Interventions in the Balkans (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes

Interventions in the Balkans

Background: the fragmentation of Yugoslavia

Following the death of Yugoslavia's leader, Josip Broz Tito, in 1980, internal tensions within the country intensified rapidly. The Yugoslav state had been held together by Tito's authority, but his passing exposed deep ethnic and political divisions among the six constituent republics.

In Kosovo, the Albanian Muslim majority began pressing for their province to be granted the status of a full member republic rather than remaining part of Serbia, which had an overall Orthodox Christian majority. This demand directly challenged Serbia's territorial integrity and political dominance within Yugoslavia.

Slobodan Milošević, who led Serbia, responded by demanding greater powers for his republic, positioning Serbia as the largest and most populous of the six republics. Meanwhile, Slovenia and Croatia elected governments that advocated for increased autonomy from the Yugoslav federation. Serbs living in Croatia grew increasingly anxious about their position, fearing they would become a vulnerable minority within an independent or more autonomous Croatia, potentially reversing their previous majority status within united Yugoslavia.

The question of genocide and ethnic cleansing

American officials concluded that Bosnian Serbs, working alongside the Serbian government and military, were conducting a campaign of genocide (referred to in the Yugoslav context as ethnic cleansing) against non-Serb populations. The objective was to eliminate or expel non-Serbs from areas where Serbs formed a majority, thereby allowing those parts of Bosnia to secede and merge with an enlarged Serbia.

This interpretation gained support from senior British political figures across the spectrum: former Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher, Liberal Party leader Paddy Ashdown, and former Labour leader Michael Foot all accepted this analysis. Tony Blair would later adopt the same position when he became Labour leader and then Prime Minister.

Initial international response: non-intervention

Despite the gravity of the situation, many countries chose not to intervene, treating the conflicts as internal Yugoslav matters. The United Nations initially regarded these developments as domestic problems that fell outside its remit. This position persisted until 1999, when the UN revised its analysis of the situation.

American President George H.W. Bush (father of a later President, George W. Bush) and his successor from 1993, Bill Clinton, attempted to build international support for intervention in Bosnia's crisis. Britain opposed this initiative. The violence continued while British negotiators worked actively to prevent British involvement in any military action.

The shift towards intervention

Two developments altered this trajectory of non-intervention.

First, central negotiations about Yugoslavia's future were overtaken by unilateral regional decisions. In 1991, Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence from Yugoslavia, followed by Macedonia. The following year, 1992, Bosnia-Herzegovina declared its independence, though this new state still included Kosovo and Montenegro within what remained of Serbia. Four of the former Yugoslav republics now gained recognition as independent states.

Second, war erupted in Bosnia involving both Serbian and Croatian military forces. This development transformed the situation into something in which other countries and the UN could legitimately claim an interest, as it was no longer purely an internal Yugoslav matter. Reports that Bosnians had been murdered in substantial numbers by Serb forces became a catalyst for action. A NATO bombing campaign commenced in 1995, targeting Bosnian Serb forces.

The Dayton Agreement and peacekeeping

The stated aim of NATO intervention was to prevent Bosnia from being partitioned, thereby blocking Serbia from annexing Serb-majority areas to create a 'Greater Serbia'. A peacekeeping force took up positions in 1995-96 to enforce the Dayton Agreement, a peace settlement that formally ended the Bosnian War. John Major signed this agreement as a representative of Britain, alongside leaders from the United States, France, Germany and Russia.

Key figure: Slobodan Milošević

Slobodan Milošević served as the leader of Serbia during this period. He demanded greater powers for Serbia within Yugoslavia and later pursued policies that supported Serb populations outside Serbia's borders. His actions and those of forces aligned with him were identified by international observers as constituting genocide against non-Serb populations in Bosnia. Milošević's policies contributed directly to the wars that followed Yugoslavia's breakup and to the ethnic cleansing campaigns that prompted international intervention.