| 1870s |
Nationalist uprisings sweep the Balkans
including the Bosnia-Herzegovina Uprising of 1875; in Bulgaria, "The
April Uprising" of 1876, and in Macedonia, the Razlovtsi Uprising in
1875. |
| 1878 |
With the Balkans in full revolt and
ungovernable, the Ottoman Empire is defeated in the Russo-Turkish War of
1877-78. The European Imperial powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary,
France, Britain, Italy, Russia) meet at the Congress of Berlin and
divide rule over countries of the Balkans among themselves. The
nationalist movements are then crushed by the European powers.
Austria-Hungary occupies Bosnia-Herzegovina. |
| 1912-1913 |
The Balkan wars: Popular nationalist uprisings
sweep the Balkans. |
| 1914 |
Serbian student's assassination of Austrian
ruler in Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina, an Austrian colony, marks
beginning of World War I. |
| 1914-1918 |
World War I. Serbs hold off Austrians for more
than a year. More than 800,000 Serbs are killed in the war. |
| 1918 |
Creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and
Slovenes. |
| 1929 |
The Kingdom becomes Yugoslavia, which means Land
of the Southern Slavs. |
| 1941 |
Nazi Germany and fascist Italy impose the Axis
Tripartite Pact on Prince Paul, regent of Yugoslavia, who signs rather
than resist. |
| March 27 |
Anti-fascist coup overthrows Prince Paul. |
| April 6 |
Axis troops invade Yugoslavia and bomb Belgrade,
the centre of anti-fascist resistance. Yugoslavia is partitioned between
Germany, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria. A "Greater Croatia" is formed
under the pro-Nazi Ustashe led by Ante Pavelic; "ethnic cleansing" of
Serbs, Roma (Gypsies) and Jews begins. Greater Albania, including
Kosovo, is formed by Italy and Germany. Two movements emerge to fight German occupation. One is a Serbian nationalist movement, called the Chetniks, led by General Dragoljub Mihajlovic, who are royalist and tied to the Serbian Orthodox Church. The other is a Communist-led Partisan movement, led by Josip Broz Tito , which gives representation and involvement to all the many nationalities of Yugoslavia. This Partisian movement becomes the biggest resistance movement in Eastern Europe. Allied powers at first refuse to support Partisans. Later, in 1942, civil war breaks out between the two movements. |
| 1941-1944 |
300,000 to 700,000 Serbs, Romas and Jews are
killed in a death camp at Jasemovac in Nazi Croatia. |
| 1943 |
In Jajce, Bosnia, the Anti-fascist Committee of
National Liberation (AVNOJ) is founded. Yugoslav federation created in
liberated territory. Allied powers recognize the Partisan movement as
centre of anti-fascist resistance. |
| 1944 |
The Partisan army liberates Belgrade. Some
1,014,000 Yugoslavs die in World War II, half of them Serbs. |
| 1945-1991 |
The Socialist Federation of Republics of
Yugoslavia ( SFRY / SFRJ - Jugoslavia natively) is founded as a
multi-ethnic state. National rights are guaranteed for every
nationality. A unique constitution includes affirmative action
provisions (multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious) and
establishes wide autonomy for the six republics. It creates a rotating
presidency between each member republic in the federation. Large landed
estates are broken up and distributed to farmers. Private ownership of
large industry is ended. Manufacturing, mining and the infrastructure
are extensively developed. A decent standard of living is established
for all for the first time in the Balkans, with free medical care, free
education, a right to a job, one month paid vacation for all. Housing ,
transportation and utilities are made affordable. Literacy reaches over
ninety percent. |
| 1948 |
Break between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. |
| 1949 |
First IMF loans to Yugoslavia are meant to
exacerbate break with other socialist countries, particularly the Soviet
Union. |
| 1980s |
Yugoslav foreign debt reaches $20 billion in
1980. By 1988 the foreign debt was $33 billion. In exchange for
continued loans, the IMF demands economic reforms that bring an end to
many of the socialist measures and severely weaken the socialist
economy. The IMF program creates spiraling inflation, shuts many
industries, cuts social programs and increases tensions among the
nationalities and republics. |
| 1989-1991 |
With the overturn of Soviet allies in Eastern
Europe and the collapse of the USSR, nonaligned Yugoslavia is no longer
needed as a buffer state between NATO and thaw Warsaw Pact. US and
European powers begin a march to reshape all of Eastern Europe. |
| 1990 |
In November, the Bush administration and
Congress pass the 1991 Foreign Operations Appropriations Law. It cuts
off loans, credits and even trade for any part of Yugoslavia that does
not declare independence within 6 months. It restricts funding to
elements judged "democratic" by the US, including the fascist Ustache
movement and other right-wing organizations. The law specifically
includes IMF and World Bank funding as well. This is widely recognized
as a "death sentence" for Yugoslavia, which has become dependent on the
IMF and World Bank loans. |
| 1991 |
The Council of Europe follows the US lead and
demands that Yugoslavia break up or face economic blockade. Fascist
organizations not seen for 45 years suddenly revive in Yugoslavia, with
covert support from the US, Germany and Austria. |
| January 25 |
Officers in the Yugoslav army publish a
"Generals' Manifesto", assessing the threat from NATO powers to destroy
Yugoslavia as a Socialist Federation now that there is no longer a
Soviet Union. It calls for unity within Yugoslavia and preparations for
self-defence. |
| May 5 |
Croatian Fascists attack the Yugoslav
government and call for expulsion of all Serbs living in Croatia. For
hundreds of years, more than thirty percent of Croatia's population had
been Serbs. |
| June 25 |
Slovenia and Croatia declare independence.
