The current Ukrainian crisis and attempts to resolve it are very similar to the events that took place in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Exactly 20 years ago, in August 1995, the Republic of Serbian Krajina, the unrecognized state of Croatian Serbs, who tried to defend their rights to language, culture and faith in confrontation with radical Croatian nationalists, was destroyed.
The confrontation between Serbs and Croats has a long history. The once united people were at one time split along religious lines: the Croats, who came under the influence of the Vatican, converted to Catholicism, the Serbs remained Orthodox.
During the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian Empire encouraged Croats to take part in Serbian pogroms and involved them in punitive expeditions against the Serbs.
The darkest page of Serbo-Croatian relations is associated with the Second World War, when, with the support of Nazi Germany, the puppet Independent State of Croatia was proclaimed, headed by the leader of the so-called “Ustasha” (Croatian Nazis) Ante Pavelic.
Among all Hitler's accomplices, you cannot find people more stained with blood than the Ustasha. Against their background, even the monstrous crimes of Bandera’s followers pale in comparison.
“We have three million bullets for Serbs, Gypsies and Jews”
The genocide of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies was part of Croatian state policy. As one of the leaders of the regime stated Mile Budak: “We will destroy one part of the Serbs, evict the other, convert the rest to the Catholic faith and turn them into Croats. Thus, their traces will soon be lost, and what remains will be only a bad memory of them. We have three million bullets for the Serbs, Gypsies and Jews.”
The exact number of victims of the Serb genocide in 1941-1945, carried out by the Ustasha, is unknown to this day. According to the most conservative estimates, about 200,000 people were exterminated, but most historians believe that the number of victims is much higher and could reach 800,000 people. Up to 400,000 Serbs were expelled from their lands, and another quarter of a million were forcibly converted to Catholicism.
Most of the executioners of the Serbian people fled at the end of the war. Ustasha leader Ante Pavelić, sentenced to death by Yugoslavia, lived out his days safely in Spain, where he found refuge with dictator Franco.
It is not customary to remember the terrible fate of the Serbs during the Second World War. But the terrible atrocities of the Ustasha largely influenced the events that took place in the early 1990s.
"Wasteland" by Tudjman
In the post-war period Yugoslavia Josipa Broz Tito developed quite successfully, combining the socialist system with good relations with the West.
After Tito's death and with the beginning of perestroika in the USSR, national contradictions, previously suppressed by the authorities, came to the surface. Nationalist groups that advocated secession from Yugoslavia revived.
Western powers, including the United States, openly sympathized with such trends, calling them a desire for freedom.
The most difficult situation developed in Croatia, where the so-called “democratic forces” were actively supported by Croatian emigrants - the Ustashas who had escaped from retribution and their descendants.
In 1990, the head of Croatia became Franjo Tudjman. Having fought in the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia in his youth and rising to the rank of general in the post-war years, Tudjman eventually turned into a militant Croatian nationalist. For this he was convicted twice and deprived of all awards.
In 1989, Tudjman released The Wasteland of Historical Reality, in which he questioned the reality of the Serb genocide during the war and also stated that the scale of the Holocaust was exaggerated.
At the congress of the Croatian Democratic Commonwealth party, Tudjman announced that World War II Croatia was not only a Nazi entity, but also expressed the millennial aspirations of the Croatian people.
Serbian referendum
The coming to power of a man with such views, intending to build an independent Croatia for the Croats, could not but cause rejection among the Serbs living in the republic.
The measures taken by the new authorities left no doubt about their intentions. The name of the Serbo-Croatian language was changed to “Croatian”, and after the name the grammatical rules were changed. Cyrillic writing was prohibited in official correspondence and in the media. Texts on Serbian history and materials about Serbian writers and poets were removed from school curricula. Serbs in government offices were forced to sign “loyalty sheets” to the new Croatian government, and “disloyal” ones were expelled. There was an active purge of Serbs from the security forces; Serbian cultural figures living in Croatia were forced to leave.
Among the Croatian Serbs there were many who survived the nightmare of the 1940s, those whose relatives were massacred by the Ustasha. Now in Croatia, the leaders of the Pavelic regime were elevated to the rank of heroes, and the Serbs were again classified as “second-class” people who had to either leave the country or assimilate.
In August 1990, a referendum on sovereignty and autonomy was held in Knin Krajina, a Serb-dominated area of Croatia, with 99.7 percent of the participants in favor.
The water tower in Vukovar is a symbol of the beginning of the war. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
The situation in Croatia continued to deteriorate. Politicians in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, categorically denied the Serbs' right to autonomy, and called for an end to the "separatists" by force. In the summer of 1991, armed clashes began between Serbs and Croats, which escalated into a full-scale war.
Krajina vs Croatia
On December 19, 1991, all territories of Croatia with a compact population of Serbs united into the Republic of Serbian Krajina, which declared its sovereignty. Moderate Serbian politicians advocated autonomy within Croatia, however, the further the war went, the more voices were voiced for complete independence and the further annexation of the Serbian Krajina to Serbia.
Serbian territories in Croatia were located at a sufficient distance from each other, communication opportunities were limited, which was actively used by Croatian formations.
Despite the intervention of the UN and the introduction of peacekeepers, the fighting did not completely stop. The Croatian army captured more and more Serbian cities and villages. International observers recorded crimes against civilians committed by Croatian forces.
The conflict in Croatia soon found itself overshadowed by a similar confrontation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It should be noted that the Croatian armed forces also fought in Bosnia, where they acted in alliance with Bosnian Muslim detachments against Christian Serbs.
The illusion of peace
In 1994, the situation became relatively stabilized. In March, a truce was signed between the Serbian Krajina and Croatia. Croatian Serbs tried to establish a peaceful life. In December 1994, bilateral documents were signed on the restoration of economic ties, and negotiations were envisaged on the return of refugees, the payment of pensions, and the opening of railway communications.
