Genocide In Yugoslavia

The region that made up Yugoslavia was ruled by the Austria-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire for centuries. At the end of World War I, the Allied powers sought to weaken the defeated Central Powers. As a result, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire were broken up. Out of these fallen empires Yugoslavia was created, named after the south Slavic people that lived in the area. The Kingdom of Serbia, was also formed into Yugoslavia. In fact, the Serbian royal family became the royal family of Yugoslavia. During World War II, the Nazis invaded Yugoslavia, which severely weakened the monarchy’s power. As a result, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia peacefully came to power in 1946. Josip Broz Tito was realistically the most influential person in Yugoslavian History. In 1939 he became the leader of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. He also led the Parisian resistance in Yugoslavia during Nazi occupation. After the communist ascension to

Croatia and Bosnia, previous allies, began open warfare. Croatia and Serbia both wanted control of Bosnia. Bosnia was also largely Muslim. Acts of genocide were reported by all sides during the Yugoslavian conflicts. However, at this time genocide became more common. Serbian military groups engaged in widespread genocide against the Muslim Bosnians. This sparked the increased involvement of the United Nations and NATO. In 1994, the United States brokered peace between Croatia and Bosnia. Despite the fact that both Croatia and Serbia were invading Bosnia, conflict continued between Croatia and Serbia in what is known as Croatia-Krajina War. Then in 1995, NATO began airstrikes against Serbia, forcing them to negotiate for peace. At the end of 1995, the Dayton agreement was signed ending the conflict. It also granted the Serbians inside of Bosnia and mostly autonomous region, called Republika Srpska, inside of