The 'Croatian War of Independence' was a
war in
Croatia from
1991 to
1995. Initially, the war was between Croatia and the
Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). Later, the conflict turned into fighting between the armed forces of the newly-independent Croatia and the rebelling
Serb minority, who proclaimed an autonomous Republic of Serb Krajina. The Serbs were supported by the Yugoslavian National Army and Belgrade. The Croatian side aimed to establish sovereignty for the Republic of Croatia, previously a federal unit in the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Croatia's rebelling Serbs had wanted to remain a part of Yugoslavia, effectively seeking new boundaries in those parts of Croatia with a Serb majority or significant minority. The war was striking for its brutality and intensity.
In Croatia the war is referred to as '''Domovinski rat''' (''Homeland War''), and due to its recent history, it is often contracted to just ''rat'' (war). In Serbia, the phrase '''Rat u Hrvatskoj''' (''War in Croatia'') is the most common name. (See
Nomenclatorial note below.)
Background - dissent throughout Yugoslavia
The war in Croatia resulted from the rise of nationalism in the 1980s which slowly led to the dissolution of
Yugoslavia. A crisis emerged in Yugoslavia with the weakening of the Communist states in Eastern Europe towards the end of the
Cold War, as symbolised by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. In Yugoslavia, the national communist party, officially called Alliance or the
League of Communists had lost its ideological potency.
In the 1980s, Albanian secessionist movements in Kosovo led to repression of the Albanian majority in Serbia's southern province. The more prosperous republics of
Slovenia and Croatia wanted to move towards decentralisation and democracy. Serbia's republic, headed by
Slobodan Milošević, adhered to centralism and one party rule through the Yugoslav Communist Party. Milošević effectively ended autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina autonomous regions.
At the same time, the Yugoslav Peoples Army underwent transformation to a Serb controlled and dominated force, and army command regions were changed to enable easier command in future wars (with the 1st command region with HQ in Belgrade, which closely resembled the desirable future borders of "
Greater Serbia")
As nationalism based on each republic's individual matters grew, it was apparent that Yugoslavia would soon be replaced by numerous successor states. As
Slobodan Milošević rose to power in Serbia, his rhetoric favoured the continued unity of all Serbs in a single state. As Slovenia and Croatia began to seek greater autonomy within the Federation, including
confederative status and even full independence, the nationalist ideas started to grow within the ranks of the still-ruling
League of Communists.
1989 The ascent of Serbia
In March 1989, the crisis in Yugoslavia deepened after the adoption of amendments to the Serbian constitution. This allowed the Serbian republic's government to re-assert effective power over the autonomous provinces of
Kosovo and
Vojvodina. Before this point, a number of political decisions were legislated from within these provinces. They also had a vote on the Yugoslav federal presidency level (six members from republics and two members from autonomous provinces).
[1] Serbia, under president
Slobodan Milošević, gained control over three out of eight votes in the
Yugoslav presidency. With additional votes from
Montenegro and, occasionally,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia was thus able to heavily influence decisions of the federal government. This situation led to objections in other republics and calls for reform of the Yugoslav Federation.
1990 Electoral and constitutional moves
The weakening of the communist regime allowed nationalism to spread its political presence, even within the
League of Communists of Yugoslavia (CY). In January 1990, the League of Communists broke up on the lines of the individual republics. At the 14th Extraordinary Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, on January 20th, 1990, the delegations of the republics could not agree on the main issues in the Yugoslav federation. The Croatian delegation demanded a looser federation, while the Serbian delegation, headed by Milošević, opposed this. As a result, the
Slovenian and
Croatian delegates left the Congress. This is considered by some to be the beginning of the end of
Yugoslavia.
The first free
elections were then scheduled a few months later in Croatia and Slovenia. The
elections in Croatia were held in April/May, the first round on April 22nd and the second round on May 6th.
During 1989 a number of political parties had been founded, among them the
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ - Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica), led by Croatian nationalist
Franjo Tuđman. The HDZ based its campaign on an aspiration to independence and on a general anti-Yugoslav rhetoric, fueling the sentiment of Croats that "only the HDZ could protect Croatia from the aspirations of Serbian elements led by Slobodan Milošević towards a
Greater Serbia." It topped the poll in the elections (followed by
Ivica Račan's reformed communists,
Social Democratic Party of Croatia) and formed a new
Croatian Government.
