Serbia former Yugoslavia. Zombie Republic

The largest South Slavic state, Yugoslavia, ceased to exist in the 90s of the last century. Now at school, when studying new history, children are told about which countries Yugoslavia broke up into. `

Each of them today carries its own culture and history, one of the important pages of which is its entry into the once flourishing major power, part of the powerful Socialist camp, with which the whole world reckoned.

The year of birth of the European state, located on the Balkan Peninsula, is 1918. Initially, it was called in the abbreviated version KSHS, which means the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The prerequisite for the formation of a new territorial unit was the collapse of Austria-Hungary. The new power united 7 small territories:

1. Bosnia.
2. Herzegovina.
3. Dalmatia.

The political situation in the hastily created country could hardly be called stable. In 1929 there was a coup d'etat. As a result of this event, the KSHS changed its long name and became known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (KY).

This is not to say that there were no disagreements at all. Small conflicts broke out from time to time. None of them led to serious consequences. Many grievances were associated with the slow development of the state, whose government lacked economic and political experience.

Beginning of disagreement

Attention is not often focused on this, but the beginning of disagreements between previously united peoples began during the Great Patriotic War. The fascist leadership adhered to a dishonest leadership principle based on the ancient Roman dogma of “divide and conquer.”

The emphasis was placed on national differences, which was successful. Croats, for example, supported the Nazis. Their compatriots had to wage war not only with the occupiers, but also with their fellow countrymen who helped them.

During the war the country was divided into pieces. Montenegro, Serbia, and the Croatian state appeared. Another part of the territories fell under the annexation of the Third Reich and the Nazis. It was during this period that cases of cruel genocide were noted, which could not but affect subsequent relations between peoples already in peacetime.

Post-war history

The torn parts of the state were reunited after the victory. The previous list of participants has been restored. The same 7 ethnic territories became part of Yugoslavia.

Within the country, its new government drew borders in such a way that there was no correspondence to the ethnic distribution of peoples. This was done in the hope of avoiding disagreements, which were not difficult to predict after what happened during the war.

The policies undertaken by the Yugoslav government have yielded positive results. In fact, relative order reigned on the territory of the state. But it was precisely this division, undertaken after the war with the Nazis, that later played a cruel joke and partially influenced the subsequent collapse of a large state unit.

Division of the country at the end of the 20th century

In the fall of 1991, President Josip Broz Tito died. It is believed that this event served as a signal for nationalists of various ethnic groups to start conflicts with their neighbors.

Josip Broz Tito-Yugoslav revolutionary and political activist

After the collapse of the USSR, a series of falls of socialist regimes began around the world. At this time, Yugoslavia was gripped by a deep economic crisis. Nationalist parties ruled throughout the territory, each pursuing an unfair policy towards its recent brothers. So in Croatia, where I lived a large number of Serbs, the Serbian language was banned. The leaders of the nationalist movement began persecuting Serbian cultural figures. It was a challenge that could not but lead to conflict.

The beginning of the terrible war is considered to be the “Day of Wrath,” when during a game at the Maksimir stadium fans of the Serbian and Croatian sides fought. As a result, after several weeks, a new independent state is formed - Slovenia. Its capital was a city with the romantic name Ljubljana.

Other republics that were part of a large state are also beginning preparations for withdrawal. At this time, disagreements and military skirmishes continue with mass casualties and threats of serious hostilities.

city ​​and lake of the same name Orchid, Macedonia

The next on the list of retiring republics was. The role of its capital was taken over by the city of Skopje. Immediately after Macedonia, the experience is repeated by Bosnia (Sarajevo), Herzegovina and Croatia (Zagreb). Only the union between Serbia and Montenegro remained unshakable. They entered into a new agreement, which remained legal until 2006.

The division of the once large state into small pieces did not produce the expected results. Conflicts within disparate territories continued. Interethnic strife, based on blood grievances dating back to the 40s of the last century, could not subside so quickly.

YUGOSLAVIA

(Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)

General information

Geographical position. Yugoslavia is located in the heart of the Balkan Peninsula. It borders Bosnia and Herzegovina in the west, Hungary in the north, Romania in the northeast, Bulgaria in the east, and Albania and Macedonia in the south. The new Yugoslavia includes the former socialist republics of Serbia and Montenegro.

Square. The territory of Yugoslavia occupies 102,173 square meters. km.

Main cities, administrative divisions. The capital is Belgrade. The largest cities: Belgrade (1,500 thousand people), Novi Sad (250 thousand people), Nis (230 thousand people), Pristina (210 thousand people) and Subotica (160 thousand people). Yugoslavia consists of two federal republics: Serbia and Montenegro. Serbia consists of two autonomous provinces: Vojvodina and Kosovo.

Political system

Yugoslavia is a federal republic. The head of state is the president. The legislative body is the Union Assembly consisting of 2 chambers (the Assembly of Republics and the Assembly of Citizens).

Relief. Most of the country is occupied by mountains and plateaus. The Pannonian Plain is washed by the Sava, Danube and Tisza rivers in the northeast. The interior of the country and the southern mountains belong to the Balkans, and the coast is called the “hand of the Alps.”

Geological structure and minerals. On the territory of Yugoslavia there are deposits of oil, gas, coal, copper, lead, gold, antimony, zinc, nickel, and chromium.

Climate. In the interior of the country the climate is more continental than on the Adriatic coast in Montenegro. The average temperature in Belgrade is around +17°C from May to September, around +13°C in April and October and around +7°C in March and November.

Inland waters. Most of the rivers flow in a northerly direction and empty into the Danube, which flows through Yugoslavia for 588 km.

Soils and vegetation. The plains are mostly cultivated, large areas in the intermountains and basins are occupied by gardens; on the mountain slopes there are coniferous, mixed and broad-leaved (mainly beech) forests; along the Adriatic coast - Mediterranean shrubby vegetation.

Animal world. The fauna of Yugoslavia is characterized by deer, chamois, fox, wild boar, lynx, bear, hare, as well as woodpecker, turtle dove, cuckoo, partridge, thrush, golden eagle, and vulture.

Population and language

About 11 million people live in Yugoslavia. Of these, 62% are Serbs, 16% are Albanians, 5% are Montenegrins, 3% are Hungarians, 3% are Slavic Muslims. Yugoslavia is also home to small groups of Croats, Roma, Slovaks, Macedonians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Turks and Ukrainians. Language is Serbian. Both Cyrillic and Latin alphabet are used.

Religion

Serbs have Orthodoxy, Hungarians have Catholicism, Albanians have Islam.

Brief historical sketch

The first inhabitants of this territory were the Illyrians. Follow them here in the 4th century. BC e. the Celts came.

The Roman conquest of what is now Serbia began in the 3rd century. BC BC, and under Emperor Augustus the empire expanded to Singidunum (now Belgrade), located on the Danube.

In 395 AD e. Theodosius I divided the empire and present-day Serbia became part of the Byzantine Empire.

In the middle of the 6th century, during the great migration of peoples, Slavic tribes (Serbs, Croats and Slovenes) crossed the Danube and occupied most of the Balkan Peninsula.

In 879, the Serbs converted to Orthodoxy.

In 969, Serbia separated from Byzantium and created an independent state.

