Army undergo transformation to Serb controlled and dominated force. Also, army command regions where changed to enable easier command in future wars (with 1st command region with HQ in Belgrade, closely resembling desirable future borders of "Greater Serbia")
Slobodan Milošević's rise to power in Serbia and his rhetoric in favour of the unity of all Serbs was met with nationalist movements in other republics. This was especially seen at first in Croatia and Slovenia. These Republics began to seek greater autonomy within the Federation, including confederative status and even full independence. Nationalism grew even within the ranks of the still-ruling League of Communists.
[edit] 1989 The ascent of Serbia
In March 1989, the crisis in Yugoslavia deepened after the adoption of amendments to the Serbian constitution. This allowed the Serbian republic's government to re-assert effective power over the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. Until this point, their decision making was independent. Each also had a vote on the Yugoslav federal presidency level (6 members from republics + 2 members from autonomous provinces) [1]. Serbia, under president Slobodan Milošević, thus gained control over three out of eight votes in the Yugoslav presidency. With additional votes from Montenegro and, occasionally, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia was thus able to heavily influence decisions of the federal government. This situation led to objections in other republics and calls for reform of the Yugoslav Federation.
[edit] 1990 Electoral and constitutional moves
The weakening of the communist regime allowed nationalism to spread its political presence, even within the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (CY). In January 1990, the League of Communists broke up on the lines of the individual republics. At the 14th Extraordinary Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, on January 20th, 1990, the delegations of the republics could not agree on the main issues in the Yugoslav federation. The Croatian delegation demanded a looser federation, while the Serbian delegation, headed by Milošević, opposed this. As a result, the Slovenian and Croatian delegates left the Congress. This is considered by some to be the beginning of the end of Yugoslavia.
The first free elections were then scheduled a few months later in Croatia and Slovenia. The elections in Croatia were held in April/May, the first round on April 22nd and the second round on May 6th.
During 1989 a number of political parties had been founded, among them the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ - Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica), led by Croatian nationalist Franjo Tuđman. The HDZ based its campaign on an aspiration to independence and on a general anti-Yugoslav rhetoric, fueling the sentiment of Croats that only the HDZ could protect Croatia from the aspirations of Serbian elements led by Slobodan Milošević towards a Greater Serbia. It topped the poll in the elections (followed by Ivica Račan's reformed communists) and formed a new Croatian Government.
An important factor to Croatia preserving its pre-war borders was the financial support of the Croatian diaspora. Many future HDZ politicians, including Tuđman, made trips abroad in the late 1980s and early 1990s in order to garner support from emigrants for the Croatian national cause. However, these early contacts with the Croatian diaspora had already been interpreted by some conservative communist politicians (mostly Serbs) as separatist. This sentiment was further fuelled by some HDZ members' controversial statements.
On May 30, 1990, the new Croatian Parliament held its first session, and President Tuđman announced his plan for a new Constitution (ratified at year-end - see below) and a multitude of political, economic and social changes, notably to what extent minority rights (mainly for Serbs and Bosniaks), would be guaranteed. Local Serb politicians opposed the new Constitution, as they felt that the local Serb population would be threatened. Their prime concern was that a new constitution would changed the status of Serbs in Croatia to a 'national minority' rather than a 'constituent nation'. This indeed happened once the Constitution was passed by year-end.
In August 1990, an unrecognised referendum was held in regions with a substantial Serb population (which would later become known as the Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK)) (bordering western Bosnia and Herzegovina) on the question of Serb "sovereignty and autonomy" in Croatia. This was to counter the changes of constitution. The Croatian government tried to block the referendum by sending police forces to rebelling police stations in Serb populated areas to seize their weapons. Among other incidents, local Serbs from southern hinterland Croatia, mostly around the city of Knin, blocked the roads to the tourist destinations in Dalmatia. This incident is known as the "Log revolution". The Croatian government responded by sending special police helicopters, but they were intercepted by Yugoslav Army fighter jets and forced to turn back to Zagreb.