The position of the international community regarding the conflict in Serbia was extremely similar to that expressed today regarding the Ukrainian crisis. Europeans and Americans, while recognizing Croatia's right to independence, categorically denied the right to self-determination to the Croatian Serbs. The so-called Zagreb 4 plan, put forward in January 1995, provided for autonomy for the Knin Krajina within Croatia, as well as full integration without any additional rights for other Serbian territories.
However, this option, which was an infringement of the rights of the Serbs, was not acceptable to official Zagreb. Franjo Tudjman believed that he could completely resolve the “Serbian issue” without any concessions.
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Blitz War Plan
On November 15, 1994, the United States and Croatia entered into a military cooperation agreement. As part of it, the United States provided assistance to Croatia in training its armed forces. Military advisers from the American private military company MPRI participated in the training of Croatian special units and guards brigades. A special intelligence center was created to collect information and listen to negotiations of the Serbian side.
In December 1994, the Croatian General Staff began preparations for Operation Storm, which provided for the complete defeat of Serbian forces and the liquidation of the Republic of Serbian Krajina. According to Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic, The United States advised the Croatian army on the conduct of this offensive. Retired American generals, as employees of private military campaigns, did not leave Zagreb, preparing for the blitzkrieg.
Plan Storm envisioned a lightning operation that would last several days, leaving little time for the international community to intervene. At the same time, it was intended to exert political pressure on Serbia in order to prevent its intervention in the conflict.
Invasion
On May 1-3, 1995, the Croatian army carried out Operation Lightning, capturing Western Slavonia, which was part of the Republic of Serbian Krajina. The Serbian protests led to nothing - the international community responded to this aggressive act only with half-hearted declarations. The military situation in the Serbian Krajina became extremely complicated.
By the beginning of August 1995, the armed formations of the Serbian Krajina numbered from 27 to 34 thousand people, about 300 tanks, 295 infantry fighting vehicles and 360 large-caliber guns.
The total strength of the Croatian army at this time was approaching 250 thousand people, of which 150 thousand were involved in the actions of the “Storm” plan. More than 230 tanks, 161 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, 320 large-caliber guns, 26 combat aircraft and 10 combat helicopters were in service.
Operation Storm also involved the Bosnian Muslim Army's 25,000-strong 5th Corps.
At 2 am on August 4, 1995 Croatian representative Hrvoje Sarinic officially notified Commander of the UN peacekeeping unit, General Janvier about the start of the operation. The pretext given was the Serbian offensive on the Croat-controlled city of Bihac, which had already ceased by that time.
At 5 a.m. on August 4, Croatian artillery and aviation launched a massive attack on Serbian troops, as well as on populated areas of the Serbian Krajina. Following this, Croatian “commandos” went into battle and, while capturing UN observation posts, killed and wounded several peacekeepers.
Serbian Krajina. A Russian checkpoint on the line of fire between Croatian and Serbian units near the town of Orolik. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Vyatkin
Fall of the Republic
During the first day of the operation, the Serbs managed to hold back the onslaught of the Croatian army, but in the direction of the capital of Krajina, Knin, the Croats managed to make serious progress.
The next day, August 5, Knin fell. A mass exodus of refugees began from the Serbian Krajina. The retreat of the Serbian units began to take on the character of flight.
On August 6, the forces of the Croatian army united with the Bosnian Muslim corps. The populated areas of the Serbian Krajina came under Croatian control one by one.
It became clear that without immediate intervention from the international community or military assistance from Serbia, the Serbian Krajina would be defeated. Neither one nor the other happened.
On August 7, 1995, the 11th and 19th Serbian infantry brigades were surrounded near the city of Topusko. Together with the Serbian military, who took up a perimeter defense, 35,000 refugees were trapped in the “ring”. Croatian General Stipetić demanded that the Serbs immediately surrender, otherwise promising to begin the destruction of everyone who was inside the “cauldron”. By the end of the day, the Serbs laid down their arms in exchange for the right to evacuate to the territory of Yugoslavia.
At 18:00 August 7 Croatian Defense Minister Gojko Susak announced the end of Operation Storm.
Over the next two days, scattered Serb troops continued to resist, fighting their way into the territory of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Republic of Serbian Krajina fell.
"Germany shares the joy of military success"
In the occupied territories, the Croats began ethnic cleansing. Up to 200,000 people fled to the Republika Srpska and Yugoslavia to escape persecution. Refugees often became victims of attacks and shelling by the Croats. Several hundred Serbs who were unable to leave were killed. Serbian houses and even entire villages were burned.
Direct military losses during Operation Storm were relatively small. The Croatian Army reported 196 dead and 1,430 wounded. Serbian units lost 730 people killed and about 2,500 were wounded.
During Operation Storm, 1,042 Serb civilians were killed or missing.
The reaction of the world community to the destruction of the Serbian Krajina was ambiguous. Russia protested at the UN, and the State Duma at an extraordinary meeting adopted the laws “On Russia’s withdrawal from the regime of sanctions against Yugoslavia” and “On Russia’s measures to prevent the genocide of the Serbian population in Krajina.” These laws, however, were vetoed President Boris Yeltsin.
US Secretary of State Warren Christopher blamed the Croatian invasion on the Serbs, who, in his opinion, provoked the Croats by attacking Bihac. A spokesman for the German Embassy in Croatia said: "Germany shares the joy of military success with you and expresses its praise to you for this war."
Milosevic's concessions ended in death in prison
The European Union condemned the seizure of the Serbian Krajina, but did not take serious measures. He only made a harsh statement Swedish diplomat Carl Bildt, who was a mediator from the European Union in negotiations between Croatia and the Serbian Krajina. Bildt directly blamed Croatian President Franjo Tudjman for the incident, saying: “I heard from the Croatian ministers that they are planning to expel 99 percent of the Serbs from the Serbian Krajina.”
A separate conversation about the position of Yugoslavia. The Republic was connected with the Serbian Krajina by a treaty on military assistance, but did not intervene in the events. This decision President Slobodan Milosevic was caused by pressure from the United States. As a reward for Yugoslavia's restraint, a relaxation of the economic sanctions regime was promised.
