Croatian War of Independence

Croatian War of Independence
Part of the Yugoslav wars
Ruined building in Vukovar, 2004
Date 1991–1995 Location Croatia Result Croatian victory Territorial changes Croatian government gains full control of territory of Croatia
Belligerents
Croatia Croatian Paramilitary organizations Bosnia and Herzegovina (took part in final operations)	Republic of Serbian Krajina, Paramilitary forces from Serbia (such as the SDG) File:JNA sign logo.jpg JNA (Serb-controlled remnant)
Commanders and leaders
Franjo Tuđman (President of Croatia) Antun Tus (Croatian Military Chief of Staff 1991-1992) Janko Bobetko (Croatian Military Chief of Staff 1992-1995) Atif Dudaković (Commander, 5th Corps ARBiH 1995)	Slobodan Milošević (President of Serbia) Milan Babić (President of RS Krajina) Milan Martić (President of RS Krajina) Mile Mrkšić (Army of RS Krajina Chief of Staff) Ratko Mladić
Casualties and losses
Croatian sources: 20.000 dead [2][3] 37,180 wounded[4] 2,915 disappeared[5][6] International sources: 196,000 displaced during the war[7]	Serbian sources: 447,316 displaced[8] Croatian sources: see note:[9] UN sources: 300,000 displaced [10]

The Croatian War of Independence was a war in Croatia from 1991 to 1995. Initially, the war was waged between Croatian police forces and the Serbs living in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, who opposed its secession from Yugoslavia, and proclaimed an autonomous "Republic of Serb Krajina" to ensure their status.

Over time, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), began helping the Serbs fighting for their goals in Croatia, openly attacking the Croatian military forces and civil objects. The Croatian side aimed to establish a sovereign Republic of Croatia outside of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the Serbs, supported from Serbia, opposed the secession and wanted to remain a part of Yugoslavia, effectively seeking new boundaries in those parts of Croatia with a Serb majority or significant minority.

In Croatia the war is referred to as Domovinski rat (Homeland War).

In Serbia, the phrase rat u Hrvatskoj (War in Croatia) is the most common name. (See Nomenclatorial note below.)

Background

Main article: Timeline of Yugoslavian breakup

The war in Croatia resulted from the rise of vicious 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. Tensions between Croats and Serbs were nothing new in the 1990s, rhetoric often claiming it was centuries of history. However, conflicts only arose in the twentieth century, with the unification of South Slavs.

In the 1980s, Albanian secessionist movements in the Autonomous Province of Kosovo, Republic of Serbia, 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, headed by Slobodan Milošević, adhered to centralism and one party rule through the Yugoslav Communist Party. Milošević effectively ended the autonomy of the Kosovo and Vojvodina autonomous regions.

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. 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 continuation of a single Yugoslav state, but one in which all power would be centralized and devolved to Belgrade.

1989: Crisis begins

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 the republics and two members from the autonomous provinces). Serbia, under president Slobodan Milošević, gained control over three out of eight votes in the Yugoslav presidency and this was used in 1991 when the Serbian parliament changed Riza Sapunxhiu and Nenad Bućin, representatives of Kosovo and Vojvodina, with Jugoslav Kostić and Sejdo Bajramović.

The last vote was given by Montenegro whose government survived a first putsch in October 1988 but not second in January 1989. Serbia was thus with 4 out of 8 presidency votes able to heavily influence decisions of the federal government. This situation led to objections in other republics (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegowina and Macedonia 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 22 April, and the second round on 6 May.

In 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 higher sovereignty of Croatia and on a general anti-Yugounitarist 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 in Croatia's preservation of its pre-war borders was the Yugoslav Constitution change in 1974 which allowed all republics inside Yugoslavia to become independent through elections. These borders were agreed on all sides during AVNOJ in 1945. Many future HDZ politicians, including Tuđman, made international visits during the late 1980s and early 1990s in order to garner support from the Croatian diaspora for the Croatian national cause.In Serbia, the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) president Vojislav Seselj visited the US and was awarded the honourary title of ‘Vojvoda’ (warlord) by Momčilo Đujić, a WWII Chetnik leader..This caused an outrage across Yugoslavia. Years later Milan Babić (leader of Croatian Serbs} testified that Momčilo Đujić supported financially the Serbs in Croatia in 1990's.