The Serbs within Croatia did not initially seek independence for their area in 1989 and early 1990. Some say tensions had not sufficiently built up by then, others say it was because the Serbian government, led by Milošević, had told them to wait (as part of a supposed grand plan for a "Greater Serbia"). Then on September 30th, 1990, the Serbian National Council declared "the autonomy of the Serbian people on ethnic and historic territories on which they live and which are within the current boundaries of the Republic of Croatia as a federal unit of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia".
Following Tuđman's election and the perception of a threat from a new constitution, Serb nationalists in the Kninska Krajina region began taking armed action against Croatian government officials. Many were forcibly expelled or excluded from the area RSK. Croatian government property throughout the region was increasingly controlled by local Serb municipalities or the newly established "Serbian National Council". This would later become the government of the breakaway Republic of Serbian Krajina. It was led by Milan Babić, who later would be convicted for war crimes and would openly show remorse for his role (and testify against other Serb leaders).
On December 22nd, 1990, the Parliament of Croatia ratified the new constitution, changing the status of Serbs in Croatia to a 'national minority' from a 'constituent nation'. The percentage of those declaring themselves as Serbs, according to the 1991 census, was 12% (78% of the population declared themselves as Croat). This was read as taking away some of the rights from the Serbs granted by the previous Socialist constitution, thereby fuelling extremism among the Serbs of Croatia.
Consequently, many Serbs began to lose their government jobs in Croatia, particularly after the ratification of the new constitution. This further escalated tensions.[2][3]
Furthermore, Slovenia was also well into its own process towards independence. On December 23rd, 1990 — one day after the new Croat Constitution was passed — Slovenia held a referendum on independence. This passed with 88% of the vote.
Immediately after the Slovenian referendum and the new Croat constitution, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) announced that a new defence doctrine would apply across the country. The Tito-era doctrine of "General People's Defence", in which each republic maintained a territorial defence force (Teritorijalna Obrana or TO), would henceforth be replaced by a centrally-directed system of defence. The republics would lose their role in defence matters and their TOs would be disarmed and subordinated to JNA headquarters in Belgrade.
[edit] 1991 Military forces
Yugoslav People's Army was initially formed during World War 2 under guerrilla warfare against Axis occupation. The success of the Partisan movement led to JNA basing much of it's operational strategy on guerrilla warfare. Due to the unique political stance of Yugoslavia in Europe, the strategic planners of the Army expected to face an attack by either NATO or Warsaw Pact forces. Expecting to be badly outmatched, JNA decided to pursue a guerrilla strategy, which would prove disastrous in the upcoming war, since the JNA found itself in a position of an attacker without local civilian support - the very role they intended for invaders of Yugoslavia.
Still, on paper, the JNA looked like a mighty force with 2000 tanks and 300 jet aircraft (all either Soviet or locally produced). However, by 1991, majority of this equipment was over 30 years old: the main T-54/55 tank and the MiG-21 aircraft made up 60% and 40% of the tank force and air-force respectively. By contrast, more modern cheap anti-tank (like AT-5) and anti-aircraft (like SA-14) RPGs (Rocket propelled grenade) were abundant, which were designed to destroy much more advanced weaponry. Furthermore, the JNA was a multinational force: the political infighting meant that desertion of men (especially educated cadre from Yugoslavia's more developed northern areas) would ruin the Army's effectiveness. With the retreat of the JNA forces in 1992, JNA units were reorganized as the Army of Serb Krajina, which was a direct heir to JNA organization with little improvement. During 1991, an important role in the Yugo/Serb military assault forces was filled by paramilitary units like Beli Orlovi, Srpski Četnički Pokret, etc.
