Bosnia-Herzegovina is a country located in southeastern Europe. Bosnia- Herzegovina declared its independence in March of 1992. Usually, this country is referred to as Bosnia, but is officially named Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 1918, Bosnia-Herzegovina became part of the kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which later became known as the country of Yugoslavia. In 1946, Yugoslavia became a federal state consisting of six republics, one of which was Bosnia-Herzegovina. Slavic people make up most of the counties population. The largest groups are the Bosnia Muslims, the Serbs, and the Croats.
Much of the Serbian population opposed to Bosnia’s independence and a civil war erupted in the Spring of 1992. Serbian forces soon occupied about two-thirds of the country. About one-fifth was soon held by Bosnian Croatians. The remainder of the country was held by Bosnian government troops, mainly Bosnian Muslims. From 1945, till 1990, communists held a monopoly on powers in all of Yugoslavia, including Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 1990, non-communists gained a majority of seats in Bosnia’s first multi-party election. Bosnia-Herzegovina’s capitol city is Sarajevo, which can be found in the center of the country.
Although many languages are spoke there, the main language is Serbo-Croatian. In a 1991 census, there was a reported 4,365,639 people living in the borders of Bosnia-Herzegovina which has an area of 19,741 square miles, and in 1995 there was an estimated 4,454,000 people in the country (Twenty-two people per square mile. ) Sixty-six percent of those people live in rural areas, leaving only thirty-four percent living in urban areas. Bosnia- Herzegovina’s money system is based on the Dinar. Their main agricultural exports are cattle, cherries, corn, grapes, hogs, peaches, pears, plums, potatoes, sheep, soybeans, obacco, walnuts, and wheat.
As a developing country, their industrial production is slightly limited, producing mainly electrical appliances and textiles. There is also a lot of mining of coal and iron ore which also contributes to the countries economy. Bosnia’s government is headed by a seven member collective presidency. The presidency consists of two Croats, two Bosnian Muslims, two Serbs, and one individual who is not affiliated with a specific ethnic group. Voters elect members to a four year term. The members then elect a president who serves a one year term, but then may be later reelected.
The Bosnia-Herzegovina government also consists of a two-house legislature. The chamber of citizens has 130 members and the Chamber of municipalities has 110 members. All are elected for a four year term. There are, as in the United States, different political parties in Bosnia-Herzegovina. These parties are recognized as the Party of Democratic Action, the Serbian Democratic party, and the Croatian Democratic Union. About forty-four percent of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s population are Bosnian Muslims. Serbs make up about thirty-two percent, and Croats account for roughly seventeen percent.
The remaining even percent include Albanians, Gypsies, and Ukrainians. Since the civil war began, large numbers of people have fled the county. Most of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s people speak a language called Serbo- Croatian. In writing though, Serbs traditionally use the Cyrillic alphabet. On the other hand, Bosnian Muslims, Croats and the majority of others living in Bosnia use the Roman alphabet. The main religions of Bosnia are Islamic, practiced by the Bosnian Muslims, Roman Catholic, practiced by the Croats, and the main religion of the Serbs is Serbian Orthodoxy.
Another aspect of the Bosnian people’s culture is their food. Bosnian cooking reflects Turkish and Muslim influences. Musaka, roasted meat and eggplant, and kapama, mutton with spinach and green onions, are just two of the dishes commonly found there. An excellent white wine is also produced in Mostar. School life in Bosnia is different then that of the United States. Children of Bosnia are required to take eight years of elementary school. Some students will then attend universities, but most will stay and take over the family property. Bosnia-Herzegovina consists of two-land regions.
Bosnia, the northern section, s a mountainous region covered with thick forests. Herzegovina, the southern section of the country, is composed largely of rocky hills, and flat farmland. The major rivers or Bosnia-Herzegovina are the Bosna, Neretra, and Vrbas. The winters of Bosnia-Herzegovina are exceptionally cold and snowy. Contrasting, the summers are warm in the mountain valleys, but milder in the higher elevations. In Sarajevo, the average climate in January in 30 F, and in July 68 F. Prior to the war, Bosnia’s mountains were full of visitors taking advantage of the vast range of ski slopes.
Bosnia-Herzegovina is rich in natural resources. It has vast forests, large iron ore reserves, and plentiful sources of coal and hydroelectric power. As stated before Bosnia-Herzegovina’s main exports were a sum of their industrial and agricultural products. Bosnia’s chief trading partners have been Austria, Germany, and Italy, but has also traded with Muslim nations of the Middle East such as Syria and Turkey. Before the war, Bosnia-Herzegovina had a well developed system of roads linking it to bordering nations of Croatia and Serbia. However, these roads were destroyed by attacking Serbian armies.
Bosnia-Herzegovina also has a large system of railways. These railroads connect cities such as Sarajevo to other large cities and neighboring countries. Although small, Bosnia does contain airports, which can be found in the capitol Sarajevo and other main cities like Monstar. These airports do not have any departing or arriving commercial flights, and in fact, the airports were reopened by the United Nations in 1992, after being shut down due to the violent conflicts. Planes now containing food and supplies are now able to bring the food and medicine that is greatly needed by the people of the country.
Bosnia has a long history of heart-aches and changes in power. People called the Illynans lived in what is now called Bosnia-Herzegovina beginning about 3000 years ago. The region became part of a Roman province in about 11 B. C. From the 900’s to the 1100’s rule shifted between the Byzantine Empire, the Croats, and the Serbs. Hungary’s king claimed control over most of Bosnia from the 1100’s to about 1400, but local nobles called Bans, were able to act independently most of the time. Hum, now known as Herzegovina, was under Serbian or Hungarian rule from the 1100’s until 1326.
