What countries were formed after the collapse of Yugoslavia. Former Yugoslavia: General Impressions - Notes of a Russian Traveler

The former Yugoslavia is the largest state of the southern Slavs. The political and military conflict in Yugoslavia in the early 90s of the 20th century led to the disintegration of the country into the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (which included Serbia and Montenegro), Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Macedonia. The final disintegration of the state of Yugoslavia ended in 2003-2006, when the FR Yugoslavia was first renamed the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, and in 2006 Montenegro, after a referendum, withdrew from its composition.

General information
Capital - Belgrade
The official language, the language of interethnic communication is Serbo-Croatian.
Total area: 255.800 sq. km.
Population: 23.600.000 (1989)
National composition: Serbs, Croats, Bosnians (Slavs who converted to Islam during the Ottoman yoke), Slovenes, Macedonians, Albanians, Hungarians, Rusyns, Gypsies, etc.
Monetary unit: dinar-krona (until 1920), dinar KSHS (until 1929), Yugoslav dinar (1929-1991)

History reference
The modern history of the former Yugoslavia begins in 1918, when the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the Kingdom of the CXC) was formed. The date of the creation of the state is December 1, 1918, when, Dalmatia and Vojvodina, the Yugoslav lands that belonged to Austria-Hungary, which collapsed in the fall of 1918, united with the kingdoms and.

In 1929, the state was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This name was adopted after the coup d'état organized by the king of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Alexander on January 6, 1929. With this name, the state existed until 1945.

After the end of World War II, on November 29, 1945, Yugoslavia became a socialist federation, which included six union republics: Serbia (with autonomous regions - Vojvodina and Kosovo and Metohija), Macedonia (until that moment it was an integral part of Serbia - Vardar Macedonia), Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The new state was named Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. In 1946, it was renamed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRYU). Since 1963, the state has become known as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY).

Yugoslavia has long been a significant and important state on the world stage: a developed economy and industry, especially the production of weapons, cars and chemicals; a huge army, the number of which exceeded 600 thousand soldiers ... But the internal strife and conflicts that tormented the country reached their apogee in the 90s of the last century and led to the fact that Yugoslavia fell apart. What states it was divided into, today all schoolchildren who study history know. These are Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Kosovo - a partially recognized power.

At the origins

Once on Yugoslavia was the largest state. The peoples living on these lands had very different customs and traditions, culture and even religion. But, despite this, they all lived in the same country: Catholics and Orthodox, those who wrote in Latin, and those who wrote in Cyrillic.

Yugoslavia has always been a tasty morsel for many conquerors. So, Hungary captured Croatia in the 12th century. Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina went to the Ottoman Empire, many inhabitants of these lands were forced to convert to Islam. And only Montenegro remained free and independent for a long time. Over time, the Turkish state lost its influence and power, so Austria took over the Yugoslav territories that previously belonged to the Ottomans. Only in the 19th century did Serbia manage to revive itself as an independent state.

It was this country that united all the scattered Balkan lands. The king of Serbia became the ruler of the Croats, Slovenes and other Yugoslav peoples. One of the monarchs, Alexander I, organized a coup in 1929 and gave the state a new name - Yugoslavia, which translates as "land of the southern Slavs."

Federal Republic

The history of Yugoslavia in the 20th century took shape against the backdrop of world wars. During World War II, a powerful anti-fascist movement was created here. The communists organized a partisan underground. But after the victory over Hitler, Yugoslavia did not become part of the Soviet Union, as it was supposed. It remained free, but where there was only one leading party - the communist one.

In early 1946, a constitution was adopted here, which marked the creation of the new Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. It consisted of six independent units. Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as two autonomous regions - Kosovo and Vojvodina - formed a new power. What countries did Yugoslavia break up into in the future? It is to these small and original republics, among which Serbia has always been the leader. Its inhabitants constituted the largest ethnic group: almost 40% of the entire Yugoslavia. It is logical that other members of the federation did not like this much, and conflicts and strife began within the state.

Beginning of the End

Tension between representatives of different ethnic groups is the main reason why Yugoslavia broke up. On which states did the leaders of the uprisings direct their discontent and aggression? First of all, to northwestern Croatia and Slovenia, which prospered and seemed to tease the poorer peoples with their high standard of living. Anger and tension in the masses grew. The Yugoslavs ceased to consider themselves a single people, despite the fact that they lived side by side for 60 years.

In 1980, the leader of the communists, Marshal Tito, died. Thereafter, the President of the Presidium was elected each year in May from among the candidates submitted by each republic. Despite this equality, people still remained dissatisfied and dissatisfied. Since 1988, the standard of living of all the inhabitants of Yugoslavia has deteriorated sharply, a decline in production began, instead inflation and unemployment flourished. The leading persons of the country, headed by Mikulic, resigned, Slovenia wanted full sovereignty, nationalist sentiments tore Kosovo apart. These events were the beginning of the end and led to the fact that Yugoslavia fell apart. Which states it has split into is shown by the current world map, where such independent countries as Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina are clearly identified.