On 13 May 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. The day before the match, the ultras of Dinamo Zagreb - Bad Blue Boys and Red Star Belgrade - Delije had already been causing trouble in the streets of Zagreb. Before the ultras of the two respective clubs were given entry to the Maksimir stadium, they were checked for weapons, because of the high risk of the two fan fractions clashing. The match started with both fan groups shouting provocative slogans at each other. Suddenly the Dinamo and Red Star ultras started throwing stones at each other. Nobody knows who threw the first stone. Shortly after that the Red Star ultras started to tear the stadium apart, ruining seats and advertising boards. The Red Star ultras got out of the area which was reserved to them, and attacked and beat up a neutral group of Croats, who were watching the match. Some of the attacked Croats were lying down unconscious, but all these events found place, without a reaction from the militia (Communist-era police) which was mainly Serb controlled . This fuelled the whole situation on the stadium, as the fan fractions of Dinamo began to tear down the fence, to get to the other side of the stadium, so they could help the Croats who were getting physically attacked by the Red Star ultras . First when the Dinamo ultras tore down the fence, the police reacted sending many policemen to prevent the Croats to get to the other side of the stadium. It evolved into a battle between the Croatian Dinamo fans and the Yugoslav police. The Dinamo ultras succeeded in getting over to the other end of the stadium to the Red Star ultras 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.

On 30 May 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 not any more designate Croatia a "national state of the Croatian people, a state of the Serbian people and any other people living in it" but a "national state of the Croatian people and any people living in it". This indeed happened once the Constitution was passed by the year's end, which made the Serbs, who comprised 12% of the total population, a national minority. They felt that as a people explicitly mentioned in the constitution they had a separate right to veto the decisions of the common parliament and of the common referendum and thus deny Croatia separation from Yugoslavia, or in the case of an independence move, to separate themselves from the new Croatian state and unilaterally set the new borders.

In August 1990, an unrecognized 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 in the constitution. The Croatian government tried to block the referendum by sending police forces to police stations in Serb-populated areas to seize their weapons. Among other incidents, local Serbs from the southern hinterlands of 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 and the entire war in Croatia was Martić's responsibility, orchestrated by Belgrade. 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 30 September 1990, the Serbian National Council declared "the autonomy of the Serbian people in 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 22 December 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 itself to be Croat). This was read as taking away some of the rights from the Serbs granted by the previous Socialist constitution, thereby fueling 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.Furthermore, Slovenia was also well into its own process towards independence. On 23 December 1990 — one day after the new Croatian Constitution was passed — Slovenia held a referendum on independence. This passed with 88% of the vote.

Immediately after the Slovenian referendum and the new Croat constitution, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) announced that a new defense doctrine would apply across the country. The Tito-era doctrine of "General People's Defense", in which each republic maintained a Territorial defense force (Teritorijalna obrana or TO), would henceforth be replaced by a centrally-directed system of defense. The republics would lose their role in defense matters and their TOs would be disarmed and subordinated to JNA headquarters in Belgrade.

1991: Military forces

The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) was initially formed during World War II to carry out guerrilla warfare against Axis occupation. The success of the Partisan movement led to the JNA basing much of its operational strategy on guerrilla warfare. Due to the unique political stance of Yugoslavia in Europe, the strategic planners of the Army expected to face an attack by either NATO or Warsaw Pact forces. Expecting to be badly outmatched, the JNA decided to pursue a guerrilla strategy, which would prove disastrous in the upcoming war, since the JNA found itself in a position of an attacker without local civilian support - the very role they intended for invaders of Yugoslavia.

Still, on paper, the JNA looked like a mighty force with 2000 tanks and 300 jet aircraft (all either Soviet or locally produced). However, by 1991, majority of this equipment was over 30 years old: the main T-54/55 tank and the MiG-21 aircraft made up 60% and 40% of the tank force and air-force respectively. By contrast, more modern cheap anti-tank (like AT-5) and anti-aircraft (like SA-14) missiles were abundant, which were designed to destroy much more advanced weaponry. Furthermore, the JNA was a multinational force: the political infighting meant that desertion of men (especially educated cadre from Yugoslavia's more developed northern areas) would ruin the Army's effectiveness. With the retreat of the JNA forces in 1992, JNA units were reorganized as the Army of Serb Krajina, which was a direct heir to JNA organization with little improvement. During 1991, an important role in the Yugo/Serb military assault forces was filled by paramilitary units like Beli Orlovi, Srpski Četnički Pokret, etc. who committed numerous massacres on Croat and other non-Serbs civilians.

