Introduction

After the break-up of Austro - Hungary in 1918, Croats, together with Slovenians and Bosnians, wanted to create an independent country. However, Croatia was forced to unite with Serbia and Montenegro. This state was called the Kingdom of SCS (Serbs, Croats and Slovenes) and was ruled by the Serbian Karadjordjevic dynasty.

Since the Kingdom was created the Serbs, led by Nikola Pasic and Aleksandar Karadjordjevic, were trying to gain overall supremacy. They wished to realise a Serbian nationalistic dream - the "Great Serbia" - a country that would, apart from Serbia, include Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia - Herzegovina and Croatia. The idea of "Great Serbia" was created by certain Serbian intellectuals in the early XIX century, and has been a goal of Serbian nationalist politicians ever since. However, the Serbian king Aleksandar was facing strong resistance, mainly by Croats, led by Stjepan Radic. In 1928 Radic was assassinated by a Serb politician in the Kingdom's parliament. This caused massive demonstrations in Croatia, which resulted in general instability of the Kingdom. Thus in January 1929 Aleksandar declared dictatorship, changed the name of the Kingdom of SCS to Kingdom of Yugoslavia, banned political parties and introduced widespread police oppression of the non-Serbs. Many Croatian patriots emigrated.

Amongst them was Ante Pavelic, a man that would later become the leader of pro-nazi Croatia. However, in 1929 Pavelic was far from being a nazi butcher. During 1930-ies his activity abroad was mainly focused on gathering and training volunteers that would be willing to fight for Croatian freedom. These volunteers were called Ustashe, a name that would remain in history as the name of ruthless war criminals. But in 1930-ies, Ustashe were undoubtedly Croatian patriots, who had nothing to do Hitler's or Mussolini's plans.

Stjepan Radic was one of the greatest Croatian leaders.

King Aleksandar's dictatorship came to an abrupt end in 1934, when he was assassinated in Marseilles. It is thought that the assassination was carried out by Ustashe, as a revenge for the murder of Stjepan Radic in 1928. After the King's death, the Serbian leadership, which led the Kingdom in the name of Aleksandar's young son Petar, started a process of liberalisation of general conditions in the Kingdom. Croats and other nations were again given the right to have their political parties and representatives in Yugoslav parliament, but Serbian influence was still very strong.

Aleksandar Karadjordjevic just before assasination.

In 1941 the Yugoslav leadership agreed to join the Axis, which caused widespread demonstrations. New government was formed, which informed Berlin that it would continue to obey the mutual agreement. However, Hitler was very upset because of the demonstrations and did not believe the new leadership. His reaction was severe - on April 6th 1941, ten days after the demonstrations began, 27 German divisions invaded Yugoslavia. The young prince regent Petar, together with Serbian leadership, escaped to Britain in a British submarine, taking the Kingdom's gold reserves with him. Yugoslav army, often said by the Serbs to be invincible, was completely defeated after only 11 days of fighting. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia, despised by everyone but Serbs, was dead.

German warpanes attacked Belgrade on April 6th 1941.

Hitler and Mussolini had no intention of leaving Yugoslavia in the state in which it was before occupation. Instead, they wished to create several protectorates that would be led by persons loyal to the Axis. Thus, it was arranged that Slovenia would be led by Rupnik, Serbia by pro-nazi general Nedic and Croatia by Ante Pavelic. Pavelic agreed to serve the Germans and Italians because of two reasons; one: the main base of his Ustashe was in Italy, where they were supported by Mussolini; two: he thought that as a Croatian leader he could finally create an independent and prosperous Croatia. Indeed, even the Croatian people initially thought that the new "Independent State of Croatia" that was created on April 10th would be a realisation of Croatian nine centuries long dream for freedom. Thousands of young men volunteered to become Ustashe, not because they were pro-nazi oriented, but because they thought this was a new, Croatian army that would finally protect the interests of Croatian people. However, not more then a month later Croats started to realise the truth. Namely, on May 18th Pavelic and Mussolini agreed that Croatia would grant Italians the control of the most of the coastline - something that was interpreted by many Croats as Pavelic's treason of Croatia, one of many that he would commit during the war. Some are trying to justify Pavelic's actions by pointing out that Hitler and Mussolini were the real rulers of Croatia, and that, had Pavelic been the one that had the power of decision regarding Croatia, then the "Independent State of Croatia" would have been a thoroughly different country. Nonetheless, these justifications are little less than fiction, as the facts point in a completely different direction. Pavelic showed no reluctance in accepting the brutality of his Nazi masters. He organised his puppet state in the manner comparable to the organisation of Nazi Germany: propaganda that spread international hatred, widespread censorship, secret police that brutally destroyed any opposition of the government, mass executions without fair trials, and, worst of all, the existence of the Law of racial purity - the same law that served as the basis of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. Being organised in such a way, "Independent State of Croatia" was nothing more than yet another part of the Third Reich.

