States that emerged on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. Division of Yugoslavia into states

Yugoslavia - history, collapse, war.

Events in Yugoslavia in the early 1990s shocked the whole world. The horrors of civil war, the atrocities of “national cleansing”, genocide, mass flight from the country - since 1945, Europe has not seen anything like it.

Until 1991, Yugoslavia was the largest state in the Balkans. Historically, the country has been home to people of many nationalities, and differences between ethnic groups have increased over time. Thus, the Slovenes and Croats in the northwestern part of the country became Catholics and USED the Latin alphabet, while the Serbs and Montenegrins who lived closer to the south. accepted the Orthodox faith and used the Cyrillic alphabet for writing.

These lands attracted many conquerors. Croatia was captured by Hungary. 2 subsequently became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; Serbia, like most of the Balkans, was annexed to the Ottoman Empire, and only Montenegro was able to defend its independence. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, due to political and religious factors, many residents converted to Islam.

When the Ottoman Empire began to lose its former power, Austria captured Bosnia and Herzegovina, thereby expanding its influence in the Balkans. In 1882, Serbia was reborn as an independent state: the desire to free the Slavic brothers from the yoke of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy united many Serbs.

Federal Republic

On January 31, 1946, the Constitution of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY) was adopted, which established its federal structure consisting of six republics - Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro, as well as two autonomous (self-governing) regions - Vojvodina and Kosovo.

Serbs made up the largest ethnic group in Yugoslavia with 36% of the inhabitants. They inhabited not only Serbia, nearby Montenegro and Vojvodina: many Serbs also lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo. In addition to the Serbs, the country was inhabited by Slovenes, Croats, Macedonians, Albanians (in Kosovo), a national minority of Hungarians in the Vojvodina region, as well as many other small ethnic groups. Fairly or not, representatives of other national groups believed that the Serbs were trying to gain power over the entire country.

Beginning of the End

National issues in socialist Yugoslavia were considered a relic of the past. However, one of the most serious internal problems has been tensions between different ethnic groups. The northwestern republics - Slovenia and Croatia - prospered, while the standard of living of the southeastern republics left much to be desired. Massive indignation was growing in the country - a sign that the Yugoslavs did not at all consider themselves a single people, despite 60 years of existence within one power.

In 1990, in response to events in Central and Eastern Europe, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia decided to introduce a multi-party system in the country. In the 1990 elections, Milosevic's socialist (formerly communist) party won large numbers of votes in many regions, but achieved a decisive victory only in Serbia and Montenegro.

There were heated debates in other regions. Tough measures aimed at crushing Albanian nationalism met with decisive resistance in Kosovo. In Croatia, the Serb minority (12% of the population) held a referendum in which it was decided to achieve autonomy; Frequent clashes with the Croats led to a rebellion among the local Serbs. The biggest blow for the Yugoslav state was the referendum in December 1990, which declared the independence of Slovenia.

Of all the republics, only Serbia and Montenegro now sought to maintain a strong, relatively centralized state; in addition, they had an impressive advantage - the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), which could become a trump card during future debates.

Yugoslav War

In 1991, the SFRY disintegrated. In May, Croats voted to secede from Yugoslavia, and on June 25, Slovenia and Croatia officially declared their independence. There were battles in Slovenia, but the federal positions were not strong enough, and soon the JNA troops were withdrawn from the territory of the former republic.

The Yugoslav army also acted against the rebels in Croatia; in the war that broke out, thousands of people were killed, hundreds of thousands were forced to leave their homes. All attempts by the European community and the UN to force the parties to cease fire in Croatia were in vain. The West was initially reluctant to watch the collapse of Yugoslavia, but soon began to condemn the “Great Serbian ambitions.”

The Serbs and Montenegrins accepted the inevitable split and proclaimed the creation of a new state - the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The hostilities in Croatia were over, although the conflict was not over. A new nightmare began when national tensions in Bosnia worsened.

UN peacekeeping forces were sent to Bosnia, and with varying degrees of success they succeeded in stopping the massacre, easing the fate of the besieged and starving population, and creating “safe zones” for Muslims. In August 1992, the world was shocked by revelations of the brutal treatment of people in prison camps. The United States and other countries openly accused the Serbs of genocide and war crimes, but still did not allow their troops to intervene in the conflict; later, however, it turned out that not only the Serbs were involved in the atrocities of that time.