By contrast to this force, the Croatian Army was in much worse state. At the early stages of the war, lack of military units meant that the Croatian police force would take much of the brunt of fighting - eventually the police would form the core of the new military force - initially named "Zbor Narodne Garde" (ZNG), later "Hrvatska Vojska" (HV) - that was formed in 1990, but not really developed until 1993. Weaponry was always lacking and many units were formed either unarmed or with WW2-era rifles. The Croatian Army had just a handful of tanks (even older WW2 veterans like the T-34) and it's air-force was even worse: a few old Antonov An-2 biplane crop-dusters were converted to drop makeshift bombs. However, since the soldiers were defending their homeland the army was exceptionally motivated, and was formed into local fighting units - so people from a village would defend their own village - which meant they were fairly effective in their home grounds. In August 1991, the Croat Army had fewer than 20 brigades, which would grow to 60 by the end of the year through general mobilization which was called in October. Seizing of JNA's barracks in the Battle of the barracks would slightly alleviate the problem of equipment shortage. Local volunteers and organizations like HOS were formed early on to ease the problem of lack of units, but were later integrated into the regular army.

By 1995, the Croatian Army would develop into an effective fighting force - probably the best in the region - centered on the elite "Guard Brigades" (eight) and less effective "Home Defence Regiments" and regular brigades. This organization meant that in later campaigns, the Croatian army would pursue a variant of a blitzkrieg with Guard brigades taking the role of punching holes in the enemy lines, while other units simply held the front and completed the encirclement of enemy units.

1991: Preparations, followed by war

One of the first buildings destroyed was the water tower in Vukovar

Ethnic hatred grew and various incidents fueled the propaganda machines on both sides, thereby causing even more hatred. The conflict soon escalated into armed incidents in the majority-Serb populated areas. Serbs fighting for their rights and lives in Croatia began a series of attacks on Croatian police units, killing more than 20 by the end of April. The Plitvice Lakes incident in late March 1991 stands out, with Josip Jović from Aržano being the first police officer killed by Serb forces.

In April 1991, the Serbs within the Republic of Croatia began to make serious moves to secede from that territory, that was illegally separated from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It is a matter of debate to what extent this move was locally motivated and to what degree the Milošević-led Serb government gave the push to self-declare. In any event, the Republic of Serbian Krajina was declared — which the Croatian government saw as a rebellion. This is often seen as the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence. It started in areas that had a substantial Serb population.

The Croatian Ministry of the Interior consequently started arming an increasing amount of special police forces, and this led to the building of a real army. On 9 April 1991, Croatian President Franjo Tuđman ordered the special police forces to be renamed Zbor Narodne Garde ("National Guard"), marking the creation of a separate military of Croatia.

Meanwhile, the federal army, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and the local Territorial Defense Forces remained led by the nominally Federal government under Milošević. On occasion, the JNA sided with the local Croat Serb forces.

In May, Stipe Mesić, a Croat, was scheduled to be the chairman of the rotating presidency in Yugoslavia, but Serbia upped the ante by blocking the installation of him, so this maneuver technically left Yugoslavia without a leader. [11]

On 19 May 1991, the Croatian authorities held a referendum on independence with the option of remaining in Yugoslavia as a looser union. Serb local authorities issued calls for a boycott, which were largely followed by Croatian Serbs, so the referendum was passed with 94.17% in favor. Croatia declared independence and "razdruženje" (departnerising) from Yugoslavia on 25 June 1991, but the European Commission urged them to place a three-month moratorium on the decision. Croatia thereby agreed to freeze its independence declaration for three months, helping to calm tensions a little.

Map of the strategic offensive plan of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in Croatia, 1991. The JNA was unable to advance as far as planned due to Croatian resistance & problems in mobilization.

One month after the declaration of independence, Greater Serb forces held about a quarter of the country, mostly parts with a predominantly ethnic Serb population. They had obvious superiority in weaponry and equipment. The military strategy of the Greater Serbian forces partly consisted of extensive shelling, at times irrespective of civilians. As the war progressed, the cities of Dubrovnik, Gospić, Šibenik, Zadar, Karlovac, Sisak, Slavonski Brod, Osijek, Vinkovci and Vukovar all came under attack by the Serbian forces.

The UN imposed a weapons embargo, which affected JNA-backed Serb forces, but heavily hurt the young Croatian army. This forced Croatian elements to start smuggling weapons over its borders.

In June/July 1991, the short armed conflict in Slovenia came to a speedy and fairly peaceful conclusion, partly because of the ethnic homogeneity of the Slovene population. During this war, a great number of Croatian and Slovenian soldiers refused to fight and started to escape from the JNA.