Strong patriotism led Ante Pavelic to serve the Axis. By doing so he betrayed Croats and humanity in general.

The general situation in Croatia worsened every day. The police and Gestapo started arresting and killing anyone opposing the regime, particularly communists. Several concentration camps were opened. Instead of the country of freedom, Croatia became the country of oppression. Thus many Croats, the same ones that celebrated the creation of the new country on April 10th, started organising anti-fascist resistance. On June 22nd 1941, the first partisan regiment in occupied Europe was formed near the Croatian town of Sisak. Soon thousands of people started joining the partisans. Later in the war, partisans across Yugoslavia became organised under the leadership of a Croatian communist leader - Josip Broz Tito.

Apart from Germans, Italians, Ustashe and partisans, another military group was present on the territory of former Yugoslavia. These were Cetniks, the remains of the Serbian army, led by Draza Mihajlovic. They were extreme Serb radicals, loyal to the idea of "Great Serbia". Cetniks committed the first war crimes on the territory of Yugoslavia, slaughtering Muslim civilians in eastern Bosnia, which was then a part of Croatia. Muslims, seeking revenge, joined Ustashe and started slaughtering Serbian civilians; Cetniks responded by continuing the brutal slaughters of Muslims and, later, Croats. Now Pavelic made a crucial error - he responded by increasing the oppression of Serbs. This started a long and bloody chain of war crimes, in which both Cetniks and Ustashe were equally to blame. The abyss of hatred between Croats and Serbs was now deeper then ever, but we must not forget that this abyss was created by the Serbs, as a result of their expansionist wishes and pre-war treatment of Croats.

The monument on the location of Jasenovac concentration camp. Ustashe killed here approximately 80,000 Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and Croats that opposed Pavelic's regime.

After four years of fierce fighting with Germans, Italians, Ustashe and Cetniks, partisans managed to liberate entire Yugoslavia. A large number of Cetniks joined partisans in the latter half of the war. However, Tito has not allowed Ustashe to do the same. As a result of this, there was a strong Serbian (ex-Cetnik) influence in partisans.

Draza Mihajlovic was killed by communists in 1945.

After the defeat of Pavelic's Croatia, more than 150,000 Croats gathered in northern Croatia and headed for Austria to surrender to the British army. These people were mostly remains of Pavelic's army and their families, but there were also civilians who did not want to live under communist rule. The British Fieldmarshal Harold Alexander, via General Patrick Scott in Bleiburg, refused to take the Croatian refugees under his protection, which was against the direct order of Winston Churchill and Geneva Conventions. Serbian and Slovenian partisans arrived and started killing the refugees and burying them in mass graves. This marked the beginning of Bleiburg slaughter - the biggest war crime committed in south-eastern Europe in World War II.

Croatian civilians and soldiers at Bleiburg field. A few days later they were killed and burried in unmarked graves.

Communists and former Cetniks in partisan uniforms brutally executed thousands of innocent men, women and children. In less then two weeks of that fateful May 1945 nearly 150,000 Croats were murdered, 4% of entire Croatian population. Those who survived this initial massacre were forced to walk across Yugoslavia, as far as Macedonia. They were shown to local population as trophies and kept in concentration camps that were previously used by Germans and Italians. The countryside of northern Croatia and Slovenia was covered with bodies. In Zagreb, machine-gun fire was heard for several days, as partisans executed Croatian and German prisoners of war. There were piles of bodies on mountain Medvednica, in Zagreb's northern suburbs. Thousands were imprisoned. All this happened without fair trials. The partisan leadership explained this by saying that trials are not needed as these murders are a part of communist revolution. It was a cleaning operation, needed to create a clean communist society. This Croatian national tragedy was celebrated in Serbia as a righteous act, which indeed it was not. The Western allies have not intervened, and the responsible for this Croatian holocaust have never been punished.

Despite the experiences of the past, Tito believed that Serbs should have the dominant role in the new communist Yugoslavia. This proved to be a major error, as it left the spirit of Serb radical nationalism alive. The majority of Yugoslav money was spent on Serbia, the army was Serb controlled, even history books had to be written according to Serbian wishes. Yugo-Serbian historians put most of the blame for the bad things on the territory of Yugoslavia during World War II on Croatian shoulders. Despite the fact that Serbs started the slaughters of civilians, and committed the majority of war crimes, including the biggest one at Bleiburg at the end of the war, Croatian patriots were constantly described as fascists whose only concern is the extermination of Serbs. Such opinion is still present in the books of some historians who base their research on Serbian communist literature.