By contrast to this force, the Croatian Army was in an even worse state. At the early stage of the war, lack of military units meant that Croatian police force would take much of the brunt of fighting - eventually the police would form the core of the new military force - initially named "Zbor Narodne Garde" (ZNG), later "Hrvatska Vojska" (HV) - that was formed in 1990, but not really developed until 1993. Weaponry was always lacking and many units were formed either unarmed or with WW2-era rifles. Croatian Army had just a handful of tanks (even older WW2 veterans like the T-34) and it's air-force was even worse: a few old Antonov An-2 biplane dust-croppers were converted to drop makeshift bombs. The army was, however, highly motivated, and was formed into local fighting units - so people from a village would defend their own village - which meant they were fairly effective in their home grounds. In August 1991, Croat Army had less than 20 brigades, which would grow to 60 by the end of the year through general mobilization which was called in October. Seizing of JNA's barracks in the Battle of the barracks would slightly aleviate the problem of equipment shortage. Local volunteers and organizations like HOS were formed early on to ease the problem of lack of units, but were later integrated into the regular army.
By 1995, Croatian Army would develop into an effective fighting force - arguably the best in the region - centered around elite "Guard Brigades" (eight) and less effective "Home Defence Regiments" and regular brigades. This organization meant that in later campaigns, Croatian army would pursue a variant of blitzkrieg with Guard brigades taking the role of punching holes in the enemy lines, while other units simply held the front and completed the encirclement of enemy units.
[edit] 1991 Preparations, followed by war
Ethnic hatred grew and various incidents fueled the propaganda machines, thereby causing even more hatred. The conflict soon escalated into armed incidents in the rebel-led areas. The Plitvice Lakes incident in late March 1991 was one of the more notable acts at the time.
In April 1991, the Serbs within Croatia began to make serious moves to secede from Croatia. It is a matter of debate to what extent this move was locally motivated and to what degree Milošević-led Serb government gave the push to self-declare. In any event, the Republic of Serbian Krajina was declared—which the Croatian government saw as a rebellion. This is often seen as the beginning of the so-called Croatian War of Independence. It started in areas that had a substantial Serb population.
The Croatian Ministry of the Interior consequently started arming an increasing amount of "special police" forces, and this led into the building of a real army. On April 9th, 1991, Croatian President Tuđman ordered the special police forces to be renamed Zbor Narodne Garde ("People's Guard"), marking the creation of a separate military of Croatia.
Meanwhile, the federal army, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and the local Territorial Defense remained led by the Serb-controlled Federal government. On occasion, the JNA sided with the local Croat Serb forces, intervening against the Croatian paramilitary police units.
On May 19 1991, Croatian authorities held a referendum on secession from Yugoslavia. Serb local authorities issued calls for a boycott, which were largely followed by Croatian Serbs, so the referendum was passed with 94.17% in favor. Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia on June 25th, 1991, but the European Commission urged them to place a three-month moratorium on the decision. Croatia thereby agreed to freeze its independence declaration for three months, helping to calm tensions a little.
One month after the declaration of independence, Serbian forces held about one third of the country, mostly those with a predominantly ethnic Serbian population. They had obvious superiority in weaponry and equipment. The military strategy of the Serbian forces partly consisted of extensive shelling, at times irrespective of civilians. As the war progressed, the cities of Dubrovnik, Šibenik, Zadar, Karlovac, Sisak, Slavonski Brod, Osijek, Vinkovci and Vukovar all came under attack by the Serbian forces.
The international community imposed a weapons embargo, which hardly affected JNA-backed Serb forces, but heavily hurt the young Croatian army. This led Croatian elements to start smuggling weapons over its borders. A large amounts of weapons came over the Hungarian border due to a secret agreement with the Hungarian government.
In June / July, the short armed conflict in Slovenia came to a speedy and fairly peaceful conclusion, partly because of the ethnic homogeneity of the Slovene population.
In August 1991, the border city of Vukovar came under siege - the Battle of Vukovar. Serbian troops eventually completely surrounded the city. The Croat defenders, the 204th Vukovar Brigade, entrenched themselves within Vukovar and held their ground against a large number of JNA's elite Armoured and Mechanized brigades, as well as many Serb paramilitary units. A certain number of ethnic Croatian civilians had taken shelter inside the city. Other elements of the civilian population fled the areas of armed conflict en masse: generally speaking, Croats moved away from the Bosnian and Serbian border, while the Serbs moved towards it.
