Full Description:
The longest and deadliest of the Yugoslav Wars, fought in Bosnia and Herzegovina after its independence referendum in February 1992. Bosnian Serb forces, backed by the JNA and Serbia, sought to create a “Republika Srpska” by ethnically cleansing Bosniaks and Croats. Bosnian Croat forces, backed by Croatia, later joined the partition. The war featured the siege of Sarajevo, the Srebrenica genocide, and over 100,000 dead before the Dayton Agreement ended it.
Critical Perspective:
The Bosnian War is the great refutation of the “three-sided civil war” myth. It was, from its opening salvos, a war of aggression by Serbia and Croatia against a multi-ethnic republic that had voted for independence. The Bosniaks, as the largest group committed to a unified Bosnia, were the primary victims—not because of ancient hatreds, but because their existence as a people obstructed the nationalist projects of both Belgrade and Zagreb. The international community’s arms embargo effectively disarmed the victims while arming the aggressors.