Slobodan Milosevic

This active leader came to power in 1988, at the height of civil strife. First of all, he directed his policy towards returning under the wing of the federal and Vojvodina. And although there were very few ethnic Serbs in these lands, many residents of the country supported him. Milosevic's actions only exacerbated the situation. Whether he wanted to create a powerful Serbian state or simply took advantage of internal conflicts to take a warm government seat, no one knows. But in the end, Yugoslavia broke up. What states it was divided into, today even children know. The history of the Balkan Peninsula is given more than one paragraph in the textbooks.

In 1989, the economy and politics in the FPRY experienced a rapid decline. Ante Marković, the new prime minister, tried to introduce a series of reforms, but it was too late. Inflation has reached 1000%, the country's debt to other states has grown to $21 billion. Against this background, Serbia adopted a new constitution that deprived Vojvodina and Kosovo of autonomy. Slovenia meanwhile concluded an alliance with Croatia.

Introduction of a multi-party system

The history of Yugoslavia as a single indivisible state ends in the early 1990s. In those years, they were still trying to save the country from collapse: the communists decided to share power with other parties that would be freely and independently chosen by the people. The will was held in 1990. The Communist Party of Milosevic won the lion's share of the vote, but only Montenegro and Serbia could speak of a complete victory.

At the same time, debates were in full swing in other regions. Kosovo opposed the harsh measures taken to quell Albanian nationalism. In Croatia, the Serbs decided to create their own autonomy. But the biggest blow was the declaration of independence by small Slovenia, for which the local population voted in a referendum. After that, the FPRY began to burst at the seams. What countries did Yugoslavia break up into? In addition to Slovenia, Macedonia and Croatia also quickly seceded, then Bosnia and Herzegovina. Over time, Montenegro and Serbia became separate states, which until the last supported the integrity of the Balkan state.

War in Yugoslavia

The FRNY government has long tried to preserve the once powerful and rich country. Troops were sent to Croatia to eliminate the riots that arose there against the backdrop of the struggle for independence. The history of the collapse of Yugoslavia began precisely from this region, and also from Slovenia - these two republics were the first to rebel. During the years of hostilities, tens of thousands of people were killed here, hundreds of thousands lost their homes forever.

Further, a hotbed of violence broke out in Bosnia and Kosovo. The blood of innocent people for almost a decade was shed here almost every day. The so-called Yugoslav knot for a long time could not be cut either by the ruling authorities or the peacekeeping troops sent here by the West. Subsequently, NATO and the European Union have already waged war on Milosevic himself, exposing his massacres of civilians and atrocities against prisoners of war in the camps. As a result, he was handed over to the tribunal.

How many countries did Yugoslavia break up into? After many years of confrontation, instead of one power, six were formed on the world map. These are Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is also Kosovo, but not all countries have recognized its independence. Among those who did it first were the European Union and the United States.

One of the important crises of the last century was the collapse of Yugoslavia. Despite the fact that now there are no special claims on the part of this state, the crisis played a major role in the foreign policy situation that continues to this day.

Let's try to figure it out: what are the reasons for this event, how did it develop, the main positions of the participants in the crisis, how did the world map change after this "war"?

How many countries was Yugoslavia divided into? How did American intervention affect this process?

List of countries of the former Yugoslavia and their capitals

Yugoslavia (the current capital of the country - Belgrade) was part of the Soviet Union as one of the republics - the SFRY.

Information about its member states and their capitals, about areas and population is displayed in the table:

In addition, this territory was inhabited by people of different nationalities. The vast majority were Serbs. In addition to them, Croats, Albanians, Montenegrins, Macedonians and Slovenes were present in the population.

Reasons for the collapse of Yugoslavia

Why did the Balkan crisis occur?

The main factors identified by historians:

death of the first president (former leader) Tito;
the collapse of the USSR and the subsequent "wear and tear" of the socialist system;
flourishing nationalism throughout the world.

As another prerequisite for the split, many scientists attribute the wrong internal policy of a multinational state. According to the constitution of Yugoslavia, at that time the authorities of the republics could create groups within their "possessions".

The beginning of the collapse

This story began at the same time as the collapse of the USSR, in 1991. The date of complete collapse is considered to be 2006. What happened?

A civil war began, during which 4 sovereign parts separated from Yugoslavia. Only Serbia and Montenegro remained, the rest became independent states.

post-war period

It would seem that there should be an end to the conflict, the division of countries to come to naught. However, hostilities broke out due to an external factor.

Under the influence of NATO, major bloody military dramas took place in Serbia and Croatia, in which more than 2 million people were injured. And only after the agreement signed in 1995, the society recognized the withdrawal of 4 republics from Yugoslavia.

Despite all UN peacekeeping actions, at the end of the 20th century, extremist uprisings of Albanians broke out, which resulted in the death of another 0.5 million people.

The "Kosovo crisis" still remains an unresolved problem of the early 21st century.

Division of territory in the late 20th century

By the end of the 20th century, Yugoslavia was divided into 5 countries. But the financial division of property dragged on for quite a long period of time.