Threats of UN air attacks forced the JNA to surrender its position and end the siege of Sarajevo, but it was clear that peacekeeping efforts to preserve multi-ethnic Bosnia had failed.

In 1996, a number of opposition parties formed a coalition called Unity, which soon organized mass demonstrations against the ruling regime in Belgrade and other major cities in Yugoslavia. However, in the elections held in the summer of 1997, Milosevic was again elected president of the FRY.

After fruitless negotiations between the government of the FRY and the Albanian leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (blood was still shed in this conflict), NATO announced an ultimatum to Milosevic. Starting from the end of March 1999, missile and bomb attacks began to be carried out almost every night on the territory of Yugoslavia; they ended only on June 10, after representatives of the FRY and NATO signed an agreement on the deployment of international security forces (KFOR) to Kosovo.

Among the refugees who left Kosovo during the hostilities, there were approximately 350 thousand people of non-Albanian nationality. Many of them settled in Serbia, where the total number of displaced people reached 800 thousand, and the number of people who lost their jobs reached about 500 thousand people.

In 2000, parliamentary and presidential elections were held in the FRY and local elections in Serbia and Kosovo. Opposition parties nominated a single candidate - the leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia, Vojislav Kostunica - for the presidency. On September 24, he won the elections with more than 50% of the votes (Milosevic - only 37%). In the summer of 2001, the former president of the FRY was extradited to the International Tribunal in The Hague as a war criminal.

On March 14, 2002, through the mediation of the European Union, an agreement was signed on the creation of a new state - Serbia and Montenegro (Vojvodina had recently become autonomous). However, interethnic relations are still too fragile, and the internal political and economic situation in the country is unstable. In the summer of 2001, shots were fired again: Kosovo militants became more active, and this gradually developed into an open conflict between Albanian Kosovo and Macedonia, which lasted about a year. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who authorized the transfer of Milosevic to the tribunal, was killed by a sniper rifle shot on March 12, 2003. Apparently, the “Balkan knot” will not be untangled anytime soon.

In 2006, Montenegro finally separated from Serbia and became an independent state. The European Union and the United States made an unprecedented decision and recognized the independence of Kosovo as a sovereign state.

Attention! Kosovo still remains only a partially recognized state, and Russia does not recognize it. But since this state actually exists (like the DPR, Nagorno-Karabakh, Taiwan or Somaliland), exercises border control and establishes its own order in a certain territory, it is more convenient to call it a separate state.

Short review

They like to compare Yugoslavia with the Soviet Union, and its collapse with the collapse of the USSR. I will take this comparison as a basis and tell briefly about the main peoples of the former Yugoslavia by analogy with the peoples of the former Union.

Serbs are like Russians, an imperial-forming Orthodox people who united everyone and then did not want to let go. The Serbs also believed that the whole world hated them, that they were a stronghold of the true faith and an outpost against the corrupting influence of the West. But after a decade of bloody wars with their neighbors, they somehow calmed down, stopped believing that the main thing in life was the greatness of Serbia and the protection of the Serbian people, and began to organize their country. In 2000, Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown, a sane government came to power, and since then Serbia has been developing like all normal countries.

Serbian priest and his friend.Neighborhoods of Mokra Gora (Serbia)

Montenegrins are like Belarusians. A people who are calmer and less concerned about the great mission, so close to the Serbs that it’s even difficult to say what the difference is between them. Only Montenegrins (unlike Belarusians) have a sea, but (again, unlike Belarusians) do not have their own language. The Montenegrins were with the Serbs longer than others. Even when the Serbs finally admitted that Yugoslavia had collapsed, the Montenegrins formed a confederate state with them - the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. And only in 2006, in a referendum, slightly more than half of Montenegrins decided to leave the confederation and form a new state.


Montenegrin truck driver. On the way from Cetinje to Kotor (Montenegro).