There is evidence of extreme hardship imposed on the population at the time [4] . Some estimates include 220,000 Croats and 300,000 Serbs were internally displaced for the duration of the war in Croatia. However at the peak of fighting in late 1991, around 550,000 people temporarily became refugees on the Croatian side. The 1991 census data and the 1993 RSK data for the territory of Krajina differ by some 102,000 Serbs and 135,000 Croats. In many places, large amounts of civilians were forced out by the military. This was labelled as ethnic cleansing, a term whose meaning at the time ranged from eviction to cold murder. It was at this time that the term "ethnic cleansing" first entered the English lexicon.
President Tuđman made a speech on October 5, 1991 that called upon the whole population to mobilize and defend against what he deemed "Greater-Serbian imperialism" pursued by the JNA and Serbian paramilitary formations. On October 7th, an explosion occurred within the main government building in Zagreb while Tuđman, Mesić and Marković were present. The explosion destroyed several rooms of Banski Dvori, but failed to kill any of the leaders. The government claimed that it was caused by a JNA air raid. Apparently, the Croatian army received information from Bihać (BiH) JNA airfield the day before, about a top secret air mission being prepared for the next day, but these were not taken seriously due to lack of details [5]. The JNA denied the responsibility and in turn claimed that the explosion was set up by the Croatian government itself. It is claimed by some that the few embassies and consulates in Zagreb at the time had withdrawn some of their staff for that day—suggesting that there was prior information about a pending air attack or bomb. The next day, the Croatian Parliament cut off all remaining ties with Yugoslavia. October 8 is now called Independence day in Croatia.
The bombing of the government and the Siege of Dubrovnik that started in October were contributing factors to EU sanctions against Serbia.
The situation for Croats in Vukovar over October and early November became ever more desperate. Towards the end of the battle, an increasing number of Croat civilians in hospitals and shelters marked with a red cross were hit by Serb forces. As of 2006, three former Yugoslav army officers are on trial for a massacre at the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ICTY in The Hague[6]. Veselin Šljivančanin, Mile Mrkšić, and Miroslav Radić deny the charges of murder, torture, and persecution. Prosecutors say that after the capture of Vukovar, the Yugoslav Army (JNA) handed over several hundred Croats to rebel Serbian forces. Of these, at least 264 (including injured soldiers, women, children and the elderly) were murdered and buried in mass graves in the neighbourhood of Ovcara on the outskirts of Vukovar. The city's mayor Slavko Dokmanović was also brought to trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, but committed suicide in 1998 in captivity before proceedings began.
On November 18, 1991, Vukovar fell to the Serbs after a three-month siege. The town was almost completely destroyed. The sustained focus on a siege facilitated the attraction of heavy international media attention. Many international journalists were present at the time in or near Vukovar, as was the UN peace mediator, Cyrus Vance (former US President Carter's Secretary of State)[7]. Ironically this siege, despite its brutality, contributed to the beginning of a resolution to the war towards year-end (see below).
Allegedly, said the Croat authorities at the time, the Vukovar surrender was an attempt to prevent further devastation of Dubrovnik and other cities.
On December 19, 1991, during the heaviest fighting of the war, the Serbian Autonomous Regions in Krajina and western Slavonia officially declared themselves as the Republic of Serbian Krajina.
In six months, 10,000 people had died, hundreds of thousands had fled, and tens of thousands of homes had been destroyed.
In late 1991, all Croatian democratic parties gathered together to form a government of national unity and to confront the Yugoslav Army and Serbian paramilitaries.
Ceasefires were frequently signed, intermediated by foreign diplomats, but also frequently broken. This was part of the tactics on both sides. The Croatians lost much territory, but profited by being able to expand the Croatian Army—from the seven brigades it had at the time of the first cease-fire—to the 64 brigades it had at the time the last one was signed.
[edit] 1992 A ceasefire finally holds
The final UN-sponsored ceasefire, the twentieth one, came in January 1992. Already in December 1991, after this series of unsuccessful cease-fires, the United Nations deployed a protection force in Serbian-held Croatia. The United Nations Protection Force was deployed to supervise and maintain the agreement. 1992 January 7, Serb forces shot down a European Community helicopter in Croatia, killing five truce observers. Croatia was officially recognised by European community on 15 January 1992. The JNA, the federal army progressively to withdraw from Croatia—even Krajina—although Serb paramilitary groups clearly retained the upper hand in the newly occupied territories.