The independent Kingdom of Serbia re-emerged in 1217 and, under the reign of Stefan Dusan (1346-1355), became a great and powerful power, comprising most of modern Albania and northern Greece with its borders. During this golden age of the Serbian state, numerous Orthodox monasteries and churches were built.

After the death of Stefan Dušan, Serbia began to decline.

The Battle of Kosovo on June 28, 1389 was the greatest tragedy in the history of the Serbian people. The Serbian army was defeated by the Turks under the leadership of Sultan Murad, and the country fell under Turkish oppression for as long as 500 years. This defeat became the main theme of folklore for many centuries, and the Serbian prince Lazar, who lost the battle, is still considered a national hero and great martyr.

The Serbs were driven to the north of the country, the Turks came to Bosnia in the 15th century, and the Republic of Venice completely occupied the Serbian coast. In 1526, the Turks defeated Hungary, annexing the territory in the north and west of the Danube.

After the defeat in Vienna in 1683, the Turks began to gradually retreat. In 1699 they were expelled from Hungary, and large numbers of Serbs moved north to the Vojvodina region.

Through diplomatic negotiations, the Sultan managed to regain northern Serbia for another century, but the uprising of 1815 led to the declaration of independence of the Serbian state in 1816.

Serbian autonomy was recognized in 1829, the last Turkish troops were withdrawn from the country in 1867, and in 1878, after the defeat of Turkey by Russia, complete independence was proclaimed.

Tension and national contradictions in the country began to grow after Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908. At that time, Serbia was supported by Russia.

In the First Balkan War (1912), Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria united in the fight against Turkey for the liberation of Macedonia. The Second Balkan War (1913) forced Serbia and Greece to unite their armies against Bulgaria, which assumed control of the province of Kosovo.

The First World War exacerbated these contradictions, as Austria-Hungary used the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 as justification for the seizure of Serbia. Russia and France sided with Serbia.

Winter 1915-1916 The defeated Serbian army retreated through the mountains into Montenegro on the Adriatic, from where it was evacuated to Greece. In 1918, the army returned to the country.

After World War I, Croatia, Slovenia and Vojvodina united with Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia into a single Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, headed by the King of Serbia. In 1929, the state began to call itself Yugoslavia. G

After the Nazi invasion in 1941, Yugoslavia was divided between Germany, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria. The Communist Party, led by Josip Broz Tito, launched a liberation struggle. After 1943, Great Britain began to support the communists. Partisans played a major role in the war and liberation of the country.

In 1945 Yugoslavia was completely liberated. It was proclaimed a federal republic and began to develop successfully as a socialist state in which “brotherhood and unity” (the slogan of the Yugoslav communists) reigned.

In 1991, the republics of Slovenia and Croatia decided to secede from the union Yugoslavia. This was the reason for the outbreak of hostilities, in which the UN then intervened.

In 1992, Yugoslavia broke up into several independent states: Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and New Yugoslavia, which included the former union republics of Serbia and Montenegro. Belgrade was again proclaimed the capital of the new state entity.

Brief Economic Sketch

Yugoslavia is an industrial-agrarian country. Extraction of lignite and brown coal, oil, copper, lead and zinc ores, uranium, bauxite. In the manufacturing industry, the leading place is occupied by mechanical engineering and metalworking (machine tool building, transport, including automobile, and agricultural engineering, electrical and radio-electronic industries). Non-ferrous (smelting of copper, lead, zinc, aluminum, etc.) and ferrous metallurgy, chemical, pharmaceutical, woodworking industries. The textile, leather and footwear, and food industries are developed. The main branch of agriculture is crop production. They grow cereals (mainly corn and wheat), sugar beets, sunflowers, hemp, tobacco, potatoes and vegetables. Fruit growing (Yugoslavia is the world's largest supplier of prunes), viticulture. Breeding cattle, pigs, sheep; poultry farming. Export of raw materials and semi-finished products, consumer and food products, machinery and industrial equipment.

The monetary unit is the Yugoslav dinar.

Brief sketch of culture

Art and architecture. At the beginning of the 19th century. Secular art began to take shape in Serbia (portraits of painters K. Ivanovic and J. Tominc). With the development of the educational and national liberation movement in Serbia in the middle of the 19th century. national historical and landscape painting appeared. Romantic features were combined in it with realistic tendencies (works by D. Avramovic, J. Krstic and J. Jaksic). In architecture, from the second half of the 19th century, ceremonial buildings in the spirit of European eclecticism began to spread (the University of Belgrade).

Belgrade. Kalemegdan Fortress - the largest museum in the city (Roman baths and wells, weapons exhibitions, two art galleries and a zoo, as well as the symbol of Belgrade - the “Victor” statue); Cathedral; the palace of Princess Ljubica, built in the Balkan style in 1831; Church of St. Sava is one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world, the construction of which has not yet been completed; Russian Church of Alexander Nevsky (Baron Wrangel is buried in the cemetery at the church); Orthodox Church of St. Brand (built from 1907 to 1932). Novi Sad. Petrovara-dinskaya fortress (1699-1780, the work of the French architect Vauban); Fruska Gora is a former island of the Pannonian Sea, and currently the National Park is one of the largest linden forests in Europe with 15 monasteries built from the 15th to the 18th centuries; Vojvodina Museum; Museum of the City of Novi Sad; Gallery of Matica Serbian; Gallery named after Pavel Belyansky; building of the Serbian National Theater (1981).

The science. P. Savich (b. 1909) - physicist and chemist, author of works on nuclear physics, low temperatures, high pressures.

Literature. J. Jakšić (1832-1878) - author of patriotic poems, lyric epic poems, as well as romantic dramas in verse (“Resettlement of the Serbs”, “Stanoye Glavaš”); R. Zogovich (1907-1986), Montenegrin poet, author of civil lyrics (collections “Fist”, “Stubborn Stanzas”, “Articulated Word”, “Personally, Very Personally”). The works of the Nobel laureate have gained worldwide fame

The content of the article

YUGOSLAVIA, a state that existed in 1918–1992 in southeastern Europe, in the northwestern and central part of the Balkan Peninsula. Capital – Belgrade (approx. 1.5 million people – 1989). Territory– 255.8 thousand sq. km. Administrative division(until 1992) - 6 republics (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) and 2 autonomous regions (Kosovo and Vojvodina), which were part of Serbia. Population - 23.75 million people (1989). Official languages– Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian and Macedonian; Hungarian and Albanian were also recognized as official languages. Religion– Christianity and Islam. Currency unit– Yugoslav dinar. National holiday - November 29 (the day of the creation of the National Liberation Committee in 1943 and the proclamation of Yugoslavia as a people's republic in 1945). Yugoslavia has been a member of the UN since 1945, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) since 1964 and a number of other international organizations.

Geographical location and boundaries.

Population.

In terms of population, Yugoslavia ranked first among the Balkan countries. On the line. In the 1940s, the country had a population of approx. 16 million people, in 1953 the population was 16.9 million, in 1960 - approx. 18.5 million, in 1971 – 20.5 million, in 1979 – 22.26 million, and in 1989 – 23.75 million people. Population density – 93 people. per 1 sq. km. The natural increase in 1947 was 13.9 per 1000 people, in 1975 - 9.5, and in 1987 - 7. Birth rate - 15 per 1000 people, mortality - 9 per 1000 people, infant mortality - 25 per 1000 newborns. Average life expectancy is 72 years. (Data for 1987).