Tito on the front cover of Life magazine.

In the early 1970-ies Tito finally started realising that after his death Serbs might wish to use their strong influence to create new "Great Serbia". Thus a new constitution was made in 1974, that gave the right to every state within Yugoslavia to separate and declare independence.

After Tito's death in May 1980, Yugoslavia was ruled by a presidium which consisted of eight representatives (one from each federal state) with a system of rotation - a different representative would become the presidium's president after each 6 months. The president was also the supreme commander of Yugoslav People's Army.

In the early 1980-ies Serbian intellectual and religious leadership started reviving Serbian nationalist feelings. These developments were also present in the Serb dominated Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). In 1985 and 1986 large military exercises and general military preparations were carried out in coastal Croatia, as a precaution against "possible NATO attack". These exercises and preparations took place in areas that would 5 years later become the centers of Serbian rebellion in Croatia. With JNA prepared and willing to follow the Serbian leadership, the Serbian nationalists were looking for someone to lead them. The scene was set for Slobodan Milosevic.

Slobodan Milosevic started four wars in ten years and lost them all.

Milosevic became the leader of Serbian Communist Committee in 1986. He immediately started his nationalistic policy. He abolished the autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina, and made them an integral part of Serbia. He then wished to strengthen the Serbian influence in other parts of Yugoslavia, particularly in Croatia and Bosnia. In 1988 he instructed the Serbs in Croatia to start demanding autonomy - although Serbs were only 8% of entire population of Croatia! In March 1989 Serbian employees of a factory in Croatian town Knin went on strike, but instead of demanding greater salary or more benefits, the employees raised Serbian flags and started chanting This is Serbia! Soon Serbs in other parts of Croatia started organizing similar nationalist demonstrations. The message that these Serbs was sending was clear - certain parts of Croatia should be added to Serbia. Needless to say, this was directly against Yugoslav constitution, but Croatian communist militia did not stop these demonstrations because of obvious reasons - most militia members were Serbs; this was a result of a pro-Serbian communist policy. However, the situation in Slovenia was different, so Slovenian militia prevented similar Serb nationalist demonstrations.

Serbian nationalists planned to divide the Croatian territory with the Italians, but they were gravely mistaken - because Italy was supporting the new Croatian government.

Milosevic's desire for united Yugoslavia controlled by Serbs started creating strong opposition. The first one to oppose him was Slovenian communist leader, Milan Kucan. But Kucan was not alone - his strongest ally was Croatian leader Ivica Racan, who was also against the aggressive Milosevic's policy. The relations between Slovenia and Croatia on one side, and Serbia on other worsened every day. Croatia and Slovenia were economically the most advanced parts of Yugoslavia and were contributing more than 50% of money to Yugoslav budget. This money was then distributed amongst federal states; most of it went to Serbia. Croatia and Slovenia would get by far less than they actually earned. "This has to stop. Croatia will no longer feed Serbia!" said Ivica Racan at the last Yugoslav Communist party assembly in Belgrade in January 1990. He and Milan Kucan demanded greater economical autonomy. Serbian delegation, led by Milosevic, refused this and, instead, wished to increase the unity of Yugoslavia. Croatian and Slovenian delegation left the assembly in protest - something that was unheard of in 45 years of communist Yugoslavia. After the Serbs refused the Slovenian and Croatian plan of reorganisation of Yugoslavia, only one way remained open for Slovenians and Croats - independence.

Milan Kucan and Ivica Racan were the first to oppose Milosevic's expansionistic policy.

Upon his return from Belgrade, Racan started organising the first democratic elections in Croatia since World War II. The elections were held in May 1990. The threat of Serbian nationalism had awoken the Croatian desire for freedom and independence. Thus the elections were won by Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). The new leader of Croats became Franjo Tudjman. He was initially a communist and a partisan during World War II. Later, Tudjman became the youngest general in Tito's army. But beside being a proven anti-fascist, he was also a moderate Croatian nationalist who, following the wishes of Croats, wished to create an independent Croatia. Milosevic immediately started putting to practice the plan of occupation of Slovenia and Croatia. In Croatian case the plan was simple: Serb population was instructed to start a rebellion against the new government; when the Croats respond, JNA would be sent to crush the Croats and, thereby, help the Serbs as if they were victims - this would justify the actions of JNA before the eyes of the world. This plan was prepared months before HDZ started ruling Croatia, which is the best proof that Serbs in Croatia were not endangered in any way - quite the opposite. In July 1990 Serbs in several parts of Croatia refused to recognise the new Croatian government. They were saying that the new government was endangering them in the same way Pavelic had 50 years before. After the Serb controlled JNA supplied them with weapons they blocked the local roads and declared autonomy. Croats had to tolerate this, as their newly formed police had only light weaponry.