In July, in an attempt to salvage what remained of the country minus Slovenia, the JNA forces found themselves involved in operations against predominantly Croat areas - such as the Dalmatian coastal areas in the Battle of Dalmatia. Full-scale war erupted in August. As in Slovenia, when Croatians had refused to fight, with the start of military operations in Croatia, Croats started to desert the JNA in mass (especially since some kind of ceasefire was agreed at the end of War in Slovenia, and the alert level was lowered). Albanians and Macedonians started to search the way to legally leave the JNA. Bosnian Muslims still romantically saw Yugoslavia. After this, an estimated 90% of JNA soldiers were Serbs and the Yugoslav army was seen to be a de facto Serbian army.

In August 1991, the border city of Vukovar came under siege and the Battle of Vukovar began. Serbian troops eventually completely surrounded the city. The Croat population of Vukovar, Croatian troops including the 204th Vukovar Brigade, entrenched themselves within Vukovar and held their ground against a large number of JNA elite Armoured and Mechanized brigades, as well as many Serb paramilitary units. A certain number of ethnic Croatian civilians had taken shelter inside the city. Other elements of the civilian population fled the areas of armed conflict en masse: generally speaking, Croats moved away from the Bosnian and Serbian border, while the Serbs moved towards it.

Ruins of Castle Eltz

There is evidence of extreme hardship imposed on the population at the time. Some estimates include 220,000 Croats and 300,000 Serbs internally displaced for the duration of the war in Croatia. However, at the peak of fighting in late 1991, around 550,000 people temporarily became refugees on the Croatian side. The 1991 census data and the 1993 RSK data for the territory of Krajina differ by some 102,000 Serbs and 135,000 Croats. In many places, large numbers of civilians were forced out by the military. This was labelled ethnic cleansing, a term whose meaning at the time ranged from eviction to cold-blooded murder. It was at this time that the term "ethnic cleansing" first entered the English lexicon.

Croatian standard tank T-55

President Tuđman made a speech on 5 October 1991 in which he called upon the whole population to mobilize and defend against what he deemed "Greater-Serbian imperialism" pursued by the Serb-led JNA, Serbian paramilitary formations and rebel Serb forces. On 7 October, an explosion occurred within the main government building in Zagreb while Tuđman, Mesić and Marković were present. The explosion destroyed several rooms of Banski dvori, but failed to kill any of the leaders. The government claimed that it was caused by a JNA air raid. Apparently, the Croatian army received information from Bihać (Bosnia and Herzegovina) JNA airfield the day before, about a top secret air mission being prepared for the next day, but these were not taken seriously due to lack of details. The JNA denied the responsibility and in turn claimed that the explosion was set up by the Croatian government itself. It is claimed by some that the few embassies and consulates in Zagreb at the time had withdrawn some of their staff for that day — suggesting that there was prior information about a pending air attack or bomb. The next day, the Croatian Parliament cut off all remaining ties with Yugoslavia. 8 October is Croatia's "Independence Day". The bombing of the government and the Siege of Dubrovnik that started in October were contributing factors to EU sanctions against Serbia.

The situation for Croats in Vukovar over October and early November became ever more desperate. Towards the end of the battle, an increasing number of Croat civilians in hospitals and shelters marked with a red cross were hit by Serb forces. As of 2006, three former Yugoslav army officers are on trial for a massacre at the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ICTY in The Hague. Veselin Šljivančanin, Mile Mrkšić, and Miroslav Radić deny the charges of murder, torture, and persecution. Prosecutors say that after the capture of Vukovar, the Yugoslav Army (JNA) handed over several hundred Croats to rebel [sic] Serbian forces. Of these, at least 264 (including injured soldiers, women, children and the elderly) were murdered and buried in mass graves in the neighbourhood of Ovcara on the outskirts of Vukovar. The city's mayor Slavko Dokmanović was also brought to trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, but committed suicide in 1998 in captivity before proceedings began.

Breakthrough of JNA through Eastern Slavonia

On 18 November 1991, Vukovar fell to the Serbs after a three-month siege and the Vukovar massacre took place, while the survivors were transported to prison camps, the majority ending up in Sremska Mitrovica prison camp. The town of Vukovar was almost completely destroyed. The sustained focus on a siege facilitated the attraction of heavy international media attention. Many international journalists were present at the time in or near Vukovar, as was the UN peace mediator, Cyrus Vance (former US President Carter's Secretary of State). Ironically this siege, despite its brutality, contributed to the beginning of a resolution to the war towards year-end (see below). Allegedly, said the Croat authorities at the time, the Vukovar surrender was an attempt to prevent further devastation of Dubrovnik and other cities.