The warring parties mostly moved to entrenched positions as The Yugoslav People's Army soon retreated from Croatia into Bosnia and Herzegovina where war was just about to start.
Croatia became a member of the United Nations on May 22, 1992. This was conditional on Croatia having amended its constitution to protect minority groups and human rights.
Armed conflict in Croatia continued intermittently at a small scale. There were several smaller operations undertaken by the Croatian forces, most of them in order to relieve the Croatian cities (Šibenik, Zadar and Gospić) from Serb shelling attacks. A partial list includes:
- Operation Otkos 10, October 31 - November 4, 1991 - 300 km² in areas from mountain Bilogora to mountain Papuk (areas to the west of Slavonia)
- at the Miljevci plateau (between Krka and Drniš), June 21-22 1992
- in the Dubrovnik hinterland:
- at the Križ hill near Bibinje and Zadar
Also, Slavonski Brod and Županja were often shelled from Serb-held parts of Bosnia.
[edit] 1993 Further Croatian military advances
Intermittent armed conflict in Croatia continued in 1993 (at a smaller scale than in 1991). There were more successful operations by Croatian forces, to recover territory and relieve Croatian cities (e.g. Zadar and Gospić) from Serb shelling attacks.
In early 1993, there were three notable operations:
- at the hydroelectric dam Peruča, January 27-28, 1993
- Operation Maslenica, area around Maslenica, near Zadar, January 22 - February 10, 1993
- Operation Medak pocket, area near Gospić, September 9 - September 17, 1993
While most of these above operations were a relative success for the Croatian government, the unsuccessful Operation Medak pocket in 1993 damaged the international reputation of Croatia. This led the Croatian army to undertaking no offensive action during the subsequent 12 months. The ICTY later investigated Croatian officers Janko Bobetko, Rahim Ademi, Mirko Norac and others for the alleged crimes committed during this operation.
There were many UN resolutions that required Croatia to retreat to previous positions and that Croatia must restrain from military operations. Some Croat elements felt aggrieved, as no such resolutions had prevented the Serbian forces from attacking Croatia in the earlier stages of the war (when the disturbances were considered national, not international). In October 1993, the United Nations Security Council affirmed for the first time that the United Nations Protected Areas were an integral part of the Republic of Croatia.
The UNPROFOR troops mostly did nothing but observed during the 1992-1995 period. However they served to mark the borders set up by the war. They thereby failed to provide refugees with much chance of returning to their previous homes. Estimates of the effectiveness of the Krajina governments in removing its Croat population go as high as 98% of Croats that had been living in Krajina.
During 1992 and 1993, an estimated 225,000 Croats, including refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and others from Serbia settled in Croatia. A notable number of Bosniaks also fled to Croatia (which was the largest initial destination for Bosniaks). Croatian volunteers and some conscripted soldiers participated in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some of President Tuđman's closest associates, notably Gojko Šušak and Ivić Pašalić, were from Croat-dominated Herzegovina, and aimed to help the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, financially and otherwise.
During the same period, Croatia also accepted 280,000 Bosniak refugees from the Bosnian War. The large number of refugees was significantly straining Croatian economy and infrustructure. U.S. Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith tried to put the amount of Muslim refugees in Croatia into proper perspective in a interview on November 8, 1993. He said the situation would be the equivalent of the U.S.A. taking in 30,000,000 refugees. [8]
In 1993, the Croats and Bosniaks then turned against each other, just as each was fighting with the Bosnian Serbs. Franjo Tuđman participated in the peace talks between the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosniaks, which resulted in the Washington Agreement of 1994. This led to the dismantling of the statelet of Herzeg-Bosnia and reduced the number of warring parties in Bosnia to two.
[edit] 1994 Erosion of support for Krajina
In March 1994, the Krajina authorities signed a cease-fire.