Croats are like Ukrainians, or rather even Western Ukrainians. Although the Croats are close in language and culture to the Serbs and Montenegrins, they long ago accepted Catholicism, considered themselves part of Europe and always considered themselves superior to any Orthodox cattle. They even had their own analogue of “Bandera” - the so-called “Ustashi” (Croatian fascists who helped the Hitlers) and their own analogue of “Novorossiya” (the so-called Serbian Krajina - a region of Croatia inhabited by Serbs and which declared independence in the early 1990s. ). However, the Croats crushed separatism faster and more successfully than the Ukrainians and moved to Europe. Croatia has already become a member of the European Union and looks like a fairly prosperous and civilized country.


Croatian policemen and saleswoman. Zagreb (Croatia)

Slovenes are like our Baltic people. Among the Yugoslavs, they have always been a more developed, civilized and European-oriented people. It seems that even the Serbs agreed with this, so they gave them independence relatively easily. Slovenians have been in the European Union and the Eurozone for a long time, they have a clean, pleasant, developed and safe country.


Former mayor of the Slovenian town of Canal and director of the hitchhiking museum in the city of Bled (Slovenia)

It is difficult to compare Bosnia and Herzegovina with anything, because a similar conflict did not occur in the history of the USSR. However, it is imaginable. Imagine purely hypothetically that in the early 1990s in Kazakhstan, the Russian population of the north of the country declared an independent republic and started a war with the south, populated mainly by Kazakhs. At the same time, the Ukrainians living in Kazakhstan remembered their independence and, in their places of compact residence, began to fight both the Kazakhs and the Russians. Later, the country would be divided into two autonomous parts - Russian and Kazakh-Ukrainian, and in the Russian part no one would still recognize the government of Kazakhstan, hang Russian flags and wait for a reason to finally secede. Something like this happened in Bosnia: first, a mutual war between Serbs, Bosnian Muslims and Croats, and then the division of the country into two parts - Serbian and Muslim-Croatian.


Passengers of the city tram. Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Macedonians - I don’t even know what it is. One could compare them with Moldovans or Georgians - also Orthodox peoples living in small and poor countries. But Moldova and Georgia fell into several parts, and Macedonia still retained its integrity. Therefore, let's say that Macedonia is like Kyrgyzstan, only Orthodox. The Serbs didn’t even fight here: Macedonia separated - and God bless it. The Yugoslav war reached here in the early 2000s: in 2001, clashes took place in the country between the Macedonian majority and the Albanian minority, which demanded greater autonomy. Well, much like in Kyrgyzstan, there were several clashes between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz.


Our friend is an Albanian from the Macedonian city of Tetovo (right) and his friend

Well, Kosovo is obviously Chechnya. A region that could not officially secede from Serbia, but which nonetheless resisted long and stubbornly. The result was formally different (Kosovo achieved actual independence, but Chechnya did not), but both there and there peace and tranquility were established and you can go there completely without fear.


Street corn vendor in Pristina (Kosovo)

Albania does not belong to Yugoslavia, but has always been close to this region. Josip Broz Tito, the leader of socialist Yugoslavia, even wanted to annex Albania to Yugoslavia as another federal republic. There is a version that he allowed the Albanians to live in Kosovo in order to show them the benefits of living in his country, after which all of Albania, in one impulse, should have entered Yugoslavia. As a result, Albania never visited Yugoslavia, but was always considered a congenial and eternally poor neighbor. In general, Albania is for Yugoslavia what Mongolia is for the Soviet Union.


Albanian girl. City of Durres (Albania)

For a deeper dive into the history of Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav, I recommend Leonid Mlechin’s wonderful documentary “The Yugoslav Tragedy.” The film has no biases in the pro-Serbian or anti-Serbian side, does not paint anyone as white and fluffy, and fairly honestly tries to tell about the time when in the former Yugoslavia people went crazy en masse and started killing each other.

Relation to the past

Yugoslavia was, by socialist standards, a very developed country. It had the highest standard of living among socialist countries, not counting the GDR. In Russia, the older generation can still remember that a trip to Yugoslavia was almost equivalent to a trip to a capitalist country.

Then in the early 90s there was war, economic recession and unemployment. Therefore, many people still treat the socialist past normally and even with nostalgia. It is clear that socialism is remembered more warmly in less developed countries (Bosnia, Serbia, etc.), while in more developed countries (Slovenia and Croatia) it is rather viewed negatively.