On 19 December, during the heaviest fighting of the war, the Serbian Autonomous Regions in Krajina and western Slavonia officially declared themselves the Republic of Serbian Krajina.

File:Vukovar 1991.jpg

Croatian refugee captured by Serbs

In early November 1991 the Croatian army began a successful counterattack in Western Slavonia, marking a turning point of the war. Operation Otkos 10, lasting from 31 October until 4 November, resulted in Croatia recapturing 300 km² in area from Bilogora Mountain to Mount Papuk. Further advances were made in the second half of December - Operation Orkan 91 - but at that point a lasting cease-fire was about to be signed (in January 1992). In six months, 10,000 people had died, hundreds of thousands had fled, and tens of thousands of homes had been destroyed.

In late 1991, all the Croatian democratic parties gathered together to form a government of national unity and to confront the Yugoslav Army and Serbian paramilitaries. Ceasefires were frequently signed, mediated by foreign diplomats, but also frequently broken. This was part of the tactics on both sides. The Croatians lost much territory, but profited by being able to expand the Croatian Army - from the seven brigades it had at the time of the first cease-fire to the 64 brigades it had at the time the last one was signed.

1992: Ceasefire finally holds

The final UN-sponsored ceasefire, the twentieth one, came in January 1992. Already in December 1991, after this series of unsuccessful cease-fires, the United Nations deployed a protection force in Serbian-held Croatia. The United Nations Protection Force was deployed to supervise and maintain the agreement. On 7 January 1992 JNA pilot Emir Šišić shot down a European Community helicopter in Croatia, killing five truce observers. Croatia was officially recognised by European community on 15 January 1992. The JNA, the federal army progressively to withdraw from Croatia—even Krajina—although Serb paramilitary groups clearly retained the upper hand in the newly occupied territories. The warring parties mostly moved to entrenched positions as The Yugoslav People's Army soon retreated from Croatia into Bosnia and Herzegovina where war was just about to start. Croatia became a member of the United Nations on 22 May 1992, which was conditional upon Croatia amending its constitution to protect the human rights of minority groups and dissidents.

Armed conflict in Croatia continued intermittently at a small scale. There were several smaller operations undertaken by the Croatian forces, in order to relieve the siege of Dubrovnik, and other Croatian cities (Šibenik, Zadar and Gospić) from sporadic Serb shelling attacks that wasn't prevented even by the presence of the UN troops (for example, Osijek, the fourth biggest city in Croatia, lived under a constant official bombing alert until mid-1993, while Šibenik, one of the larger coastal tourist centres, received a shell or two almost every week, especially during late spring and summer). A partial list includes:

Tank destroyed during battle

• at the Miljevci plateau (between Krka and Drniš), 21-22 June 1992
• in the Dubrovnik hinterland:
  • Operation Tigar, 1-13 July 1992
  • at Konavle, 20-24 September 1992
  • at Vlaštica, 22-25 September 1992
  • what followed was the withdrawal of JNA from Konavle and Prevlaka, 30 September - 20 October 1992
• at the Križ hill near Bibinje and Zadar.

Also, Slavonski Brod and Županja were often shelled from Serb-held parts of Bosnia.

1993: Further Croatian military advances

Intermittent armed conflict in Croatia continued in 1993 at a smaller scale than in 1991 and 1992. There were more successful operations by Croatian forces, to recover territory and relieve Croatian cities (e.g. Zadar and Gospić) from Serb shelling attacks, but between the 1992 ceasefire and 1995s Croatian offensives, fighting was limited and total effective military action in those three and a half years was only about two weeks.

In early 1993, there were three notable operations:

• at the hydroelectric dam Peruča, 27-28 January 1993
• Operation Maslenica, area around Maslenica, near Zadar, 22 January - 10 February 1993
• Operation Medak pocket, area near Gospić, 9-17 September 1993.

While most of these above operations were a relative success for the Croatian government, the unsuccessful Operation Medak pocket in 1993 damaged the international reputation of Croatia. This led the Croatian army to undertaking no offensive action during the subsequent 12 months. The ICTY later investigated Croatian officers Janko Bobetko, Rahim Ademi, Mirko Norac and others for the alleged crimes committed during this operation.

There were many UN resolutions that required Croatia to retreat to previous positions and that Croatia must restrain from military operations. Some Croat elements felt aggrieved, as no such resolutions had prevented the Serbian forces from attacking Croatia in the earlier stages of the war (when the disturbances were considered national, not international). In October 1993, the United Nations Security Council affirmed for the first time that the United Nations Protected Areas were an integral part of the Republic of Croatia.