In late 1994, the Croatian Army intervened several times in Bosnia: November 1-3 in the operation "Cincar" near Kupres, and November 29 - December 24 in the operation "Winter 94" near Dinara and Livno. These operations were undertaken in order to detract from the siege of the Bihać region and to approach RSK capital Knin from the north, de facto encircling it on three sides.
During this time, unsuccessful negotiations were under way between Croatian and RSK governments mediated by the UN. The disputes included opening the Serb-occupied part of the Zagreb-Slavonski Brod highway near Okučani to through traffic, as well as the putative status of majority Serbian areas within Croatia. Repeated failures on these two issues would serve as triggers for the two Croatian offensives in 1995.
[edit] 1995 End of one war, beginning of others
In early May 1995, violence again exploded. Krajina lost the support of Belgrade, partly in response to international pressure. At the same time, the Croatian army took back the whole of previously occupied territory in western Slavonia during Operation Flash. As retaliation, Serb forces attacked Zagreb with rockets, killing 7 and wounding over 175 civilians.
In August 1995, Croatia started Operation Storm and quickly overran most of the RSK, except for a small strip near the Serbian border. In just four days, approximately 150-200,000 Serbs fled, mostly to Serbia and Bosnia according to ICTY. According to Amnesty International, the operation led to the ethnic cleansing of over 200,000 Croatian Serbs. [9]. The BBC noted 200,000 Serb refugees at one point [10] [11]. The nature of this exodus is still disputed among Serbs and Croats: the former tend to claim the ethnic cleansing was planned by the Croatian government, while the latter pinpoint Tuđman's promise not to attack civilians and attribute the cases of killing of the Serb civilians that remained to revenge by groups and individuals outside of the Croatian Army's control. However the real number of refugees is difficult to establish because according to many sources the number od refugees exceeds the population that lived in these parts of Croatia. In support of this, they point to interviews conducted with American General Robert Brown, French philosopher Alain Finkelkraut and American writer Roy Gutman. These are said to have defended the Croat government by clarifying the extent of ethnic cleansing, and arguing that any war crimes or ethnic cleansing were committed outside of control by Croatian officials at the time. Later some Croatian officers were indicted for war crimes during operations at this time.
The Croatian army proceeded to fight Serbs in Bosnia alongside the Bosniaks, but further advances were prevented by U.S. diplomatic intervention. Had the Croat army occupied the second largest Bosnian town of Banja Luka, near the Croat border, the refugee crisis would have become intolerable. Probably tens of thousands of people would likely have tried to flee further east through the narrow Posavina corridor, towards eastern Bosnia and Serbia. Overall, the 2001 census is said to show 380,032 fewer Serbs in Croatia compared to the census of 1991. Some Serb interests say however that this figure is an underestimate.
A few months later, the war ended with the negotiation of the Dayton Agreement (in Dayton, Ohio). This was later signed in Paris in December 1995.
[edit] 1989-1995 The World Stood Apart
While on the one hand, crisis emerged in Yugoslavia with the weakening of the Communism in Eastern Europe and the rise of nationalism, on the other the world stood by as developments unfolded. Yet the Western press was full of warnings of impending tragedy in the Balkans right from the start. As the war unfolded in Croatia there were many warnings that this was a prelude for much worse ethnic conflict in Bosnia and Kosovo.
The role of the international community in the war would become a matter of much controversy. Many commentators today condemn the lack of international interest in the war at the time. However they had other matters on their mind. The war developed at a time when the attention of the USA and the world was on Iraq, and the Gulf War in 1991, along with a sharp rise in oil prices and a slowdown in the growth of the world economy. Thereafter it was if the rising influence of nationalist and separatist ideologies found their counterpart in Western and Russian policies of laissez-faire. This was not unique to the Balkans, the European nations refused to intervene for example in Rwanda despite culminating in blatant ethnic cleansing on an even worse scale in 1994.
At first in 1989-91, the international community tried to deny the problem and tended to support the Yugolsav government. The UN imposed a weapons trade embargo for all former Yugoslav republics. It placed the seceding republics in an inferior position, as they had no control over the Yugoslav weaponry which was by and large controlled by the Serb forces.