Press, television and radio broadcasting.

More than 2.9 thousand newspapers were published in Yugoslavia with a circulation of approx. 13.5 million copies. The largest daily newspapers were Vecernje novosti, Politika, Sport, Borba (Belgrade), Vecerni list, Sportske novosti, Vijesnik (Zagreb), etc. More than 1.2 thousand were published .magazines, the total circulation of which was approx. 10 million copies. The work of all radio stations and television centers was coordinated by the Yugoslav Radio and Television, created in 1944–1952. They worked ok. 200 radio stations and 8 television centers.

STORY

By the time the First World War began, most of the Yugoslav lands were part of the Habsburg monarchy (Slovenia - from the 13th century, Croatia - from the 16th century, Bosnia and Herzegovina - in 1878-1908). During the war, Austro-Hungarian, German and Bulgarian troops occupied Serbia in 1915, and Montenegro in 1916. The kings and governments of Serbia and Montenegro were forced to leave their countries.

History of the countries that were part of Yugoslavia before 1918 cm. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA; MACEDONIA; SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO; SLOVENIA; CROATIA.

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

At the beginning of the First World War of 1914, the Serbian government declared that it was fighting for the liberation and unification of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Political emigrants from Slovenia and Croatia formed the Yugoslav Committee in Western Europe, which began to campaign for the creation of a united Yugoslav (Yugoslav) state. On July 20, 1917, the Serbian émigré government and the Yugoslav Committee announced a joint declaration on the island of Corfu (Greece). It contained demands for the separation of Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian lands from Austria-Hungary and their unification with Serbia and Montenegro into a single kingdom under the control of the Serbian Karadjordjevic dynasty. In August 1917, representatives of the emigrant Montenegrin Committee of National Unification also joined the declaration.

Opportunities for implementing the plan presented themselves in the fall of 1918, when the Habsburg monarchy, unable to bear the burden of war, began to disintegrate. Local power in the South Slavic lands was taken by the people's councils. On October 6, 1918, the Central People's Assembly of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs met in Zagreb, which on October 25 announced the abolition of all laws connecting the Slavic regions with Austria and Hungary. The creation of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (SSHS) was proclaimed. Meanwhile, Entente troops and Serbian units, having broken through the front, occupied the territories of Serbia and Montenegro. On November 24, the People's Assembly elected a committee to carry out the merger of the State Agricultural Union with Serbia and Montenegro. On December 1, 1918, these states officially united into the Yugoslav state - the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSHS). The Serbian monarch Peter I (1918–1921) was proclaimed king, but in reality the functions of regent passed to Prince Alexander. In 1921 he took the throne.

On December 20, 1918, the first central government was formed, headed by the leader of the Serbian “Radical Party” Stojan Protic. The cabinet included representatives of 12 Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian and Muslim parties (from right-wing to social democrats). In March 1919, a provisional parliament of the country, the State Assembly, was established.

The economic and social situation in the new state remained catastrophic. The decline in production, inflation, unemployment, land shortage, and the problem of employing former soldiers posed a serious challenge to the government. The internal political situation was aggravated by the bloody clashes that continued in December 1918 in Croatia, Montenegro, Vojvodina and other areas. In the spring of 1919, a powerful wave of strikes arose among railway workers, miners and workers of other professions. There were violent protests in the village by peasants demanding land. The government was forced to begin carrying out an agrarian reform, which provided for the redemption of landowners' land by peasants. The authorities forced a low exchange rate for the Austrian currency against the Serbian dinar, which worsened the economic situation of the population and sparked further protests.

The question of the forms of the future state structure remained acute. Adherents of the former Montenegrin monarchy opposed the unified state, and the Croatian Peasant Party (HKP), led by Stjepan Radić, demanded that Croatia be given the right to self-determination (for which it was persecuted by the authorities). Various government projects were put forward - from centralist to federalist and republican.

The government formed in August 1919 by the leader of the Serbian democrats Ljubomir Davidović (it also included the Social Democrats and a number of small non-Serbian parties) adopted a law on an 8-hour working day, tried to cope with the state budget deficit (by raising taxes) and curb inflation by carrying out monetary reform. However, these measures did not prevent a new wave of strikes in the country. 1919.

In February 1920, the radical Protic returned to the post of head of government, having received the support of the clerical “Slovenian People’s Party” and the “People’s Club”. In April of the same year, the authorities suppressed a general strike of railway workers. In May, a coalition cabinet with the participation of democrats, Slovenian clerics and other parties was headed by another radical leader, Milenko Vesnic. His government held elections to the Constituent Assembly in November 1920. In them, the bloc of radicals and democrats failed to achieve a majority (the democrats received 92, and the radicals - 91 out of 419 seats). The influence of left-wing parties has increased: the Communists came into third place, receiving approx. 13% of the vote and 59 seats, and the HKP (Croatian People's Peasant Party) came in fourth (50 seats). The HCP achieved an absolute majority in Croatia. In December 1920, it was renamed the Croatian Republican Peasant Party (HRKP) and declared its goal to be the proclamation of an independent Croatian Republic.

Under these conditions, the KSHS government, which primarily reflected the interests of the Serbian elite, decided to strike at its opponents. On December 30, 1920, the “Obznan” decree was adopted, which prohibited the propaganda activities of the Communist Party and related workers’ organizations and trade unions; their property was confiscated and activists were arrested. On January 1, 1921, the leader of the Radical Party, Nikola Pasic, formed a cabinet that included representatives of Serbian radicals, democrats, farmers, as well as Muslims and small parties.

In 1921, the KHRKP deputies were forced to leave the Constituent Assembly. On June 28, 1921, the constitution of the KSHS was adopted, according to which the kingdom was proclaimed a centralized state. The Constitution was called "Vidovdan" because it was approved on the day of St. Vid. After a series of assassination attempts on Prince Alexander and a number of politicians, in August 1921 the assembly adopted a law On the protection of security and order in the state, which officially outlawed the Communist Party. In March 1923, in the elections to the People's Assembly, the radicals received 108 of 312 mandates. Pašić formed a one-party radical cabinet, which in 1924 included representatives of the Independent Democratic Party, which had broken away from the Democrats.

The HRKP, having received 4% less votes in the elections than the Serbian radicals, received 70 seats. Party leader Radić proposed to unite the opposition and transform the KSHS into a federation. Having been refused, he came to an agreement with the ruling radicals. In the summer of 1923 he was forced to go abroad, and in his homeland he was declared a traitor. In domestic politics, the Pašić government widely resorted to methods of repression against political opponents. In the beginning. In 1924 it lost the support of parliament and dissolved it for 5 months. In response, the opposition accused him of violating the constitution. In an atmosphere of mass discontent in July 1924, Pašić was forced to resign.

