Figure 1.--The Croatian War for Indepence was not only a military struggle, but a campaign of ethnic cleansing. This meant that civilians were not only caught in the crossfire, but actual targets of the combatants. The caption here read, "A Croatian child plays on top of a sadbag wall protecting the entrance to the Aquarium now converted as a shelter in the town of Dubrovnik Tuesday August 15 1995. Meanwhile, Serbs have advanced again on Glamoc and Bosansko Grahovo, two towns about 75 kms north of Split and heavy fighting is going on around both towns."

The Czech experiment with democratic socialism stuck a cord with young Croats. There were pro-Czech demonstrations in Croatia (1968). The demonstrations were spontanenous and not organized through exisdting Communist Prty student groups. This did not help the Czechs who were supressed by the Soviet Red Army. There was, however, a practical development in Croatia. Students began organizing groups outside the control of ther Party. Within these groups there was fostered an interest in Croatian history and culture. Under Tito, nationalist thought had been supressed. There was, as a result, a kind of ethnic renewal in Croatia, And awkward economic facts began to surface. Many young Croats learned for the first time how the Yugoslav government was transfering funds from the relatively developed north (Slovenia and Croatia) to the less developed south (Serbia). There had been since the creation of Yugoslavia, a strong Croat separtist movement. The terrible ethnic killings and attrocities occuring during World War II showed just how deep these fellings were. As a result, separatist feeling grew in Croatia after the Czech revolution. Croat cultural organization that had been organized in the 19th century during the Austrian era were revived. The most important was was Matica Hrvatska (Matica means "queen bee"). Matica Hrvatska was founded in 1842 and to evade Government supression oprated as a cultural organization. The Croat revival began while Tito was still allive. Croat students sang patriotic songs, defying a Government ban (1971). Matica Hrvatska proposed an entirely new Croatian constitution. It would have given Croatia the right to secede from Yugoslavia. And Croatian would be recognized as the state language instead of Serbo-Croatian. Catholics began criticising the Serbian Orthodox Church. Croats moved to stop Serb education in Cyrillic. The Government responded with a wide spread crackdown, arresting prominent Croat-nationalist leaders. Among those arrested was Franjo Tudjman, a World War II partisan and former Communist leader. He would later becone the first president of an independent Croatia. The death of Tito (1980) removed the strongest voice for supressing nationist thought in Yugoslavia. Like Slovenia, Croatia also declared independence (June 25, 1991). Croatian independence was an even greater challenge to Milosivich than Slovenia. While Slovenia was relatively ethnically homogeneous, Croatia had a substantial Serbian minority, largely concentrated in easten and southern Croatia.

Czech Spring (1989)

First Secretary Dubček's assurances about remaining in the Warsaw Pact did not allay Soviet fears. They inderstood clearly that real democracy in Czechoslovakia would bring the end of Communism in that country and fundamentally change the country's client state status. In the end, the Soviet settled the debate--with Red Army tanks. The Prague Spring ended with and the invasion of 650,000 Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops (night of August 20, 1968). Czechs along the border awoke to awoke to the sound of clanking tanks sounds. Beginning that day and for several months, Soviet armor moved throughout the country. That night the Soviet tanks rolled past on the way to Prague and other major cities. The Czech Army did not resist. People in Prague began to panic as the tanks and other armored vehicles entered the city in overwealming force. The Czech people at firce understood what was happening. Even the Soviet soldiers and other tankers understood. Only Dubček and his associates along with a few high-ranking Soviet officers and officials knew what was underway--the full-scale invasion of Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak Government immediately declared that the troops had not been invited into the country and that their invasion was a violation of socialist principles, international law, and the United Nations Charter. Most of the invading militry force was Soviet. To imprive the optics of the operation, the Soviets wanted the operation to appear to be a Warsaw Pact and not a purely Soviet action. Thus there were small contingents of Polish, East German, Hungarian and Bulgarian troops deployed, mostly well away from Prague. The Communist officials in those countries were more than willing to comply. They understood that their population generally wanted their own Prague Spring and that their regimes would be endangered if the Prague Spring was not immediately and forcibly extinguished. Only Romania refused to join the Soviets. There was only minimal resistance. General Secretary Brezhnev was determined to firmly establish who was in control of Eastern Europe. Clearly the Czech military had no ability to stand up to such a force and the invasion was all but bloodless in stark contrast to the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. There was passive resistance such as taking down road signs. Soviet tankers in Prague were confronted by unarmed youths pleading with them to no avail. Soviet tanks rumbling through the streets of Prague would be an enduring emblem of Soviet control of its Eastern European empire.