Slobodan Milosevic's policy of concessions did not help Yugoslavia. A few years later, the United States and NATO would tear Kosovo away from Serbia with the help of military aggression, and Milosevic himself would be overthrown during the “Bulldozer Revolution”, accused of war crimes and killed in the prison of the International Tribunal in The Hague.
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
According to the old scheme
The success of Operation Storm convinced strategists in Washington that this method was applicable to other parts of the globe. 13 years later, in August 2008, the Georgian army will attempt a blitzkrieg in South Ossetia according to a plan very reminiscent of “Storm”. The preparation of the Georgian military for the operation will be carried out by the same specialists who previously trained the Croats.
But this time the scheme will misfire. Unlike Yugoslavia, Russia will not remain an indifferent observer, but will intervene in the conflict, not allowing the same thing to be done to the Ossetians as was done to the Serbs in the Serbian Krajina.
Despite this, it is likely that Plan Storm remains on the desks of American military strategists. The peace plans being proposed to the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics are not very different from those proposed to the Serbian Krajina in early 1995.
In December 1998, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, speaking at the opening of a military school in Zagreb, said: “We have resolved the Serbian question, there will be no more than 12% Serbs or 9% Yugoslavs, as it was. And 3%, however many there are, will no longer threaten the Croatian state.”
Therefore, when talking about peace, we need to remember the “Storm”. Remember that the tragedy experienced by the Croatian Serbs is not repeated in eastern Ukraine.
Accused of war crimes committed during the armed conflict on Croatian territory in 1991-1995.
The collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) in the early 1990s was accompanied by civil wars and ethnic conflicts with the intervention of foreign states. The fighting affected all six republics of the former Yugoslavia to varying degrees and at different times. The total number of victims of conflicts in the Balkans since the early 1990s exceeds 130 thousand people. Material damage amounts to tens of billions of dollars.
Conflict in Slovenia(June 27 - July 7, 1991) became the most transient. The armed conflict, known as the Ten Day War or the Slovenian War of Independence, began after Slovenia declared independence on June 25, 1991.
Units of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), which launched the offensive, encountered fierce resistance from local self-defense units. According to the Slovenian side, JNA losses amounted to 45 people killed and 146 wounded. About five thousand military personnel and employees of federal services were captured. The losses of the Slovenian self-defense forces amounted to 19 killed and 182 wounded. 12 foreign citizens also died.
The war ended with the EU-brokered Brijo Agreement signed on July 7, 1991, under which the JNA pledged to cease hostilities on Slovenian territory. Slovenia suspended the entry into force of the declaration of independence for three months.
Conflict in Croatia(1991-1995) is also associated with the declaration of independence by this republic on June 25, 1991. During the armed conflict, which in Croatia is called the Patriotic War, Croatian forces confronted the JNA and local Serb forces supported by the authorities in Belgrade.
In December 1991, the independent Republic of Serbian Krajina was proclaimed with a population of 480 thousand people (91% Serbs). Thus, Croatia lost a significant part of its territory. Over the next three years, Croatia intensively strengthened its regular army, participated in the civil war in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995) and conducted limited armed operations against the Serbian Krajina.
In February 1992, the UN Security Council sent the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) to Croatia. UNPROFOR was initially seen as a temporary force to create the conditions necessary for negotiations on a comprehensive settlement of the Yugoslav crisis. In June 1992, after the conflict intensified and spread to BiH, the mandate and strength of UNPROFOR were expanded.
In August 1995, the Croatian army launched a large-scale Operation Storm and in a matter of days broke through the defenses of the Krajina Serbs. The fall of Krajina resulted in the exodus from Croatia of almost the entire Serbian population, which amounted to 12% before the war. Having achieved success on their territory, Croatian troops entered Bosnia and Herzegovina and, together with Bosnian Muslims, launched an offensive against the Bosnian Serbs.
The conflict in Croatia was accompanied by mutual ethnic cleansing of the Serbian and Croatian populations. During this conflict, it is estimated that 20-26 thousand people died (mostly Croats), about 550 thousand became refugees, out of a Croatian population of about 4.7 million people. The territorial integrity of Croatia was finally restored in 1998.
It became the most widespread and fierce war in Bosnia and Herzegovina(1992-1995) with the participation of Muslims (Bosniaks), Serbs and Croats. The escalation of tensions followed the independence referendum held in this republic from February 29 to March 1, 1992, which was boycotted by the majority of Bosnian Serbs. The conflict involved the JNA, the Croatian army, mercenaries from all sides, as well as NATO armed forces.
The conflict ended with the Dayton Agreement, initialed on November 21, 1995 at the US military base in Dayton (Ohio) and signed on December 14, 1995 in Paris by Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman. The agreement determined the post-war structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina and provided for the introduction of an international peacekeeping force under NATO command numbering 60 thousand people.
Immediately before the Dayton Agreement was developed, in August-September 1995, NATO aircraft conducted Operation Deliberate Force against the Bosnian Serbs. This operation played a role in changing the military situation in favor of the Muslim-Croat forces, who launched an offensive against the Bosnian Serbs.
The Bosnian War was accompanied by massive ethnic cleansing and massacres of civilians. During this conflict, about 100 thousand people (mostly Muslims) died, another two million became refugees, out of a pre-war population of BiH of 4.4 million people. Before the war, Muslims made up 43.6% of the population, Serbs - 31.4%, Croats - 17.3%.
Damage from the war amounted to tens of billions of dollars. The economy and social sphere of BiH were almost completely destroyed.
Armed conflict in the southern region of Serbia Kosovo and Metohija(1998-1999) was associated with a sharp escalation of contradictions between Belgrade and Kosovo Albanians (now 90-95% of the province’s population). Serbia launched a large-scale military operation against militants of the Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), who were seeking independence from Belgrade. After the failure of an attempt to reach peace agreements in Rambouillet (France), in early 1999, NATO countries led by the United States began massive bombing of the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). The NATO military operation, undertaken unilaterally, without the sanction of the UN Security Council, lasted from March 24 to June 10, 1999. Large-scale ethnic cleansing was cited as the reason for the intervention of NATO troops.