The government of the democrat Davidovich (July-November 1924), which also included Slovenian clerics and Muslims, promised to ensure peaceful and equal coexistence of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, as well as to establish diplomatic relations with the USSR. The new government restored regional administration in Zagreb. The charges against Radić were also dropped and he was allowed to return to the country. In November 1924, Pašić returned to power in alliance with independent democrats. In December, the government banned the activities of the HRKP and ordered the arrest of Radić, and in February new elections to the People's Assembly were held. In them, the radicals received 155 out of 315 seats, and supporters of the HRKP - 67. The authorities ordered the cancellation of the mandates of the Croatian Republicans, but then Pasic held secret negotiations with the imprisoned Radić and obtained from him a refusal to put forward slogans for the independence of Croatia. The Croatian leader was released and appointed minister. In July 1925, Pašić headed a new coalition government, which included representatives of the radicals and the HRKP. It passed a reactionary press law, raised the payroll tax, and introduced changes to the agrarian reform that allowed landowners to sell land subject to alienation to strong farms of rich peasants. In April 1926, the cabinet resigned due to the refusal of the Croatian coalition partners to ratify the convention with Italy, in which the KSHS made significant economic concessions to the neighboring state. The new government was formed by the radical Nikolai Uzunovich, who promised to give Special attention development of agriculture and industry, help attract foreign capital, reduce taxes and government spending as part of austerity. But the country's political system remained unstable. The “Radical Party” split into 3 factions, the “Democratic Party” into 2. At the beginning. 1927 KhRPK left the government, and Slovenian clerics became Uzunovich’s support. In February 1927, the opposition demanded that the Minister of the Interior, who was accused of mass police reprisals against voters during local elections, be put on trial. The scandal gained international resonance, and Uzunovic resigned.

In April 1927, the radical V. Vukicevic headed a government consisting of radicals and democrats, who were later joined by Slovenian clerics and Bosnian Muslims. During the early parliamentary elections (September 1927), the radicals won 112, and the opposition HRKP - 61 seats. The government refused to provide state assistance to the unemployed, reduce peasant debt and unify tax legislation. The confrontation between the authorities and the opposition grew. KHRKP agreed with independent democrats to create a bloc. The split in the Democratic Party deepened, and its various factions left the government coalition. Massive protest demonstrations, strikes and peasant uprisings took place. Opposition MPs who accused the regime of corruption were often forcibly removed from the Assembly. On June 20, 1928, in the midst of disputes about the ratification of economic agreements with Italy, the radical P. Racic shot two Croatian deputies in the parliament hall and wounded Radic, who died from his wounds in August of the same year. In Croatia, mass protests and demonstrations escalated into barricade battles. The opposition refused to return to Belgrade and demanded new elections.

In July 1928, the leader of the clerical Slovenian People's Party, Anton Koroshec, formed a government that included radicals, democrats and Muslims. He promised to carry out tax reform, provide credit to peasants and reorganize the state apparatus. At the same time, the authorities continued to arrest oppositionists, and laws were being prepared to tighten censorship and give the police the right to interfere in the activities of local governments. In conditions of worsening social crisis, the Koroshetz government resigned at the end of December 1928. On the night of January 5-6, 1929, King Alexander carried out a coup d'etat: he dissolved parliament, local governments, political parties and public organizations. The law on the 8-hour working day was also repealed and strict censorship was established. The formation of the government was entrusted to General P. Zivkovic.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

The established military-monarchical regime announced its intention to save the unity of the country. KSHS was renamed "Kingdom of Yugoslavia". The administrative-territorial reform carried out in October 1929 abolished historically established regions. Strengthening of pro-Serbian tendencies, manifested incl. in the preferential lending to agriculture in Serbian regions, as well as in the field of education, led to increased activity of separatists in Croatia (Ustasha) and in other areas of the country.

In the beginning. In the 1930s, Yugoslavia was gripped by an acute economic crisis. Trying to mitigate its impact, the government created the Agrarian Bank and introduced a state monopoly on the export of agricultural products until 1932, but categorically refused to regulate working conditions and wage levels. Workers' protests were suppressed by the police.

In September 1931, the king promulgated a new constitution that significantly expanded the powers of the monarch. The opposition boycotted the elections to the Assembly held in November 1931. In December 1931, the ruling coalition was reorganized into a new party, called the Yugoslav Radical Peasant Democracy (from July 1933 it was called the Yugoslav National Party, UNP).

After the representatives of Slovenia and Croatia left the government and Zivkovic was replaced as Prime Minister by V. Marinkovic in April 1932, the cabinet was headed by M. Srskic in July of the same year. In January 1934, Uzunovich was again appointed head of the government.

In October 1934, King Alexander of Yugoslavia was assassinated in Marseille by a Macedonian nationalist. Power in the country passed to the minor King Peter II, and the regency council was headed by Prince Paul. In foreign policy, the new authorities were ready to compromise with Germany and Italy, in domestic policy - with moderate opposition factions.

In May 1935, the government, which was headed by B. Eftich from December 1934, held parliamentary elections. The UNP won 303 seats, the united opposition - 67. But a split occurred in the government bloc. The formation of the cabinet was entrusted to the former Minister of Finance M. Stojadinovic, who created a new party in 1936 - the Yugoslav Radical Union (YURS). Stojadinovic attracted some former radicals, Muslims and Slovenian clerics to his side, promising to decentralize state power and solve the so-called. "Croatian question". However, negotiations with the opposition HRKP failed. The government decided to reduce the debt obligations of peasants (frozen in 1932) and issued a law on cooperatives. In foreign policy, it moved towards rapprochement with Italy and Germany, which became Yugoslavia's main trading partner.

Early elections to the Assembly (December 1938) showed a significant strengthening of the opposition: it collected 45% of the votes, and the KhRPK received an absolute majority of votes in Croatia. Party leader V. Macek said that further coexistence with the Serbs is impossible until the Croats receive complete freedom and equality.

The new government was formed in February 1939 by the representative of the YuRS D. Cvetkovich. In August 1939, the authorities signed an agreement with V. Macek, and representatives of the KhRPK joined the cabinet along with the “Democratic Party” and the “Peasant Party” of Serbia. In September 1939 Croatia received autonomy. The government of the autonomy was headed by Ban Ivan Subasic.

In May 1940, Yugoslavia signed an agreement on trade and navigation with the USSR, and in June of the same year officially established diplomatic relations with it. After some hesitation, Cvetkovic was inclined to cooperate with Germany. In March 1941, the government discussed the issue of joining the Germany-Italy-Japan bloc. A majority of ministers voted in favor of the move, and the losing minority left the cabinet. On March 24, the reorganized government unanimously approved the agreement, and it was officially signed in Vienna.

The signing of this document caused mass protests in Belgrade, held under anti-German and anti-fascist slogans. The army went over to the side of the demonstrators. On March 25, 1941, a new government was formed headed by General D. Simovich. The agreement with Germany was terminated. King Peter II was declared an adult. The coup was supported by communists operating underground. On April 5, Yugoslavia signed a treaty of friendship and non-aggression with the USSR. The next day, German troops (with the support of Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania) invaded the country.

The period of occupation and the people's liberation war.

The balance of forces between the parties was unequal, the Yugoslav army was defeated within 10 days, and Yugoslavia was occupied and divided into occupation zones. A pro-German government was formed in Serbia, Slovenia was annexed to Germany, Vojvodina to Hungary, and Macedonia to Bulgaria. A regime of Italian and, from 1943, German occupation was established in Montenegro. Croatian Ustasha nationalists, led by Ante Pavelic, proclaimed the creation of the Independent State of Croatia, captured Bosnia and Herzegovina and launched massive terror against Serbs and Jews.