Graffiti on a wall in Cetinje (Montenegro)

Even before the trip, I heard that the Balkan peoples still respect Josip Broz Tito, the leader of Yugoslavia from 1945-1980, despite the fact that in the early 1990s. His inheritance was so actively destroyed. This is true - in many cities in the former Yugoslavia, including Croatian, Macedonian and Bosnian ones, there are Tito streets and squares.

Tito, although he was a dictator, was soft by the standards of the 20th century. He carried out repression only against his political opponents, and not against entire ethnic groups or social groups. In this regard, Tito is more like Brezhnev or Franco than Hitler and Stalin. Therefore, in people's memory his image is rather positive.


Josip Broz Tito's grave at the Museum of Yugoslav History in Belgrade (Serbia)

It is interesting that Tito, the son of a Croatian and a Slovenian, actively mixed the population, encouraged interethnic marriages and the cohabitation of different peoples. His goal was to create a new nation - the "Yugoslavs". We have met such people several times - those who were born from mixed marriages or are married to a representative of another nation. But he failed to complete the job. During the collapse of the country, it became clear that the Yugoslavs did not exist, just as the “Soviet people” did not exist, but there were different peoples.


City of Travnik (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Then the “Yugoslav War” occurred - a series of armed conflicts in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Macedonia. It was the bloodiest war on the European continent since World War II, with more than 100 thousand people killed. The level of mutual hatred between peoples who had recently lived peacefully next to each other increased to an extreme degree. It’s amazing how quickly people are able to divide into “us” and “strangers” and violently destroy each other. Unfortunately, there are always gopniks who will only be glad that it has become possible to kill, rob and rape, and not just like that, but for a high idea - say, for Allah or for the Orthodox faith.

People in the Balkans became obsessed with national and religious hatred very quickly, but, fortunately, they came to their senses just as quickly. The conflict did not turn into an eternal smoldering conflict, as in some Palestine or Nagorno-Karabakh. When the main troglodyte cannibals left power, the new governments quickly settled into constructive cooperation. For example, in 2003, the presidents of Croatia and Serbia formally apologized to each other for what their predecessors had done.


City of Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

And this is the most pleasing thing when traveling through the former Yugoslavia - the former enmity has almost been forgotten and people have gradually become accustomed to the fact that not enemies live nearby, but exactly the same people. Today, Serbs, Croats, and Bosnian Muslims peacefully coexist and travel to visit each other, on business, and to visit relatives. The worst thing they told me was that some car with Serbian license plates in Croatia could have its door scratched.

Probably the same feelings would have existed in Western Europe in the 1960s. The war seems to have happened quite recently, but there is no mutual hatred and people are worried about completely different issues.

True, some tension is still felt in Serbian areas outside of Serbia. The Serbs living in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, it seems, still have not come to terms with the fact that they have become a national minority in a foreign state. Perhaps the same thing is happening with the Serbs in Croatia. They do not like or recognize these new states of theirs; they hang Serbian flags everywhere and scold both the government of their current states and the Serbian government (they say that Serbia betrayed and forgot them). But even in these places it is now safe - for example, Serbs can easily travel to Albanian areas and vice versa. So let's hope that sooner or later all these contradictions will be resolved.


Bridge over the Serbian and Albanian parts of the city of Mitrovica (Kosovo)

Economy and level of development

What is most surprising about Yugoslavia is how good its constituent countries look. Of course, they are far from Western Europe, but they are still noticeably ahead of the countries of the former Union. There are very good roads here, including expressways, good and beautiful houses rise in the villages, all the fields are sown, new trams and buses run through the cities, the cities have clean and well-maintained streets.


Residential area of ​​Novi Sad (Serbia)

A characteristic feature is that in the former Yugoslavia almost everywhere is very clean. In cities, different surfaces don’t have a layer of dirt or dust on them, like here, and you can almost always sit on a curb or steps without worrying about the cleanliness of your pants. There are no clouds of dust rising from passing cars, and there are no dirt roadsides on country roads, so you can safely put down your backpack when you catch a car.