The UN Security Council adopted resolution 1244 on June 10, 1999, ending the hostilities. The resolution provided for the introduction of the UN administration and an international peacekeeping contingent under NATO command (at the initial stage 49.5 thousand people). The document provided for the determination at a later stage of the final status of Kosovo.
During the Kosovo conflict and NATO bombing, it is estimated that about 10 thousand people (mainly Albanians) died. About a million people became refugees and displaced persons from Kosovo's pre-war population of 2 million. Most Albanian refugees, unlike Serb refugees, returned to their homes.
On February 17, 2008, the Kosovo parliament unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. The self-proclaimed state was recognized by 71 countries out of 192 UN member countries.
In 2000-2001 there was a sharp worsening situation in southern Serbia, in the communities of Presevo, Buyanovac and Medveja, the majority of the population of which are Albanians. The clashes in southern Serbia are known as the Presevo Valley conflict.
Albanian fighters from the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medveja and Bujanovac fought for the separation of these territories from Serbia. The escalation took place in the 5-kilometer “ground security zone” created in 1999 on the territory of Serbia following the Kosovo conflict in accordance with the Kumanovo military-technical agreement. According to the agreement, the Yugoslav side did not have the right to keep army formations and security forces in the NZB, with the exception of the local police, who were allowed to carry only light small arms.
The situation in southern Serbia stabilized after Belgrade and NATO reached an agreement in May 2001 on the return of the Yugoslav army contingent to the “ground security zone.” Agreements were also reached on an amnesty for militants, the formation of a multinational police force, and the integration of the local population into public structures.
It is estimated that several Serbian soldiers and civilians, as well as several dozen Albanians, died during the crisis in southern Serbia.
In 2001 there was armed conflict in Macedonia with the participation of the Albanian National Liberation Army and the Macedonian regular army.
In the winter of 2001, Albanian militants began military guerrilla operations, seeking independence for the northwestern regions of the country, populated predominantly by Albanians.
The confrontation between the Macedonian authorities and Albanian militants was ended by the active intervention of the European Union and NATO. The Ohrid Agreement was signed, which granted Albanians in Macedonia (20-30% of the population) limited legal and cultural autonomy (official status of the Albanian language, amnesty for militants, Albanian police in Albanian areas).
As a result of the conflict, according to various estimates, more than 70 Macedonian soldiers and from 700 to 800 Albanians were killed.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti
Plan
Introduction
1. History
2 Collapse of Yugoslavia
3 Progress of the war
4 Casualties of war
Bibliography
War in Croatia
Introduction
Indirect participation:
MPRI
Burnt T-55 tank. Croatia, 1992
The Croatian War is a military conflict on the territory of the former Socialist Republic of Croatia, caused by Croatia's secession from Yugoslavia. The war ended with the signing of the Dayton Accords, according to which Eastern Slavonia was peacefully incorporated into Croatia in 1998. The war was accompanied by mutual ethnic cleansing of the Serbian and Croatian populations.
In Croatia, the name "Patriotic War" (Croatian: Domovinski rat) is used to refer to the conflict. In Russia, this conflict is usually combined with the Bosnian war and the term used is the civil war in Yugoslavia.
1. History
Serbs have lived compactly in historical Croatian lands since the beginning of the 14th century. The sharp increase in the number of Serbs in these territories was caused by the settlement here of Serbian refugees from the territories occupied by the Ottoman Empire and the formation of the Military Border by the Austrian Habsburgs.
Since 1918, Croatia has been part of Yugoslavia, although during the Second World War there was an Independent State of Croatia, which collaborated with Nazi Germany and carried out the genocide of the Serbs. At the same time, the detachments of Serbian nationalist Chetniks, created in May 1941, in a number of cases acted on the side of the Third Reich and were engaged in ethnic cleansing of Balkan Muslims and Croats.
2. Collapse of Yugoslavia
Against the backdrop of worsening interethnic relations, changes were made to the Constitution of Croatia, according to which “Croatia is the state of the Croatian people,” and Cyrillic writing was prohibited in official correspondence. In response to this, the Serbs living within the administrative boundaries of the Socialist Republic of Croatia proclaimed the Serbian Autonomous Region of Krajina in December 1990. In April 1991, the Krajina Serbs decided to secede from Croatia and join the Republika Srpska, which was then confirmed in a referendum held in Krajina. On June 25, 1991, Croatia simultaneously with Slovenia declared its independence from Yugoslavia.
After the signing of the truce and the deployment of peacekeepers to Croatian territory, President Franjo Tudjman, in his speech on May 24, 1992 at Ban Jelačić Square in Zagreb, stated: “There would be no war if Croatia did not want it.”
3. Progress of the war
In June-July 1991, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) was involved in a short military action against Slovenia, which ended in failure. After this, she was involved in fighting against the militia and police of the self-proclaimed Croatian state. A large-scale war began in August. The JNA had an overwhelming advantage in armored vehicles, artillery, and an absolute advantage in aviation, but acted generally ineffectively, since it was created to repel external aggression, and not for military operations within the country. The most famous events of this period are the siege of Dubrovnik and the siege of Vukovar. In December, at the height of the war, the independent Republic of Serbian Krajina was proclaimed.
In January 1992, another ceasefire agreement was concluded between the warring parties (the 15th in a row), which finally ended the main hostilities. In March, UN peacekeepers (UNPROFOR mission) were brought into the country. As a result of the events of 1991, Croatia defended its independence, but lost territories inhabited by Serbs. Over the next three years, the country intensively strengthened its regular army, participated in the civil war in neighboring Bosnia and carried out a number of small armed actions against the Serbian Krajina.
In May 1995, the Croatian armed forces took control of western Slavonia during Operation Lightning, which was accompanied by a sharp escalation of hostilities and Serbian rocket attacks on Zagreb. In August, the Croatian army launched Operation Storm and in a matter of days broke through the defenses of the Krajina Serbs. The fall of the Serbian Krajina caused a mass exodus of Serbs. Having achieved success on their territory, Croatian troops entered Bosnia and, together with the Muslims, launched an offensive against the Bosnian Serbs. NATO intervention led to a ceasefire in October, and on December 14, 1995, the Dayton Accords were signed, ending hostilities in the former Yugoslavia.