The king and government of Yugoslavia emigrated from the country. In 1941, on the initiative of the emigrant authorities, the creation of armed detachments of Serbian “Chetnik” partisans began under the command of General D. Mikhailovich, who received the post of Minister of War. The partisans not only fought the occupying forces, but also attacked communists and non-Serb minorities.

Large-scale resistance to the occupiers was organized by the Yugoslav communists. They created the Main Headquarters of partisan detachments and began to form rebel units, raising uprisings in various parts of the country. The units were united into the People's Liberation Army under the command of Communist Party leader Josip Tito. Insurgent authorities were created locally - people's liberation committees. In November 1942, the first session of the Anti-Fascist Assembly of People's Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) took place in Bihac. At the second session of AVNOJ, held on November 29, 1943 in the city of Jajce, the veche was transformed into the supreme legislative body, which formed a provisional government - the National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia, headed by Marshal Tito. The Veche proclaimed Yugoslavia a democratic federal state and spoke out against the return of the king to the country. In May 1944, the king was forced to appoint I. Subasic as prime minister of the emigrant cabinet. Great Britain sought an agreement between the emigration and the partisans led by the Communist Party. After negotiations between Subasic and Tito (July 1944), a unified democratic government was formed.

In the fall of 1944, Soviet troops, who fought fierce battles with the German army, entered the territory of Yugoslavia. In October, as a result of joint actions of Soviet and Yugoslav units, Belgrade was liberated. The complete liberation of the country's territory ended by May 15, 1945 by units of the Yugoslav Army (NOAU) without the participation of Soviet troops. Yugoslav troops also occupied Fiume (Rijeka), Trieste, and Carinthia, which was part of Italy. The latter was returned to Austria, and according to the peace treaty with Italy, concluded in 1947, Rijeka and most of Trieste went to Yugoslavia.

Former Yugoslavia is the largest state of the South Slavs. The political and military conflict in Yugoslavia in the early 90s of the 20th century led to the disintegration of the country into the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (which included Serbia and Montenegro), Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Macedonia. The final disintegration of the state of Yugoslavia ended in 2003-2006, when the SR Yugoslavia was first renamed into the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, and in 2006, Montenegro, after a referendum, withdrew from its membership.

General information
Capital – Belgrade
The official language and the language of international communication is Serbo-Croatian.
Total area: 255,800 sq. km.
Population: 23,600,000 (1989)
National composition: Serbs, Croats, Bosnians (Slavs who converted to Islam during the Ottoman yoke), Slovenes, Macedonians, Albanians, Hungarians, Ruthenians, Gypsies, etc.
Monetary unit: dinar-krona (until 1920), KSHS dinar (until 1929), Yugoslav dinar (1929-1991)

Historical reference
The modern history of the former Yugoslavia begins in 1918, when the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KHS) was formed. The date of creation of the state is December 1, 1918, when Dalmatia and Vojvodina - Yugoslav lands that belonged to Austria-Hungary, which collapsed in the fall of 1918, united with the kingdoms and.

In 1929, the state was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This name was adopted after the coup d'etat organized by the King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Alexander on January 6, 1929. The state existed with this name until 1945.

After the end of the Second World War, on November 29, 1945, Yugoslavia became a socialist federation, which included six federal republics: Serbia (with autonomous regions - Vojvodina and Kosovo and Metohija), Macedonia (until that time it was an integral part of Serbia - Vardar Macedonia), Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The new state was named Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. In 1946 it was renamed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY). Since 1963, the state began to be called the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY).

Introduction

Declaration of independence: June 25, 1991 Slovenia June 25, 1991 Croatia September 8, 1991 Macedonia November 18, 1991 Croatian Commonwealth of Herzeg-Bosna (Annexed to Bosnia in February 1994) December 19, 1991 Republic of Serbian Krajina February 28, 1992 Republika Srpska April 6, 1992 Bosnia and Herzegovina September 27, 1993 Autonomous Region of Western Bosnia (Destroyed as a result of Operation Storm) June 10, 1999 Kosovo under UN “protectorate” (Formed as a result of the NATO War against Yugoslavia) June 3, 2006 Montenegro February 17, 2008 Republic of Kosovo

During the civil war and disintegration, four of the six union republics (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia) separated from the SFRY at the end of the 20th century. At the same time, UN peacekeeping forces were introduced into the territory of first Bosnia and Herzegovina, and then the autonomous province of Kosovo.

In Kosovo and Metohija, to resolve, in accordance with the UN mandate, the interethnic conflict between the Serbian and Albanian populations, the United States and its allies conducted a military operation to occupy the autonomous region of Kosovo, which became a UN protectorate.

Meanwhile, Yugoslavia, which at the beginning of the 21st century remained two republics, turned into Lesser Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro): from 1992 to 2003 - Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), from 2003 to 2006 - confederal State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (GSSC). Yugoslavia finally ceased to exist with the withdrawal of Montenegro from the union on June 3, 2006.

The declaration of independence on February 17, 2008 of the Republic of Kosovo from Serbia can also be considered one of the components of the collapse. The Republic of Kosovo was part of the Socialist Republic of Serbia with autonomy rights, called the Socialist Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija.

1. Opposing parties

The main parties to the Yugoslav conflicts:

The Serbs, led by Slobodan Milosevic;

Bosnian Serbs, led by Radovan Karadzic;

Croats, led by Franjo Tudjman;

Bosnian Croats, led by Mate Boban;

Krajina Serbs, led by Goran Hadzic and Milan Babic;

Bosniaks, led by Alija Izetbegovic;

Autonomist Muslims led by Fikret Abdić;

Kosovo Albanians, led by Ibrahim Rugova (actually Adem Jashari, Ramush Hardinaj and Hashim Thaci).

In addition to them, the UN, the USA and their allies also took part in the conflicts; Russia played a noticeable but secondary role. The Slovenes took part in an extremely fleeting and insignificant two-week war with the federal center, while the Macedonians did not take part in the war and gained independence peacefully.

1.1. Basics of the Serbian position

According to the Serbian side, the war for Yugoslavia began as a defense of a common power, and ended with a struggle for the survival of the Serbian people and for their unification within the borders of one country. If each of the republics of Yugoslavia had the right to secede on national lines, then the Serbs as a nation had the right to prevent this division where it included territories inhabited by a Serbian majority, namely in the Serbian Krajina in Croatia and in the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina

1.2. Basics of the Croatian position

The Croats argued that one of the conditions for joining the federation was the recognition of the right to secede from it. Tudjman often said that he was fighting for the embodiment of this right in the form of a new independent Croatian state (which some evoked associations with the Ustase Independent State of Croatia).

1.3. Basics of the Bosnian position

Bosnian Muslims were the smallest group fighting.

Their position was rather unenviable. The President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegovic, avoided taking a clear position until the spring of 1992, when it became clear that the old Yugoslavia no longer existed. Then Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence based on the results of a referendum.

Bibliography:

RBC daily from 02.18.2008:: In focus:: Kosovo headed by “Snake”

1. DecayYugoslavia and the formation of independent states in the Balkans

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2. Decay Austro-Hungarian Empire

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   ... other powers still recognized Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia existed until World War II, ... GSHS (later Yugoslavia), a potential rival in the region. But in disintegration empires for... were changed after the partition of Czechoslovakia and disintegrationYugoslavia, but in general Hungary and...

