The area is rich with Serbian history. The Albanian presence continued to grow and, by the end of the 19th century, Albanians had become the dominant ethnic group in Kosovo. The growth of the Albanian community led to increased demands for greater minority rights by ethnic Albanians, particularly during the s.
In , Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic authorized a brutal counterinsurgency; many Albanians were killed or wounded. The severity of the counterinsurgency led to a three month NATO-led military operation against Serbia, which resulted in the withdrawal of Serbian military and police forces from Kosovo. Located in the southern part of the former Yugoslavia, Macedonia, an area slightly larger than Vermont, declared its independence in There are two primary ethnic groups in the Republic: Macedonians Brokered by the international community, Ohrid transformed Macedonia into a bi-cultural community in which the majority ethnic group determines the official language of that community.
The rights of minorities were advanced. While the United States remains concerned about some issues of corruption and human trafficking in Macedonia, the bilateral relationship is strong.
The co-authors recently visited Montenegro, a country slightly smaller than Connecticut, with a population of almost ,, located on the shores of the Adriatic Sea. The United States played a significant role in the negotiations that led to Montenegrin independence in , and the bilateral relationship remains favorable today. Among the countries of the former Yugoslavia, Serbia, which is slightly smaller than South Carolina, is well-known for its involvement in international affairs for over years.
Although regarded as a communist, he guided Yugoslavia via the Non-Aligned Movement. He led Yugoslavia until his death in After almost a decade of weak internal leadership, Slobodan Milosevic became President of Serbia in An ultra-nationalist, Milosevic advocated Serb domination which led to the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in The result was a more intense ethnic division with Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia in and Bosnia in declaring their independence as sovereign states.
Ethnic-religious tensions became more serious in when Milosevic undertook a counter-insurgency campaign in response to civil disturbances by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo; many died.
The Milosevic government also expelled large numbers of Albanians living in Kosovo. Milosevic was adamant in his refusal to discuss a solution to the problem in Kosovo; this led to the NATO bombing of Serbia.
Hostilities ended quickly in Slovenia, and an agreement was reached that allowed the country to control its own borders, though fighting in Croatia persisted. In , Serbia and Montenegro proclaimed the establishment of a new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, composed only of their two countries. Meanwhile, in the former Yugoslav Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a three-sided civil war was taking place between Serbs, Croats, and Muslims.
The war would go on to claim the lives of some , people over the period between and These airstrikes helped convince the Bosnian Serbs to come to the negotiating table. In , the Dayton Peace Accord was agreed to by the warring sides. This agreement provided for a new political arrangement in Bosnia that saw the country split into two self-governing entities: A Bosnian Serb enclave known as Srpska and a Muslim-Croat federation. The last conflict in the ongoing disintegration of Yugoslavia was the Kosovo War in Kosovo Albanians protested and rioted in response.
In , a militia called the Kosovo Liberation Army KLA emerged, and began launching sporadic attacks against Serb authorities in the province.
The Serbian government responded with further repressive measures on the Kosovo Albanians. Initially, the KLA was viewed in the west with suspicion. The bombing campaign eventually persuaded the Serbs to withdraw their forces from Kosovo.
Kosovo declared independence in and was subsequently recognized by the US and other countries, but to this day, Serbia has not relinquished its claim to the enclave and refuses to recognize its independence.
The following year, he was arrested by Yugoslav authorities and turned over to the UN International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague to stand trial for war crimes. In , a new federation called Serbia and Montenegro was proclaimed in an attempt to placate Montenegrins who desired independence. Over the course of just three years, torn by the rise of ethno-nationalism, a series of political conflicts and Greater Serbian expansions, , the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia disintegrated into five successor states: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia later known as Serbia and Montenegro.
From to , the country was something of a regional power and an economic success story. As the rise of nationalism grew, Slovenia followed by Croatia voted for independence and broke away from Yugoslavia by On 29th February, and 1st March a referendum on independence was held in Bosnia.
As Bosnian Serb political leadership boycotted the independence, the Serbian forces attacked Bosnia leading to four years of brutal ethnic cleansing, genocide, and crimes against humanity all up until when the Dayton Agreement was signed.
The name Srebrenica has become synonymous with those dark days in July when, in the first ever United Nations declared safe area, thousands of men and boys were systematically murdered and buried in mass graves. The largest among them is Serbia, while Montenegro is the smallest. Yugoslavia had a land area of , square kilometers and was the 9th largest country in Europe. The terrain was varied, with fertile plains in the north, limestone ranges in the east, mountains and hills predominantly in the southeast and a seaside, mainly in Croatia and Montenegro, but also in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia.
The languages were all South Slavic, so people from different areas could understand each other. Most of the population spoke Serbo-Croatian — over 12 million people. The Constitution granted national minorities and ethnic groups the right to their own language. Around half a million people used Hungarian, mainly in the north, and Italian was spoken in parts of Croatia. Serbo-Croatian was made up of three dialects: Shtokavian, Kajkavian and Chakavian.
Two alphabets were used in Yugoslavia — the Latin alphabet and the Cyrillic script. After , it became the official currency of three Yugoslav states. It was subdivided into para. It circulated alongside the Serbian dinar until the s, one dinar being equal 4 kronen. Each of the four republics then got their own currency Slovenian tolar, Croatian dinar, Macedonian denar and Bosnian dinar.
After , during the severe hyperinflation, people started using foreign strong currency such as Deutschmarks, to mitigate the problem. The highest banknote then printed was billion dinars. However, it quickly became completely worthless. In , Montenegro decided that the Deutsche Mark would be an official currency alongside the Yugoslav dinar.
In , when Yugoslavia stopped existing and got replaced with Serbia and Montenegro, the Serbian dinar was the official currency. Today, Montenegro and Slovenia have Euro as their official currency.
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