Bosnian War

The Bosnian War took place from 1992-1995. The war took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 100,000 civilians and soldiers were killed throughout the war as well as the death of 25,000 Bosnian Muslims; known as "Bosniaks". The result of the Bosnian War was a development of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization as well as an internal partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The war was part of the breakup of Yugoslavia.

The Breakup of Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia was created at the end of World War I, it was created by the kingdom of Serbia, Montenegro, and Austria Hungary. The country was originally called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes but then later changed it to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1941, Yugoslavia was occupied by Nazi Germany. Axis Power also is known as the different nation created different governments which effectively ended the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It was reestablished in 1945 however became included by the Nazi's to become a Socialist state. After the allied victory of World War II, Yugoslavia broke up into six different republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Socialist Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia had many different varieties of ethnic groups which were one of the many roots of why Yugoslavia collapsed. Josip Broz Tito was the first president of Yugoslavia and kept these tensions under control. He was able to establish some sort of peace between the ethnic groups. After his death in 1980, it was viewed that it was the end of Yugoslavia. The system of the federal government was unable to function due to the rising political and economic challenges. Nationalism became to rise as well as the fall of communism. It caused 6 different republics as well as two autonomous provinces, Vojvodina and Kosovo. To this day, there is still a lot of tension between Serbia and Kosovo.

In Yugoslavia, there are many different ethnic groups living there. The population between Bosniaks, Serbians and other republics was similar and due to this, many governments found ti hard to create change due to the diversity in Yugoslavia. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, 44% were Muslim, 32.5% were Serbs,17% were coats and 6% identified as Yugoslav. With the different kinds of ethnicities living in Bosnia, it was one of the main roots of the war, with a lot of tension between the different groups of people. Different governments were established such as communism and Nationalism. Many Bosniaks were forced to migrate to places in Yugoslavia that were protected by the United Nations.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country in Southeastern Europe, located within the Balkan Peninsula, Sarajevo is the capital and largest city.Bosnia and Herzegovina has a largely mountainous terrain with high elevation. "It has a 932 km (579 mi) border with Croatia to the north and southwest, a 357 km (222 mi) border with Serbia to the east, and a 249 km (155 mi) border with Montenegro to the southeast"It borders the Adriatic Sea along its 20 km (12.42 mi) coastline." Bosnia and Herzegovina's population is 3.5 million people; more than half of Serbia's population. This is due to the war and genocide, after the war, may were forced to migrate elsewhere to seek a better economic opportunity and for the safety of their lives because they were considered to be targeted during the civil war.

The Bosnian War was from 1992-1995, In a general Idea, the war was about fighting that involved the three Bosnian groups as well as the Yugoslav army. Serbians, Croats and Bosniaks. Bosnia made numbers of attempts to negotiate peace between the muslims and the Croats. However, with the failure of peace, it caused more tensions to rise and more Bosniak muslims to be killed. Though-out the war, the UN and NATO were involved to end the war. Throughout the war, different parts of Yugoslavia were occupied by different groups of muslims, and some countries ended with territorial gains that were lost by the Bosniaks. NATO ended the war with a peace agreement and by the end of the war, it became a military stalemate, no more bombing and ground soldiers, with this, many people also stopped the war. However, the Serbs were still upset about the Bosniaks and state a genocide. Which first started with wanted posters as well as massacres of Bosniaks. During the civil war, an estimated 100,000 people were killed, 80 percent of whom were Bosniaks. In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces killed as many as 8,000 Bosniak men and boys . It was the considered to be the largest massacre in Europe since the Holocaust.

At the end of the war, the anger of the Bosnian Serb due to their loss in territorial gain created a lot of tension even with the peace treaty. In July 1995, the Serbs created ethnic cleansing campaigns throughout areas controlled by the Army of Republika Srpska. The genocide eliminated more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys. As well as the mass killings of 30,000 Bosniak civilians. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, many Bosniaks that lived in that area were killed due to their ethnicities. The campaign consisted of extermination, unlawful confinement, sexual assault, and destruction of public property. They targeted Bosniaks and political leaders. Large numbers of Bosnian Muslims were forced to flee their homes and were expelled out of their own country by the Serbs. “ According to a 1994 CIA report, there were about 1,730,000 Bosnicks and Coats before the war however after the Bosnian War and Genocide, there were only 165,700 non-Serbs left. Over 1.5 million non-Serbs were displaced. The Genocide campaign was believed to be a part of a plan of the collapse of Yugoslavia. 

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a small country with a population of only 3.8 million people. Despite its small size, 18.56% live below the poverty line. Which is almost 1 in every 5 people. This is due to the Bosnian war, the lack of education and economic opportunity. With fewer economic opportunity, there is a lot of biased and gender inequality in the workforce that prevents women from working. 15% of the workforce are females. The youth unemployment is the highest in the world with a 62.3%. After the Bosnian War, Bosnia suffered from social and economic challenges. Many people left the country and often succeeded in other parts of Europe. Bosnia and Herzegovina did not create new foundations for sustainable economic growth, averaging around 20% GDP. Bosnia lost a lot of its exports of fuel and taxes are high. Today, Bosnia consumes more than the GDP meaning that it will need to shift towards a more economic lifestyle. More production of goods and services rather than consumption. 

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