It is hard to give a full answer on this question, especially because those events might be considered as recent history, so it is hard to remain neutral.

Before its breakup, Yugoslavia was made up of six constituent republics: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro. Serbia had two autonomal provinces, Kosovo and Methija (later abreviated to "Kosovo" only) and Vojvodina, which in fact had all rights as other republics. After death of charismatic president Josip Broz Tito in 1980, country preserved its political and economical system. However, up to early 1990s, Yugoslavia had major domestic problems, in spite of economic reforms, made by Prime Minister Ante Markovic, who tried to transform a system from a communism to a social-aware capitalism. The country had foreign debt, unemployment and inflation, which caused a turmoil. In addition to that, idea of nationalism became dominant over communism. In 1989, Serbia abolished the autonomy, which Kosovo and Vojvodina enjoyed. The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, which ruled the country for 45 years, broke apart in January 1990, what was at first considered as positive, because it opened a way towards political pluralism. However, the first multiparty elections in all republics were almost completly won by politicians with nationalist retoric (Janez Drnovsek, Franjo Tudjman, Alija Izetbegovic), although some of them claimed the continuity of League of Communists (Slobodan Milosevic).

First national incidents date back to the spring of 1990, when during a football match in Zagreb between Dinamo (Croatia) and Red Star (Serbia), supporters of two clubs were engaged in an encounter. The tensions were continued in the summer, when Croatian Serbs blocked the roads in so called "balvan revolucija" ("block revolution"), seeking a greater degree of autonomy within Croatian constitution, which previously suspended some of their political rights. It became clear that the country might split apart. In December, Slovenia was first to hold an independence rederendum, and although answer was positive, the declaration of secession has been postponed for 6 months, as reconstitution talks between republics were ongoing. In May 1991, a similar referendum was held in Croatia, and on June 25, Slovenia and Croatia became the first republics to break apart, later followed by Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Soon, a civil war spread through all of these breakaway republics, except in Macedonia. The war in Slovenia errupted almost immediately after a declaration of independence, and lasted for 10 days. A federal army, still one of the mightiest forces in the Europe, intervened in order to protect the constitution and control over international borders. Local police and Slovenian territorial defence resisted. The war was short, but bloody. Than, Yugoslavian army, mostly controlled by Serbian officers, withdrew, as federal goverment has de facto recognized independence of Slovenia: that country was namely pretty much ethnically homogeneous. An EC-sponsored Agreement has been signed on Croatian island of Brioni, which postponed the effect of Slovenian and Croatian independences for three months, unless the permanent agreement is meanwhile reached. Negotiations have been re-attempted, however, federal institutions continued to break apart. In the late summer of 1991, the situation was much more complicated in Croatia, where almost 20% of population were ethnic Serbs, who wanted to remain within a federal state, and effectively took control on the third of Croatian soil. They were supported by federal troops and Serbian paramilitants, however, only until beginning of 1992, when Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, decided to change his "preserve big Yugoslavia" policy with a support towards a smaller federation, so a cease-fire has been signed. Before it, the greatest war escalation has been seen in Croatian town of Vukovar, which was eventually occupied by federal forces, however, it remained laying in ruins. Up until than, Serbs have already declared their republics on the territories of Croatia (Republika Srpska Krajina) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republika Srpska), which tended to remain in a federal state, however, except mutual recognition, no one seemed to accept their claims, even not Serbia/rump Yugoslavia.

In March 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina officially seceded, following a referendum. Soon, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and later Macedonia (which had a dispute with Greece over its name) were internationally recognized and admitted to UN. At the same time, another conflict spread out in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The only two countries that made up Yugoslavia (now Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) in 1992 were Serbia and Montenegro, however, the claims of this country to be a legal successor of previous Yugoslavia were not generally accepted, so FRY was suspended from UN and other international organizations, and even some states (as US) refused to recognize it at all. Also, because of its role in Bosnian war, the state has been put under UN-embargo, and in 1993, it suffered a hyper-inflation.

