Bosnia-Herzegovina genocide :: essays research papers

Bosnia-Herzegovina genocide Genocide, the regular and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or heathenish group. From 1992-1995 that was happening in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, conflict between the three main ethnic groups, the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, resulted in genocide committed by the Serbs a clearst the Muslims in Bosnia. Bosnia is one of some(prenominal) small countries that emerged from the break-up of Yugoslavia, a multicultural country created after World contend I by the Western Allies. Yugoslavia was composed of ethnic and religious groups that had been historic rivals, even bitter enemies, including the Serbs ( Jewish-Orthodox Christians), Croats (Catholics) and ethnic Albanians (Muslims).During World War II, Yugoslavia was invaded by national socialist Germany and was partitioned. A fierce resistance movement sprang up guide by Josip Tito. Following Germanys defeat, Tito reunified Yugoslavia under the sl ogan "Brotherhood and Unity," merging together Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, on with two self-governing provinces, Kosovo and Vojvodina. Tito, a Communist, was a strong leader who retained ties with the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War, playing one magnate against the other while obtaining financial assistance and other aid from both. later his death in 1980 and without his strong leadership, Yugoslavia quickly plunged into political and economic chaos. A new leader arose by the late 1980s, a Serbian named Slobodan Milosevic, a former Communist who had turned to nationalism and religious hatred to gain power. He began by inflaming long-standing tensions between Serbs and Muslims in the independent provence of Kosovo. Orthodox Christian Serbs in Kosovo were in the minority and claimed they were being mistreated by the Albanian Muslim majority. Serbian-backed political unrest in Kosovo eventually led to its loss of independ ence and domination by Milosevic. In June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia both declared their independence from Yugoslavia soon resulting in civil war. The national army of Yugoslavia, instantaneously made up of Serbs controlled by Milosevic, stormed into Slovenia but failed to subdue the separatists there and withdrew after only ten days of fighting. Milosevic quickly lost interest in Slovenia, a country with almost no Serbs. Instead, he turned his upkeep to Croatia, a Catholic country where Orthodox Serbs made up 12 percent of the population. During World War II, Croatia had been a pro-Nazi state led by Ante Pavelic and his fascist Ustasha Party. Serbs living in Croatia as well as Jews had been the targets of widespread Ustasha massacres.