Following the First World War and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes are put under control of the Serbian Royal House.

Marshal Josip Broz Tito takes control of Yugoslavia. After Second World War, the country is composed of the republics of Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro. Yugoslavia is part of the Communist Bloc, but pursues relatively independent policies under the strong leadership of Tito. Takes a position of "non-alignment" in the Cold War.

Marshall Tito dies. The principles that had defined Yugoslav unity: the power of the working class, self-management, officially declared (and enforced) brotherhood and unity among Yugoslav nations, and non-alignment in the Cold War struggle, were now much more difficult to promote without Tito’s charisma and force. The League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY), Tito’s party, now struggles to carry on.

First press reports of (unfounded) claims by the Serbian Academy of Science and Art, that Serbs in Kosovo and parts of Croatia are subject to physical, political, legal and cultural genocide. The Academy defined a new concept of the historical right of the Serbs to establish a complete national and cultural integrity regardless of where they physically live. It demanded a greater share of influence in the state representative bodies, arguing that Serbs are the most numerous nation in Yugoslavia. It also called for Yugoslavia to become a unitary (rather than a federal) state.

At the 18th meeting of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Serbia, the League’s leader, Slobodon Milosevic, publicly condemned Slovenian and Croatian ideas of confederalism (which would give more autonomy to the republics of Yugoslavia, while retaining the federal government).

Milosevic elected as President of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Serbia.

Demonstrations in Kosovo by ethnic Albanians for more autonomy suppressed by Serb government in Belgrade.

In Belgrade a million people demonstrated in support of Serbian policy in Kosovo.

The Berlin Wall falls, and the collapse of communism in the East Bloc begins.

A special congress of the LCY is held in Belgrade to deal with the deteriorating situation. Following the refusal of most other LCY delegates to consider Slovene proposals calling for a more democratic political process in Yugoslavia, the Slovene delegation walked out. The congress was later suspended and reconvened on 26 May. The congress then dissolved after one day when delegations from Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia refused to attend. This marked the effective end of the LCY.

Each Yugoslav republic held elections. In Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Macedonia, new democratic parties were elected, while former Communists were returned to power in Serbia and Montenegro. The results left the country even more politically fragmented than it had been during the last days of Communist rule. Both the newly-elected political authorities and most of the opposition forces in all the republics were committed to programs of regional and ethnic nationalism that seriously challenged the power of the federal system.

Milosevic, elected President of the Republic of Serbia, spearheaded efforts to preserve the federation with Serbia at the center. He also supported efforts by Serbs residing outside Serbia to exercise self-determination, while maintaining their potential rights to citizenship in Serbia proper.

The question of ethnic rights for minorities came to a head when the Croatian assembly approved a constitution which failed to specifically mention protection of the rights of Serbs living in Croatia. This move was repeated in most of the republics across Yugoslavia.

The parliament of the Serbian republic suspended the autonomous government of the Kosovo region. On July 2, ethnic Albanian members of the Kosovo legislature declared the region a separate territory within the Yugoslav federation.

Serbs living in the Krajina region of Croatia began demonstrating against Croatian authority and seized control of government bureaus and facilities. The Croatian government moved to suppress the unrest, ordering federal army troops into several villages. Milosevic proclaimed the Krajina area in Croatia (home to 200,000 ethnic Serbs) a "Serbian autonomous region."

The parliaments of Slovenia and Croatia passed declarations of independence on June 25. The federal parliament in Belgrade--the capital of Serbia as well as Yugoslavia--asked the army to intervene to prevent the secessions. On June 26, the Bush administration announced its "regret" for such "unilateral action." On June 28, Yugoslav tanks battled Slovene troops that had taken control of border posts. Slovenia defeated the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) troops. European Community officials offered to mediate the dispute and by early July managed to sketch out the terms of a settlement.

In Croatia, violence erupted in Zagreb (the capital) and quickly spread across the region inhabited by Serbs. Heavy fighting in Croatia between Croatian militia and rebel Serbs (aided by the Yugoslav Army) continued into 1992. By the end of the initial phase of hostilities in March 1992, about 10,000 people were dead and 500,000 homeless.

European Community (at Germany’s insistence) extended diplomatic recognition to Slovenia and Croatia. The US followed suit in April 1992.

UN Security Council began in November to deliberate a proposal to send a group of peacekeeping forces to monitor a future cease-fire in Croatia. Ultimately, in March, 14,000 troops were deployed strategically in the Serb-inhabited zones of Croatia and in Belgrade and Sarajevo. The troops’ arrival on March 16 marked the end of the civil war in Croatia for the time being.

A majority of voters approved a referendum on independence in Bosnia. Serb citizens (32% of Bosnia’s population, controlling 60% of the territory) had threatened to secede if the referendum passed. Fighting between Serb militias (backed by the JNA) and Bosnian government troops began.