Meanwhile, the greater part of Bosnia and Herzegovina was controlled by Bosnian Serbs, and the war lasted for a 3 years, resulting with some of the greatest atrocities after WWII. USA and their allies wanted to end these conflicts and that resulted in NATO intervention against Bosnian (and partially Croatian) Serbs, as well as Dayton Agreement, instituted in 1995, which created two self-governing groups in Bosnia - Bosnian Serb Republic and Muslim-Croat Federation (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). During this, Croatia took the most of the territory controlled by Serbs, which resulted in massive exiles of Serbs from Croatia and termination of Republika Srpska Krajina. UN-embargo against Yugoslavia has been abolished

After only a couple of months, Kosovo Liberation Army, made up mostly of Albanians, began with its rebelion against Serbian rule: Kosovo Albanians declared independence in 1990, and a frozen conflict on Kosovo was ongoing even since early 1980s, however only now it escalated. After more than two years of clashes, renewed international sanctions and unsuccessful negotiations in a French castle of Rambouillet, NATO (National Atlantic Treaty Organization) began a systematic air strikes against the whole FR Yugoslavia in spring of 1999. An agreement was reached in June in Macedonian town of Kumanovo, which ended the war and obliged Yugoslavian forces to withraw from the province. An UNSC resolution placed Kosovo under international control. Up until the end of 1990s, all ex-Yugoslav states (except Slovenia) suffered a huge economical disaster.

Finally, the ruler of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic lost a presidential election in 2000 and was eventually forced out of office by mass demonstrations (on October 5th). Only then, the international isolation of Yugoslavia was over, country was fully recognized and admitted to UN membership. Milosevic was soon arrested and delivered to a Hague Court of War Crimes. In 2006, he died before the verdict was reached. Although the similar charges against Croatian warlord Franjo Tudjman, as well as Bosnian-Muslim Alija Izetbegovic were in the phase of preparation, they were never issued, and both died respectively, without official claims against their innocence.

Some minor conflicts spread out in Albanian populated areas in southern Serbia (2000-01), and eventually in Macedonia (2002), however, they were diplomatically resolved without larger escalation. At the same time, pro-independence opinion grew high in Montenegro, and reconstitution talks have been initialized. So, in 2003, a new constitutional chart has been approved, and Yugoslavia no longer existed. It was just called Serbia and Montenegro, which was a weak union of two remaining republics. In 2006, after a referendum, Montenegro declared independence and the union was completely abolished. In 2008, Kosovo unilateraly declared independence, which is not accepted by Serbia, however, some 110 states recognized it (as of spring 2014). In 2004, Slovenia joined European Union, followed by Croatia in 2013. Up until then, all ex-Yugoslav republics (except disputed Kosovo) are candidates for the EU membership.

Formal names of Yugoslavia:

Kingdom period:

1. Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1918 - 1929)

2. Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1929 - 1941)

3. Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (1943 - 1945; already ruled by Communists)

Communist period:

4. Federal National Republic of Yugoslavia (1945-1963)

5. Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1963-1992)

Milosevic and democratic period

4. Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992 - 2003)

5. State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006)

Countries that split apart from Yugoslavia:

1. Slovenia (June 25, 1991, after Brioni Moratorium, October 8, 1991)

2. Croatia (June 25, 1991, after Brioni Moratorium, October 8, 1991)

3. Macedonia (September 8, 1991)

4. Bosnia and Herzegovina (March 1, 1992)

Countries that split apart from Serbia:

1. Montenegro (June 3, 2006)

2. Kosovo (disputed, February 17, 2008)

Former and unrecognized countries:

1. Republika Srpska Krajina (1991; taken by Croatia in 1995)

2. Republika Srpska (1992; entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina after Dayton agreement since 1995)

3. Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna (1993; joined Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1994)

4. Republic of Western Bosnia (1993; joined Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995)

Resources

Top Categories

Product

Company