Official recognition of the new states of Slovenia and Croatia and of the status of the SFR Yugoslavia became a controversial issue at the time for foreign governments.
By mid-December 1991, other newly formed states such as Lithuania, Latvia, and Ukraine, recognized Croatia's and Slovenia's independence. Meanwhile Croatia and Slovenia recognized each other (the Vatican also recognised Catholic Croatia - with recognition even coming from Iceland.
Then, between December 19 and December 23, several other European countries, including Germany, Sweden and Italy announced their recognition of Croatia's (and Slovenia's) independence. The European Union as a whole recognized the independence of the two breakaway republics on January 15, 1992.
Each of the major foreign governments acted somewhat differently.
- United Kingdom
Particular attention has been focused on the John Major-led government of the UK for insisting on policies of strict non-intervention. Some historians today see this as helping support the "might is right" powers of the time.
- Germany
Nearby western European countries were mostly responsive to the demands of the Croatians, notably Germany. Helmut Kohl's government of Germany might have been ready to take more affirmative action if it had not been occupied with its own borders, and if it didn't face such resistance elsewhere in the European Union.
- Russia
The eastern countries, e.g. Russia and Greece, were old Serbian allies. They opposed recognition of Croatia. If anything, Boris Yeltsin's government was a moderating influence. However the large changes occurring in Russia at the time were one reason that put the Western nations on their guard, afraid of taking any military action that might have provoked a wider conflict. That fear was no longer so present in 1999, but in the early 1990s it was not so easy to decipher how Russia might react.
- United States
The USA was among the more conservative forces in the west, like the United Kingdom (with John Major as Prime Minister) in insisting for non-intervention at first. The administration was led by George Bush as President until end-1992. Matters changed with Bill Clinton, who took a more aggressive stance on the issue and played a more forceful intervention role. In 1995 the US, using the latest Predator and other tracking devices, thoroughly observed the movements or the Croat Army and Gotovina's forces in preparation for Operation Storm. Successive US Secretaries of State Lawrence Eagleburger and Warren Christopher strongly criticised the moves of Germany and others arguing that this would escalate the war.
[edit] Timeline of major events
| Date | Event |
| 31 March 1991 | Plitvice Lakes incident |
| 2 May 1991 | Borovo Selo killings |
| September 1991 | Battle of Vukovar begins |
| 14 - 19 September 1991 | Main part of the Battle of the barracks |
| 1 October 1991 | Start of the Siege of Dubrovnik |
| 5 October 1991 | Croatia commences general mobilization |
| 7 October 1991 | JNA bombs Croatian government |
| 10 October 1991 | Lovas massacre |
| 16 - 18 October 1991 | Gospić massacre |
| 20 October 1991 | Baćin massacre |
| 31 October 1991 - 4 November 1991 | Operation Otkos 10 |
| 18 November 1991 | Battle of Vukovar ends, Vukovar massacre |
| 18 November 1991 | Ovčara massacre |
| 18 November 1991 | Škabrnja massacre |
| 12 December 1991 - 3 January 1992 | Operation Orkan 91 |
| 13 December 1991 | Voćin massacre |
| 21 June 1992 | Miljevci plateau battle |
| 22 January 1993 | Operation Maslenica |
| 9 - 17 September 1993 | Operation Medak Pocket |
| 1 - 3 May 1995 | Operation Flash |
| 2 - 3 May 1995 | Zagreb rocket attack |
| 4 - 7 August 1995 | Operation Storm |
[edit] See also
[edit] Nomenclatorial note
↑ The 1991 - 1995 war in Croatia is variously called:
- Homeland War – a direct translation of Croatian Domovinski rat
- Patriotic War – a stylistically different translation, reminiscent of the fact that the 1991-95 conflict was as defining for Croatia as 1812 and 1941-45 wars were for Russia and USSR
- War of Independence & War in Croatia – generic terms
- Civil war in Croatia – a direct translation of Serbian Građanski rat u Hrvatskoj
Note: Two conflicting views exist as the wheater the war was a civil or international war. Since neither side declared war on each other, a prevailing view in Serbia was that it was a civil war between Croatian Croats and Serbs. By contrast, the prevailing view in Croatia is that the war was a war of agression from Yugoslavia against Croatia. The ICTY (in its indictments) characterized the war to have been civil war until October 8th 1991, when Croatia declared independance, and international war after that date, since another country, Yugoslavia, held its troops (JNA) there.
