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HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Bosnia and Herzegovina include parts of the ancient territories of Illyria (the south and west) and Pannonia (the northeast). Several tribes of pre-Roman times are known for their mining activities, and a few minted their own coins, influenced by the Greek colonies of the Illyrian coast. The area was conquered by the Romans during the last two centuries BC.

The Slavs arrived in the 7th century, some possibly invited by the weakening Byzantine Empire to defend the frontier against other invaders. Bosnia is mentioned as a distinct territory for the first time in 958. It was alternately dominated by Croats and Serbs until the accession of the Hungarian King to the Croatian crown in 1102, which also extended Hungarian rule to Bosnia. After a short-lived Byzantine reconquest about 1160-70, Bosnia is mentioned as independent by a Byzantine chronicler. The first named independent Bosnian ruler is Kulin (1180-1204). The most powerful of medieval Bosnia's rulers, Tvrtko I, had himself crowned King in 1377. A series of Turkish invasions beginning in 1388, culminated in 1463 with the death of the last Bosnian King, Stefan Tomasevic, and Turkish occupation of most of the country.

The Turkish conquest left an indelible mark on Bosnia. Over the next two centuries, the majority of the population converted to Islam. Sarajevo itself was founded by Isa-bey Isakovic about 1462 near the existing settlement of Vrhbosna, and became the seat of the Turkish ruler or Sanjak-bey after the death of Stefan Tomasevic. If the Turkish conquest marked Bosnia, many Bosnian Muslims also rose to the highest positions in the Turkish Empire, notably Mehmed-pasha Sokolovic, Grand Vizir to three Sultans in the 1500s. Bosnians were prominent in Turkish culture as well as in the development of a vigorous Bosnian literature in both Turkish and Bosnian.

The mass conversion of many Bosnians to Islam is still the subject of argument among historians. It may have been aided by the weak state of Roman Catholic church organization in the country, by the existence of a persecuted heretical sect of Bogomils who converted as a group, and/or by economic incentives for conversion and other factors. (This uncertainty is partly responsible for modern claims by both Serbs and Croats that those converted should be considered members of their respective ethnic groups, and that, therefore, their own ethnic group is the majority in B-H.)

A series of Austrian invasions followed the failure of the 1683 Turkish siege of Vienna. Increasing corruption of the weakening Empire led to a series of Bosnian revolts against misrule. At the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Austria-Hungary was permitted to occupy Bosnia, although it remained in name part of the Turkish Empire. In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia, to eliminate the possibility of its restoration to Turkey. Serbia, which itself had hoped to acquire Bosnia, strongly opposed the Austrian move. Individual Serbs helped organize and arm ethnic Serbs in Bosnia, one of whom assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. This assassination was the catalyst which started World War I.

After the war, Bosnia (with Croatia and other South-Slavic parts of Austria-Hungary) joined Serbia in the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Centralization of the new Kingdom under Serbian control sparked resistance by its other nationalities. To counter this resistance, in 1929 King Alexander abolished the old territorial units and replaced them with "Banovinas," renamed the country "Yugoslavia." Bosnia disappeared. Continued Croatian resistance to centralization eventually produced a compromise in 1939 which established a Croatian Banovina, including almost all of pre-1929 Croatia, as well as much of Bosnia.

In 1941, despite security agreements with Britain and France, Yugoslavia was invaded by German, Italian and Hungarian forces. Nazi Germany permitted an extremist Croatian organization, the Ustashi, to set up the puppet "Independent State of Croatia" including Croatia and all of Bosnia. Ustashi attacks on ethnic Serbs, and retaliatory attacks by the Serb nationalist Chetniks on Croats and Muslims, resulted in many deaths and spurred substantial inter-ethnic antagonism. This conflict may have most benefited the communists under Josip Broz Tito. They proclaimed a new Yugoslavia at Jajce in 1943.

With their victory in 1945, the communists set up a federal state of six republics, substantially restoring the old borders of Bosnia and Croatia, but splitting Macedonia off from Serbia and setting up two autonomous regions within Serbia. Although it largely returned to the pre-1929 internal borders, Tito's new authoritarian government ruthlessly suppressed any sign of ethnic nationalism, with all power given to the multi-ethnic (in theory, nonethnic) communist party. To further weaken Serb and Croat claims on Bosnia, Tito recognized a new nationality: the Muslims. This rather confusing name designated those who chose to identify with Bosnian-Turkish culture, rather than with the Serbs or Croats among whom they had formerly been counted. "Muslim" in this sense did not signify a religion -- many, indeed most, "ethnic Muslims" were probably atheist or agnostic. Certainly few practiced Islam. (Note: National or ethnic identity under the communists was generally a matter of individual choice. If an individual chose to designate himself as a Serb, Croat, Muslim, Gypsy or other ethnic group, this was his choice -- many, whether of mixed parentage or for other reasons, designated themselves as "Yugoslavs" rather than identify with any one group. Since 1992, the term "Bosnjak" has been adopted in place of "Muslim" to clarify the distinction between ethnic identity and religion.)