4. Victims of war
More than 26 thousand people died during the war.
The number of refugees on both sides was large - hundreds of thousands of people. Almost the entire Croatian population - about 160 thousand people - was expelled from the territory of the Republic of Serbian Krajina in 1991-1995. In 1991, the Yugoslav Red Cross counted 250 thousand Serb refugees from Croatian territory. The total number of Serb refugees from Croatian territory during the entire war was about 300 thousand people, of which about 115 thousand subsequently returned to Croatia.
Bibliography:
1. Russian line / Library of periodicals / Agim Cheku - executioner in uniform
2. The Fall of R.S.K.
3. Bombing of the Udbina airfield (RSK) on November 21, 1994. Bombing of RSK radars and communications centers on August 4, 1995 (before the start of Operation Storm)
4. Americans protect the executioner
5. Does Europe agree to the “Kosovo precedent”?
6. From the Little Entente to the Tripartite Pact (foreign policy of Yugoslavia in 1920-1941)
7. Branch of Croatia
8. Guskova E.Yu. "History of the Yugoslav crisis (1991-2000)" P.153
9. War in Croatia 1991-1992
10. Croatia: European Court of Human Rights to consider important case for refugee returns
Collapse of Yugoslavia. Causes of the Serbo-Croatian conflict
Naturally, enmity between the Serbs did not arise on its own; Serbs have lived compactly on the territory of modern Croatia since the beginning of the 14th century. The sharp increase in the number of Serbs in these territories was caused by the settlement here of Serbian refugees from the territories occupied by the Ottoman Empire and the formation of the Military Border by the Austrian Habsburgs. After the abolition of the “military border” and the inclusion of the “krajina” into the Croatian and Hungarian lands, interethnic strife began to grow, especially between Serbs and Croats, and soon the chauvinistic movement of the “Frankivts” (after their founder Frank) appeared. Since 1918, Croatia has been part of Yugoslavia, although during the Second World War there was an Independent State of Croatia, which collaborated with Nazi Germany and carried out the genocide of the Serbs. The Serbian question was resolved according to the principle: “destroy a third of the Serbs, expel a third, baptize a third.” All this led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Serbs, the vast majority of whom died not at the hands of foreign occupiers, but from the Croatian-Muslim troops of the NDH (primarily in the NDH camps in the largest of which - Jasenovac - several hundred thousand Serbs were killed by the Ustashes all over villages and towns of the NDH) At the same time, the detachments of Serbian nationalist Chetniks, created in May 1941, in a number of cases acted on the side of the Third Reich and were engaged in ethnic cleansing of Balkan Muslims and Croats.
Against the backdrop of worsening interethnic relations, changes were made to the Constitution of Croatia, according to which “Croatia is the state of the Croatian people.” In response to this, the Serbs living within the administrative borders of the Socialist Republic of Croatia, fearing a repetition of the genocide of 1941-1945, are planning to create a Serbian Autonomous Region - SAO (Srpska autonomna oblast). It was created under the leadership of Milan Babic - SDS Krajina. In April 1991, the Krajina Serbs decided to secede from Croatia and join the Republika Srpska, which was later confirmed in a referendum held in Krajina (August 19). Serbian National Assembly of the Serbian Krajina - creates a resolution on “disarmament” with Croatia and remaining part of the SFRY. On September 30, this autonomy was proclaimed, and on December 21, its status as SAO (Serbian Autonomous Region) - Krajina, with its center in Knin, was approved. On January 4, the SAO Krajina creates its own department of internal affairs, while the Croatian government dismisses all police officers subordinate to it.
The mutual intensification of passions and persecution of the Serbian Orthodox Church caused the first wave of refugees - 40 thousand Serbs were forced to leave their homes. In July, general mobilization was announced in Croatia and by the end of the year the number of Croatian armed forces reached 110 thousand people. Ethnic cleansing began in Western Slavonia. The Serbs were completely expelled from 10 cities and 183 villages, and partially expelled from 87 villages.
In Croatia, there was practically a war going on between the Serbs and Croats, whose actual beginning came in the battles for Borovo Selo. This Serbian village became the target of an attack by Croatian forces from Vukovar. The situation for the local Serbs was difficult and they might not receive help from the JNA. Nevertheless, the local Serbian leadership, primarily the head of the TO Vukašin Šoškovčanin, themselves turned to a number of opposition parties SNO and SRS with a request to send volunteers, which for those times was a revolutionary step. For the society of that time, the awareness of some volunteers fighting outside the ranks of the JNA and the police with Croatian forces under the Serbian national banner was a shock, but this was precisely what served as one of the most important factors in the rise of the Serbian national movement. The authorities in Belgrade hastened to abandon the volunteers, and the Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia called them adventurers, but in reality there was support from the authorities, or rather from the special services. Thus, the volunteer detachment “Stara Srbija”, assembled in Niš under the command of Branislav Vakic, was supplied with uniforms, food and transport by the local mayor Mile Ilic, one of the leading people at that time. SPS (Socialist Party of Serbia), created by Slobodan Milosevic from the republican organization of the Union of Communists of Yugoslavia in Serbia, and naturally, the former party in power. These and other groups of volunteers who gathered in Borovoe village, numbering about a hundred people, as well as local Serbian fighters, received weapons through the TO (Territorial Defense) network, which was organizationally part of the JNA and was under the full control of Belgrade, which even managed to partially export TO weapons stocks from purely Croatian territories.
All this, however, did not mean the complete subordination of the volunteers to the Serbian authorities, but only that the latter, having provided them with support, abdicated responsibility for their actions and actually expected a further outcome.