In short, although the Yugoslavs are also Slavs and also experienced socialism, for some reason they know simple rules thanks to which the cities remain clean. Those interested in this topic can read Varlamov’s post “How to make sidewalks correctly” and Lebedev’s post “Russian drist”; it describes in detail and clearly why our cities are dirty, while European cities are not.


Berat city center (Albania)

This picture is floating around the Balkan Internet.

Translation: “Ships and planes disappear in this triangle. And in this triangle, young people, investments, happiness and the future disappear.”

It seems to me that the Balkans (if they were the ones painting the picture) are too self-critical. All these countries are developing and look quite good. Especially when compared with our Slavic triangle Russia - Ukraine - Belarus, where over the past few years investments and the future have really been disappearing.

The poorest country in the region is Albania, but it also looks relatively good. The outback there is generally much better than the Russian one. Things are somewhat better in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo. It’s even better in Croatia, and very good in Slovenia.


Village in eastern Serbia

People and mentality

The Balkans are inhabited mainly by Slavs who have lived through several decades of socialism. Therefore, in their character one can find much in common with us. As I already said, people here are not particularly religious, and passion for Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Islam has become more of a fashion than a deeply conscious choice. The Albanian with whom we stayed in Pristina convinced us that all the problems in Europe are from Muslims, and if it were his will, he would expel all Muslims from Europe. To my question: “Aren’t Albanians Muslims?” he replied: “Come on, these are European Muslims! We are completely different, we have no religious fanaticism!”


Rules of behavior in the mosque. Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

People here have a slightly more disregard for the law than Western Europeans. This, of course, has its advantages for the traveler - for example, a car can stop and pick you up in a place where stopping is prohibited. But there are also disadvantages - for example, the same car in the city will park on the sidewalk and interfere with pedestrians.

Our Belgrade acquaintance, a completely pro-Western guy with a European mindset, nevertheless said that you don’t have to pay for travel on the bus, “and if they come to check your tickets, go to the door, stand with your back to the controllers and don’t react to their comments - they , most likely, will quickly fall behind.” A very familiar attitude towards established rules.

It’s sad that many people are starting to scold America (they say, it has quarreled everyone in the Balkans) and praise Putin (here, they say, he’s a normal leader, we need one like him). This infantile attitude towards politics is a little annoying - like one big guy came and ruined everything, but another big guy should come and fix everything, and we have nothing to do with it here at all.

Putin, as usual, is loved here much more than in Russia itself - and not only by Serbs, but even by some Croats, Albanians and representatives of other nationalities. One would think that they were saying this out of politeness, but no - when we answered that we ourselves had a cool attitude towards Putin, people were surprised. How can you not love him, he fights America so bravely? True, T-shirts with Putin are sold only where Serbs live; in other places it is somehow not customary to display this.


Sale of T-shirts in Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

In general, with Yugoslavs there is almost always a common language and topics for conversation. Even if people have completely different political views, the cultural code, so to speak, is still common: they understand our problems, and we understand their problems. You drive through the former Yugoslavia, almost like you drive through your native land, but which looks and develops much better.

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The city was divided into three parts: the Muslims dug in in the center, under the mosques, the Croats - on the outskirts, closer to their church, the Serbs broke through from the river. There were corpses lying all over the place. It was impossible to walk without stepping on someone's hand or foot; blood flooded the entire pavement. They killed women, children, and old people in a row simply because some were baptized and others prayed to Allah. Not a single intact building remained - they either burned or collapsed. The old bridge was blown up and fell into the water.

"We bathed in blood"

Taxi driver Aziz takes me through Mostar, a city in Bosnia, on its streets in 1992-1995. former citizens of the former Yugoslavia fought for every block. Some of the houses have been restored (the “Gift of the European Union” signs have been screwed in), but those that are away from the tourist paths still bear traces of bullets and shrapnel on the walls. The bridge was also restored, and now it is like new. Aziz points to the window from where he shot his Croatian neighbor.

But I didn't get it. He is more skilled and has a good machine gun. He wounded me in the shoulder.

Why did you shoot at him in the first place? Was the relationship bad?

Why? Great guy, we drank vodka together. It’s just, you know, we used to be Yugoslavs, and then somehow suddenly we started dividing the country. And yesterday's neighbor is the enemy. Believe it or not, I myself don’t understand why we suddenly grabbed knives to cut each other.

