Yugoslavia and Its Breakup

Editorial text · written for the 2026 reconstruction

By 1991 the break-up of Yugoslavia loomed. Slovenia and Croatia declared independence on 25 June 1991. Fighting in Croatia intensified in the second half of 1991, including the siege of Vukovar and the shelling of Dubrovnik, until a UN-monitored ceasefire came into force early in 1992. Macedonia declared independence in the autumn of 1991, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, after a referendum in March 1992, was engulfed by war from April 1992 to November 1995.

Source: ICTY, “The Conflicts” (source register).