It was not until 2004 that an agreement was reached that specified the countries and the amounts assigned to them. Moreover, a large amount went to Serbia (about 39% of total assets).

Many of our domestic historians believe that such a division is unfair, because the USSR had huge debts to foreign branches of Yugoslav companies. Therefore, in 2006 the Russian Federation paid this amount.

Map of Yugoslavia: before and after the collapse

The first picture shows a map of Yugoslavia before it was divided into separate independent states.

The second picture shows a map of Yugoslavia with new states.

What countries did the country split into

Five states into which Yugoslavia broke up by 2003:

Croatia;
Bosnia and Herzegovina;
Slovenia;
Macedonia;
FRY (successor of the former multinational state):
- - Slovenia;
  - Montenegro.

Yugoslavia was finally divided when Montenegro left the FRY in June 2006.

American intervention

From the very beginning of the Balkan crisis, America actively intervened in this process. Her policy was aimed at using force (on Serbia) and supporting 2 opposition parties. This led to the impossibility of peaceful regulation of the conflict.

In 1995, with the support of NATO, hostilities were unleashed in Serbia and Croatia, during which more than 1 million people were killed and about 2 million people were injured.

At the end of the same year, at the initiative of American diplomats, an agreement was signed on the withdrawal of 4 countries from Yugoslavia and the cessation of hostilities throughout the territory of the former multinational state.

At the end of the 20th century, America played an important role in the "fight against extremists", inflicting huge damage with its numerous raids, which prompted the withdrawal of Montenegro from the FRY.

Of particular importance was NATO's intervention in the Kosovo crisis. To this day, this conflict remains unresolved.

Conclusion

Despite the difficult geopolitical situation, Russia is now conducting a diplomatic policy with the countries of the former Yugoslavia. In addition, technological progress is planned in almost all spheres of life in these independent states.

In 1992 Yugoslavia broke up. To which states? How many? 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 bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.

Prerequisites

1992 was not the first time that Yugoslavia broke up. Many did not remember which states and how much it broke up in the past. But it was then, on the eve of World War II, that a bomb was planted under the future country. Until the early 1920s, the Balkan Slavs were under the yoke of Austria-Hungary. The lands were divided into different regions. After the defeat of Austria-Hungary in the First World War and its subsequent collapse, the Slavs gained freedom and created their own state. Almost all territories from Albania to Bulgaria were united in it. Initially, all peoples lived in the world.

However, the Balkan Slavs could not become a single ethnic group. Due to a number of reasons, among which was a small internal migration, the relatively small population of the country was divided into five or six ethnic groups. National divisions flared up from time to time, but did not lead to sharp conflicts. The country developed slowly. After all, the local authorities had no experience of conducting an independent policy.

First breakup

When a new war began, the country took the side of the anti-Hitler coalition. And in 1941 Yugoslavia broke up. The Nazis decided which states to divide the kingdom into.

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

Croatian nationalists supported the Germans from the first days. Subsequently, a partisan movement unfolded on the territory of the country. The war was fought not only against the Germans, but also against their Croatian minions. To which the latter responded with a mass genocide of the Serbs. Ethnic cleansing was also carried out by Albanian collaborators.

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 the 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. Initially, the plan gave positive results. But he also played a cruel joke when Yugoslavia broke up. It was already clear in the autumn of 1991 which states the federal republic would decompose 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 overthrow throughout Europe. In Yugoslavia, a deep economic crisis began. 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 the 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. Serb cultural figures began to be persecuted.

Day of Wrath

The day of the beginning of the war is considered the riots at the Maksimir stadium, when Serbian and Croatian fans staged a massacre right during the game. A few weeks later, the first republic, Slovenia, leaves the country. Ljubljana becomes the capital of an independent state. The central leadership does not recognize independence and introduces 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

The next to separate was Macedonia, whose capital is located in Skopje. And then Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia also seceded. Serbia and Montenegro entered into a new alliance.

So, Yugoslavia broke up into 6 states. It was not clear which of them were legitimate and which were not. Indeed, in addition to the "main" powers, there were many semi-independent enclaves. This happened because of sharp ethnic contradictions.

I remembered old grievances. To protect their national interests, several regions of Croatia inhabited by Serbs declare independence. The Croatian authorities issue weapons to the nationalists and begin to form a guard. The Serbs do the same. A conflict erupts. The Croatian army organizes a genocide of the Serbs, trying to drive them out of the country.

Similar processes are beginning in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Riots are taking place in the capital Sarajevo. Local Muslims are arming. They are supported by Albanian and Arab Islamists. The Serbian and Croatian communities are arming to protect their rights. These territories require secession from the federation. The war begins in Bosnia. The most bloody clashes took place here. Another flashpoint was Serbian Krajina, where Croatian troops were trying to retake the territory inhabited by Serbs.

NATO's role in the conflict

In Bosnia, the Serbs managed to defend their lands and even advance towards 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.

During the bombing, uranium ammunition was used. At least three hundred civilians died due to radiation exposure.