Right-wing parties come to power. US backs pro-fascist Croat leader
Franjo Tudjman, who uses anti-Serb propaganda in his rise to power,
reviving the Ustashe and using the fascist symbols and slogans from the
Nazi era. Tudjmans's regime imposes capitalism and strips all minorities
(specifically the Serbs) of citizenship, jobs, pensions, passports and
land ownership. It will expel 500,000 Serbs by 1995. Germany
immediately recognizes the new regimes and encourages the small,
multi-ethnic republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina to secede. Tensions rise in
Bosnia as secessionist forces receive aid and encouragement from
Germany and the U.S. |
| 1992 Mar 8 |
The New York Times publishes a Pentagon White
Paper that asserts a US dominant role in every corner of the earth. For
Europe, a US-dominated NATO is to be the only military pact. ( to put
people off the European "Rapid Reaction Force".) |
| March 19 |
Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs reach
agreement in Lisbon for a unified state. The continuation of a peaceful
multi-ethnic Bosnia seems assured. But the US sabotages the agreement.
The US convinces Alija Izetbegovic (head of the right-wing Party for
Democratic Action in Bosnia) that it will back him if he unilaterally
declares a soverign Bosnia under his presidency. Other political
parties, including Muslim ones, are excluded from the government. Some
Muslim leaders object and are smashed by PDA and US military power. |
| May 27 |
An explosion in a food line in Sarajevo, Bosnia,
kill 14 people and wounds 100. The media charges that a mortar fired
from Bosnian Serb positions is responsible. Weeks later a UN
investigation proves the mortar could not have been fired from Bosnian
Serb positions. But the international outrage against the Serbs becomes
the excuse for imposing sanctions on the Yugoslav government anyway. |
| May 30 |
The UN Security Council (an undemocratic
organization where the 5 permanent members can veto any decision of the
15 members in total) votes to follow the Bush administration's lead and
impose tough economic sanctions on the Yugoslav government. Exports,
imports including oil and foreign investments are banned, and shipping
on the Danube River is shut down. This all creates economic dislocation
in Yugoslavia and its neighbours. |
| November 29 |
Air force chief of staff Gen. Michael J. Duggan
(ret.) and George Kenney publish an opinion piece in the New York times
entitled "Operation Balkan Storm: Here's a plan.". It says "A win in
the Balkans would establish US leadership in the post-Cold War world in
a way that Operation Desert Storm never could". They propose enlisting
Britain, France, and Italy to use massive air power against Serbia,
using aircraft and Tomahawk missiles to destroy Serbia's electricity
grid, refineries, storage facilities, and communications. Six and a
half years later it happens. |
| 1993 |
The economic strangulation of Yugoslavia imposed
by US law and European sanctions reduces the per capita income of Serbia
from $3,000 (1990) to $700. |
| February 22 |
At US ambassador Madeline Albright's insistence,
the UN SC votes to create the International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia (ICTFY) in violation of the UN Charter. (Resolutions
808 & 827). According to the UN Charter the International Criminal Court is the only place where such trials can take place, but the US does not recognize this court !! since that would make it's own many wars of aggression illegal, so it just sets up it's own "unilateral" tribunal instead of a court. |
| June |
Six US generals help Izetbegovic's forces attack
other Bosnian Muslim leaders in Bihac and Tuzla. The attacks violated
the cease-fire and a UN-declared safe area. US bombers under NATO
command assist the attack. |
| 1995 July 12 |
A "Council for Peace in the Balkans" calls for a
"strategic and sustained" air campaign against Serbia. This "Council"
consists of Zbigniew Brzezinski, Frank Carlucci, Hodding Carter, Max
Kampelman and Jeanne Kirkpatrick, all former top officials in the US
government. |
| July 17 |
The US media reports an alleged massacre as
Izetbegovic's troops pull out of Srebernica in Bosnia. UN investigation
teams report a year later that they could not find a single eyewitness
to any atrocity, even though they interviewed hundreds of Muslims in
Srebernica and in Tuzla, where the majority of the refugees were taken.