The Croatian forces then, thanks to their own commanders, were practically ambushed by the Serbs, whom they clearly underestimated. At the same time, the Croatian command waited throughout April, when the attention of the Serbian defense of Borovo village would weaken, and indeed some volunteers had already begun to return home. A scenario was prepared for the establishment of Croatian power - the occupation of the village, the murders and arrests of the most irreconcilably disposed Serbs towards Croatian power. On May 2 the offensive began. It turned out to be unsuccessful for the Croats, who immediately came under fire from the Serbs.
At this time, the war began in the “Knin Krajina” (as the Serbs then began to call the regions of Lika, Korduna, Bania and Dalmatia, which were under Serbian rule) with battles on June 26-27 for the town of Glina. This military operation was also unsuccessful for the Croats.
Progress of hostilities
In June-July 1991, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) was involved in a short military action against Slovenia, which ended in failure. After this, she was involved in fighting against the militia and police of the self-proclaimed Croatian state. A large-scale war began in August. The JNA had an overwhelming advantage in armored vehicles, artillery, and an absolute advantage in aviation, but acted generally ineffectively, since it was created to repel external aggression, and not for military operations within the country. The most famous events of this period are the siege of Dubrovnik and the siege of Vukovar. In December, at the height of the war, the independent Republic of Serbian Krajina was proclaimed. Battle of Vukovar On August 20, 1991, Croatian territorial defense units blocked two garrisons of the Yugoslav army in the city. On September 3, the Yugoslav People's Army began an operation to liberate the blocked garrisons, which developed into a siege of the city and protracted fighting. The operation was carried out by units of the Yugoslav People's Army with the support of Serbian paramilitary volunteer forces (for example, the Serbian Volunteer Guard under the command of Zeljko Ražnatović "Arkan") and lasted from September 3 to November 18, 1991, including about a month, from mid-October to mid-November, the city was completely surrounded. The city was defended by units of the Croatian National Guard and Croatian volunteers. Individual armed conflicts in the city flared up periodically since May 1991, even before Croatia declared independence. The regular siege of Vukovar began on September 3. Despite the multiple advantage of the attackers in manpower and equipment, the defenders of Vukovar successfully resisted for almost three months. The city fell on November 18, 1991, and was almost completely destroyed as a result of street fighting, bombing and rocket attacks.
Losses during the battle for the city, according to official Croatian data, amounted to 879 killed and 770 wounded (data from the Croatian Ministry of Defense, published in 2006). The death toll on the JNA side has not been precisely established; unofficial figures from Belgrade military observer Miroslav Lazanski put the death toll at 1,103 killed and 2,500 wounded.
After the end of the fighting for the city, a peace agreement was signed, leaving Vukovar and part of eastern Slavonia to the Serbs. In January 1992, another ceasefire agreement was concluded between the warring parties (the 15th in a row), which finally ended the main hostilities. In March, UN peacekeepers were brought into the country (. As a result of the events of 1991, Croatia defended its independence, but lost territories inhabited by Serbs. Over the next three years, the country intensively strengthened its regular army, participated in the civil war in neighboring Bosnia and held a number of small armed actions against the Serbian Krajina.
In May 1995, the Croatian armed forces took control of western Slavonia during Operation Lightning, which was accompanied by a sharp escalation of hostilities and Serbian rocket attacks on Zagreb. In August, the Croatian army launched Operation Storm and in a matter of days broke through the defenses of the Krajina Serbs. Reasons: The reason for the operation was the breakdown of negotiations known as “Z-4” on the inclusion of the Republic of Serbian Krajina into Croatia as a cultural autonomy. According to the Serbs, the provisions of the proposed treaty did not guarantee the Serbian population protection from oppression based on nationality. Having failed to integrate the territory of the RSK politically, Croatia decided to do it by military means. In the battles, the Croats involved about 200 thousand soldiers and officers in the operation. The Croatian website reports 190 thousand soldiers involved in the operation. Military observer Ionov writes that the four Croatian corps that took part in the operation numbered 100 thousand soldiers and officers. But these figures do not include the Bjelovar and Osijek corps. Overall control of the operation was exercised in Zagreb. The field headquarters, headed by Major General Marjan Marekovich, was located in the city of Ogulin, southeast of Karlovac. Progress of the operation: Progress of the operation.
At 3 am on August 4, the Croats officially notified the UN of the start of the operation. The operation itself began at 5.00. Croatian artillery and aviation launched a massive attack on the Serbian troops, command posts and communications. Then the attack began along almost the entire front line. At the beginning of the operation, Croatian troops captured UN peacekeeper posts, killing and wounding several peacekeepers from Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Nepal. The tactics of the Croatian offensive consisted of breaking through the defense by guard units, which, without getting involved in battles, were supposed to develop the offensive, and were engaged in the elimination of the remaining resistance by the so-called. Domobran regiments. By mid-day, the Serbian defenses had been broken through in many places. At 16:00 the order was given to evacuate the civilian population from Knin, Obrovac and Benkovac. Order for the evacuation of the Serbian population. By the evening of August 4, the 7th Serb Corps was under threat of encirclement, and the Croatian special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the battalion of the 9th Guards Brigade defeated the 9th Motorized Brigade of the 15th Lich Corps and captured the key Mali Alan pass. From here the attack on Gračac was launched. The 7th Corps retreated to Knin. At 19.00, 2 NATO aircraft from the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt attacked Serbian missile positions near Knin. Two more planes from the Italian airbase bombed the Serbian airbase in Udbina. At 23.20, the headquarters of the armed forces of the Serbian Krajina was evacuated to the city of Srb, 35 kilometers from Knin. On the morning of August 5, Croatian troops occupied Knin and Gračac.
On the night of August 5, the forces of the 5th Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina entered the battle. The 502nd Mountain Brigade struck the rear of the Serbian 15th Lič Corps northwest of Bihac. At 8.00, having overcome weak Serbian resistance, the 502nd Brigade entered the Plitvice Lakes region. By 11 o'clock, a detachment from the 1st Guards Brigade of the Croatian Army, led by General Marjan Marekovich, came out to join them. Thus, the territory of the Serbian Krajina was cut into two parts. The 501st Brigade of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina captured the radar on Mount Pleševica and approached Korenica. The advance of Croatian troops towards Udbina forced the Serbs to redeploy the remnants of their aviation to the Banja Luka airfield. The Croat offensive in the Medak area made it possible to break up the Serbian defenses in this area and the 15th Corps was divided into three parts: the 50th Brigade in Vrhovina, the remnants of the 18th Brigade in Bunic and the 103rd Light Infantry Brigade in the Donji Lapac-Korenica area. In the north, the Serbian 39th Ban Corps defended Glina and Kostajnica, but under pressure from enemy troops it began to retreat to the south.
