Event
Date:
Event Title:
06/28/
1914
Spark of War
10/06/
1918
Annexation
12/01/
1918
Collapse
04/17/
1941
Enter the
Nazis
12/01/
1941
Tito's
Partisans
11/25/
1943
Liberation
01/01/
1960
Arms Buildup
02/07/
1984
Winter
Olympics
05/08/
1989
Milosevic in
Power
10/24/
1991
Ethnic Splits
03/01/
1992
to
11/01/
1996
04/05/
1992
to
02/29/
1996
04/06/
1992
Event Description:
A Bosnian Serb student named Gavrilo Princip assassinates the Austrian
archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, indirectly leading to the start of
World War I.
Following 300 years under rule by the Ottoman Empire, Bosnia is annexed
by Austria-Hungary, sparking international protest. At the time, BosniaHerzegovina is home to an integrated society of Bosnian Muslims, Serbian
Orthodox and Croatian Catholics.
At the dissolution of the Austria-Hungary empire, Bosnia and Herzegovina
become part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (soon to be
renamed Yugoslavia). Bosnia's Muslim population, who considered
themselves neither Serbs nor Croats became an afterthought.
Nazi forces conquer Yugoslavia, and all of Bosnia is ceded to the
Independent State of Croatia, a World War II puppet state. Serbs, Jews,
Roma and Muslims are sent to death camps.
Josip Broz Tito, a revolutionary, forms the multiethnic guerrilla movement
Yugoslav Partisans to fight back against Axis powers.
The success of Tito and his Partisans convince the Allies to lend their
support, and at a meeting of the Anti-Fascist Council of the People's
Liberation of Yugoslavia re-establishes Bosnia and Herzegovina as a republic
within Yugoslavia. Tito and his Partisans make up much of the new
government.
Post-war Bosnia becomes a center of production for the military defense
industry, which leads to a large concentration of arms and military
personnel that will later amplify the violence during the Bosnian War of the
early 1990s.
Sarajevo is host to the Winter Olympics, the second games held in a
communist country. Photograph by Mrkvi
Slobodan Milosevic rises to power in Yugoslavia with a campaign
emphasizing nationalism and racism. He is to become the most brutal
European dictator since Hitler, and the first sitting head of state to be tried
for war crimes.
Following collapse of communism, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina both
declare their independence from Yugoslavia. This signals the end of
multiethnic coalitions, as each group - Serbs, Croats and Muslims - attempts
to establish its own sovereign territories.
Bosnian War
Seige of
Sarajevo
Serb forces occupy Sarajevo for nearly four years, turning this capital city
of Bosnia-Herzegovena into a war zone.
Open War
Throughout the early months of 1992, fighting begins in Bosnia between
Bosnian Croats and Muslims against Serbs, who had boycotted a referendum
calling for independence. Bosnian Serbs begin their siege of Sarajevo on
04/07/
1992
to
01/01/
1994
Foca Rapes
04/30/
1992
Ethnic
Cleansing
05/01/
1993
Safe Havens
02/28/
1994
NATO
05/13/
1995
U.N.
Intervention
07/11/
1995
Srebrenica
Massacre
07/24/
1995
Big Fish
08/30/
1995
NATO
Airstrikes
11/27/
1995
Clinton
Commits
Troops
12/14/
1995
Dayton
Peace
Accords
12/30/
1995
High
Representati
ve
11/29/
1996
First ICTY
Trial
12/12/
1996
NATO
Peacekeeper
April 6. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev
Over a period of two years, Serbian soliders and paramilitaries carry out a
campaign of sexual terror against Bosnian Muslim women. Many of the
victims are as young as 12, and a network of rape camps with the express
purpose of impregnating women play a large part in the Serbian ethnic
cleansing occurring around the country. The ICTY will later try and convict
numerous Serb defendants for sexually enslaving Bosnian Muslim girls in
Foca.
Serbs take power and begin opening concentration camps, where killings,
torture, and brutal interrogations occur. Camps such as Omerska and
Trnopolje gain infamy, the latter of which operates as staging ground for
massive deportations of civilians - mostly of women, children, and elderly
men. Killings and rape are standard practice. Photograph provided courtesy
of the ICTY
The United Nations Security Council instructs the The United Nations
Protection Force (UNPROFOR) to ensure Sarajevo, Goražde, Srebrenica,
Tuzla, Žepa and Bihać become safe havens. The group prioritizes securing
the Sarajevo airport, which has become a front line in the war. Photo by
Ludovic Hirlimann
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an international military
cooperative, gets involved in the Bosnian conflict, when it shoots down four
Serbian jets that had violated the no-fly zone.
UNPROFOR, which had been deployed to stabilize neighboring Croatia, has
its mandate expanded and deploys into Bosnia to protect the country's
airspace and support deliveries of humanitarian supplies.
Serbs overrun the safe haven of Srebrenica and begin an 11-day massacre of
Muslim men and boys. An estimated 8,000 are killed in what the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will later
define as a genocide.
The ICTY indicts Bosnian Serb Army General Ratko Mladic and politician
Radovan Kardadzic for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.
Kardadzic is currently on trial in The Hague after evading police for more
than 10 years, while Mladic remains at large.
NATO begins Operation Deliberate Force, a three-week campaign against
Serb military targets in response to the violation of safe havens. It is the
first use of force since NATO's founding in 1949.
U.S. President Bill Clinton, during a nationally televised address, calls for
U.S. support for sending 20,000 American troops to Bosnia. See Video of
Clinton's Address
In November of 1995, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher brokers a
meeting between Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian leaders at an Air Force
base in Dayton, Ohio. The agreement, which effectively ends the Bosnian
War, is signed into law in Paris on December 14. The accord gives about
half of the territory to a Bosnian-Croat coalition and the other half to
Serbs.
Carl Bildt, a Swedish diplomat who had formerly served as a U.N. envoy to
the Balkans, becomes High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina. In
this role, he is tasked with overseeing that the Dayton Peace Accords terms
are followed. Photo by Bengt Nyman
The ICTY convicts Croatian Serb Drazen Erdemovic for crimes against
humanity for his role in the Srebrenica massacre. He would later become a
witness in the trial against Slobodan Milosevic.
SFOR, a multinational NATO peacekeeping force, is deployed to Bosnia and
Herzegovina to ensure stability.
s
05/24/
1999
Milosevic
Trial
12/02/
2004
08/21/
2006
EU Takes
Over
Srebrenica
Trials
U.N.
Security
Council
01/01/
2010
06/10/
2010
Convictions
During Milosevic's tenure as President of Serbia, the ICTY indicts him
initially for crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo, but later adds
charges of genocide in Croatia and Bosnia. He dies while on trial.
The European Union Force (EUFOR) takes over peacekeeping duties from
NATO in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The ICTY begins trials for seven former high-ranking Bosnian Serbs accused
in the Srebrenica genocide. All plead not guilty.
Bosnia and Herzegovina assumes a U.N. Security Council seat for the 201011 term.
The ICTY convicts seven Bosnian Serb military and police officials in a trial
over the Srebrenica massacre. Two are convicted of genocide and
sentenced to life terms, while the others are found guilty of a range of
crimes against humanity and war crimes.