The UNPROFOR troops mostly did nothing but observed during the 1992-1995 period. However they served to mark the borders set up by the war. They thereby failed to provide refugees with much chance of returning to their previous homes. Estimates of the effectiveness of the Krajina government in expelling its ethnic Croat population that had been living in Krajina go as high as 98%.

During 1992 and 1993, an estimated 225,000 Croats, including refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and others from Serbia settled in Croatia. A notable number of Bosniaks also fled to Croatia (which was the largest initial destination for Bosniaks). Croatian volunteers and some conscripted soldiers participated in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some of President Tuđman's closest associates, notably Gojko Šušak and Ivić Pašalić, were from Croat-dominated Herzegovina, and aimed to help the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, financially and otherwise.

During the same period, Croatia also accepted 280,000 Bosniak refugees from the Bosnian War. The large number of refugees was significantly straining Croatian economy and infrastructure. The American Ambassador to Croatia, Peter Galbraith, tried to put the amount of Muslim refugees in Croatia into proper perspective in an interview on 8 November 1993. He said the situation would be the equivalent of the USA taking in 30,000,000 refugees.

On 18 February 1993 Croatian authorities signed the Daruvar Agreement with local Serb leaders in Western Slavonia. The Agreement was kept secret and was working towards normalizing life for the locals on the battlefield line. However, the Knin authorities learned of the deal and arrested the Serbian leaders responsible for it. It was widely believed that the Serb leaders there were also willing to accept peaceful reintegration into Croatia.

In 1993, the Croats and Bosniaks then turned against each other , just as each was fighting with the Bosnian Serbs. Franjo Tuđman participated in the peace talks between the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosniaks, which resulted in the Washington Agreement of 1994. This led to the dismantling of the statelet of Herzeg-Bosnia and reduced the number of warring parties in Bosnia to two.

1994: Erosion of support for Krajina

In March 1994, the Krajina authorities signed a cease-fire. In late 1994, the Croatian Army intervened several times in Bosnia: 1-3 November in the operation "Cincar" near Kupres, and 29 November - 24 December in the "Winter 94" operation near Dinara and Livno. These operations were undertaken in order to detract from the siege of the Bihać region and to approach RSK capital Knin from the north, de facto encircling it on three sides.

During this time, unsuccessful negotiations were under way between Croatian and RSK governments mediated by the UN. The disputes included opening the Serb-occupied part of the Zagreb-Slavonski Brod highway near Okučani to through traffic, as well as the putative status of majority Serbian areas within Croatia. Repeated failures on these two issues would serve as triggers for the two Croatian offensives in 1995.

1995: End of the war

Map of Operation Flash

In early May 1995, violence again exploded. RSK lost the support of Belgrade, partly in response to international pressure. At the same time, the Croatian army took back the whole of previously occupied territory in western Slavonia during Operation Flash. As retaliation, Serb forces attacked Zagreb with rockets, killing 7 and wounding over 175 civilians.

Map of Operation Storm

In August 1995, Croatia started Operation Storm and quickly overran most of the RSK, except for a small strip near the Serbian border. In just four days, approximately 150-200,000 Serbs left.

RSK sources (Kovačević, Sekulić, Vrcelj, documents of HQ of Civilian Protection of RSK, Supreme Council of Defense) have confirmed that evacuation of Serbs was organized and planned beforehand. (citing: see section "Literature") Greater Serb and pro-Greater Serb media, angry because of thorough defeat from the nation whome they found as "weak and uncapable" (and presented it as such in pre-war and wartime inflammatory articles), started a new, media war, accusing Croat forces that they "targeted Serbian civilians, as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing", hiding and neglecting the planned nature of evacuation of Serbs. General commander of Croatian Army, Ante Gotovina is currently on trial in the Hague because of such disinformations given to ICTY's investigators and prosecutors. Foreign reporters such as from the BBC reported the once heavily Serb-populated city of Knin to be almost completely abandoned and discovered that some Croatian army forces were burning down abandoned Serb property and remaining Serbs reported looting by Croatian forces. According to Amnesty International (AI), the operation led to the ethnic cleansing of over 200,000 Croatian Serbs. The BBC noted 200,000 Serb refugees at one point.

