Introduction
The essay is a critically analysis of the reason why conflict in Yugoslavia led to war in the 1990s. According to Welch, 1993 conflict has been defined in various ways but one definition adopted for the sake of the paper is a scenario in which there exist or thought resistance to main beliefs, opinion, dreams, needs and aspiration, norms due to differences in views between individuals and can be instigated by political, economical, environmental or societal aspects (Cohen, 1993).
On the other hand, war has been defined as armed conflict that is open in nature that takes place between two or more groups of parties that are organized. This usually continues in phases termed as clashes and mainly entails dispute concerning power as well as governance and territorial supremacy. It is worth mentioning that war can be between and among nation or even individuals of a given country usually based on drawn ethnic and or religious lines.
The term coined to refer to the war is Yugoslav war which refers to a sequence of campaigns carried out by military between the years 1991 and 1995 in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The war just like any other kind of war was very complex and linked with bitter ethnic conflict among Yugoslavians. Those involved in the conflict included in one side Serbs and some Montenegrins and Bosnia’s and Coats as well as some Slovenes. It is important to have in mind that in Bosnia conflict between Bosnia’s and Croats was also experienced.
The war did take place in three major phases that are deemed separate but closely linked. War in Slovenia that took place in 1991, Bosnian War experienced between 1992 and 1995 and Croatian War of Independence that took place between 1991 and 1995. All the war ended in different times bringing with it full independence as well as sovereignty but at the same time huge losses in economic terms.
According to Glenny, 1999 it is estimated that between 130, 000 to 140,000 individuals died as a result of the Yugoslav War instigated by conflict between individuals living in the former the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Conflicts and war in Yugoslavia
It is true that conflict if not resolved at an earlier stage, do lead to very serious issues that are characterized by massive loss of human lives, destruction of wealth and property, environmental degradation as well as huge economic losses (Gowan, 1999).
Tension among individuals living in Yugoslavia begun to mount back in 1980. It is only in 1990s that it was very evident and more likely that war will erupt. This is attributed to the fact that t the time, there was hard time in economic terms coupled with mounting desire of nationalism clearly depicted by the various ethnic inhabitants of Yugoslavia.
Broadly speaking there are four major reasons why conflict in Yugoslavia led to the 1991 to 1995 war; these are not adequately or completely failing to address underlying causes of conflicts between and among worrying groups, internal as well as external disagreement as well as fragmentation within and without the parties involved in a conflicts, simple acts of insincerity by the parties in loggerheads and finally disappointment on the parts of one or the groups involved in conflicts.
Historians, ethnographers as well as other scholars do agree that War in Yugoslavia was a complex issue but coin conflict based on dominance to power as the major cause (Horowitz, 1985). It is worth noting that the monarchist of Yugoslavia made up of various ethnic grouping as well as Serbs being politically and demographically dominant over the rest of ethnic grouping laid ground of insurgence of major tension.
Various ethnic groups were of varied opinion of how the state will be. The Croats had in back of their mind that they will enjoy a greater degree of self-governance compared to when they were under Austria-Hungary. On the other hand, the Serbs held the view that being indpenent will be their reward for immensly supporting allies in the First World War (Lampe, 2000).
This tension in most cases did erupt into what has been termed as “open conflict”. Since the security portfolio was made up of most Serbs, they used the influence they had to oppress the rest especially during election as well as killing leaders from the other ethnic groups that strongly opposed monarchy system of governance.
As stated previously, various acts of insincerity contributed to more tension that resulted to conflict and later instigated war in Yugoslavia. This usually takes various forms ranging from failing to keep an agreement arrived at or taking actions that are aimed at annoying the other party.
For instance, although the dominant Serbs party was ready to do away with one party system which was agreed upon in 1990 at Extraordinary Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the voting was blocked by party leader. The act lead to delegates from Slovene and Croatian to walk out which resulted to breaking of the party-thus the termination of “brotherhood unity” among them.
Another act of insincerity emerged when the Axis Forces took control of a puppet state belonging to Croats. Ustasha was put to be in charge of that state. The Serbians who were at the time the minority ethnic group were to be persecuted. Similarly, recruiting Croats and those who professed Islamic faith by SS constituted an hidden agenda.
On the other hand recruitment of Serbs into Gestapo as well as a volunteer group of Serbian Soldiers are act of insincerity (Judah, 1997). Failure of one or both of agreement signatories did instigate war in Yugoslavia. A typical example of an agreement that was not honored is the Karadordevo agreement between Tudman and Slobodan. Although a new Yugoslavia federal governance structure was in place, members especially from Slovenes, Serbs and Croats side reputedly argued to have autonomy and unitarist.