3. Russia's attitude to the conflict in Yugoslavia (2)

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   ...with a very strong center. Decay federation meant for Serbia the weakening of ... the republic, namely in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Decay The SFRY may become independent states... tensions that determine the social climate Yugoslavia, is increasingly complemented by the threatening...

4. Yugoslavia- story, decay, war

   Abstract >> History

   Yugoslavia- story, decay, war. Events in Yugoslavia early 1990s... Constitution of the Federal People's Republic Yugoslavia(FPRY), which was assigned ... and Eastern Europe Communist Party Yugoslavia decided to introduce in the country...

5. Lecture notes on the history of the southern and western Slavs in the Middle Ages and modern times

   Lecture >> History

   ... in the northwestern republics and a real threat disintegrationYugoslavia forced the Serbian leader S. Milosevic to... quickly overcome the main negative consequences disintegrationYugoslavia and take the path of normal economic...

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Yugoslavia - history, collapse, war.

Events in Yugoslavia in the early 1990s shocked the whole world. The horrors of civil war, the atrocities of “national cleansing”, genocide, mass exodus from the country - since 1945, Europe has not seen anything like this.

Until 1991, Yugoslavia was the largest state in the Balkans. Historically, the country has been home to people of many nationalities, and differences between ethnic groups have increased over time. Thus, the Slovenes and Croats in the northwestern part of the country became Catholics and USED the Latin alphabet, while the Serbs and Montenegrins who lived closer to the south. accepted the Orthodox faith and used the Cyrillic alphabet for writing.

These lands attracted many conquerors. Croatia was captured by Hungary. 2 subsequently became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; Serbia, like most of the Balkans, was annexed to the Ottoman Empire, and only Montenegro was able to defend its independence. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, due to political and religious factors, many residents converted to Islam.

When the Ottoman Empire began to lose its former power, Austria captured Bosnia and Herzegovina, thereby expanding its influence in the Balkans. In 1882, Serbia was reborn as an independent state: the desire to free the Slavic brothers from the yoke of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy united many Serbs.

Federal Republic

On January 31, 1946, the Constitution of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY) was adopted, which established its federal structure consisting of six republics - Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro, as well as two autonomous (self-governing) regions - Vojvodina and Kosovo.

Serbs constituted the largest ethnic group in Yugoslavia, accounting for 36% of the inhabitants. They inhabited not only Serbia, nearby Montenegro and Vojvodina: many Serbs also lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo. In addition to the Serbs, the country was inhabited by Slovenes, Croats, Macedonians, Albanians (in Kosovo), a national minority of Hungarians in the Vojvodina region, as well as many other small ethnic groups. Fairly or not, representatives of other national groups believed that the Serbs were trying to gain power over the entire country.

Beginning of the End

National issues in socialist Yugoslavia were considered a relic of the past. However, one of the most serious internal problems has been tensions between different ethnic groups. The northwestern republics - Slovenia and Croatia - prospered, while the standard of living of the southeastern republics left much to be desired. Massive indignation was growing in the country - a sign that the Yugoslavs did not at all consider themselves a single people, despite 60 years of existence within one power.

In 1990, in response to events in Central and Eastern Europe, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia decided to introduce a multi-party system in the country.

In the 1990 elections, Milosevic's socialist (formerly communist) party won large numbers of votes in many regions, but achieved a decisive victory only in Serbia and Montenegro.

There were heated debates in other regions. Tough measures aimed at crushing Albanian nationalism met with decisive resistance in Kosovo. In Croatia, the Serb minority (12% of the population) held a referendum in which it was decided to achieve autonomy; Frequent clashes with the Croats led to a rebellion among the local Serbs. The biggest blow for the Yugoslav state was the referendum in December 1990, which declared the independence of Slovenia.

Of all the republics, only Serbia and Montenegro now sought to maintain a strong, relatively centralized state; in addition, they had an impressive advantage - the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), which could become a trump card during future debates.

Yugoslav War

In 1991, the SFRY disintegrated. In May, Croats voted to secede from Yugoslavia, and on June 25, Slovenia and Croatia officially declared their independence. There were battles in Slovenia, but the federal positions were not strong enough, and soon the JNA troops were withdrawn from the territory of the former republic.

The Yugoslav army also acted against the rebels in Croatia; in the war that broke out, thousands of people were killed, hundreds of thousands were forced to leave their homes. All attempts by the European community and the UN to force the parties to cease fire in Croatia were in vain. The West was initially reluctant to watch the collapse of Yugoslavia, but soon began to condemn the “Great Serbian ambitions.”

The Serbs and Montenegrins accepted the inevitable split and proclaimed the creation of a new state - the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The hostilities in Croatia were over, although the conflict was not over. A new nightmare began when national tensions in Bosnia worsened.

UN peacekeeping forces were sent to Bosnia, and with varying degrees of success they succeeded in stopping the massacre, easing the fate of the besieged and starving population, and creating “safe zones” for Muslims. In August 1992, the world was shocked by revelations of the brutal treatment of people in prison camps. The United States and other countries openly accused the Serbs of genocide and war crimes, but still did not allow their troops to intervene in the conflict; later, however, it turned out that not only the Serbs were involved in the atrocities of that time.

Threats of UN air attacks forced the JNA to surrender its position and end the siege of Sarajevo, but it was clear that peacekeeping efforts to preserve multi-ethnic Bosnia had failed.

In 1996, a number of opposition parties formed a coalition called Unity, which soon organized mass demonstrations against the ruling regime in Belgrade and other major cities in Yugoslavia. However, in the elections held in the summer of 1997, Milosevic was again elected president of the FRY.

After fruitless negotiations between the government of the FRY and the Albanians - the leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (blood was still shed in this conflict), NATO announced an ultimatum to Milosevic. Starting from the end of March 1999, missile and bomb attacks began to be carried out almost every night on the territory of Yugoslavia; they ended only on June 10, after representatives of the FRY and NATO signed an agreement on the deployment of international security forces (KFOR) to Kosovo.

Among the refugees who left Kosovo during the hostilities, there were approximately 350 thousand people of non-Albanian nationality. Many of them settled in Serbia, where the total number of displaced people reached 800 thousand, and the number of people who lost their jobs reached about 500 thousand people.

In 2000, parliamentary and presidential elections were held in the FRY and local elections in Serbia and Kosovo. Opposition parties nominated a single candidate, the leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia, Vojislav Kostunica, for the presidency. On September 24, he won the elections, gaining more than 50% of the vote (Milosevic - only 37%). In the summer of 2001, the former president of the FRY was extradited to the International Tribunal in The Hague as a war criminal.

On March 14, 2002, through the mediation of the European Union, an agreement was signed on the creation of a new state - Serbia and Montenegro (Vojvodina had recently become autonomous). However, interethnic relations are still too fragile, and the internal political and economic situation in the country is unstable. In the summer of 2001, shots were fired again: Kosovo militants became more active, and this gradually developed into an open conflict between Albanian Kosovo and Macedonia, which lasted about a year. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who authorized the transfer of Milosevic to the tribunal, was killed by a sniper rifle shot on March 12, 2003. Apparently, the “Balkan knot” will not be untangled anytime soon.