At this time, the 505th Brigade of the 5th Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina struck the rear of the corps in the direction of Žirovac. During the offensive, the commander of the 505th brigade, Colonel Izet Nanich, was killed. The commander of the 39th Corps, General Torbuk, used his last reserves to repel the attack of the 505th Brigade. The corps continued to retreat. The 21st Kordun Corps continued to defend the city of Slunj and repelled attacks south of Karlovac. On the night of August 5–6, units of the Split Corps of the Croatian Army entered Benkovac and Obrovac. On August 6, the defense of units of the 7th and 15th Corps collapsed and after the unification of the Croats and Bosnians near Korenica, the last centers of Serb resistance in this sector were suppressed. Under attacks from the south and west, the 21st Corps fought a fighting retreat to Karlovac. On the evening of August 6, the Croats occupied Glina, threatening the encirclement of the 21st Corps. Serbian General Mile Novakovic, who led the entire Task Force Spider in the north, requested a truce from the Croatian side in order to evacuate the soldiers of the 21st and 39th Corps and refugees. The truce lasted only one night.
On August 7, units of the 21st and 39th Corps fought back east towards Bosnia to avoid encirclement. In the afternoon, the 505th and 511th brigades of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina linked up with the 2nd Guards Brigade of the Croatian Army, advancing from Petrini. Two Serbian infantry brigades of the 21st Corps and the remnants of the Special Units Corps (about 6,000 people) were surrounded in the city of Topusko. The rearguard of the 39th Corps was driven into Bosnia. After this, parts of the 5th Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina entered Western Bosnia, occupied its capital Velika Kladusa almost without resistance, expelling Fikret Abdić and thirty thousand of his supporters, who fled to Croatia. At 18.00 on August 7, Croatian Defense Minister Gojko Šušak announced the end of Operation Oluja. During the evening of August 7, Croatian troops took control of the last strip of territory along the border with Bosnia - Srb and Donji Lapac. In the north, in the Topusko area, Colonel Chedomir Bulat signed the surrender of the remnants of the 21st Corps. Losses: Croats - According to the Croatian side, 174 soldiers were killed and 1,430 were wounded. Serbs - According to the organization of Krajina Serbs in exile "Veritas", the number of dead and missing civilians in August 1995 (that is, during the operation and immediately after it) is 1042 people, 726 armed forces personnel and 12 police officers. The number of wounded is approximately 2,500 to 3,000 people.
Results of the war. Dayton Agreement
The fall of the Serbian Krajina caused a mass exodus of Serbs. Having achieved success on their territory, Croatian troops entered Bosnia and, together with the Muslims, launched an offensive against the Bosnian Serbs. NATO intervention led to a ceasefire in October, and on December 14, 1995, the Dayton Accords were signed, ending hostilities in the former Yugoslavia.
The Dayton Agreement is an agreement on a ceasefire, the separation of warring parties and the separation of territories, which put an end to the civil war in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina of 1992-1995. Agreed to in November 1995 at the US military base in Dayton (Ohio), signed on December 14, 1995 in Paris by Bosnian leader Alija Izetbegovic, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman.
US initiative. Peace negotiations took place with the active participation of the United States, which many believe took an anti-Serbian position. [source not specified 28 days the United States proposed the creation of a Bosnian-Croat federation. The Treaty to end the Croatian-Bosnian conflict and create the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was signed in Washington and Vienna in March 1994 by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Haris Silajdzic, the Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic and the President of Herzeg-Bosnia Krešimir Zubak. The Bosnian Serbs refused to join this treaty. Immediately before the signing of the Dayton Agreement, in August-September 1995, NATO aircraft conducted Operation Deliberate Force against the Bosnian Serbs, which played a role in stopping the Serbian offensive and somewhat changing the military situation in favor of the Bosnian-Croat forces. Negotiations in Dayton took place with the participation of guarantor countries: the USA, Russia, Germany, Great Britain and France.
The essence of the agreement: The agreement consisted of a general part and eleven annexes. A contingent of NATO troops was introduced into the territory of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina - 60 thousand soldiers, half of whom were Americans. It was envisaged that the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina should consist of two parts - the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska. Sarajevo remains the capital. A resident of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina could be a citizen of both the united republic and one of the two entities. The Serbs received 49% of the territory, the Bosniaks and Croats - 51%. Gorazde went to the Bosnians, it was connected to Sarajevo by a corridor controlled by international forces. Sarajevo and the surrounding Serbian areas were transferred to the Bosnian part. The exact location of the border inside the Brcko region was to be determined by the Arbitration Commission. The agreement prohibited those accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia from holding public office in the territory of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thus, Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, Dario Kordic and other leaders of the Bosnian Serbs and Croats were removed from power.
The functions of the head of state were transferred to the Presidium, consisting of three people - one from each nation. Legislative power was to belong to the Parliamentary Assembly, consisting of the House of Peoples and the House of Representatives. A third of the deputies are elected from the Republika Srpska, two thirds from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the same time, the “veto of the people” was introduced: if the majority of deputies elected from one of the three peoples voted against one or another proposal, it was considered rejected, despite the position of the other two peoples. In general, the powers of the central authorities, by agreement, were very limited. Real power was transferred to the bodies of the Federation and Republika Srpska. The entire system was to operate under the supervision of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
More than 26 thousand people died during the war. The number of refugees on both sides was large - hundreds of thousands of people. Almost the entire Croatian population - about 160 thousand people - was expelled from the territory of the Republic of Serbian Krajina in 1991-1995. In 1991, the Yugoslav Red Cross counted 250 thousand Serb refugees from Croatian territory. Croatian troops carried out ethnic cleansing in Western Slavonia and the Knin region in 1995, as a result of which another 230-250 thousand Serbs left the region.
