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Following World War I, and the collapse of the Hapsburg
empire, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was formed in 1918; its name was
changed to Yugoslavia in 1929. Occupation by Nazi Germany in 1941 was
resisted by various partisan bands that fought each other as well as the
invaders. The group headed by Marshal TITO took full control upon German
expulsion in 1945. Although communist in name, his new government
successfully steered its own path between the Warsaw Pact nations and the
West for the next four and a half decades. In the early 1990s, post-TITO
Yugoslavia began to fall apart: Slovenia, Croatia, and The
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia all declared their independence in
1991; Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992. Serbia and
Montenegro declared a new "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" in
1992. Under President Slobodan MILOSEVIC, Serbia led various military
intervention efforts to unite Serbs in neighboring republics into a
"Greater Serbia." All of these efforts were ultimately
unsuccessful. In 1999, massive expulsions by Serbs of ethnic Albanians
living in the autonomous republic of Kosovo provoked an international
response, including the NATO bombing of Serbia and the stationing of NATO
and Russian peacekeepers in Kosovo. Blatant attempts to manipulate
presidential balloting in October of 2000 were followed by massive
nationwide demonstrations and strikes that saw the election winner,
Vojislav KOSTUNICA, replace MILOSEVIC. |