4 August order of the Serb Supreme Defence Council ordering evacuation of civilians from the main areas of RSK

The nature of this exodus is still disputed among Serbs and Croats: the former tend to claim the ethnic cleansing was planned by the Croatian government, while the latter pinpoint Tuđman's promise not to attack civilians and attribute the cases of killing of the Serb civilians that remained to revenge by groups and individuals outside of the Croatian Army's control. However the real number of refugees is difficult to establish because according to many sources the number of refugees exceeds the population that lived in these parts of Croatia. In support of this, they point to interviews conducted with American General Robert Brown and the American writer Roy Gutman. These are said to have defended the Croat government by clarifying the extent of ethnic cleansing, and arguing that any war crimes or ethnic cleansing were committed outside of control by Croatian officials at the time. Later some Croatian officers were indicted for war crimes during operations at this time.

The Croatian army proceeded to fight Serbs in Bosnia alongside the Bosniaks, but further advances were prevented by U.S. diplomatic intervention. Had the Croat army occupied the second largest Bosnian town of Banja Luka, near the Croat border, the refugee crisis would have become intolerable.

A few months later, the war ended with the negotiation of the Dayton Agreement (in Dayton, Ohio). This was later signed in Paris in December 1995.

Timeline of major events

Main article: Timeline of Yugoslavian breakup

Date	Event
31 March 1991	Plitvice Lakes incident
2 May 1991	Borovo Selo killings
1 August 1991	Dalj killings
August 1991	Battle of Dalmatia
September 1991	Battle of Vukovar begins
14 - 19 September 1991	Main part of the Battle of the barracks
1 October 1991	Start of the Siege of Dubrovnik
4 October 1991	Dalj massacre
5 October 1991	Croatia commences general mobilization
7 October 1991	JNA bombs Croatian government
10 October 1991	Lovas massacre
10-13 October 1991	Široka Kula massacre
16 - 18 October 1991	Gospić massacre
20 October 1991	Baćin massacre
31 October 1991 - 4 November 1991	Operation Otkos 10
7 November 1991	Ethnic cleansing of Lipovaca, Vukovići and Saborsko
18 November 1991	Battle of Vukovar ends, Vukovar massacre
18 November 1991	Škabrnja massacre
12 December 1991 - 3 January 1992	Operation Orkan 91
13 December 1991	Voćin massacre
21 December 1991	Bruška massacre
21 June 1992	Miljevci plateau battle
22 January 1993	Operation Maslenica
9 - 17 September 1993	Operation Medak Pocket
1 - 3 May 1995	Operation Flash
2 - 3 May 1995	Zagreb rocket attack
4 - 7 August 1995	Operation Storm

See also

• Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
• Virovitica-Karlovac-Karlobag line

Nomenclatorial note

The 1991 - 1995 war in Croatia is variously called:

• Homeland War – a direct translation of Croatian Domovinski rat
• Patriotic War – a stylistically different translation, reminiscent of the fact that the 1991-95 conflict was as defining for Croatia as 1812 and 1941-45 wars were for Russia and USSR
• War of Independence & War in Croatia – generic terms
• Civil war in Croatia – a direct translation of Serbian and Croatian Građanski rat u Hrvatskoj.

Croatian War of Independence Memorial

Type of war: Two conflicting views exist as to whether the war was a civil or an international war. Since neither Croatia or Yugoslavia declared war on each other, a prevailing view in Serbia was that it was a civil war between Croats and Serbs in Croatia. By contrast, the prevailing view in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Macedonia is that the war was a war of aggression from Serbia and Montenegro against Croatia, supported by local Serbs. The ICTY (in its indictments) characterized the war to have been civil war until 8 October 1991, when Croatia declared independence, and international war after that date, since another country, Yugoslavia, held its troops (JNA) there.

Status of the Serbs in Croatia: The standard definition of the term to rebel means: to refuse allegiance to and oppose by force an established government or ruling authority.[12] Since the "government or authority" was the elected Croatian parliament, from the point of view of the then Croatian government, Serbs in Croatia were thus rebels who initiated an armed revolt. This government, however, as stated above, rebelled against the state which they were legally a part of, and those who rebelled against them (Serbs in Croatia) were in line with the constitution of the state they lived in.

Casualties notes

^ Serbian sources:

• 447,316 displaced:
  • 120,000 displaced in 1991-1993^[13]
  • 250,000 displaced after Operation Storm

^ Croatian sources:

• 90,000^[14] displaced after Operation Storm

^ International sources:

• 300,000 (Amnesty International - Public Statement) and as of August 2005, around 200,000 refugees are still displaced in neighbouring countries after Operation Storm.
• 200,000 (BBC^[15][16]) displaced after Operation Storm
• 250,000 (UN) displaced shortly before, during and after Operation Storm
• 200,000-250,000 (ICTY) expelled in Operation Storm.