Operation Oluja (Storm), carried out in August 1995, became a key moment of the war in Croatia. It led to the liquidation of the Republic of Serbian Krajina and the restoration of control of the Croatian government over the entire territory of the country.
The Croatian army used five corps for the operation - Bjelovarsky, Karlovac, Gospić, Split and Osijek (which performed auxiliary tasks). After mobilization in the spring of 1995, the size of the Croatian army reached 248 thousand people, of which more than 150 thousand people were allocated to participate in Operation Oluja. The 5th Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (about 25 thousand people) operated together with the Croats.
The Army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina consisted of the 39th Bani, 21st Kordun, 15th Lich, 7th North Dalmatian, 11th East Slavonian (which took a limited part in battles) corps, as well as the Task Force "Spider" and the Corps special troops. Its strength after mobilization could exceed 62 thousand people, but in reality there were about 27 thousand people in the troops. The RSK army had some superiority over the Croatian one in heavy weapons (303 tanks versus 232, 295 armored vehicles versus 161, 360 artillery pieces versus 320). But apathy reigned among the Krajina Serbs, the army was in a deplorable state, and soldiers and officers deserted en masse.
DESIGN
Planning for Operation Oluya began in December 1994. In fact, it was planned to carry out four local operations:
1. “Oluja-1” - by the forces of the Zagreb Corps. Objective: destruction of the 39th Corps of the RSK Army and connection with the 5th Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina near the villages of Zhirovac and Oblyai.
2. “Oluja-2” - by the forces of the Karlovac Corps. Mission: destruction of the enemy's 21st Corps.
3. “Oluya-3” - by the forces of the Gospic Corps. Mission: destruction of the 15th Corps and connection with the forces of the 5th Muslim Corps on the line Korenicka - Kapela - Trzhachka - Rashtela.
4. “Oluya-4” - by the forces of the Split Corps. Mission: together with the special forces of the Croatian Ministry of Internal Affairs, destroy the 7th Corps and occupy Knina, the capital of the Republic of Serbian Krajina.
PROGRESS OF COMBAT OPERATIONS
At 2 a.m. on August 4, 1995, Croatian authorities notified the UN command of the upcoming start of the operation. The peacekeepers conveyed the appropriate warning to the Serbs, but they did not have time to respond: at 5 a.m., Croatian artillery and aviation launched a massive attack on the Serbian troops, command posts and communications, as well as on all major populated areas of the RSK. Then they carried out an attack along almost the entire front line. At the beginning of the operation, Croatian troops captured UN peacekeeper posts and killed and wounded several peacekeepers.
The offensive in the Dinaric Mountains towards Knin, which was led by the 4th and 7th Guards Brigades, developed most successfully. The Serbian units opposing them were unable to resist. By evening, the Serb 7th Corps was under threat of encirclement, and at night its brigades began to retreat to Knin. At 16:00, RSK President Milan Martic ordered the evacuation of civilians from some towns, including Knin. However, this ultimately led to the evacuation of the entire population of Krajina, and with it its army, whose soldiers left positions to help families. On August 5, the retreat of the 7th Serbian Corps continued. During the day Knin fell. The Croatian offensive in Lika developed successfully, which was supported by the 5th Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which struck the rear of the 15th Lica Corps on the night of August 5th. The 21st Cordun Corps continued to defend the city of Slunj and even tried to launch a counterattack, but was forced to retreat to its previous positions. On the night of August 5–6, units of the Split Corps of the Croatian Army entered Benkovac and Obrovac. At the same time, the evacuation of Serb forces and civilians continued. Croatian troops failed to cut off communications, so the Serbs were able to evacuate most of their military equipment. A Croatian helicopter landing force, with the support of special forces from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, captured Otric.
At Lika, Croatian forces continued their advance and linked up with soldiers of the Bosnian 5th Corps in several places. The actions of the Croats led to the complete encirclement of the Serbian forces in Vrhovina and the cutting off of the remnants of the 15th Corps from the 21st and Special Forces Corps.
On August 7, units of the 21st and 39th Corps fought back east towards Republika Srpska (in Bosnia) to avoid encirclement. During the day, the Croatian 1st Guards Brigade occupied Voynich. In the afternoon, the 505th and 511th brigades of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina linked up with the 2nd Guards Brigade of the Croatian Army advancing from Petrinja. Two Serbian infantry brigades of the 21st Corps (11th and 19th) and the remnants of the Special Forces Corps, along with 35 thousand civilians, were surrounded in the city of Topusko.
At 18:00 on August 7, Croatian Defense Minister Gojko Šušak announced the end of Operation Oluja. On August 8, Croatian troops continued to eliminate the remaining pockets of resistance and fought stubborn battles for the city of Dvor na Uni, through which columns of refugees and the remnants of the Krajina army entered the territory of the Republika Srpska. Over the following days, Croatian forces carried out clearing of the territory they had taken control of, and a week after the completion of the operation, they began to demobilize most of the units participating in it.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE OPERATION
As a result of Operation Oluja, the Republic of Serbian Krajina ceased to exist. In November 1995, a UN resolution was adopted, which determined the status of Eastern Slavonia remaining outside the borders of Croatia, and on November 12, an agreement on the peaceful integration of this area into the Republic of Croatia within several years was signed and approved by the Security Council.
According to various estimates, from 150 to 250 thousand Serbs fled Croatia. About 150 civilians of Serbian nationality were killed, and another 110 were missing. Subsequently, some of the refugees (about 55 thousand people) returned. Two Croatian generals, Ante Gotovina and Mlade Markač, were convicted by the Hague Tribunal in 2011 of war crimes during Operation Oluja, but were acquitted by the same tribunal's Appeals Chamber in 2012, dropping all charges. The losses of the Croatian side amounted to about 200 people. dead and approximately 1.5 thousand wounded. The RSK army lost about 740 people killed.