...Now Aziz drinks vodka in the evenings again - with the same neighbor who once successfully put a bullet in him. Both try not to remember the past. It should be noted that in the former Yugoslavia they generally do not like to talk about the war. Not a single person could clearly explain to me the reason why he went to kill his neighbors, friends, acquaintances who always lived next to him, side by side. Muslims against Serbs and Croats. Croats against Serbs and Muslims. Serbs against everyone. “We were swimming in blood and couldn’t stop,” the Croatian tells me Stanko Milanovic. “It was mass madness - we devoured human flesh like zombies.” During the fighting in ex-Yugoslavia, 250 thousand people died (out of a population of 20 million), 4 million fled abroad. The ex-capital Belgrade (along with dozens of other cities) was bombed by NATO aircraft, and Yugoslavia disintegrated into ten states: six “official” and four not recognized by anyone. A handful of weak dwarf countries are all that remains of a powerful power that fought against Hitler, who was not afraid to quarrel with Stalin and possessed an army of 600 thousand. Its greatness has turned to dust: some republics survive on beach tourism, others are begging and asking for money from the West, and NATO troops are comfortably stationed on the territory of Bosnia, Serbia and Macedonia.

"Russian? Get out from here!"

We were all running somewhere, he recalls. Maria Kraljic, owner of a cafe in the Bosnian city of Trebinje. - I lived in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and our house was set on fire. My husband and I jumped out the window - he was in shorts, I was in a dressing gown. They wanted to kill us just because we were Serbs. Now we are hiding here and it is clear that we will never return home again.

In Trebinje itself, the old center with Ottoman mosques is empty - the Serbs expelled Muslim residents from the city. Dubrovnik, where Maria fled, is now a luxurious seaside resort, with hotel prices higher than in Moscow. On the outskirts, far from tourists, lurk empty Serbian churches - smoked by fire, with broken windows, painted with graffiti. As soon as you point the camera, well-wishers appear: “Russian? It was you who supported the Serbs. Get out of here while you're still alive! This is not bad - in Kosovo, Orthodox churches are simply blown up. In the capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo, when in 1995 the city was divided into two parts, Serbian and Muslim, the Serbs went to “their” side, even taking the coffins of their fathers and grandfathers from cemeteries so that their bones would not be desecrated by infidels. The war ended, and the neighbors, who overnight became enemies, made peace with difficulty, but did not forgive each other for the massacre. Hell, where the flames have gone out, still remains hell... even if it is cool there now.

Can you tell me how to get to Bill Clinton Boulevard?

Yes, it’s in the very center...see that idol over there? Monument to a former lover Monica Lewinsky It's hard to miss in Pristina. Albanian separatists in Kosovo are extremely grateful to the US President for the decision to bomb Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999. Two million Serbs fled to the north of the republic and are huddled there in shabby houses. Walking down the street, we talk with the Montenegrin driver in a whisper: for speaking Serbian in Kosovo they can kill you - just like that, for no reason. The owner of the hotel in Pec looks at my passport with a double-headed eagle (the same one on the coat of arms of Serbia) and quietly says: “Even if you were the devil himself, I need guests. Move in, just don’t say anywhere that you’re Russian.”

...Perhaps the only thing that now unites the inhabitants of a country torn to shreds is a passionate love for its founder Marshal Josip Broz Tito. “We will never live as cool as we lived under Tito,” sighs the Albanian Hasan, driving me to the Serbian border guards checkpoint. “You never dreamed of this in the Soviet Union,” echoes the Bosnian Jasko. “It was a real paradise: shops are full of food, you can travel to Germany and France without a visa, there is almost no crime.” “In Europe we were respected, but now they consider us to be poor relatives,” the Croatian spits Stephen. “Tito was a great man.” According to polls, if the leader of Yugoslavia, who died in 1980, wished to become the head of state now, 65 (!) percent of the population would vote for him. But the dead are prohibited from running for president - and the country itself is already dead...

“The scenario for the collapse of Yugoslavia was also prepared for the USSR, and is now being planned for Russia.”