Based on charges of a massacre, European countries stop efforts to
maintain peacekeepers under UN flag. US/NATO military involvement in
now accepted. |
| August 4 |
"Operation Storm" is launched. US/NATO aircraft
destroy Yugoslav radar and air defences, clearing the way for the
Croatian military's offensive against the Krajina region of Croatia. US
EA6B electronic warfare aircraft jam Yugoslav communications and
monitor Yugoslav military movements, delivering photos and intelligence
reports to Croat military forces advancing into Krajina. Some 30,000
Serbs are expelled from Croatia and 14,000 are killed. The attach is
led by Brig. Gen. Agim Ceku - the future head of the Kosovo Liberation
Army - with massive US support. "Operation Storm" was planned by Military Professional Resources, Inc. (MPRI) a pentagon contractor made up of retired US generals and combat experts, working under contract to the Pentagon to "train" the Croatian military. |
| August 28 |
Another explosion lists a Sarajevo marketplace,
killing 37 civilians. ( compared to 14 in '92) Almost immediately,
NATO launches over 4,000 bombing raids against the Bosnian Serbs. Later
analysis of the crater and debris prove that the bomb was dropped off a
roof by Izetbegovic's forces, which NATO knew at the time, according to
New York Times Balkans bureau chief David Binder in a report in "The
Nation" magazine on October 2, 1995. |
| November 21 |
Dayton (Ohio) Peace Accords are signed at
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. NATO bombing forces Bosnian Serb
government and the Yugoslav government to accept US / NATO partition and
the occupation of Bosnia. The pact divides Bosnia into three areas:
Croatian, Bosnian Muslim and Serbian. 60,000 NATO troops, including
20,000 US troops are sent to Bosnia, all under US command. Troops are
to remain 6 months; as at the end of 2001 they are still there. A new
US / NATO base is established in Hungary and another in Tuxla, Bosnia.
Newsweek of Dec 14, 1995 writes that "US led NATO forces will have
nearly colonial powers in Bosnia". |
| 1997 |
Sali Berisha becomes head of Albania with US
support and allows the US to set up military bases in Albania. Berisha
agrees to let the CIA take charge of the Albanian secret police. The
attempt to dismember Yugoslavia centres now on Kosovo ( From Serbian
Kosovo Polje "The Field of the Blackbirds") & Metohija ("The land of
the Monasteries" since 1,400 Serbian churches & monasteries existed
there before NATO bombing), a region of the Serbian Republic for over
600 years but with a majority population ethnically Albanian. The
Kosovo Liberation Army sets up its headquarters on Berisha's estate in
Albania. In November the KLA kills Qamil Gashi, the Albanian
chairperson of Serbian Socialist Party in Kosovo. |
| 1997-1998 |
KLA goes through "rapid and startling growth",
bolstered by mercenaries from the US & Germany. According to Jane's
Defence Weekly, the KLA includes US Special Forces and British SAS
units. It is not a liberation army, It is an arm of NATO. |
| 1998 |
With the Albanian president of Kosovo, Ibrahim
Rugova, on the verge of an agreement with Milosevic to restore Kosovo
autonomy, the KLA steps up its terrorist attacks. Yugoslav police
retaliation an attempts to curtail the KLA are put forward as a reason
for NATO to intervene. |
| 1999 Jan 15 |
The "Racak Massacre". KLA forces use a military
setback in the town of Racak to set up a media coup, claiming dead KLA
soldiers were civilians. William Walker, head of the Kosovo Verification
Mission and former US ambassador to El Salvador, arrives and declares
his indignation at the atrocities committed by "the Serb police forces
and the Yugoslav army". Walkers declaration is widely reported in the US media and used as a justification for further US NATO intervention. |
| March |
Talks begin in Rambouillet, France. The US draws
up a document and presents it to the KLA and the Yugoslav government.