The previous reasons discussed did lead to one or more of the involved parties to be disappointed. As suggested by Lampe, 2000 the disappointment automatically resulted to a number of ethnic groups to officially cut ties with the other-secession. A clear and well documented war that erupted as a result of Secession is the Croatian war of independence. The war, begun after the Serbs living in Croatia were opposing the independence of Croatian. They immediately declared their secession from that state.
Additionally, the legal cutting of links between Slovenia from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the cause of what has been widely known as the Ten Day War. During this time, the government gave an order to the Yugoslav People’s Army to fully control borders leading to Slovenia. As a counter attack police together with Slovenian Territorial Defence blocked roads (Keegan, 1994). This led to a number of people losing their lives. Negotiation held resulted to stoppage of the conflict.
There has been growing undisputed evidence that most of the wars experienced in early 19th throughout 20th centaury are as a result of not adequately addressing the actual underlying issues that bring about conflicts between groups (Judah, 1997) .
The failure of the relevant parties to come on a round table and exhaustively tackle mostly the long-term causes of conflict such as unequal power distribution as well as national resources means that whatever efforts are made to reconstruct what has been damaged will be doomed (Little & Silber, 1995).
A number of observers five years down the line after the signing of Dayton Agreement meant to bring to an end the Bosnia-Herzegovina war held the opinion that if peacekeepers withdraw their support fresh fighting will come to light. As suggested by Pavkovic, 2000 this notion is based on chronological of events since 1172 to 1990. Not addressing and bringing to book the atrocities committed for instance by Ustasha regime did psychologically affected Jews, Muslims, Communists, non-Catholics and Roma.
Internal differences also did contribute to war in Yugoslavia. From a religious point of view leaders did held differing opinion on how the conflict could be addressed. There were those who fully in support of NATO Bombing as being the only way to bring peace (Gowan, 1999).
On the other hand, there was a group of Serbian Orthodox that pushed to have cease fire in place. These two acts led to resentment which later catalyzed bad blood between the involved parties. As noted by Bennett 1995, the memories left by the horror of the bombing do perpetuate a bitter sense of group identity which acts as a reservoir in which mobilization ethnic or political for the future.
Similarly although Yugoslavia was made up of various ethnic groups, ethnic politics by former leaders such as Tito did instigate the war in 1990s. These kinds of leaders mastered how they injected ethnic differences into wining political loyalty (Horowitz, 1985).
Coupled with politicization of ethnic identity of each and every group, proved to be lethal. For instance, during his reign, Tito who was a dictator granted autonomy to two provinces in northeastern and southern provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo respectively. This angered the Serbs. This was another roar of bad blood between the various ethnic groups.
Additionally, it is worth noting that another reason that made the conflict in Yugoslavia to erupt into war is how the various ethnic leaders politically mobilized their followers/subjects.
Milosvic, the Serbian leader, Kucan Milan Slovenia leader, Franjo (Croatia) and Izetbegovic (Bosnia) all played nationalist role that propelled them to the realm (Ernest, 1983). All used national injustice s a theme to win support of their subjects; it is acknowledge that their efforts which were always competing as regards injustice contributed to the complex mix that rendered Yugoslavia a torn nation.
Last but not least, ethnic cleansing can also explain why conflict in Yugoslavia led to war. This was mainly used against Bosnian as women were raped and put in captivity till they are about to deliver (Keegan, 1994). Ethnic cleansing was aimed at displacing the ethnic group under spot light. What this resulted to was seeds of bitterness on the targeted groups that later organized themselves for a revenge.
The war was brought to an end by the signing of Dayton Agreement in 1995. Between 1996 and 1999 war being experienced by was less intense and dominated by NATO bombings (Pavkovic, 2000)
Conclusion
From the review of why did conflicts in Yugoslavia lead to war in the 1990s, it is apparent that war is an armed conflict between two more groups that are centrally organized. Generally speaking, the major reasons why Yugoslavia war erupted include failure to adequately address past long-term causes of conflicts, disappointments of one or both parties involved in a conflict, failure to honor peace agreement, insincerity.
Additionally, other underlying issues such as ethnic cleansing, political and ethnic mobilization did contribute to Yugoslavia war. Record has it that during the period between 1990 and 1995, close to 140,000 people lost their lives. Similarly, the war brought with it full independence but also huge loss in terms of economy. The war was brought to an end by the signing of Dayton Agreement.
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