Kingdom Yugoslavia was formed in 1918 as a union of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes after the end of the First World War. After World War II in 1945. Yugoslavia began to be called a socialist federation of six union republics and occupied an area of ​​255.8 thousand sq. km. and the capital Belgrade. Having existed for about 88 years, the state collapsed after 2006. no longer existed as a single state space.
The flag of Yugoslavia contained blue, white and red stripes, with a large five-pointed star in the foreground.

Step 2

So, Yugoslavia, a European state that existed on the Balkan Peninsula and had access to the Adriatic Sea, now consists of six independent states and two autonomous regions.
Today, the former Yugoslavia is the countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia, which includes 2 autonomous regions of Vojvodina and Kosovo, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro.

Step 3

Bosnia and Herzegovina, capital of the state Sarajevo. The country's area is 51,129 thousand sq. km. The country has several official languages: Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian.
Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics, and then the city became a center of military operations during the Yugoslav civil war in 1992-1995.
Today the country is popular for its therapeutic balneological resorts, ski resorts and beach holidays, because... has a narrow outlet to the Adriatic Sea.

Step 4

Macedonia, capital of the state Skopje. This is an ancient city that dates back to the 3rd century BC. The country's area is 25.7 thousand square kilometers, the official language is Macedonian. Macedonia is a mountainous country, almost the entire area is occupied by mountain ranges of varying heights. Macedonia does not have access to the sea, but on its territory there are several ski resorts and historical monuments associated with the Roman Empire and Turkish rule in this part of the Balkan Peninsula.
Macedonia

Step 5

Serbia, capital of the state Belgrade. The country's area is 88,361 thousand square kilometers, the official language is Serbian.
Belgrade arose in the first century AD, from 1284 it came under Serbian rule and today is its capital. Of all the countries of the former Yugoslavia, Serbia has the most flat fertile land and deciduous forests. There is no access to the Adriatic Sea, but there is an artificial Belgrade Sea. Also, rivers of extraordinary beauty flow through Serbia, on the mountainous part of which you can raft. The largest river in Serbia is the Danube.
Serbia also includes two autonomous provinces Kosovo, capital Pristina And Vojvodina, capital Novi Sad.
Serbia

Step 6

Slovenia, capital of the state Ljubljana. The country's area is 20,251 thousand square kilometers, the official language is Slovenian.
Slovenia is a small but very beautiful country. It has everything, snow-capped Alpine peaks, valleys with gardens and vineyards, and the Adriatic coast. Even the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, has an unusual history: according to legend, the city was founded by the Argonauts when they returned from Colchis after their journey for the Golden Fleece.
Slovenia today mainly lives on tourism, and also has a developed industry, including pharmaceuticals.
Slovenia.

Step 7

Croatia, capital of the state Zagreb. The country's area is 56,538 thousand square kilometers, the official language is Croatian. Zagreb is quite a large but cozy city with many architectural and historical attractions.
Croatia is a country that has the longest Adriatic coast of all the countries of the former Yugoslavia. That is why it is famous for its resorts around the cities of Split, Shebenik, Trogir, Dubrovnik. On the territory of Croatia there are unique nature reserves Krka, Paklenica, Kornati, etc. One of the cities of Croatia, Split is one of the oldest cities in Dolmatia (region of Croatia), its age exceeds 1700 years. In the center of the city of Split there is Diocletian's Palace, which now houses residential apartments for the city's residents.

In 1992, Yugoslavia disintegrated. Which states? How many are there? Why did the collapse happen? Not every European can answer these and other questions.

Even residents of neighboring countries can hardly describe the events of the 90s of the last century. The Yugoslav conflict was so bloody and confusing that without proper analysis it is difficult to understand the processes that took place there. The collapse of this Balkan country is considered the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.

Prerequisites

1992 was not the first time Yugoslavia fell apart. Many did not remember into which states and to what extent it had broken up in the past. But it was then, on the eve of World War II, that the bomb was planted under the future country. Until the beginning of the 20s, the Balkan Slavs were under the yoke of Austria-Hungary. The lands were divided into different areas. After the defeat of Austria-Hungary in the First World War and its subsequent collapse, the Slavs gained freedom and created their own state. It united almost all territories from Albania to Bulgaria. Initially, all peoples lived in peace.