In 2006, Montenegro finally separated from Serbia and became an independent state. The European Union and the United States made an unprecedented decision and recognized the independence of Kosovo as a sovereign state.

Collapse of Yugoslavia

Like all countries of the socialist camp, Yugoslavia in the late 80s was shaken by internal contradictions caused by the rethinking of socialism. In 1990, for the first time in the post-war period, free parliamentary elections were held in the republics of the SFRY on a multi-party basis. In Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia, the communists were defeated. They won only in Serbia and Montenegro. But the victory of the anti-communist forces not only did not soften inter-republican contradictions, but also colored them in national-separatist tones. As with the collapse of the USSR, the Yugoslavs were caught off guard by the suddenness of the uncontrolled collapse of the federal state. If the Baltic countries played the role of a “national” catalyst in the USSR, then in Yugoslavia Slovenia and Croatia took on this role. The failure of the State Emergency Committee and the victory of democracy led to the bloodless formation of state structures by the former republics during the collapse of the USSR.

The collapse of Yugoslavia, unlike the USSR, took place according to the most ominous scenario. The democratic forces that were emerging here (primarily Serbia) failed to prevent the tragedy, which led to dire consequences. As in the USSR, national minorities, sensing a decrease in pressure from the Yugoslav authorities (increasingly making various kinds of concessions), immediately requested independence and, having received a refusal from Belgrade, took up arms; further events led to the complete collapse of Yugoslavia.

A. Markovich

I. Tito, a Croat by nationality, creating a federation of Yugoslav peoples, sought to protect it from Serbian nationalism. Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had long been the subject of disputes between Serbs and Croats, received a compromise status as a state of first two and then three peoples - Serbs, Croats and ethnic Muslims. As part of the federal structure of Yugoslavia, Macedonians and Montenegrins received their own national states. The 1974 Constitution provided for the creation of two autonomous provinces on Serbian territory - Kosovo and Vojvodina. Thanks to this, the issue of the status of national minorities (Albanians in Kosovo, Hungarians and over 20 ethnic groups in Vojvodina) on the territory of Serbia was resolved. Although the Serbs living on the territory of Croatia did not receive autonomy, according to the Constitution they had the status of a state-forming nation in Croatia. Tito was afraid that the state system he created would collapse after his death, and he was not mistaken. The Serb S. Milosevic, thanks to his destructive policy, the trump card of which was playing on the national feelings of the Serbs, destroyed the state created by “old Tito”.

We must not forget that the first challenge to the political balance of Yugoslavia was posed by the Albanians in the autonomous province of Kosovo in southern Serbia. By that time, the population of the region consisted of almost 90% Albanians and 10% Serbs, Montenegrins and others. In April 1981, the majority of Albanians took part in demonstrations and rallies, demanding republican status for the region. In response, Belgrade sent troops to Kosovo, declaring a state of emergency there. The situation was also aggravated by the Belgrade “recolonization plan,” which guaranteed jobs and housing for Serbs moving to the region. Belgrade sought to artificially increase the number of Serbs in the region in order to abolish the autonomous entity. In response, Albanians began to leave the Communist Party and carry out repressions against Serbs and Montenegrins. By the fall of 1989, demonstrations and unrest in Kosovo were ruthlessly suppressed by the Serbian military authorities. By the spring of 1990, the Serbian National Assembly announced the dissolution of the government and people's assembly of Kosovo and introduced censorship. The Kosovo issue had a distinct geopolitical aspect for Serbia, which was concerned about Tirana's plans to create a "Greater Albania" that would include territories inhabited by ethnic Albanians such as Kosovo and parts of Macedonia and Montenegro. Serbia's actions in Kosovo gave it a very bad reputation in the eyes of the world community, but it is ironic that the same community said nothing when a similar incident occurred in Croatia in August 1990. The Serbian minority in the city of Knin in the Serbian Region decided to hold a referendum on the issue of cultural autonomy. As in Kosovo, it turned into unrest, suppressed by the Croatian leadership, which rejected the referendum as unconstitutional.

Thus, in Yugoslavia, by the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s, all the prerequisites were created for national minorities to enter the struggle for their independence. Neither the Yugoslav leadership nor the world community could prevent this except by armed means. It is therefore not surprising that events in Yugoslavia unfolded with such rapidity.

Slovenia was the first to take the official step of breaking relations with Belgrade and defining its independence. Tensions between the “Serbian” and “Slavic-Croatian” blocs in the ranks of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia reached its climax in February 1990 at the XIV Congress, when the Slovenian delegation left the meeting.

At that time, there were three plans for the state reorganization of the country: confederal reorganization put forward by the Presidiums of Slovenia and Croatia; federal reorganization of the Union Presidium; “Platform on the future of the Yugoslav state” - Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. But the meetings of the republican leaders showed that the main goal of the multi-party elections and referendum was not the democratic transformation of the Yugoslav community, but the legitimation of the programs for the future reorganization of the country put forward by the leaders of the republics.

Since 1990, Slovenian public opinion began to look for a solution in Slovenia's exit from Yugoslavia. The parliament elected on a multi-party basis adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Republic on July 2, 1990, and on June 25, 1991, Slovenia declared its independence. Already in 1991, Serbia agreed with Slovenia's secession from Yugoslavia. However, Slovenia sought to become the legal successor of a single state as a result of “disunion” rather than secession from Yugoslavia.

In the second half of 1991, this republic took decisive steps towards achieving independence, thereby largely determining the pace of development of the Yugoslav crisis and the nature of the behavior of other republics. First of all, Croatia, which feared that with Slovenia’s exit from Yugoslavia, the balance of power in the country would be disrupted to its detriment. The unsuccessful end of inter-republican negotiations, the growing mutual distrust between national leaders, as well as between the Yugoslav peoples, the arming of the population on a national basis, the creation of the first paramilitary forces - all this contributed to the creation of an explosive situation that led to armed conflicts.

The political crisis culminated in May–June with the declaration of independence of Slovenia and Croatia on June 25, 1991. Slovenia accompanied this act by seizing border control points where the state insignia of the republic was installed. The government of the SFRY, led by A. Markovic, recognized this as illegal and the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) took protection of the external borders of Slovenia. As a result, from June 27 to July 2, battles took place here with well-organized units of the Republican Territorial Defense of Slovenia. The Six-Day War in Slovenia was short and inglorious for the JNA. The army did not achieve any of its goals, losing forty soldiers and officers. Not much compared to the future thousands of victims, but proof that no one will give up their independence just like that, even if it has not yet been recognized.

In Croatia, the war took on the character of a clash between the Serbian population, who wanted to remain part of Yugoslavia, on whose side were the JNA soldiers, and the Croatian armed units, who sought to prevent the separation of part of the territory of the republic.

The Croatian Democratic Community won the Croatian parliamentary elections in 1990. In August–September 1990, armed clashes between local Serbs and the Croatian police and guards in the Klin Region began here. In December of the same year, the Croatian Council adopted a new Constitution, declaring the republic “unitary and indivisible.”

The Union leadership could not come to terms with this, since Belgrade had its own plans for the future of the Serbian enclaves in Croatia, in which a large community of Serbian expatriates lived. Local Serbs responded to the new Constitution by creating the Serbian Autonomous Region in February 1991.

