Main > Breakup of Yugoslavia (overview)

Breakup of Yugoslavia (overview)

Added: 2021-06-03 | Updated: 2021-06-03

Categories 📚: History

External Link 🔗: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_Yugoslavia

Type 📍: Note

Note 📝

Constituents of Socialist Federal Republic (SFR) Yugoslavia

Bosnia & Herzegovina
Croatia
Macedonia
Montenegro
Serbia + 2 autonomous provinces
- Kosovo*
- Vojvodina
Slovenia

Timeline

Post-WWII

1945: People's Republic of Yugoslavia forms, deposing monarchy.
Dictator Josep Broz Tito signs friendship treaty with USSR but rather soon (1948) splits from Stalin and decides to be neutral

The Cold War

Yugoslavia becomes a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (basically tryna avoid the stupid web of allyships that causes global wars in the first place, thanks guys!)
Economic reforms take place: worker self-management, worker councils to control production/prices, profit-sharing
Liberalization & decentralization of government apparatus

Note: it was still a somewhat authoritarian state with a secret police (the UDBA), restrictions on media freedom, and prison sentences for vocal separatists. oops!

1974 wake up babe new constitution just dropped )

Why have one president when you can have EIGHT?
Also the two provinces within Serbia (Kosovo and Vojvodina) got more autonomy. Which was nice, considering there were lots of minority populations in both—Kosovo was actually majority Albanian—but bad for ethnic Serbs who saw it as a threat. Nationalists were like why don't OTHER countries have stupid provinces with lots of minorities? Serbians were ALSO mad bc Tito recognized Montenegrins and Macedonians as their own nationalities. Basically Serbs were super cringe

1980

RIP Tito 👻 economic downturn and power vacuum follow, riding a rising tide of nationalism. Protests and violence riddle the first half of the decade.

1986

Publication of the SANU Memorandum by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The Memorandum accused the Yugoslavian state of discriminating against ethnic Serbs through various policies and argued that the dissolution of the Republic was rooted in decentralization. It's uncomfortably popular even tho many politicians denounced it.

1987

The Contributions to the Slovenian National Program are published in Slovenia, advocating for a democratic and independent Slovenia.
Serbian official Slobodan Milošević does a face-heel turn: he denounced the SANU memorandum BUT when he's sent in to defuse a protest in Kosovo, he sides w the ethnic Serbs against the majority Albanian government. Appealing to nationalism is not the move, sir... He embarks on a campaign founded on the reduction of provincial autonomy. Ethnonationalists love him. He wins the election in September.

1988

The Slovenian Peasant Union emerges as the first non-Communist party in Yugoslavia and is considered a major moment in Slovenia's move away from communism.
Protests in Vojvodina culminate in the replacement of its parliament with Milošević supporters.
Montenegro intervenes in protests against its provincial government.
In November, the same happens in Kosovo, triggering mass protests both in favor and against Milošević's policies.

1989

Montenegro's government resigns and is replaced by Milošević supporters. Serbia controls half of the votes in the Yugoslavian Presidency.
Serbia's constitution is revised to abolish autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina, though their Presidency seats remain. (just a power move by Milošević lbr)
Milošević becomes president of Serbia

Slovenia continues moves toward independence: political parties are established, constitution amended, and free elections provisioned. They also ban demonstrations by Serbs and Montenegrins (Croatia agrees), which earns them an embargo from Serbia.
Milošević cuts off electricity to parts of Croatia.

1990

Slovenia, Croatia, and Macedonia abandon the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, which dissolves. Multiparty elections are slated for the coming months.
The Croatian Democratic Union is in power now on a nationalist policy claiming to protect the country from Milošević. Serbs around the region are uncomfy.
Elections were largely split along ethnic lines in Bosnia and Herzegovina and other places, although Milošević rejected the outcomes, saying Serbs had a right to self-determination.
The majority of Slovenians vote for independence in a referendum.

1991

Croatia becomes increasingly wary of Serbia. The bloodless clash in the town of Pakrac between Serbs and government officials is a red flag. Soon after, a Serbian separatist group occupies the Plitvice Lakes, prompting a clash with police. Shortly after, the Yugoslav People's Army steps in.
The Ten-Day War in Slovenia following their declaration of independence (June) and the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence (April) signal the start of the Yugoslav Wars.
Macedonia declares independence in September.

Obv there's so much more that went into this and more after 1991, but I wanted to make a little roadmap for myself to start. I want to understand this conflict—and, more specifically, the ensuing Bosnian War—more thoroughly.