Communism In Yugoslavia

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The country of Yugoslavia was formed in 1929. Turmoil between the different cultural and religious backgrounds of the groups resulted in political separations. Croatians resented the idea of centralism, that favored government of the king and of the Serbs. The Croatians instead wanted a federalist state. Both Croatians and Slovenians resented Serbian domination in government and military affairs. Within the three ethnic groups, a variety of political parties formed and tensions kept rising. Bosnia was caught in the middle of this rising tension. 3. WWII and Tito President Josip Broz “Tito” came to power in 1943, he ruled with an iron fist in order to keep the states in line. Though he was considered to be a “benevolent dictator” and …show more content…

The Cold War and the rise of Milosevic As the Cold War neared, the country spiraled out of control.The decline of Communism greatly altered the international political scene – the reunification of Germany, the rapid democratization of Russia, and the velvet divorce of Czechoslovakia from Communist influence were some of the changes. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was one of the more liberal communist regimes.
Serb nationalism was fueled as Slobodan Milosevic and he rose to power in 1987. Milosevic used nationalist feelings to his advantage, making changes to the constitution favoring Serbs, creating a military that was 90 percent Serbian, and extending his power over the country’s financial, media, and security structures. With the help of Serbian separatists in Bosnia and Croatia, Milosevic stoked ethnic tensions by convincing Serbian populations that other ethnic groups posed a threat to their …show more content…

In July of 1995, Serb General Ratko Mladic marched into Srebrenica, separated the women and children from the men, and murdered approximately 7,000 Bosniak men and boys. It was the single largest massacre in Europe since World War II. For those who were not killed in the initial massacre, many were sent to one of 381 concentration or detention camps in Bosnia. Inhumane living conditions, beatings, torture, and mass executions were daily occurrences at these camps and claimed the lives of around 10,000 people over the course of the war. Women were often taken to rape camps where they were raped and tortured for weeks and months until they became pregnant. It is estimated that 20,000 rapes occurred between 1992 and 1995 in

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