The Serbs could not fight modern NATO aircraft. After all, they only had at their disposal the old air defense systems that Yugoslavia "left" them when it collapsed. The Americans now decided which states to divide the former republic into.

.
In the 1840s, a movement arose in the Balkans aimed at the political unification of all southern Slavs - Serbs, Croats, Slovenes and Bulgarians (this movement was often confused with Serbia's desire to unite all Serbs in one state - Greater Serbia). During the uprising in Bosnia and Herzegovina against the Turkish yoke and during the Serbo-Turkish and Russian-Turkish wars in 1876-1878, the movement to unite the South Slavs intensified again. However, after 1880, a confrontation between Serbian, Bulgarian and Croatian nationalism began, Serbia's dependence on Austria increased, and at the very moment when it achieved complete independence from Turkey. This temporarily reduced the hopes of the Yugoslav peoples for national liberation and unification. In the late 1890s, especially after 1903 and the change of the Obrenović dynasty to the Karadđorgievich dynasty, the movement of the South Slavs again gained strength not only in Serbia, but also in Croatia, Slovenia, Vojvodina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and even in divided Macedonia.
In 1912, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Greece, having formed a military-political alliance, attacked Turkey and captured Kosovo and Macedonia (1st Balkan War, 1912-1913). The rivalry between Serbia and Bulgaria, as well as Bulgaria and Greece, led to the 2nd Balkan War (1913), the defeat of Bulgaria and the partition of Macedonia between Serbia and Greece. Serbian occupation of Kosovo and Macedonia frustrated Austrian plans to annex Serbia and control the road to Thessaloniki. At the same time, Serbia faced the problem of the status of ethnic minorities (Turks, Albanians and Hellenized Vlachs) and how to govern peoples that are ethnically or linguistically similar (Macedonian Slavs), but have a different history and social structure.
Austria-Hungary, which pursued a policy of economic pressure and political blackmail against Serbia, annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, and its general staff began to develop a plan for war against Serbia. This policy pushed a certain part of the Yugoslav nationalists in Bosnia to terrorist acts. On June 28, 1914, the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was shot dead in Sarajevo. Between Austria and Serbia, hostilities soon began, which gave impetus to the start of the First World War.
During the war, Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian political leaders agreed on the main goal in this war - the national unification of these three peoples. The principles of the organization of the Yugoslav state were discussed: Serbs from the Kingdom of Serbia leaned towards a centralized option, while Serbs from Vojvodina, Croats and Slovenes preferred a federal option. On December 1, 1918, the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, headed by the Serbian dynasty Karageorgievich, was proclaimed in Belgrade. The question of centralism or federalism remained unresolved.
In 1918, the Great National Assembly of Montenegro voted in favor of unification with the new state. The kingdom also included Vojvodina, Slavonia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a significant part of Dalmatia and most of the territories of Austria, where the population who spoke the Slovene language lived. But she failed to get part of Dalmatia (Zadar region) and Istria, which went under peace treaties to Italy, the Klagenfurt-Villach region in Carinthia, whose population voted in a plebiscite (1920) to become part of Austria, Fiume (Rijeka), captured first by troops D "Annunzio (1919), and then turned into a free city (1920) and eventually incorporated by Mussolini into Italy (1924).
In the period after World War I and the Russian Revolution, the ideas of communism spread among peasants and workers in eastern Central Europe. In the 1920 elections, the new Socialist Workers' Party of Yugoslavia (Communists), renamed the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in the same year, received 200,000 votes, most of which were cast in the economically more backward regions of the country, as well as in Belgrade and Zagreb; at the moment when the troops of Soviet Russia moved to Warsaw, she called for the creation of the Yugoslav Soviet Republic. In 1921 the government banned communist and anarchist propaganda and forced the communist movement to go underground. The Serbian Radical Party of Nikola Pasic put forward a draft constitution that provided for a unicameral parliament, the division of the country into 33 administrative units, and a rigid executive power. The boycott of the constitutional assembly (Constituent Assembly) by the Croatian Republican Peasant Party (since 1925 - the Croatian Peasant Party), which advocated a federal constitution, simplified the adoption (1921) of a constitution providing for a centralized state.
The leader of the Croatian Peasant Party, Stjepan Radić, initially boycotted the National Assembly, but then joined the Pasic government. In 1926, Pasic died, and his party split into three factions. Numerous warring parties, corruption, scandals, nepotism, slander and the substitution of party principles for political ambitions have become integral elements of the country's political life. In June 1928, one of the Serbian deputies shot several Croatian deputies, including Stepan Radic, at a parliament session.
