Full Description:
A large-scale Croatian military offensive in August 1995 that retook the breakaway Republic of Serbian Krajina, which had been under Serb control since 1991. Over 200,000 Croatian Serbs fled during or after the operation. Croatia declared it a legitimate act of liberation; Serbia and international human rights groups labeled it an act of ethnic cleansing.
Critical Perspective:
Operation Storm is the Yugoslav Wars’ most contested event. To Croats, it was a heroic victory that ended four years of occupation. To Serbs, it was a mass expulsion—the largest single forced displacement of the entire conflict. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indicted Croatian generals for war crimes, but they were eventually acquitted on appeal. The acquittal, celebrated in Croatia as vindication, was condemned by human rights organizations as a miscarriage of justice. Storm’s legacy remains a litmus test: who you think was right reveals which nation’s victimhood you privilege.
