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In April 1992, the government of the Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina declared its independence from Yugoslavia. Over the next several years, Bosnian Serb forces, with the backing of the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army, perpetrated atrocious crimes against Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) and Croatian civilians, resulting in the deaths of some 100,000 people (80 percent of them Bosniak) by 1995.

Slobodan Milosevic

In the aftermath of World War II, the Balkan states of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia became part of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. After the death of longtime Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito in 1980, growing nationalism among the different Yugoslav republics threatened to split their union apart.

This process intensified after the mid-1980s with the rise of the Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, who helped foment discontent between Serbians in Bosnia and Croatia and their Croatian, Bosniak and Albanian neighbors. In 1991, Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia declared their independence.

During the war in Croatia that followed, the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army supported Serbian separatists there in brutal clashes with Croatian forces.

Radovan Karadzic

In Bosnia, Muslims represented the largest single population group by 1971. More Serbs and Croats emigrated over the next two decades, and in a 1991 census Bosnia's population of some 4 million was 44 percent Bosniak, 31 percent Serb, and 17 percent Croatian.

Elections held in late 1990 resulted in a coalition government split between parties representing the three ethnicities (in rough proportion to their populations) and led by the Bosniak Alija Izetbegovic.

As tensions built inside and outside the country, the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his Serbian Democratic Party withdrew from government and set up their own "Serbian National Assembly." On March 3, 1992, after a referendum vote (which Karadzic's party blocked in many Serb-populated areas), President Izetbegovic proclaimed Bosnia's independence.

STRUGGLE FOR CONTROL IN BOSNIA

Far from seeking independence for Bosnia, Bosnian Serbs wanted to be part of a dominant Serbian state in the Balkans-the "Greater Serbia" that Serbian separatists had long envisioned.

In early May 1992, two days after the United States and the European Community (the precursor to the European Union) recognized Bosnia's independence, Bosnian Serb forces with the backing of Milosevic and the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army launched their offensive with a bombardment of Bosnia's capital, Sarajevo.

They attacked Bosniak-dominated towns in eastern Bosnia, including Zvornik, Foca, and Visegrad, forcibly expelling Bosniak civilians from the region in a brutal process that later was identified as "ethnic cleansing." (Ethnic cleansing differs from genocide in that its primary goal is the expulsion of a group of people from a geographical area and not the actual physical destruction of that group, even though the same methods-including murder, rape, torture and forcible displacement-may be used.)

Though Bosnian government forces tried to defend the territory, sometimes with the help of the Croatian army, Bosnian Serb forces were in control of nearly three-quarters of the country by the end of 1993, and Karadzic's party had set up their own Republika Srpska in the east. Most of the Bosnian Croats had left the country, while a significant Bosniak population remained only in smaller towns.

Several peace proposals between a Croatian-Bosniak federation and Bosnian Serbs failed when the Serbs refused to give up any territory. The United Nations refused to intervene in the conflict in Bosnia, but a campaign spearheaded by its High Commissioner for Refugees provided humanitarian aid to its many displaced, malnourished and injured victims.

SREBRENICA MASSACRE

By the summer of 1995, three towns in eastern Bosnia-Srebrenica, Zepa and Gorazde-remained under control of the Bosnian government. The U.N. had declared these enclaves "safe havens" in 1993, to be disarmed and protected by international peacekeeping forces.

On July 11, 1995, however, Bosnian Serb forces advanced on Srebrenica, overwhelming a battalion of Dutch peacekeeping forces stationed there. Serbian forces subsequently separated the Bosniak civilians at Srebrenica, putting the women and girls on buses and sending them to Bosnian-held territory.

Some of the women were raped or sexually assaulted, while the men and boys who remained behind were killed immediately or bussed to mass killing sites. Estimates of Bosniaks killed by Serb forces at Srebrenica range from around 7,000 to more than 8,000.

After Bosnian Serb forces captured Zepa that same month and exploded a bomb in a crowded Sarajevo market, the international community began to respond more forcefully to the ongoing conflict and its ever-growing civilian death toll.

In August 1995, after the Serbs refused to comply with a U.N. ultimatum, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) joined efforts with Bosnian and Croatian forces for three weeks of bombing Bosnian Serb positions and a ground offensive.

With Serbia's economy crippled by U.N. trade sanctions and its military forces under assault in Bosnia after three years of warfare, Milosevic agreed to enter negotiations that October. The U.S.-sponsored peace talks in Dayton, Ohio, in November 1995 (which included Izetbegovic, Milosevic and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman) resulted in the creation of a federalized Bosnia divided between a Croat-Bosniak federation and a Serb republic.

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

Though the international community did little to prevent the systematic atrocities committed against Bosniaks and Croats in Bosnia while they were occurring, it did actively seek justice against those who committed them.

In May 1993, the U.N. Security Council created the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague, Netherlands. It was the first international tribunal since the Nuremberg Trials in 1945-46, and the first to prosecute genocide, among other war crimes.

Radovan Karadzic and the Bosnian Serb military commander, General Ratko Mladic, were among those indicted by the ICTY for genocide and other crimes against humanity.