King Alexander, who himself was largely responsible for the escalation of political conflicts, dissolved parliament in January 1929, suspended the constitution, banned the activities of all political parties, established a dictatorship and changed the name of the country (since 1929 - the Kingdom of Yugoslavia). During the period of the dictatorship, national tensions intensified as the communists campaigned for the independence of Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia. The rebellious Croatian Ustaše, a pro-fascist Croatian independence organization led by the Zagreb lawyer Ante Pavelić, and the pro-Bulgarian Internal Macedonian-Odrinsky Revolutionary Organization (IMORO), which advocated Macedonian independence, found support in Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria. In October 1934, the VMORO and the Ustashe participated in organizing the assassination of King Alexander in Marseille.
During the period of the regency headed by Prince Paul, the situation of the country worsened. Pavel and his minister Milan Stojadinović weakened the Little and Balkan Entente - Yugoslavia's system of alliances with Czechoslovakia and Romania, as well as with Greece, Turkey and Romania; they flirted with Nazi Germany, signed treaties with Italy and Bulgaria (1937), and allowed the creation of a party with a fascist and authoritarian bent. In August 1939, the leader of the Croatian Peasants' Party, Vladko Macek, and the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia, Dragisha Cvetkovic, signed an agreement on the formation of the autonomous region of Croatia. This decision did not satisfy either the Serbs or the extremist Croats.
After the Nazis came to power in Germany (1933), the USSR called on the Yugoslav communists to abandon separatism as a means of practical politics and form a popular front against the threat of fascism. In 1937, the Croat Josip Broz Tito, who supported the organization of the Popular Front of Serbo-Croatian and Yugoslav solidarity against fascism, became secretary of the Communist Party.
The Second World War. With the outbreak of World War II, the communists tried to reorient the population towards new political tasks. On March 25, 1941, under pressure from Germany, Yugoslavia joined the Berlin Pact (an alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan). Two days later, as a result of a military coup, supported by a significant part of the population, the government of D. Cvetkovic, which signed this pact, was overthrown. Peter, son of Alexander, became King of Yugoslavia. The new government came forward with a promise to uphold all unclassified agreements with Germany, but as a precaution declared Belgrade an open city. The response of Nazi Germany was the bombing of Belgrade and the invasion of Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941. Within two weeks the country was occupied. The new king and many party leaders fled the country; a few party leaders compromised with the invaders, while the rest took a passive or neutral stance.
Yugoslavia was dismembered: parts of the country went to Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Italian satellite state of Albania. On the ruins of Yugoslavia, a new state of Croatia was created, headed by Ante Pavelić and his Ustaše. The Ustasha carried out mass repressions against Serbs, Jews and Gypsies, created several concentration camps for their destruction, including Jasenovac. The Germans deported Slovenes from Slovenia to Serbia, drafted them into the German army or deported them to Germany to work in military factories and labor camps. In Serbia, the Germans allowed General Milan Nedić to form a "government of national salvation", but they did not allow him to maintain a regular army and establish a foreign ministry.
After the defeat of the regular army, the Communist Party of Josip Broz Tito organized a powerful partisan movement against the German invaders. The Yugoslav government in exile officially supported the so-called armed groups. Chetniks, led by Drage Mihailović, a colonel in the royal Yugoslav army. Mihailović resisted the communists in the struggle for power, but encouraged Serbian terror against Croats and Bosnian Muslims. Mihailovich's anti-communism led him to a tactical agreement with the Germans and Italians, and in the fall of 1941 the Chetniks fought against the partisans. As a result, the allies abandoned him, preferring an alliance with Tito's partisans who fought against the invaders and collaborators. In 1942, Tito formed the Anti-Fascist Council for the People's Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOYU). This organization created in the liberated territories regional anti-fascist councils and local people's liberation committees under the control of the communists. In 1943, the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (NOLA) began to receive British military assistance, and after the capitulation of Italy received Italian weapons.
Partisan resistance was especially strong in the western regions of Yugoslavia, where there were vast liberated territories in Slovenia, Croatia, western Bosnia and Montenegro. The partisans attracted the population to their side, promising to organize Yugoslavia on a federal basis and give all nationalities equal rights. However, in Serbia, Mihailović's Chetniks had more influence before the arrival of the Soviet Army, and Tito's partisans began a campaign to liberate it, capturing Belgrade in October 1944.
At the beginning of 1944 there were two Yugoslav governments: the provisional government of AVNOJ in Yugoslavia itself and the royal Yugoslav government in London. In May 1944, W. Churchill forced King Peter to appoint Ivan Subashich as prime minister. In March 1945 a united government was formed headed by Prime Minister Tito; according to the agreement, the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs was taken by Šubašić. However, he and his non-communist colleagues, finding themselves without real power, resigned and were then arrested.
In November 1945, the newly elected Constituent Assembly abolished the monarchy and proclaimed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY). Mihailović and politicians collaborating with the occupiers were later captured, put on trial, found guilty of treason and collaborationism, executed or thrown into prison. Leaders of other political parties who opposed the Communists' monopoly of power were also imprisoned.

