What led to the fierce war in Bosnia?

Answer 1

The main cause of the conflict that occured in Bosnia is the different ethnical divisions that were in the country between the Serbians- who are Orthodox, and the Bosnians- who were mostly Muslims, and Croats who are Catholic. These divisions din't come to a flare until the "president" Tito died. Ten years after his death the Moslem national Alije Izetbegovic got a green light from the European Commission to move for secession from Yugoslavia and proclaim Bosnia a Moslem nation, even though it was only about 40% Moslem.

A referendum was held on secession and the Moslem and Croat populations voted unanimously for it. The Serbs boycotted the referendum and created their own republic since they considered the referendum illegal. The Bosnian Serb Republics refusal to yield to the Bosnian government was the cause that lead to direct conflict.

Answer 2

The Yugoslav Civil War took place because of the wish for self-determination and independence on the part of the various separate nations that made up the former Yugoslavia. The conflict began in 1991, when Slovenia and Croatia voted for independence in a referendum- the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia opposed the two nations breaking away as independent states, and armed conflict erupted.

Slovenia soon established a peaceful Independence treaty with Yugoslavia, but fighting continued against Croatia until '92, when the European Union officially recognised it as a separate state, and brokered a deal with the rest of Yugoslavia to allow it to become independent. What was left of Yugoslavia now consisted of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro. Macedonia and Montenegro had seperatist ambitions, but Bosnia was a special case because it contained a number of different ethnic groups- Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims. The Bosnian Serbs wanted Bosnia to remain part of Serbia, and the Bosnian Croats wanted it to be part of Croatia- the Bosnian Muslims wanted it to become an independent state in it's own right.

The country was a melting pot of ethnic tension, which exploded in 1992 as all three groups went to war- the Serbs and Croats to establish their own ethnic territories and to create corridors that linked with their respective countries, and the Muslims to establish a completely independent Bosnian state. Early in the conflict, the Bosnian Serb army under the command of General Ratko Mladic and his political leader Radovan Karadic, placed the Bosnian capital Sarajevo under siege by mounting a ring of artillery positions on the hills surrounding the city. This siege went on for nearly a year, and caused the deaths of thousands of innocent people.

The war came to an end in the Summer of 1995, when the USA brokered a peace accord at Dayton in the state of Ohio. Bosnia became an independent nation; at around the same time, Macedonia did as well, and Montenegro seceeded peacefully from Serbia following a referendum in May 2006. Parts of Serbia have also made a bid for separation, most particularly the Southern region of Kosovo, the population of which is mostly ethnic Albanian. Conflict erupted here in 1999, which resulted in NATO intervening to force Serbian military withdrawal from Kosovo. Ever since then, the region has been partially recognised as independent, although Serbia proper still refuses to acknowledge Kosovan autonomy.

The Serbian President, Slobodan Milosovic, was arrested and prosecuted for Crimes against Humanity at the European Court in The Hague in 2006, for atrocities committed during the Kosovo war and for supporting genocide carried out by Bosnian Serb forces during the Bosnian conflict. However, he died in custody soon after his trial opened, officially of a heart attack, although some suspect he committed suicide by taking poison. The Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadic, was arrested in Belgrade last year, and is currently in custody awaiting trial. General Ratko Mladic remains on the run.