On June 25, 1991, Croatia declared its independence. As in the case of Slovenia, the government of the SFRY recognized this decision as illegal, declaring claims to part of Croatia, namely the Serbian Krajina. On this basis, fierce armed clashes took place between the Serbs and Croats with the participation of JNA units. In the Croatian war there were no longer minor skirmishes, as in Slovenia, but real battles using various types of weapons. And the losses in these battles on both sides were enormous: about 10 thousand killed, including several thousand civilians, more than 700 thousand refugees fled to neighboring countries.

At the end of 1991, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution to send peacekeeping forces to Yugoslavia, and the EU Council of Ministers imposed sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro. In February-March 1992, on the basis of the resolution, a contingent of UN peacekeeping forces arrived in Croatia. It also included a Russian battalion. With the help of international forces, military actions were somehow contained, but the excessive cruelty of the warring parties, especially towards the civilian population, pushed them to mutual revenge, which led to new clashes.

On the initiative of Russia, on May 4, 1995, at an urgently convened meeting of the UN Security Council, the invasion of Croatian troops into the separation zone was condemned. At the same time, the Security Council condemned the Serbian shelling of Zagreb and other centers of concentration of the civilian population. In August 1995, after the punitive operations of the Croatian troops, about 500 thousand Krajina Serbs were forced to flee their lands, and the exact number of victims of this operation is still unknown. This is how Zagreb solved the problem of a national minority on its territory, while the West turned a blind eye to Croatia’s actions, limiting itself to calls for an end to the bloodshed.

The center of the Serbo-Croat conflict was moved to territory that had been disputed from the very beginning - Bosnia and Herzegovina. Here the Serbs and Croats began to demand the division of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina or its reorganization on a confederal basis by creating ethnic cantons. The Muslim Democratic Action Party, led by A. Izetbegovic, which advocated a unitary civil republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, did not agree with this demand. In turn, this aroused the suspicion of the Serbian side, which believed that we were talking about the creation of an “Islamic fundamentalist republic”, 40% of the population of which were Muslims.

All attempts at a peaceful settlement, for various reasons, did not lead to the desired result. In October 1991, Muslim and Croat deputies of the Assembly adopted a memorandum on the sovereignty of the republic. The Serbs found it unacceptable for themselves to remain with minority status outside of Yugoslavia, in a state dominated by the Muslim-Croat coalition.

In January 1992, the republic appealed to the European Community to recognize its independence; Serbian deputies left parliament, boycotted its further work and refused to participate in the referendum, in which the majority of the population supported the creation of a sovereign state. In response, local Serbs created their own Assembly, and when the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina was recognized by the EU countries, the USA, and Russia, the Serbian community announced the creation of the Serbian Republic in Bosnia. The confrontation escalated into an armed conflict, with the participation of various armed groups, ranging from small armed groups to the JNA. Bosnia and Herzegovina had a huge amount of equipment, weapons and ammunition on its territory, which were stored there or left behind by the JNA that left the republic. All this became excellent fuel for the outbreak of armed conflict.

In her article, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wrote: “Terrible things are happening in Bosnia, and it looks like it will be even worse. Sarajevo is under continuous shelling. Gorazde is besieged and is about to be occupied by the Serbs. Massacres will probably begin there... This is the Serbian policy of “ethnic cleansing”, that is, the expulsion of the non-Serb population from Bosnia...

From the very beginning, the supposedly independent Serb military formations in Bosnia operate in close contact with the Serbian army high command in Belgrade, which actually maintains them and supplies them with everything they need to fight the war. The West should present an ultimatum to the Serbian government, demanding, in particular, to stop economic support for Bosnia, sign an agreement on the demilitarization of Bosnia, facilitate the unhindered return of refugees to Bosnia, etc.”

An international conference held in London in August 1992 led to the fact that the leader of the Bosnian Serbs, R. Karadzic, promised to withdraw troops from the occupied territory, transfer heavy weapons to UN control, and close the camps in which Muslims and Croats were kept. S. Milosevic agreed to allow international observers into the JNA units located in Bosnia, and pledged to recognize the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina and respect its borders. The parties kept their promises, although the peacekeepers more than once had to call on the warring parties to stop the clashes and truce.

Obviously, the international community should have demanded that Slovenia, Croatia and then Bosnia and Herzegovina give certain guarantees to the national minorities living on their territory. In December 1991, while the war was raging in Croatia, the EU adopted criteria for the recognition of new states in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, in particular, “guarantees of the rights of ethnic and national groups and minorities in accordance with CSCE commitments; respect for the inviolability of all boundaries, which cannot be changed except by peaceful means with general consent.” This criterion was not very strictly observed when it came to Serbian minorities.

Interestingly, the West and Russia at this stage could have prevented violence in Yugoslavia by formulating clear principles for self-determination and putting forward preconditions for the recognition of new states. The legal framework would be of great importance, since it has a decisive influence on such serious issues as territorial integrity, self-determination, the right to self-determination, and the rights of national minorities. Russia, of course, should have been interested in developing such principles, since it faced and still faces similar problems in the former USSR.

But what is especially striking is that after the bloodshed in Croatia, the EU, followed by the US and Russia, repeated the same mistake in Bosnia, recognizing its independence without any preconditions and without taking into account the position of the Bosnian Serbs. The ill-considered recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina made war there inevitable. And although the West forced Bosnian Croats and Muslims to coexist in one state and, together with Russia, tried to put pressure on the Bosnian Serbs, the structure of this federation is still artificial, and many do not believe that it will last long.

The EU's biased attitude towards the Serbs as the main culprits of the conflict also makes one think. At the end of 1992 - beginning of 1993. Russia has raised the issue of the need to influence Croatia several times in the UN Security Council. The Croats initiated several armed clashes in the Serbian Region, disrupting a meeting on the Krajina problem organized by UN representatives, they tried to blow up a hydroelectric power station on Serbian territory - the UN and other organizations did nothing to stop them.

The same tolerance characterized the international community's treatment of Bosnian Muslims. In April 1994, the Bosnian Serbs were subject to NATO air strikes for their attacks on Gorazde, interpreted as a threat to the safety of UN personnel, although some of these attacks were instigated by Muslims. Encouraged by the leniency of the international community, Bosnian Muslims resorted to the same tactics in Brcko, Tuzla and other Muslim enclaves under the protection of UN forces. They tried to provoke the Serbs by attacking their positions, because they knew that the Serbs would again be subjected to NATO air raids if they tried to retaliate.

By the end of 1995, the Russian Foreign Ministry was in an extremely difficult situation. The state's policy of rapprochement with the West led to the fact that Russia supported almost all the initiatives of Western countries to resolve conflicts. The dependence of Russian policy on successive foreign currency loans led to the rapid advancement of NATO in the role of a leading organization. And yet, Russia’s attempts to resolve conflicts were not in vain, forcing the warring parties to periodically sit down at the negotiating table. Carrying out political activity within the boundaries allowed to it by its Western partners, Russia has ceased to be a factor determining the course of events in the Balkans. Russia at one time voted for establishing peace by military means in Bosnia and Herzegovina using NATO forces. Having a military training ground in the Balkans, NATO no longer imagined any other way to solve any new problem other than an armed one. This played a decisive role in resolving the Kosovo problem, the most dramatic of the Balkan conflicts.