Communist Yugoslavia. After 1945, the communists took control of the political and economic life of Yugoslavia. The 1946 constitution officially recognized Yugoslavia as a federal republic, consisting of six union republics - Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro. The government nationalized a large proportion of private enterprises and launched a five-year plan (1947-1951) following the Soviet model, emphasizing the development of heavy industry. Large landholdings and agricultural enterprises belonging to the Germans were confiscated; about half of this land was received by peasants, and the other half became the property of state agricultural enterprises and forestry enterprises. Non-communist political organizations were banned, the activities of the Orthodox and Catholic churches were restricted, and property was confiscated. Aloysius Stepinac, the Catholic archbishop of Zagreb, was imprisoned on charges of collaborating with the Ustaše.
It seemed that Yugoslavia was closely cooperating with the USSR, but a conflict was brewing between the countries. Although Tito was a committed communist, he did not always follow Moscow's orders. During the war years, the partisans received relatively little support from the USSR, and in the post-war years, despite Stalin's promises, he did not provide sufficient economic assistance to Yugoslavia. Stalin did not always like Tito's active foreign policy. Tito formalized a customs union with Albania, supported the communists in the civil war in Greece and led a discussion with the Bulgarians about the possibility of creating a Balkan federation.
On June 28, 1948, the contradictions that had been accumulating for a long time broke out after the newly created Communist Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties (Cominform, 1947-1956) in its resolution condemned Tito and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) for revisionism, Trotskyism and other ideological errors. Between the rupture of relations in 1948 and Stalin's death in 1953, trade between Yugoslavia and the Soviet bloc countries virtually ceased, Yugoslavia's borders were constantly violated, and purges were carried out in the communist states of Eastern Europe with accusations of Titoism.
After breaking off relations with the USSR, Yugoslavia was free to develop plans for its own way of building a socialist society. Beginning in 1950, the government began to decentralize economic planning and set up workers' councils that participated in the management of industrial enterprises. In 1951, the implementation of the program of collectivization of agriculture was suspended, and in 1953 it was completely stopped.
The 1950s saw a number of important changes in Yugoslav foreign policy. Trade with Western countries expanded rapidly; in 1951 Yugoslavia concluded an agreement with the United States on military assistance. Relations with Greece also improved, and in 1953 Yugoslavia signed treaties of friendship and cooperation with Greece and Turkey, which in 1954 were supplemented by a 20-year defensive alliance. In 1954, a dispute with Italy over Trieste was settled.
After Stalin's death, the USSR made attempts to improve relations with Yugoslavia. In 1955, N.S. Khrushchev and other Soviet leaders visited Belgrade and signed a declaration solemnly proclaiming "mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs" and stating the fact that "the variety of specific forms of building socialism is exclusively a matter of the peoples of different countries." In 1956 Khrushchev condemned Stalinism; in the countries of the Soviet bloc, the rehabilitation of persons previously accused of Titoism began.
Meanwhile, Tito began to carry out the main campaign in his foreign policy, consistently pursuing the third direction. He developed close relations with the newly emerging non-aligned countries, visiting India and Egypt in 1955. The following year, Tito met in Yugoslavia with the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Indian leader Jawaharlal Nehru, who declared their support for the principles of peaceful coexistence between states, disarmament and an end to the policy of strengthening political blocs. In 1961, the non-aligned states, which had become an organized group, held their first summit conference in Belgrade.
Within Yugoslavia, political stability was difficult to achieve. In 1953 the Communist Party was renamed the Union of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKYU) in the hope that the ideological leadership in Yugoslavia would play a less authoritarian role than in the USSR under Stalin. Nevertheless, some intellectuals criticized the regime. The most famous critic was Milovan Djilas, who was Tito's closest aide in the past. Djilas argued that instead of transferring power to the workers, the communists merely replaced the old ruling class with a "new class" of party functionaries. In 1956 he was imprisoned, in 1966 he was amnestied.
In the early 1960s, a partial liberalization of the regime took place. In 1963 alone, the government released almost 2,500 political prisoners from prison. The economic reforms that began in 1965 accelerated the pace of economic decentralization and self-government. Workers' councils were given greater freedom from state control in the management of their enterprises, and reliance on market mechanisms increased the influence of Yugoslav consumers in economic decision-making.
Yugoslavia also sought to ease tensions in Eastern Europe. In 1963, Yugoslavia and Romania issued a joint call to turn the Balkans into a nuclear-free zone of peace and cooperation, and also signed an agreement on the joint construction of a power plant and a shipping lock at the Iron Gates on the Danube. When in 1964 relations between the USSR and Romania were on the verge of breaking, Tito visited both countries to convince them of the need for a compromise. Tito condemned the large-scale intervention of the Warsaw Pact countries in Czechoslovakia in August 1968. The ease with which the USSR and its allies occupied Czechoslovakia revealed Yugoslavia's own military weakness; as a result, a territorial defense force was created, a kind of national guard, which was supposed to conduct guerrilla warfare in the event of a Soviet invasion of Yugoslavia.