Meanwhile, JNA prepared itself for war. On July 17th 1990, JNA headquarters informed Borisav Jovic, the Serbian representative in Yugoslav presidium, that the army had prepared a plan of usage of military units against Croatia, if the presidium makes such a decision. That report clearly mentions that Serbian guerilla groups, already present in Croatia, are to assist JNA forces. In September 1990, Yugoslav Minister of Defence Veljko Kadijevic informed Borisav Jovic that JNA is ready for intervention in Slovenia. Also,” JNA units will be ready for intervention in Croatia and Kosovo by the end of October this year. In Croatia, Serbian population will be instructed to start massive demonstrations and riots, which would enable JNA to intervene, stopping the demonstrations, eliminating the Croatian government and restoring Croatia to previous condition.”

The Serbs called Franjo Tudjman "the second Pavelic", but this was just a way of hiding the true aggressor - Serbia.

In order to justify the attack on Croatia, Milosevic's strong propaganda started spreading stories about fascist Croatian leadership that was "harassing the bare-handed Serbian population". The truth was completely different, but the world was still very fond of Yugoslavia, so many politicians world-wide started supporting Milosevic, as a person who could eliminate "the evil Slovenian and Croatian nationalism". Because of their selfish interests these politicians became accomplices in the horrible war crimes that would follow. Thousands of innocent civilians died thanks to the hypocrisy of French president Miterrand, British prime-minister Major, American president Bush (elder). Only a handful of world leaders realised what was really happening, but they were powerless to stop it.

German chancellor Kohl and foreign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher started openly supporting Croatian independence, but had to stop because USA, France and UK threatened Germany with political isolation.

Kucan and Tudjman wished to avoid the war, but they started making preparations for defence, which proved to be a wise measure. Several surrounding countries, mostly Hungary and Germany, helped Croatia by providing weapons and necessary equipment. In early 1991 Tudjman and Milosevic met and tried to solve mutual problems. But that was in vain - Milosevic had no intention of cancelling his expansionistic plans. On Easter Day 1991 Croatian special police was sent to lift the road block near Plitvice lakes. The policemen were ambushed by Serbian rebels, one policeman was killed - the first Croatian casualty of the Croatian war for independence. A month later 12 Croatian policemen were killed in an ambush near Vukovar. After this there was no return. Two weeks later 93% of Croats voted for independence.

On May 28th 1991 the first units of Croatian National Guard were formed. They were armed with weapons secretly smuggled in Croatia.

Following the will of Croatian people and the right of separation given to every federal state by Yugoslav constitution, Croatian parliament (Sabor) declared independence on June 25th. The same was done by Slovenian parliament. The next day JNA units, mostly tanks, left their barracks and started going through cities in Slovenia and Croatia, crushing everything in their path. This marked the beginning of the biggest conflict in post - WWII Europe.

JNA tanks on their way to Croatia and Slovenia, July 1991.

Just at that moment the Croatian representative Stipe Mesic became the president of Yugoslavian presidium by the mentioned system of rotation. Mesic now also became the supreme commander of JNA. He immediately ordered JNA units to return to their barracks. JNA units refused to obey his order. This was not a surprise - the new unofficial commander of JNA was Slobodan Milosevic. Serbian leadership and JNA generalstaff staged a coup d'etat, overthrowing legal Yugoslavian government. It was now clear that Mesic had no political power at all. He left Belgrade immediately in great secrecy - Milosevic's mercenaries had the order to track Mesic down and kill him. At the same moment Croatia and Slovenia stopped contributing to Yugoslav budget and Croatian and Slovenian conscripts started deserting JNA barracks. These dramatic events meant only one thing - Tito's Yugoslavia was dead.

Stipe Mesic is now the Croatian President.

Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, Yugoslavian Minister of Defence general Veljko Kadijevic and commander - in - chief of Yugoslav People's Army general Blagoje Adzic staged a coup d'etat as they ignored the commands of the legal Yugoslav leadership in Summer 1991.