During a pro-independence rally in Sarajevo in April 1992, Serb sharpshooters fired into the crowd, then fled into the mountains to begin organizing a large guerrilla force. Bosnian Serbs, led by Radovan Karadzic, received considerable support from the Serbian government, which by late April had declared itself, along with Montenegro, Vojvodina, and Kosovo, a rump Yugoslav federation. In a May 24 election in Kosovo, considered illegal by Belgrade, ethnic Albanians voted overwhelmingly to secede from Yugoslavia.

On July 2, Croat nationalists living in Bosnia declared an independent state that includes almost one-third of the territory of Bosnia; the Croats began battling both the Serbs and the Muslims.

During this time, the scale of atrocities among national groups approaches World War II proportions as "ethnic cleansing" was carried out. All national groups were guilty of ethnic cleansing, but this policy was carried out most systematically by the Serb leadership.

The scale of destruction in Bosnia far exceeded that in Croatia. The artillery barrage against Sarajevo continued almost uninterrupted for a year, with as many as 3,000 shells falling on the city in a single day. Serbs moved to gain control of Bosnian territory and by summer had gained control of about 3/4 of the territory. The refugee population grew at the rate of 30,000 per day in the early months of the war.

The UN Security Council began in May to condemn not only the war but also specifically Serbia and the Bosnian Serbs. The US and the EC imposed economic and diplomatic sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro in April, expanding them in May. On May 30, the Security Council placed blame for the violence on Serbia and called for sanctions. In September rump Yugoslavia’s UN membership was revoked.

The focus of UN actions became the provision of humanitarian assistance to the besieged Muslims in Sarajevo and other towns that were cut off from food and other supplies. Serbs blocked this assistance. The Security Council passed resolutions allowing for military escorts for the humanitarian aid, and later the use of "all necessary means" to insure that aid reached its destinations. The UN avoided direct confrontation with Serb forces through air drops of food.

Eventually, the UN became involved in actively evacuating Muslims from cities under siege, such as Srebreniza and Gorazde.

In September, the UN created a war crimes tribunal along the lines of the Nuremberg precedent to deal with the perpetrators of ethnic cleansing.

The UN established a no-fly zone over Bosnia (which was not enforced) and later a naval embargo on all the warring parties.

The sanctions began to take their toll on Serbia.

The US, the UN, and the EC engaged in intense diplomatic efforts to end the war, but avoided forceful actions. The Clinton administration attempted to convince US allies to pursue a stronger approach toward the Serbs, including forceful protection of UN "safe areas," but was not able to gain enough support from the European allies.

Serb artillery struck an outdoor market in Sarajevo, killing 60 Muslim civilians, and the attack was broadcast around the world on CNN. For the first time, the US was able to muster a consensus within NATO in favor of military strikes against Serb positions. The threats were sufficient to force the Serbs to remove their heavy weapons from around Sarajevo, but not in other UN safe areas. The first NATO air strikes against Serb positions around Gorazde took place on April 10, 1994. More significant air bombardment on Serb positions around Sarajevo were launched in August, in response to yet another shelling of Sarajevo’s market, which this time killed 38 people.

A Federation Agreement between Bosnian Croats and Muslims was reached. This allowed arms to reach the Muslim army in significant quantity, and led to Muslims taking back territory from Serbs in July 1995.

NATO’s use of force, along with several other factors (including hard bargaining and diplomatic pressure by the US and European states, the effects of sanctions, the formation of an alliance between Croats and Muslims in Bosnia that was able to take back a significant amount of territory from the Serbs), finally resulted in a cease-fire by all sides on October 10, 1995.

On November 21, 1995, the "Dayton Accord," a peace agreement that effectively confirmed the ethnic divisions of territory won through war, provided for a "unified state" of Bosnia and Herzegovina (consisting of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the Muslim-Croat unit and the Republika Srpska as the Serb unit), and sent in UN peacekeeping forces to implement the agreement.

Milosevic was elected president of post-Dayton Yugoslavia, which consists of Serbia (including the provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina), and Montenegro.

NATO launched an air campaign against Serb targets in Kosovo and Serbia in response to ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Kosovo (which was in response to attacks on Serbs by Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas, which was in response to decades of repression of the Albanians by the Serbs…etc.)

UN War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague indicts Milosevic on charges of crimes against humanity for actions in Kosovo.

Serb forces begin withdrawing from Kosovo and NATO halts the air war as domestic opposition to Milosevic grows in Yugoslavia.

Serb opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica declares victory in Yugoslav elections.

Largely in response to US pressure and threats to withhold aid, Milosevic is arrested by Yugoslav police in Belgrade after a bizarre stand-off.

The Yugoslav government turns Milosevic over to the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity. A defiant Milosevic, when pressed to enter a plea, refused to acknowledge the court's legitimacy, instead accusing NATO of war crimes.