One of Tito's most serious internal problems was the tension between the various ethnic groups in Yugoslavia. Added to their deep-rooted antagonism, as well as painful memories of the killings during World War II, were economic tensions between the relatively developed northwestern republics of Croatia and Slovenia and the poorer republics of the south and east. In order to ensure the division of power between representatives of all major nationalities, in 1969 Tito reorganized the leadership structure of the SKJ. In late 1971, Croatian students staged a demonstration in support of greater Croatian political and economic autonomy. In response, Tito carried out a purge of the Croatian party apparatus. In Serbia, he carried out a similar purge in 1972-1973.
In 1971, a collegiate body (the Presidium of the SFRY) was established to ensure the representation of all major nationalities at the highest level of government. The new constitution of 1974 approved this system and simplified it. Tito retained the presidency indefinitely, but after his death, all the functions of government were to be transferred to a collective presidency, whose members were to replace each other annually as head of state.
Some observers predicted the collapse of the Yugoslav state after Tito's death. Despite many reforms, Titoist Yugoslavia retained some features of Stalinism. After Tito's death (1980), Serbia increasingly tried to re-centralize the country, already moving towards the kind of confederation envisaged by the Titoist constitution of 1974.
In 1987, Serbia received an active leader in the person of Slobodan Milosevic, the new head of the Union of Communists of Serbia. Milosevic's attempts to first liquidate the autonomies of Kosovo and Vojvodina, which since 1989 were controlled directly from Belgrade, and then actions against Slovenia and Croatia led to the destabilization of the situation in Yugoslavia. These events hastened the liquidation of the Union of Communists of Yugoslavia and the movement towards independence in all republics, with the exception of Serbia and Montenegro. In Serbia itself, Milosevic increasingly encountered opposition from national minorities, primarily the Albanians and Bosnian Muslims of the Sandjak, as well as liberals. The opposition has strengthened in Montenegro as well. In 1991, four of the six republics declared independence. In response, Milosevic took military action against Slovenia (in June 1991), Croatia (from September to December 1991), Bosnia and Herzegovina (March 1992 - December 1995). These wars resulted in significant loss of life, massive displacement of civilians and destruction, but not in military victory. In Croatia, as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serb irregulars and the Yugoslav People's Army began to seize territories, kill or deport people of other nationalities, thus embarking on their plan to create a Greater Serbian State.
In April 1992, Milosevic decided to create the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from the remnants of the former federation as part of Serbia and Montenegro. However, in May, the UN Security Council imposed harsh sanctions against Yugoslavia because of its aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina. When these sanctions went into effect, US citizen Milan Panich was appointed to the essentially decorative post of prime minister of a shrunken state. This act did not lead to an improvement in the international position of Yugoslavia, and the already difficult situation in Bosnia continued to worsen. In September, the UN General Assembly voted to exclude Yugoslavia from its membership, so Serbia and Montenegro were forced to rely only on their own strength.
In 1993, the internal political struggle in Yugoslavia led to the resignation of moderate politicians - Prime Minister Panic and President Dobrica Cosic, as well as to the arrest and beating of Vuk Draskovic, the leader of the opposition to Milosevic. In May 1993, a meeting of representatives of Yugoslavia, the so-called. The Republic of Serbian Krajina (in Croatia) and the Republika Srpska (in Bosnia) confirmed the goal of creating a single state - Greater Serbia, in which all Serbs would have to live. In early 1995, Yugoslavia did not receive permission to join the UN; economic sanctions against it were continued.
In 1995, Slobodan Milosevic stopped political and military support, first for the Croatian and then for the Bosnian Serbs. In May 1995, the Croatian army completely expelled the Bosnian Serbs from Western Slavonia, and in August 1995 the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina collapsed. The transfer of the Serbian enclave to Croatia led to the outflow of Serb refugees to the FRY.
After the NATO bombing of Bosnian Serb military positions in August and September 1995, an international conference was convened in Dayton (Ohio, USA) to sign a ceasefire agreement in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the signing of the Dayton Accords in December 1995, Yugoslavia continued to harbor war criminals and encouraged the Bosnian Serbs to seek reunification.
In 1996, a number of opposition parties formed a broad coalition called Unity. In the winter of 1996-1997, these parties organized massive public demonstrations in Belgrade and other major Yugoslav cities against the Milosevic regime. In the autumn 1996 elections, the government refused to recognize the victory of the opposition. Internal fragmentation prevented the latter from gaining a foothold in the fight against the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). Milošević took out or joined the opposition parties, incl. Serbian Radical Party (SRP) of Vojislav Seselj.
In the fall of 1997, the tension in the domestic political situation in the FRY as a whole, and especially in Serbia, manifested itself during the long campaign for the election of the Serbian president. At the end of December, on the fourth attempt, 55-year-old SPS representative Milan Milutinovic, a former foreign minister of the FRY, defeated the leaders of the SWP and the Serbian Renewal Movement (SDR). In the Assembly of Serbia, the coalition controlled by him received 110 out of 250 mandates (PSA - 82, and SDS - 45). In March 1998, a government of "popular unity" was formed in Serbia, consisting of representatives of the Union of Right Forces, the Yugoslav Left (YuL) and the SWP. Mirko Marjanovic (SPS), who held the post of prime minister in the previous cabinet, became the chairman of the Serbian government.