An important factor to Croatia preserving its pre-war borders was aided by donations from members of the
Croatian diaspora. Many future HDZ politicians, including Tuđman, made international visits during the late 1980s and early 1990s in order to garner support from emigrants for the Croatian national cause. However, these early contacts with the Croatian diaspora had already been interpreted by some conservative communist politicians (mostly Serbs) as separatist. This sentiment was further fuelled by some HDZ members' controversial statements and careless rhetoric that was anything but peaceful. For example, one of the most quoted Tuđman's public statements was that "he was glad that his wife was neither Serb nor Jewish". Additionally, the flood of nationalist iconography, some of it drawn directly from the World War II Croatian nationalist movement responsible for the demise of probably more than 100,000 Serbs did little to ease the tensions.
On
May 13, 1990, a
football game was held in Zagreb between Zagreb's
Dinamo team and
Belgrade's
Crvena Zvezda team. Matches between these two top Yugoslav soccer teams were always high-risk, but in 1990, the game erupted into violence as Dinamo fans tried to cross over the fence on the other part of stadium where were Zvezda`s fans.Quickly Zvezda`s fans began throwing stadium chairs and fences on Dinamo fans, which drew a response of police. The militia (Communist-era police) immediately intervened, reportedly targeting mostly Dinamo fans which crossed on other side of stadium and everything resulted in a clash, ending the game and resulting in over 60 people hurt, including some stabbed, shot and poisoned by
tear gas.
[2]
On
May 30, 1990, the new
Croatian Parliament held its first session, and President Tuđman announced his manifesto for a new Constitution (ratified at year-end - see below) and a multitude of political, economic and social changes, notably to what extent minority rights (mainly for Serbs and Bosniaks), would be guaranteed. Local Serb politicians opposed the new constitution, on the grounds that the local Serb population would be threatened. Their prime concern was that a new constitution would changed the status of Serbs in Croatia to a 'national minority' rather than a 'constituent nation'. This indeed happened once the Constitution was passed by year-end.
In August 1990, an unrecognised referendum was held in regions with a substantial Serb population (which would later become known as the
Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK)) (bordering western
Bosnia and Herzegovina) on the question of Serb "sovereignty and autonomy" in Croatia. This was to counter the changes of the constitution. The Croatian government tried to block the referendum by sending police forces to rebelling police stations in Serb populated areas to seize their weapons. Among other incidents, local Serbs from southern hinterland Croatia, mostly around the city of
Knin, blocked the roads to the tourist destinations in
Dalmatia. This incident is known as the "
Log revolution". Years later, during
Milan Martić's trial,
Milan Babić would claim that he was tricked by Martić into agreeing to the Log Revolution, and that it - as well as the entire war in Croatia - was Martić's responsibility, orchestrated by
Belgrade.
[3] The Croatian government responded to the blockade of roads by sending special police teams in helicopters to the scene, but they were intercepted by
Yugoslav Army fighter jets and forced to turn back to Zagreb.
The Serbs within Croatia did not initially seek independence before 1990. On September 30th, 1990, the Serbian National Council declared "the autonomy of the Serbian people on ethnic and historic territories on which they live and which are within the current boundaries of the Republic of Croatia as a federal unit of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia".
Following Tuđman's election and the perception of a threat from the new constitution, Serb nationalists in the
Kninska Krajina region began taking armed action against Croatian government officials. Many were forcibly expelled or excluded from the RSK. Croatian government property throughout the region was increasingly controlled by local Serb municipalities or the newly established "Serbian National Council". This would later become the government of the breakaway Republic of Serbian Krajina. It was led by
Milan Babić, who later would be convicted for war crimes and would openly show remorse for his role (and testify against other Serb leaders).
On
December 22nd, 1990, the
Parliament of Croatia ratified the new constitution, changing the status of Serbs in Croatia to a 'national minority' from a 'constituent nation'. The percentage of those declaring themselves as Serbs, according to the 1991 census, was 12% (78% of the population declared themselves as Croat). This was read as taking away some of the rights from the Serbs granted by the previous
Socialist constitution, thereby fuelling extremism among the Serbs of Croatia.
Consequently, many Serbs began to lose their government jobs in Croatia, particularly after the ratification of the new constitution. This further escalated tensions.
[4][5]
Furthermore,
Slovenia was also well into its own proces
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