Some aspects of Tito's system were relaxed over time after his break with Stalin in 1948. However, this relative liberalization did not extend to ethnic nationalism. Constant attention was required to maintain the suppression of nationalist expression. Control was especially strict in Bosnia, with its multinational composition, to suppress the antagonisms engendered during World War II. The most serious challenge to the system during Tito's lifetime was probably the "Croatian Spring" or "Mass Movement" of the late 1960s, which was ended by the removal by Tito of most of the Croatian leadership in late 1971, and a parallel removal of suspected nationalists in Serbia and other republics. This system of control began to break down after Tito's death in May 1980.

To prevent the domination of the country by any one Republic, Tito established a rotating presidency, to come into effect on his death. Each of the six republics, plus the two autonomous regions of Serbia, would have its representative as Federal President for one year. This system achieved its primary goal, but also weakened the President substantially and accelerated the loosening of the system. Still, the impact was not obvious until the leadership of the Serbian Republic adopted an openly nationalist policy in 1987-88, and the Federal leadership was unable to move against them. In reaction, controls on nationalism in other republics broke down quickly. The Bosnian leadership, aware of Bosnia's multi-ethnic composition, was among the last to relax its control, but by 1989 national/ethnic political organizations began to resurface in Bosnia.

Some of the new political leaders had been jailed in the past on accusations of nationalism -- including Alija Izetbegovic and Franjo Tudjman. With the relaxation of controls on nationalist expression, many emigrés, including more radical nationalists, could return to Yugoslavia and also enter political life.

In Croatia and Slovenia, independence movements quickly gained strength, while Serbia pushed a return to Yugoslav centralism under Belgrade's control. Accentuating differences between the republics were calls in Slovenia and Croatia for a market economy, in contrast to Serb advocacy of stronger central controls. Bosnian leaders were opposed to re-centralization, but also conscious of claims of ethnic Croats and Serbs on Bosnia if Yugoslavia broke up. They thus supported reform of Federal Yugoslavia rather than its dissolution. Bosnia's only ally in this effort was Macedonia, which also feared the results of a breakup. The reform effort failed.

The 1990 Bosnian elections produced a strong showing for multi-national parties, which won control of the Tuzla area, but in most of Bosnia political splits among multi-national parties, and the two-round election system, gave the final victory to the ethnic party whose group dominated each individual election district. In the new Bosnian parliament, the results gave the SDA (ethnic Muslim party led by Izetbegovic) 36 percent of seats, the SDS (ethnic Serb party led by Radovan Karadzic) 29 percent, and the HDZ (ethnic Croat party allied with Tudjman of Croatia) 19 percent. Six multinational parties received 15 percent -- the largest of them, the former communist party, had 6 percent of the seats.

After European Community recognition on 15 January 1992 of independent Slovenia and Croatia (both had declared independence on 25 June 1991), Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic scheduled a referendum on Bosnian independence. Although boycotted by many Serbs, 63.4 percent of all voters participated in the 28 February-1 March 1992 referendum; of these 99.7 percent voted for independence, which was declared on 3 March 1992. The SDS immediately demanded the right to join Serbia. Military actions began to consolidate Serb-controlled territory on 1 March, as Serb gunmen began erecting barricades in Sarajevo and elsewhere, and the country quickly descended into war.

Serb seizure of 70 percent of Bosnian territory within the first few months of the war was aided by several factors. Many Bosnian Serb professional officers from the JNA left with their equipment to become the nucleus of a separate Bosnian Serb military organization. The Yugoslav Army (JNA) was dominated by ethnic Serb officers in the middle ranks, making possible the diversion of most armaments controlled by the JNA to Serb forces. The leadership in Belgrade was strongly sympathetic to fellow Serb nationalists, and thus formally or informally aided the Bosnian Serbs. Finally, fanatic nationalist units from Serbia, notably those of Vojislav Seselj and Zeljko Raznatovic (Arkan), moved to Bosnia and joined the war, although these last appear to have served most in "ethnic cleansing" efforts behind the front lines.

In the first months of the war, imprisonment or execution of possible non-Serb political leaders, along with intimidation or simple arrest and expulsion of other non-Serbs, quickly consolidated Serb control of territory. Mosques, Roman Catholic churches, and other cultural objects which might constitute an attraction for non-Serbs to return were demolished. Although relative lack of military power limited the potential for atrocities by Bosnian Croat or Bosnian government supporters, Serb acts inspired similar actions from some of their opponents. The result has been a major humanitarian crisis, including the most serious violations of human rights in Europe since World War II.

The international community reacted slowly at best. The UN Security Council had imposed a weapons embargo on all the Yugoslav successor states in September 1991, and, in reaction to the Bosnian fighting, added mandatory economic sanctions on Serbia and Montenegro on 30 May 1992. On 8 June, the Security Council authorized redeployment of UN peacekeepers from Croatia to Bosnia. The first French and Canadian UN troops for what would be UNPROFOR arrived on 29 June and took control of Sarajevo Airport, but reluctance to confront Serb forces led to such incidents as the extraction from a UN APC and summary execution by Serb forces of the Bosnian Deputy Prime Minister. Humanitarian relief began to flow, but for the most part under precarious conditions.