In May 1998, the government of the FRY R. Kontic was dismissed and a new one was elected, headed by the ex-president of Montenegro (January 1993 - January 1998) M. Bulatovich, the leader of the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro (SNPC), which separated from the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPSC). ). In Bulatovich's government program, among the priorities were the tasks of maintaining the unity of the FRY, continuing efforts to create a state of law. He spoke in favor of the reintegration of Yugoslavia into the international community on the terms of equality, the protection of national and state sovereignty. The third priority of government policy was the continuation of reforms, the creation of a market economy in order to improve the living standards of the population.
In the spring of 1998, a new president was elected in Albania - the socialist Fatos Nano, who replaced Sali Berisha, a supporter of the idea of "Great Albania". In this regard, the prospect of resolving the Kosovo problem has become more realistic. However, bloody clashes between the so-called. The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and government troops continued until autumn, and only in early September Milosevic spoke in favor of the possibility of granting self-government to the province (by this time, the KLA armed formations had been pushed back to the Albanian border). Another crisis erupted in connection with the disclosure of the murder of 45 Albanians in the village of Racak, attributed to the Serbs. The threat of NATO air strikes hung over Belgrade. By the fall of 1998, the number of refugees from Kosovo exceeded 200 thousand people.
The celebration of the 80th anniversary of the formation of Yugoslavia, which took place on December 1, 1998 (in the absence of representatives of the government of Montenegro), was intended to demonstrate the continuity of the country's course towards the unification of the southern Slavs, which was carried out during the period of the "first Yugoslavia" - the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes - and the "second, or partisan Yugoslavia - SFRY. However, for a long time there was an alienation of Yugoslavia from the European Community, and since October 1998 the country actually lived under the threat of bombing.
To resolve the conflict, the leading politicians of the largest Western countries and Russia, within the framework of the Contact Group, initiated a negotiation process in Rambouillet (France) on February 7-23, 1999, which was characterized by greater involvement of Western European countries and their desire to play the same significant role in the Balkans as the United States; the toughening of Russia's position in connection with its ousting from decision-making; weak involvement of the closest environment - the countries of Central Europe. The Rambouillet talks managed to achieve intermediate results, while the US had to soften its consistently anti-Serb position and differentiate its attitude towards various groups in Kosovo. The negotiations resumed on March 15-18, 1999 did not cancel the threat of bombardments of the country, in which interethnic clashes did not stop. Demands to send NATO troops to Yugoslavia, the leadership of which announced the failure of negotiations because of Belgrade, sounded louder and louder, causing opposition from Russia.
On March 20, members of the OSCE mission left Kosovo, on March 21, NATO announced an ultimatum to Milosevic, and starting on March 24, the first rocket and bomb strikes began to be launched on the territory of Yugoslavia. On March 26, the UN Security Council did not support Russia's initiative to condemn NATO aggression; since the end of March, the bombing of Yugoslavia has intensified, while the KLA has stepped up hostilities in Kosovo. On March 30, a Russian delegation headed by Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov visited Belgrade, and on April 4, US President B. Clinton approved an initiative to send helicopters to Albania to support ground operations. On April 13, a meeting was held in Oslo between Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov and US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and on April 14 Chernomyrdin was appointed Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Yugoslavia to conduct negotiations.
By this time, the number of civilian victims of the bombings (both Serbs and Kosovars) had risen sharply. The number of refugees from Kosovo has risen sharply, the contours of an ecological catastrophe that has affected the countries adjacent to Yugoslavia have been outlined. On April 23, Chernomyrdin's trip to Belgrade took place, after which the negotiation process continued, and the number of its participants expanded. In May, the bombing of Yugoslavia did not stop, while the activities of the KLA also intensified.
The decisive week in search of a way out of the crisis fell on May 24-30 and was associated with increased diplomatic activity of the EU and its member countries, on the one hand, and Russia, on the other. At the same time, the initiative of a number of NATO member countries (Greece, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, to a lesser extent Germany) to temporarily stop the bombing did not receive support, and Chernomyrdin's mission was severely criticized by opposition parties within the State Duma of Russia.
At the beginning of June, a meeting was held in Belgrade between Finnish President M. Ahtisaari, S. Milosevic and V. S. Chernomyrdin. Despite the reserved attitude towards the talks on the part of the United States, they were successful, and an agreement was outlined between NATO forces in Macedonia and the Yugoslav army units on the deployment of peacekeeping forces in Kosovo. On June 10, NATO Secretary General J. Solana ordered the Commander-in-Chief of the NATO Armed Forces to stop the bombing, which lasted 78. NATO countries spent approx. 10 billion dollars (75% of these funds came from the United States), caused approx. 10 thousand bombing attacks, undermining the military potential of the country, destroying its transport network, oil refineries, etc. At least 5,000 military and civilians, including Albanians, were killed. The number of refugees from Kosovo reached almost 1,500 thousand people (including 445 thousand in Macedonia, 70 thousand in Montenegro, 250 thousand in Albania, and about 75 thousand in other European countries). The damage from the bombings is, according to various estimates, from 100 to 130 billion dollars.

Collier Encyclopedia. - Open society. 2000 .