Bosnia controlled it from 1326 until 1463, when its local rulers declared its independence, and adopted he title herzeg which means duke. The Ottoman Empire gained control of most of Bosnia in 1463, and seized Herzegovina in the 1480’s. After the invasion, some Slavs in the region converted to Islam. The Ottomans made Bosnia and Herzegovina one political unit in the mid-1800’s. Bosnia-Herzegovina remained part of the Ottoman Empire until the Congress of Berlin, a meeting of major European leaders in 1879 that gave temporary control of the region to Austria- Hungary.
In 1908, Austria-Hungary formally took over the region. In June of 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated in Sarajevo y Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian from Bosnia-Herzegovina. The assassination led to the outbreak of World War I. After the war ended in 1918, Bosnia-Herzegovina became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, the kingdom was later renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. During World War II (1939-1945), the axis powers led by Germany and Italy occupied Yugoslavia. In that time, Croatia briefly became an independent state, but was actually still controlled at that time by Germany.
Bosnia-Herzegovina was placed under Croatia’s control. After the war ended, communists came to power in Yugoslavia. Under a constitution passed in 1946, Yugoslavia was organized as a federal state, which is, one in which the powers of government are shared between a central government and republics. Bosnia-Herzegovina became one of the six republics of Yugoslavia, as did Croatia and Serbia. During the communist rule of Yugoslavia, the republic of Bosnia- Herzegovina was sometimes classified as a less-developed region.
This classification led to the receiving of federal funds for economic development. Bosnia-Herzegovina has always been a potential site for conflict, because of its cultural and religious differences between its ethnic groups. In the late 980’s the relations between the groups worsened, especially between the Serbs and non-Serbs. In 1990, the Communist party gave up its monopoly on power in Yugoslavia, and political parties began to form. That year, for the first time, Bosnia-Herzegovina held free elections. Non-communists won control of the legislature.
Alija Lzetbegovic, a Muslim, was elected president. In1991, Yugoslavia began to break apart after Croatia and Slovenia declared their own independence. In February of 1992, a referendum on independence was held in Bosnia. Most Serbs boycotted the referendum, but most of the republic’s Croats and Muslims voted for independence. Bosnia-Herzegovina then declared their independence. Many Serbs living in Bosnia-Herzegovina opposed the declaration of independence and began the war against the non-Serbs. About two-thirds of the republic fell to Serbian forces within two months.
The Serbs sought to remove all non-Serbs from the Bosnian territory they claimed. This policy was called ethnic cleansing. In April 1992, Serbia and Montenegro formed a new, smaller Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia provided the Serbs fighting in Bosnia- Herzegovina with troops, guns, food, and equipment. That May, the United Nations imposed an oil and trade embargo against Yugoslavia in an attempt to stop the war. Troops fighting against the Serbs in Bosnia included Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats. As the war continued, Bosnian Croat forces, supported by Croatia, gained control over one-fifth of the country.
In July 1992, some Bosnian Croats began to call for independence for the Croatian areas. In October, fighting broke out between Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Muslims. In June 1992, UN peacekeeping forces began arriving in Bosnia-Herzegovina. They secured the country’s airport and protected shipments of food and medicine to the eople of Bosnia. In October 1992, the United States and other UN members began reporting incidents of human rights abuse in Bosnia. The reports indicated that Bosnian Serbs had tortured and killed Bosnian Muslims and Croats in detention camps.
As the civil war continued, there were many international efforts to end all hostilities. Bosnian officials signed a cease fire agreement with the national Croat leaders on February 23, 1994 called the Croat Agreement. In March, both sides met in Washington DC and agreed to form a Croat-Muslim federation with a main objective of two ruling groups sharing the responsibilities of national efense, foreign affairs, and commerce. Unfortunately, the Serb occupation of Bosnian territory made it impossible to proceed with plans.
The Bosnian Serbs agreed in February 1994 to hand over heavy weapons to UN troops and begin withdraw their forces from Sarajevo. Under the threat of an air strike by NATO, Serb troops withdrew beyond a twelve mile exclusion zone around Sarajevo. As months passed, Serbs violated their agreement. The heavy weapons hidden in this “zone” were used to strike Sarajevo and other cities including Gorozde, Tuzla, and Prijedor with great force. In September, Serb forces cut off Sarajevo’s water, gas, and ower for ten days, provoking a retaliation by Bosnian forces.
Bosnian Serbs also carried out on their policy of ethnic cleansing in 1994 by forcing Muslims from their homes to the Serb controlled areas of Bosnian while the Muslims that got away fled to the remote mountainous areas of surrounding Bosnia. Between July and September of 1994, ten-thousand Muslims left their homes. Bosnia clashed with the UN many times, interrupting UN efforts to bring relief to civilians. In March of 1995, the Serb forces high-jacked ten UN trucks carrying food and medicine to Muslims. Also in March, the UN security council imposed sanctums.
The final decision was made on November 28, 1995 to send American troops to Bosnia. (see poll below) President Clinton gave the orders in a televised address, that we were going to change the happenings in Bosnia. [— WMF Graphic Goes Here —] In my belief, I feel that the issue in Bosnia is an important issue that only the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Yugoslavia should have concern about. The Muslims of Bosnia should not have to change their beliefs, customs, traditions or religion because a supposed influential government and their tyrants told them to do so. You should not have to change because people want you to.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson stated in his essay Self-Reliance, ” The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion” and ” Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. ” He is saying that conformity is wanted. People want you to be as everybody else. I also do believe, that UN and American troops should not be involved in anyway with the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Our own innocent loved ones will be killed, and for what gain of the American citizen or country as a whole? None. The Muslims, Serbs, and Croats should fight for what the believe in, and the strongest will eventually prevail.