The role of Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in the war in Croatia was well described by its supreme commander - Veljko Kadijevic. In his book Moje vidjenje raspada (1993), Kadijevic openly admits: "The plans for usage of JNA forces on entire Yugoslav territory were based on following main ideas: to destroy Croatian forces completely if the situation permits it, but certainly in the measure that would enable the realisation of given objectives; to realize full cooperation with Serbian rebels in Serbian krajina; to enable the completion of JNA withdrawal from Slovenia; and, especially, to bear in mind that the role of Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina would be crucial for the future of the whole Serbian nation. The location of JNA forces should be adjusted accordingly. The tasks would be carried out in two phases. In first, tactical counteroffensives would be used until Croatian aggression becomes evident; also, Serbian rebels in Croatia would be intensively organized and prepared. For this phase, fifteen to eighteen armoured, mechanized and infantry brigades would be mobilized. In second phase, using a combined strategic offensive operation, the Croatian army would be defeated and the given objectives fulfilled. ... By using the strongest group of armoured mechanized forces to liberate eastern Slavonia and to continue towards Zagreb and Varazdin, ie. the Slovenian border. At the same time, by using strong forces from Herceg Novi - Trebinje area to surround Dubrovnik and to arrive into Neretva valley and cooperate with forces that are advancing on direction Mostar - Split."

The masks have fallen. Yugoslav People's Army was no longer Yugoslav or of the people. It was now a Serbian army, prepared to start a war for Serbian territorial expansion. By liberation Kadijevic, Adzic, Milosevic and others alike them meant genocide and the creation of ethnically clean Serbian territories. It was a fascist army, hiding behind a red star.

What was happening with other Yugoslav states? Montenegro was strongly on Serbian side, while Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina were neutral. Bosnian leader Alija Izetbegovic, still believing in federal institutions, was even criticising Slovenian and Croatian leadership and was not making any kind of preparations for the possible war with Serbia. This proved to be a fatal error. When Serbs attacked Bosnia in April 1992 Muslim policemen were almost completely defeated. The only thing that saved Bosnia was the prepared Croatian defence in Herzegovina. Later in the war Muslims were supplied with weapons by Croats and certain Arab nations, thus compensating the lack of their pre-war preparations.

Alija Izetbegovic played a neutral role in 1991, which he bitterly regretted later; in 1992 his country was completely unprepared for Serbian attack.

In July 1991, the policemen and poorly armed volunteers of Slovenia and Croatia stood alone against the fifth strongest army in Europe. JNA tried to crush Slovenian resistance by laying a siege on all Slovenian borders, but Slovenian policemen were determined and aggressive in their defence. Milosevic realised that JNA units in Slovenia were in a bad position - they could be easily cut off by Croats and then surrounded by joined Croatian and Slovenian units. And besides, Slovenia was by far less important to him than Croatia. He wanted entire Croatia occupied in accordance with the plan of "Great Serbia". So he decided to withdraw JNA units from Slovenia after only 10 days of fighting. Now the wrath of mighty JNA was directed at Croatia. This was the most critical moment in 14 centuries of Croatian history. Defeat would mean extermination.

Lady Margaret Thatcher and Italian president Francesco Cossiga were strong advocates of Croatia in 1991. Because of their honorable role, they received medals from Croatian government in 1998.

The Serb rebels in Croatia, together with JNA units, were expanding the territory under their control every day. Poorly armed Croatian defenders put up fierce resistance but they were powerless against tanks, artillery, warplanes. There were many negotiations, but to no avail - Serbs just used them to regroup and then continued attacking. This was called the "crawling strategy" - occupation in little steps. Croatian population in occupied areas was either killed or expelled to the areas under Croatian control. This horror was named - ethnic cleansing. The "bare-handed Serbian population" that was "endangered by Croatian fascist government" started "liberating" Croatia from - Croats themselves. Genocide returned to Europe after 45 years.

Pope John Paul II. was undoubtedly the greatest Croatian ally in 1991.

Croatian diplomats were constantly asking for help. Dramatic video footage of slaughtered civilians and razed villages could be seen on CNN and other TV stations every day, but few cared. Pope John Paul II begged the world leaders to help Croatia; nobody listened. At the end of August 1991 the Serbs gathered massive forces in Vojvodina for a final attack on Croatia, that would come across Slavonia, the eastern part of the country. Realising the might of the Serbian army, many world leaders, still supporting Milosevic, turned their heads away from Croatian people, thinking that poorly armed Croats would be crushed within two weeks.

At this most desperate moment in their history, Croats gathered as many weapons as they could and organised a first line of defence in the Croatian easternmost town of Vukovar. The town was defended by approximately 1,800 Croatian policemen and volunteers; against them stood the Serbian army of some 65,000 soldiers, 1,400 tanks and armoured personnel carriers, 1,500 pieces of artillery and over 100 warplanes and gunship helicopters. Realising that the battle of Vukovar would be decisive in many ways, Croats held their breaths as the battle for this Croatian Stalingrad began on August 24th 1991.

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