Ethnic Renewal in Yugoslavia

The Czech experiment with democratic socialism stuck a cord with young Croats. There were pro-Czech demonstrations in Croatia (1968). The demonstrations were spontanenous and not organized through exisdting Communist Prty student groups. This did not help the Czechs who were supressed by the Soviet Red Army. There was, however, a practical development in Croatia. Students began organizing groups outside the control of the governing Communist Party. Within these groups there was fostered an interest in Croatian history and culture. Under Tito, nationalist thought had been supressed. There was, as a result, a kind of ethnic renewal in Croatia, And awkward economic facts began to surface. Many young Slovrenes and Croats learned for the first time how the Yugoslav government was transfering funds from the relatively developed north (Slovenia and Croatia) to the less developed south (Serbia). There had been since the creation of Yugoslavia, a strong Croat separtist movement. The terrible ethnic killings and attrocities occuring during World War II showed just how deep these fellings were. As a result, separatist feeling grew in Croatia after the Czech revolution. Croat cultural organization that had been organized in the 19th century during the Austrian era were revived. The most important was was Matica Hrvatska (Matica means "queen bee"). Matica Hrvatska was founded in 1842 and to evade Government supression oprated as a cultural organization. The Croat revival began while Tito was still allive. Croat students sang patriotic songs, defying a Government ban (1971). Matica Hrvatska proposed an entirely new Croatian constitution. It would have given Croatia the right to secede from Yugoslavia. And Croatian would be recognized as the state language instead of Serbo-Croatian. Catholics began criticising the Serbian Orthodox Church. Croats moved to stop Serb education in Cyrillic. The Government responded with a wide spread crackdown, arresting prominent Croat-nationalist leaders. Among those arrested was Franjo Tudjman, a World War II partisan and former Communist leader. He would later become the first president of an independent Croatia. The death of Tito (1980) removed the strongest voice for supressing nationist thought in Yugoslavia.

Independence (1991)

Like Slovenia, Croatia also declared independence (June 25, 1991). Croatian independence was an even greater challenge to Milosivich than Slovenia. While Slovenia was relatively ethnically homogeneous, Croatia had a substantial Serbian minority, largely concentrated in easten and southern Croatia.

Independence War (1991-92)

Krajina (1991-95)

A major issue was Krajina with its ethnic Serb population. Milan Babic was the first President of the Republic of Serbian Krajina (1991-95). This was a Croatian region largely populated by ethnic Serbs whobwnted to join a Greater Serbia. At the onset of the War, Yugoslavia was perhaps the most ethnically diverse country in the world. The president of Republika Srpska Krajina would later declare that he was 'strongly influenced and misled by Serbian propaganda'. There were also questionable statements made by Croatian president Franjo Tudman who was quoted as saying, "I am happy that my wife is not Serbian or Jew.' In the end there was full scale fighting. The Serbs proclaimed their autonomous Republic of Serb Krajina. Criatia and Biosnia planned an opertion to retake Kajina--Operation Storm. It was a major military operation carried to retake Krajina. The Military of Croatia reached an accord with Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They faced the separatist ethnic Serbs. After 4 years of vicious fighting, Serb leaders of Republika Srpska Krajina had to order that the Serbs in Krajina had to evcuate to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Created: 11:49 PM 6/19/2018
Last updated: 9:53 AM 6/20/2018