There are no negotiations. Both sides are told to "take it or leave it".
The document requires Yugoslav withdrawal from Kosovo, the
introductions of a NATO occupying force with total powers, and a
plebiscite to decide on independence for Kosovo. Not reported in the
media at the time is that the document also gives NATO forces the right
to occupy all of Yugoslavia, not just Kosovo. Members of the US
negotiating team brags that they intentionally set the bar too high for
Milosevic to accept. "He needs a good dose of bombing, and that's what
he's going to get" one is quoted as saying. |
| March 24 |
NATO begins 78 days of air strikes against
Kosovo and Serbia. |
| April 4 | NATO bombs the Monastery of Holy Mother and the
Monastery of St. Nicholas in Kursumlija (both built in the twelfth
century). At least 14 other monasteries also bombed by the middle of
April. |
| April 12 |
NATO bombs a train on a bridge over Gredlica
gorge, killing 10 civilians and wounding 16. |
| April 15 |
NATO bombs a refugee convoy on the read from
Prizren to Djakovica, killing 74 civilians. |
| April 22 |
NATO bombs the offices of Serbian Television,
killing 16 workers there. |
| April 24 |
NATO uses cluster bombs on Doganovici killing 5
children and many adults. |
| April 27 |
NATO bombs residential district in Surdulica,
killing 15 children and many adults. |
| May 1 |
NATO cluster bombs kill 79 refugees in Prizren.
NATO bombs kill 87 Albanians in Korisa, Kosovo on the same day. At first
NATO denies responsibility, then changes its story and says it did the
bombing, but against a military target. It says the Serbs used the
Albanians as human shields. Reporters from the London Independent
report no sign of a military presence. The Los Angeles Times also
reports that the only targets were the tractors and wagons of refugees. |
| May 27 |
NATO bombs Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing
3 and injuring 27. |
| June 3 |
The Yugoslavian government accepts terms
proposed by the G-7 and Russia for ending the war. The terms are similar
to those of Rambouillet except that Kosovo remains part of Serbia and
the occupying forces, though made up largely of NATO countries, would
officially be acting in the name of the United Nations. These are
exactly the conditions Milosevic agreed before the bombing started. |
| June 10, 1999 to Summer 2000 |
Kosovo remains occupied by NATO troops un UN
aegis, divided into US, British, French, German & Italian zones.
Under direct NATO supervision, more than 300,000 Serbs and people of
other and mixed nationalities are driven out of Kosovo. In Summer of
2000, the US and EU organize parties that oppose Milosevic's Socialist
Party of Serbia in Yugoslav elections and give them $41 million. |
| 2000 Sept 24 |
Milosevic is narrowly defeated in the popular
vote for president of Yugoslavia by Vojislav Kostunica. |
| Oct 5 |
To avoid a runoff election, since no candidate
received the 50% minimum required in the first round of elections, the
SPS opponents the "Democratic Opposition of Serbia", DOS (also nicknamed
"Democratic Occupation of Serbia in graffiti...) stage a coup and
overthrow the Socialist Party of Serbia. |
| 2001 March 31 |
New authorities in Belgrade arrest Milosevic to
comply with a US deadline for receiving millions of dollars of loan
money. The hold him in prison in Belgrade. |
| June 28 |
Belgrade officials break Yugoslav Constitution
and a court order by turning Milosevic over to US authorities to be
brought before the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia) in The Hague on war-crimes charges. |
| 2004 |
Milovevic still in the Hague and still on show
trial in the Kangaroo court. Ramsey Clark is trying to defend him but is
finding it hard for DOS to give him a VISA or access to Milosevic for
meaningful periods of time. |
| 2004 Nov 21 |
"The Bush team claims it has
even more countries in its sights. By next June, it will announce its
support for the independence of Kosovo, which Albanians in the southern
Serbian province have been demanding since NATO drove Servb forces out
in 1999". "Ireland on Sunday" Nov 21 pg 12. Bush / Clinton
all the same ? |
| 2005 Feb 24 |
RTE documentary "FarAwayUpClose"
sponsored by the Dept of Foreign affairs makes no mention of the
reasons for Bosnias split from Yugoslavia, the US imposed sanctions,
the Sarajevo bread queue bombings, just a tirade of abuse against the
Serbs. |