[edit] Casualties notes
↑ Serbian sources:
- 447,316 displaced:
- 120,000 displaced in 1991-1993[13]
- 77,316 displaced from Srijem-Baranja Region in 1996-1998[14]
- 250,000 displaced after Operation Storm
↑ Croatian sources:
- 90,000[15] displaced after Operation Storm
↑ International sources:
- 300,000 (Amnesty International - Public Statement) and as of August 2005, around 200,000 refugees are still displaced in neighbouring countries after Operation Storm.
- 200,000 (BBC[16][17]) displaced after Operation Storm
[edit] References
- ^ A Country Study: Yugoslavia (Former): Political Innovation and the 1974 Constitution (chapter 4). The Library of Congress.
- ^ Second Class citizens:The Serbs of Croatia (HRW annual Report). Human Rights Watch (1999-03-01).
- ^ Legalno je braniti se (Croatian). Fokus magazine (2007-01-16).
- ^ Blaskovich, Jerry (1997). Anatomy Of Deceit, Realities Of War In Croatia, New York: Dunhill Publishing. ISBN 0-935016-24-4.
- ^ Martin Špegelj: "Memories of a Soldier" ("Uspomene Vojnika"), Zagreb 2nd edition
- ^ SENSE
- ^ GenocideWatch.org
- ^ Jerry Blaskovich, Anatomy of Deceit: An American Physician's First-hand Encounter With The Realities Of The War In Croatia
- ^ Croatia: Operation "Storm" - still no justice ten years on by Amnesty International
- ^ "Evicted Serbs remember Storm", Matt Prodger, BBC News
- ^ "Croatia marks Storm anniversary", BBC News, 5 August 2005.
[edit] Literature
- Silber, Laura and Little, Allan (1997). Yugoslavia : Death of a Nation. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-026263-6. Accompanies the BBC series of the same title/
- Zimmermann, Warren, ed. (1999). War in the Balkans: A Foreign Affairs Reader, Council on Foreign Relations Press (June). ISBN 0-87609-260-1.
[edit] Media
- Harrison's Flowers (2000), directed by Elie Chouraqui. When a Newsweek photojournalist disappears in war-torn Vukovar, his wife travels to find him.
- The Death of Yugoslavia (1995). A BBC series with extensive interviews of prominent Croat and Serb protagonists.
- Truth, director unknown. A Serbian-produced documentary with a brief history of the war from a Serb point of view, while examining in detail atrocities committed against Serbs.
- Hrvatska Ljubavi Moja Jakov Sedlar, movie by Jakov Sedlar showing accounts by Jews and American officials about the Oluja and the war as a whole.
- ER. The character of Dr. Luka Kovac, played by Goran Visnjic, who first appeared on the series in 1999 and is still a main character as of 2007, lost his wife and children in the war. They were killed when a grenade shell hit their house.
[edit] External links
- International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia[18], World Courts [19] and Sense [20]
- Dr. R. Craig Nation. "War in the Balkans 1991-2002." Strategic Studies Institute, 2002, ISBN 1-58487-134-2
- "The Patriotic War" article on Croatian Radiotelevision
- Article on globalsecurity.org
- (Croatian) Article on hercegbosna.org
- Article on onwar.com
- Croatia Between Aggression and Peace
- (Croatian) Resources about the war on hic.hr
- (Croatian) Another resource from hic.hr
- CroForce - A Story About the Patriotic War in Croatia
- A Story About the War in Croatia
- Operation Storm Destroyed "Greater Serbia", Balkan Insight 20 January 2006
- ICTY trial Case No. IT-94-1-T evidence of Serbian-Croatian political currents and the plan to incorporate parts of Croatia into Serbia
