The Wars and what led to them
In 1919 Yugoslavia was recognised as a state by the treaty of Versailles, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire. In 1945 Yugoslavia became a communist state made up of six republics: Serbia (which it in itself had two autonomous provinces: Kosovo and Vojvodina), Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Montenegro. Between the years 1986 and 1989 Serbian nationalism grew, Serbia was then largest and most influential republic, associated with the leadership of Slobodan Milosevic after 1987. In 1990, following the fall of communism across the rest of eastern Europe, each republic holds multiparty elections, strengthening support for independence in Slovenia and Croatia. In 1991 the break up of Yugoslavia starts with declarations of independence by Slovenia and Croatia in June, Macedonia follows in September and Bosnia Herzegovina declares itself independent in January 1992. By April 1992 the only two republics remaining in Yugoslavia are Serbia and Montenegro. In 1991 there was a 10 day war set off by Slovenian independence but the Slovenians successfully resisted the Serb led Yugoslav army. From 1991 to 1995 the Croatian war of independence occurs, a bitter civil war fought against the Croation Serb minority who were helped by the Yugoslavian army.Between 1992 and 1995 the Bosnian civil war occurs becoming one of the most longest and most violent European war in the second half of the twentieth century, Caused by opposition by ethnic Serbs to Bosnia's succession from Yugoslavia, the war witnesses the massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslims and a brutal programme of ethnic cleansing, whereby Muslims and Croats are expelled from areas under Serb control. Despite the 1995 Dayton agreement to re-establish a united country, Bosnia remains effectively divided into two autonomous halves, one Muslim-Croat and the other Serb controlled.
Between 1996 and 1999 the Kosovo war occurs, in which the Kosovo Liberation Army takes up armed resistance against the Serbs, with accusations of massacres and ethnic cleansing on both sides. In 1999, a US led NATO campaign of aerial bombing forces Serb troops to withdraw from Kosovo, leading to the removal of the Milosevic government in Belgrade in 2000. Kosovo declares its independence from Serbia in 2008.
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