A series of mediation efforts by representatives of the United Nations and the European Community took place and failed. The Vance-Owen Peace Plan emerged in July-December 1992, and expired after its final rejection by the Bosnian Serbs in mid-1993. In May 1993, the Security Council designated six safe areas, to be free from armed attack, and on 4 June authorized UNPROFOR to use force to protect them.

In the meantime, Bosnian Croats maneuvered to consolidate control of Muslim communities in "cantons" designated as Croat majority under the Vance-Owen Peace Plan. From April 1993, clashes between Government forces and Bosnian Croats spread throughout central and southern Bosnia-Herzegovina, resulting in a further division of the country. The worst fighting, along the Neretva River in the center of Mostar, culminated in the destruction of the world-renowned Old Bridge on 9 November 1993. This fighting was ended by the Washington Agreement of 1 March 1994, which also established a Federation between the two entities. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was charged with selecting and supporting three Federation ombudsmen to act on complaints of human rights violations on Federation territory. The European Union received the task of re-establishing order in the divided city of Mostar.

The killing of 68 people by a single mortar shell landing in Sarajevo's open market on 5 February 1994 led to a NATO ultimatum to the Serbs to withdraw heavy weapons from a zone around the city. By late February, the UN stated it was satisfied the guns were being removed, and the siege of Sarajevo began to relax somewhat . On 28 February U.S. F16 fighters shot down four Bosnian Serb warplanes violating the "no-fly" zone over Bosnia. The Contact Group of nations concerned with the Bosnian conflict, including European Community members, the U.S, and Russia, attempted to develop and push its own plan for resolution of the conflict, but the plan was rejected by the Serbs in July 1994. Random firing on aircraft using the Sarajevo Airport closed operations on multiple occasions; on 21 July 1994, an American civilian was wounded when gunfire hit a UN aircraft landing at the airport.

The siege of Sarajevo tightened again in 1995. The airport was closed down on 8 April (until 15 September) and shelling intensified. In June the Bosnian Army attempted to break the Serb encirclement, but failed. Bosnian Serb forces, reacting to NATO air strikes on Serb military targets, took UN hostages beginning on 26 May; eventually more than 350 were held. The "Rapid Reaction Force" formed subsequently to defend UNPROFOR was subject to strict limits on its activities, and thus had little effect on Bosnian Serb operations. Attacks began on the isolated "safe areas" in eastern Bosnia in July, and the Bosnian Serb army overran Zepa and Srebrenica. The UN substantially redeployed its personnel out of Bosnian Serb areas to eliminate the threat of further hostage-taking as Serb forces regrouped to attack Gorazde, the last of the East Bosnia enclaves. In the meantime, Serb shelling of Sarajevo intensified from June through August. On 28 August a Serb mortar shell landed at the entrance to Sarajevo's indoor market, killing over 37 people.

Croatia began military action against Croatian Serb-occupied areas in July, taking the western Slavonia area in a swift operation, which was repeated in early August against the Krajina, center of the rebel Croatian Serbs. These actions broke the Serb siege of the Bihac enclave at the western tip of Bosnia. The impact of these victories led the U.S. to begin a peace effort of its own. A delegation headed by Richard Holbrooke began visiting Zagreb, Belgrade and Sarajevo, although these efforts were interrupted by the deaths of three delegation members in an accident while coming into Sarajevo on the Mount Igman road 19 August.

The 28 August shelling deaths in Sarajevo impelled a new round of NATO bombing, both the most extensive and most effective since the beginning of the war. After a brief delay to complete evacuation of potential UN hostages from Gorazde, sustained NATO air attacks on Serb positions began on 30 August and continued through 11 September. Artillery of the UN Rapid Reaction Force also hit Serb positions near their bases. A new joint Bosnian/Bosnian Croat/Croat offensive followed in mid-September and made significant inroads into Bosnian Serb-occupied territory.

U.S. shuttle diplomacy continued during this period, obtaining a cease-fire agreement which took effect, after delays on 12 October. The key to further progress was Bosnian Serb agreement to let Serbian President Milosevic represent them in future peace talks. With this condition, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian and Bosnian Serb delegations met in Dayton, Ohio on 1 November 1995. The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina was initialed on 21 November and scheduled to be signed in Paris on 14 December. The Agreement provided for a Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina with two component parts: the Federation and the "Serbian Republic." Military implementation of the Agreement is to be enforced by NATO. A "High Representative" is to supervise civilian implementation, with the assistance of international organizations. Elections will be supervised by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The United Nations will supervise reorganization of the police.

Implementation of the 1994 Washington Agreement, an essential underlying element for the peace process, has been very slow, and a new Government-Bosnian Croat agreement to speed up organization of the Bosnian Federation was signed in Dayton on 9 November 1995.

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