However, the Balkan Slavs were never able to become a single ethnic group. Due to a number of reasons, including low internal migration, the country's relatively small population was divided into five or six ethnic groups. National differences flared up from time to time, but did not lead to acute conflicts. The country developed slowly. After all, local authorities had no experience in conducting independent politics.

First breakup

When a new war began, the country took the side of the anti-Hitler coalition. And in 1941 Yugoslavia collapsed. The Nazis decided which states the kingdom would be divided into.

The Nazis, in full accordance with the well-known principle of “divide and conquer,” decided to play on national differences among the Balkan Slavs. Within a few weeks, the country's territory was completely occupied by Axis troops. The state of Yugoslavia collapsed. It was decided on April 21 which states the country would be divided into. As a result, the independent Croatian state, Serbia and Montenegro, was formed. The remaining parts of the country were annexed by Italy, the Third Reich, Hungary and Albania.

Croatian nationalists supported the Germans from the first days. Subsequently, a partisan movement developed throughout the country. The war was waged not only against the Germans, but also against their Croatian minions. To which the latter responded with mass genocide of the Serbs. Albanian collaborators also carried out ethnic cleansing.

After the war

When the war ended, the new Federal State of Yugoslavia was formed.

At the same time, the new socialist government deliberately drew borders so that they did not correspond to ethnic settlement. That is, on the territory of each republic there were enclaves with a population that did not represent the titular nation. Such a system was supposed to balance interethnic contradictions and reduce the influence of separatism. At first, the idea yielded positive results. But he played a cruel joke when Yugoslavia collapsed. It was already clear in the fall of 1991 which states the federal republic would split into. As soon as Josip Tito died, nationalists came to power in all the republics. They began to kindle the fire of hatred.

How Yugoslavia broke up, into which states and how it was destroyed

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, socialist regimes began to be overthrown throughout Europe. A deep economic crisis began in Yugoslavia. Local elites sought to concentrate more power in their hands. They wanted to achieve this through nationalist populism. As a result, by 1990, nationalist parties came to power in all republics. In every region where representatives of different nationalities lived, minorities began to demand secession or autonomy. In Croatia, despite the huge number of Serbs, the authorities banned the Serbian language. Serbian cultural figures began to be persecuted.

Day of Wrath

The day the war began is considered to be mass riots at the Maksimir stadium, when Serbian and Croatian fans carried out a massacre right during the game. A few weeks later, the first republic, Slovenia, will secede from the country. Ljubljana becomes the capital of the independent state. The central leadership does not recognize independence and sends in troops.

Combat clashes between local armed groups and the Yugoslav army begin. Ten days later, the command withdraws soldiers from Slovenia.

How Yugoslavia broke up, into which states and capitals

Macedonia was the next to separate, with its capital in Skopje. And then Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia also separated. Serbia and Montenegro entered into a new union.

Thus, Yugoslavia broke up into 6 states. It was unclear which of them were considered legitimate and which were not. Indeed, in addition to the “main” powers, there were many semi-independent enclaves. This happened due to acute ethnic contradictions.

Long-standing grievances were remembered. To protect their national interests, several regions of Croatia inhabited by Serbs declare independence. The Croatian authorities issue weapons to nationalists and begin forming a guard. The Serbs do the same thing. Conflict breaks out. The Croatian army is committing genocide against the Serbs, trying to expel them from the country.

Similar processes are beginning in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are riots in the capital Sarajevo. Local Muslims are arming themselves. They are supported by Albanian and Arab Islamists. The Serbian and Croatian communities are arming themselves to defend their rights. These territories require secession from the federation. The war begins in Bosnia. The bloodiest clashes took place here. Another hot spot was the Serbian Krajina, where Croatian troops tried to retake territory inhabited by Serbs.

NATO's role in the conflict

In Bosnia, the Serbs managed to defend their lands and even advance to Sarajevo. However, then NATO forces entered the war. Together with Croatian and Muslim militants, they managed to suppress the military advantage of the Serbs and push them back.

Uranium ammunition was used during the bombings. At least three hundred civilians died due to radiation exposure.

The Serbs were unable to fight modern NATO aircraft. After all, they only had at their disposal the old air defense systems that Yugoslavia “left” for them when it collapsed. The Americans now decided which states the former republic would be divided into.