The ICTY would eventually indict 161 individuals of crimes committed during conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Brought before the tribunal in 2002 on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, Milosevic served as his own defense lawyer; his poor health led to long delays in the trial until he was found dead in his prison cell in 2006.

BUTCHER OF BOSNIA

In 2007, the International Court of Justice issued its ruling in a historic civil lawsuit brought by Bosnia against Serbia. Though the court called the massacre at Srebrenica genocide and said that Serbia "could and should" have prevented it and punished those who committed it, it stopped short of declaring Serbia guilty of the genocide itself.

After a trial lasting more than four years and involving the testimony of nearly 600 witnesses, the ICTY found Mladic, who had been dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia," guilty of genocide and other crimes against humanity in November 2017. The tribunal sentenced the 74-year-old former general to life in prison. Coming on the heels of Karadzic's conviction for war crimes the previous year, Mladic's long-delayed conviction marked the last major prosecution by the ICTY.

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In April 1992, the government of the Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina declared its independence from Yugoslavia. Over the next several years, Bosnian Serb forces, with the backing of the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army, perpetrated atrocious crimes against Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) and Croatian civilians, resulting in the deaths of some 100,000 people (80 percent of them Bosniak) by 1995.

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Many Honor Their Late Loved Ones at the Grave Sites

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Many Honor Their Late Loved Ones at the Grave Sites

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In a piece written by Mark Danner on the Bosnian Genocide, he explained, "When the Serb gunners began shelling cities and towns in Bosnia, the pattern of "cleansing" emerged immediately. Army units would form a perimeter around a town, setting up roadblocks. Messages were sent inviting all Serb residents to depart. Then the artillerymen would begin their work, shelling the town with heavy and light guns; if defenders fired back, the Serb bombardment might last many days, destroying the town and killing most of those in it; if there was no resistance, the heavy guns might stop in a day or two. Once the town was considered sufficiently "softened up," the paramilitary shock troops would storm in, and the terror would begin" (PBS).

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HISTORY.com editors, editor. HISTORY. 14 Oct. 2009, www.history.com/topics/1990s/
bosnian-genocide. Accessed 8 May 2020.
Bosnian Genocide Guide, hmh libraray, hmh.org/library/research/genocide-in-bosnia-guide/. Accessed 8 May 2020.

"Bosnian Genocide Steps." Bosnian Genocide steps, google, sites.google.com/site/genocidemultigenre/resources. Accessed 8 May 2020.

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"Bosnian Genocide." Bosnian Genocide, history.com, www.history.com/topics/1990s/bosnian-genocide. Accessed 8 May 2020.

"Bosnian Genocide Guide." Bosnian Genocide Guide, hmh libraray, hmh.org/library/research/genocide-in-bosnia-guide/. Accessed 8 May 2020.

"Bosnian Genocide Steps." Bosnian Genocide steps, google, sites.google.com/site/genocidemultigenre/resources. Accessed 8 May 2020.

"10 Facts about the Bosnian Genocide." Brogan Project, Brogen Project, borgenproject.org/10-facts-about-the-bosnian-genocide/. Accessed 8 May 2020.

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Crossette, Barbara. "U.N. Details Its Failure to Stop '95 Bosnia Massacre."
The New York Times, 16 Nov. 1999, www.nytimes.com/1999/11/16/world/
un-details-its-failure-to-stop-95-bosnia-massacre.html%20(#.
"Genocide in Bosnia." Holocaust Museum Houston, hmh.org/library/research/
genocide-in-bosnia-guide/.
History.com Editors. "Bosnian Genocide." HISTORY, 14 Oct. 2009, www.history.com/
topics/1990s/bosnian-genocide.
Rohde, David. "Why Did Ratko Mladic Commit Genocide against Bosnia's Muslims?"
The New Yorker, www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/
why-did-ratko-mladic-commit-genocide-against-bosnias-muslims. Accessed 27
Nov. 2017.

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Danner, Mark. "The Horrors of a Camp Called Omarska and the Serb Strategy." PBS, edited by Mark Danner, WGBH Educational Foundation, www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/karadzic/atrocities/omarska2.html. Accessed 8 May 2020.

History.com Editors, editor. "Bosnian Genocide." History, edited by History Editors, A&E Television Networks, 14 Oct. 2009, www.history.com/topics/1990s/bosnian-genocide. Accessed 8 May 2020.

HMH Editors, editor. "Genocide in Bosnia." Holocaust Museum Houston, edited by HMH Editors, hmh.org/library/research/genocide-in-bosnia-guide/.Accessed 8 May 2020.

USHMM Editors, editor. "Prosecuting the Crime of Genocide." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, edited by USHMM Editors, www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/countries/bosnia-herzegovina/case-study/aftermath/prosecuting-the-crime-of-genocide. Accessed 8 May 2020.

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Who made up Bosnia Prior to the Genocide?

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Who made up Bosnia Prior to the Genocide?

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44 percent of Bosnia’s population were Bosniaks, 31 percent were Serb, and 17 percent were Croatian (History).

