1BosniaWhy

Why did the Genocide Happen?   Yugoslavia was created in World War I and was composed of many ethnic groups. There were three groups that had been rivals dating back to historic times: the Serbs (Orthodox Christians), Croats (Catholics), and ethnic Albanians (Muslims). In World War II, Germany invaded Yugoslavia and separated it into smaller countries. A resistance to the Nazi invasion was formed and led by Joseph Tito, a communist, and the Germans were defeated. Tito then reunited Yugoslavia with the slogan "Brotherhood and Unity" and brought together Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, and also two self-governing provinces, Kosovo and Vojvodina. Joseph Tito was a strong leader who kept Yugoslavia united. When he died in 1980, the country crumbled. By the late 1980s, Slobodan Milosevic, a Serbian former communist who depended on nationalism and religious hatred to gain power, emerged as the new leader of Yugoslavia. Milosevic increased tensions between the Serbs and Muslims in Kosovo. Christian Serbs, the minority of Kosovo, said that they were being unfairly treated by the Albanian Muslims (who were the majority of Kosovo). This unrest eventually caused Kosovo to lose it's independence and be dominated by Milosevic.

 Slovenia and Croatia claimed their independence from Yugoslavia in June 1991, which caused a civil war, and Milosevic and his army of Serbian followers went into Slovenia but left within 10 days of fighting. Milosevic then decided to invade Croatia, a Catholic country, in July 1991, claiming he was "protecting" the Serbian minority. Milosevics's forces bombarded Croats in the city of Vukovar for 86 days, and after Vukovar crumbled, began to kill hundreds of Croatian men and bury them in mass graves. Milosevic killed hundreds of thousands of Croats and Muslims, claiming it was "ethnic cleansing" until 1995. He also relocated towns entire Muslim towns, sent Muslims to makeshift concentration camps, and destroyed Muslims mosques.



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http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/Genocide/bosnia_genocide.htm http://www.photoarts.com/haviv/bosnia/welcome.html

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