Literature

• Barić, Nikica: Srpska pobuna u Hrvatskoj 1990.-1995., Golden marketing. Tehnička knjiga, Zagreb, 2005. (from this book are references under, until Vrcelj)
• RSK, Vrhovni savjet odbrane, Knin, 4. avgust 1995., 16.45 časova, Broj 2-3113-1/95. Faksimil ovog dokumenta objavljen je u/The faximile of this document was published in: Rade Bulat "Srbi nepoželjni u Hrvatskoj", Naš glas (Zagreb), br. 8.-9., septembar 1995., p. 90.-96. (faksimil je objavljen na stranici 93./the faximile is on the page 93.).

Vrhovni savjet odbrane RSK (The Supreme Council of Defense of Republic of Serb Krajina) brought a decision 4 August 1995 in 16.45. This decision was signed by Milan Martić and later verified in Glavni štab SVK (Headquarters of Republic of Serb Krajina Army) in 17.20.

• RSK, Republički štab Civilne zaštite, Broj: Pov. 01-82/95., Knin, 02.08.1995., HDA, Dokumentacija RSK, kut. 265
• RSK, Republički štab Civilne zaštite, Broj: Pov. 01-83/95., Knin, 02.08.1995., Pripreme za evakuaciju materijalnih, kulturnih i drugih dobara (The preparations for the evacuation of material, cultural and other goods), HDA, Dokumentacija RSK, kut. 265
• Drago Kovačević, "Kavez - Krajina u dogovorenom ratu", Beograd 2003., p. 93.-94.

(Note: Drago Kovačević was during the existence of so-called RSK the minister of informing and the mayor of Knin, the capitol of self-proclaimed state)

• Milisav Sekulić, "Knin je pao u Beogradu", Bad Vilbel 2001., p. 171.-246., p. 179.

(Note: Milisav Sekulić was a high military officer of "Srpska vojska Krajine" (Republic of Serb Krajina Army). Book review with excerpts

• Marko Vrcelj, "Rat za Srpsku Krajinu 1991-95", Beograd 2002., p. 212.-222.

• Silber, Laura and Little, Allan (1997). Yugoslavia : Death of a Nation. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-026263-6. Accompanies the BBC series of the same title.
• Zimmermann, Warren, ed. (1999). War in the Balkans: A Foreign Affairs Reader, Council on Foreign Relations Press (June). ISBN 0-87609-260-1.

Media

• Harrison's Flowers (2000), directed by Elie Chouraqui. When a Newsweek photojournalist disappears in war-torn Vukovar, his wife travels to find him.
• The Death of Yugoslavia (1995). A BBC series with extensive interviews of prominent Croat and Serb protagonists.
• Truth (director unknown). A Serbian-produced documentary with a brief history of the war from a Serb point of view, while examining in detail atrocities committed against Serbs.
• Hrvatska Ljubavi Moja Jakov Sedlar, movie by Jakov Sedlar showing accounts by Jews and American officials about the Oluja and the war as a whole.
• ER. The character of Dr. Luka Kovač, played by Goran Višnjić, who first appeared on the series in 1999 and is still a main character as of 2007, lost his wife and children in the war. They were killed when a grenade shell hit their house.

External links

• International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia[17], World Courts [18] and Sense [19]
• Dr. R. Craig Nation. "War in the Balkans 1991-2002." Strategic Studies Institute, 2002, ISBN 1-58487-134-2
• "The Patriotic War" article on Croatian Radiotelevision
• Article on globalsecurity.org
• Template:Hr icon Article on hercegbosna.org
• Article on onwar.com
• Croatia Between Aggression and Peace
• Template:Hr icon Resources about the war on hic.hr
• Template:Hr icon Another resource from hic.hr
• CroForce - A Story About the Patriotic War in Croatia
• Serbian civilian casualties
• Ivo Skoric - A Story About the War in Croatia
• Operation Storm Destroyed "Greater Serbia", Balkan Insight 20 January 2006
• ICTY trial Case No. IT-94-1-T evidence of Serbian-Croatian political currents and the plan to incorporate parts of Croatia into Serbia
• Vijesti_net - "Rat za mir" About movie that deals with Montenegrin aggression on Dubrovnik area
• [20] Zvonimir Boban's famous kick on member of milicia the 13. may 1990.
• Template:Sr icon NIN Zloupotreba psihijatrije (Abuse of psychiatry)