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How was How was the Serb Army Able to Get Away With This? Why were they not Stopped? (2)

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How was How was the Serb Army Able to Get Away With This? Why were they not Stopped? (2)

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But the Serbs never withdrew and the United Nations failed to stop the perpetrators. The Serb army committed one of the largest massacres in one of the “safe areas”, in Srebrenica. (New York Times). The United Nations relied on diplomacy for too long which clearly was not working which was why the genocide was not stopped sooner.

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How was the Serb Army Able to Get Away With This? Why were they not Stopped?

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How was the Serb Army Able to Get Away With This? Why were they not Stopped?

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In 1993, the United Nations tried to intervene by stating that Serb forces must leave and go to where they cannot attack, harass, or terrorize. They announced that Sarajevo, Goradze, Srebrenica, and other Muslim territories were safe areas that were to be protected the U.N. peacekeepers (New York Times).

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Below is a Photo of the Bosnian Genocide case at the International Court of Justice

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Below is a Photo of the Bosnian Genocide case at the International Court of Justice

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Dead bodies found after the genocide was over

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Dead bodies found after the genocide was over

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Below is a picture of Slobodan Miloševic

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Below is a picture of Slobodan Miloševic

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Who were the Victims of this Genocide and Why?

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Who were the Victims of this Genocide and Why?

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Horrible crimes were committed against the Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and Croatian civilians during this time. The reason they were targeted was because after the breakaway from Serbia, ethnic tensions rose and Serbia then decided in April 1922 to do an ethnic cleansing of Bosnian territory (HMH Library).

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Below it shows individuals waiting in lines to get on buses and or go to slaughter places.

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Below it shows individuals waiting in lines to get on buses and or go to slaughter places.

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The Terror On Kids Faces

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1. The war finally ended after the genocide through a peace agreement that the US set up in Ohio (USHMM).

2. The country was divided into two “states.” One being the Serb Republic, and the other being the Bosnian Federation (USHMM).

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In Total...

It claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 people

Another 2 million Bosnians were displaced from their homes and placed in dangerous, terrible conditions.

(Brogen Project)

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8,000 “Battle-Aged” Men ...

Were detained and slaughtered

(Brogen Project)

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23,000 Elderly, Woman, Children...

Were put on buses and sent to Muslim controlled territory

(Brogen Project)

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A trial lasting four years with testimonies from about 600 witnesses. In November 2017 the ICTY found Mladic, known as the “Butcher of Bosnia,” guilty of genocide as well as other crimes against humanity (History).

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In 2007, the International Court of Justice in a historic civil lawsuit brought by Bosnia against Serbia that the massacre at Srebrenica was a genocide and that Serbia could and should have prevented it. (HMH). They punished those who committed it but it stopped short of declaring Serbia guilty of the genocide itself. (History).

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The U.N. Security Council created the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague, Netherlands (HMH). The ICTY was first to prosecute genocide as well as other war crimes. The ICTY eventually indicted 161 individuals of crimes committed during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia (History).

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Who were the Perpetrators of this Genocide?

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Who were the Perpetrators of this Genocide?

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The Bosnian Serb army with support from the Serb Yugoslav forces were the perpetrators of this genocide (History). Ratko Mladić, a Serbian army commander, was found guilty of genocide of the Bosnians, war crimes, and crimes against humanity (The New Yorker). Slobodan Miloševic was also connected to the crimes committed against the Bosniaks.

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Picture showing how they would lay the bodies of dead individuals.

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Picture showing how they would lay the bodies of dead individuals.

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This made civilians leave but they left in a terrible brutal process.  People were put on buses and slaughtered. This process was all later known as “ethnic cleansing”. (HMH Library and History.com)

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Soon after the UN declared that different groups of Muslims needed to be protected for their own good. Instead, in 1955 of July, Serbs committed the largest massacre. The Bosniak dominant towns, Foca and Visegrad were attacked (HMH Library).

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When Yugoslavia’s government started to fall the two provinces of Slovenia and Croatia wanted independence and war started with Serbia. There were a large number of ethnic issues and tensions at this time. Many Bosniaks were put in concentration camps and women were poorly treated in ways such as rape when everything became tense (History.com and Bosnian Genocide Steps).

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Serbia’s economy was crippled by the UN trade sanctions. Also, its military forces were under assault in Bosnia after three years of warfare. Because of these two important aspects of a country, Milosevic agreed to enter negotiations that October (HMH).

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Between 1992 and 1995, the Bosnian War was taking place, which caused most of the conflict that lead to the genocide (HMH).

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In 1993, the United Nations Security Council declared that Sarajevo, Goradze, Srebrenica, and other Muslim territories were to be made safe areas and protected by UN peacekeepers (HMH).

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In 1992, Serbia decided they needed to “ethnically cleanse” Bosnian territory by removing all Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks). Bosniaks were taken to concentration camps. In these camps, women, and girls were raped, while other men, women, and children were starved, tortured, and murdered (HMH).

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Below is a photo of the gravestones honoring those who died in the genocide

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Below is a photo of the gravestones honoring those who died in the genocide

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The Bosnian Genocide lasted two days, July 11, 1995 until July 13, 1995 (History).

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This is a map of Bosnia and the surrounding land during the war and genocide.

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The Bosnian Genocide took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina (History).