This is a
history of Bosnia and Herzegovina
.
Pre-Slavic Period (until 958)
Bosnia has been inhabited at least since
Neolithic times. In the late
Bronze Age, the Neolithic population was replaced
by more warlike
Indo-European tribes
known as the Illyres or
Illyrians.
Celtic migrations in the
4th and
3rd century
BCE displaced many Illyrian tribes from their former lands, but
some Celtic and Illyrian tribes mixed. Concrete historical evidence
for this period is scarce, but overall it appears that the region
was populated by a number of different peoples speaking distinct
languages. Conflict between the Illyrians and
Romans started in 229 BCE, but Rome wouldn't
complete its annexation of the region until 9 CE. In the Roman
period, Latin-speaking settlers from all over the
Roman empire settled among the Illyrians and
Roman soldiers were encouraged to retire in the region.
Christianity had already arrived in the
region by the end of the 1st century, and numerous artifacts and
objects from the time testify to this. Following events from the
years 337 and 395 when the Empire split, Dalmatia and Pannonia were
included in the
Western Roman
Empire. The region was conquered by the
Ostrogoths in 455, and further exchanged hands
between the
Alans and
Huns
in the years to follow. By the 6th century, Emperor
Justinian had re-conquered the area for the
Byzantine Empire. The Slavs, a
migratory people from northeastern Europe, were subjugated by the
Eurasian Avars in the 6th century,
and together they invaded the Eastern Roman Empire in the 6th and
7th centuries, settling in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina and
the surrounding lands. More South Slavs (namely Croats and Serbs)
came in a second wave, and according to some scholars were invited
by Emperor
Heraclius to drive the Avars
from Dalmatia.
Bosnian Kingdom (958–1463)
Modern knowledge of the in the west Balkans during the
dark ages is patchy. Upon their arrival, the Slavs
brought with them a tribal social structure, which probably fell
apart and gave way to
feudalism only with
Frankish penetration into the region in the
late 9th century (Bosnia probably originated as one such pre-feudal
Slavic entity). It was also around this time that the south Slavs
were Christianized. Bosnia, due to its geographic position and
terrain, was probably one of the last areas to go through this
process, which presumably originated from the urban centers along
the
Dalmatian coast.
The region of Bosnia
had been part of the kingdoms of Serbia
and Croatia
, whose
borders were often fluctuant. However, by the
high middle ages Croatia had been acquired
by the Hungarian Kingdom, and the Serbian state to the southeast
was in a period of stagnation. Control over Bosnia subsequently was
contested between the
Kingdom of
Hungary and the Byzantine empire, with the Byzantines initially
claiming it. Following the death of the Byzantine Emperor, Hungary
appointed a
Ban, one Kulin, to rule the
province under vassalage. However, this vassalage was largely
nominal.
The first
notable Bosnian ruler, Ban Kulin, presided
over nearly three decades of peace and stability during which he
strengthened the country's economy through treaties with Dubrovnik and Venice
. His rule also marked the start of a
controversy with the
Bosnian Church,
an indigenous Christian sect considered heretical by both the
Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox churches. In
response to Hungarian attempts to use church politics regarding the
issue as a way to reclaim sovereignty over Bosnia, Kulin held a
council of local church leaders to renounce the heresy in 1203.
Despite this, Hungarian ambitions remained unchanged long after
Kulin's death in 1204, waning only after an unsuccessful invasion
in 1254.
Bosnian history from then until the early 14th century was marked
by the power struggle between the
Šubić and
Kotromanić families. This conflict
came to an end in 1322, when
Stjepan II Kotromanić became ban.
By the time of his death in 1353, he had succeeded in annexing
territories to the north and west, as well as Zahumlje and parts of
Dalmatia. He was succeeded by his nephew
Tvrtko who, following a prolonged struggle with
nobility and inter-family strife, gained full control of the
country in 1367. Under Tvrtko, Bosnia grew in both size and power,
finally becoming an independent kingdom in 1377.Tvrtko crowned
himself "King of Serbia and all of Bosnia" in Monastery of
Mileseva(A monastery in which Serb dynasty of Nemanjics were
crowned). Following his death in 1391 however, Bosnia fell into a
long period of decline. The
Ottoman
Empire had already started its
conquest of Europe and posed a major
threat to the
Balkans throughout the first
half of the 15th century. Finally, after decades of political and
social instability, Bosnia officially fell in 1463. Herzegovina
would follow in 1482, with a Hungarian-backed reinstated "Bosnian
Kingdom" being the last to succumb in 1527.
Ottoman Era (1463–1878)
The Ottoman province of Bosnia.
The Ottoman conquest of Bosnia marked a new era in the country's
history and introduced tremendous changes in the political and
cultural landscape of the region. Although the kingdom had been
crushed and its high nobility executed, the Ottomans nonetheless
allowed for the preservation of Bosnia's identity by incorporating
it as an integral province of the Ottoman Empire with its
historical name and territorial integrity - a unique case among
subjugated states in the Balkans. Within this
sandžak (and eventual
vilayet) of Bosnia, the Ottomans introduced a number
of key changes in the territory's socio-political administration;
including a new landholding system, a reorganization of
administrative units, and a complex system of social
differentiation by class and religious affiliation.
The four centuries of Ottoman rule also had a drastic impact on
Bosnia's population make-up, which changed several times as a
result of the empire's conquests, frequent wars with European
powers, migrations, and epidemics. A native Slavic-speaking Muslim
community emerged and eventually became the largest of the
ethno-religious groups (mainly as a result of a gradually rising
number of conversions to
Islam), while a
significant number of
Sephardi Jews
arrived following their
expulsion from Spain in the late 15th
century. The Bosnian Christian communities also experienced major
changes. The Bosnian
Franciscans (and
the
Catholic population as a whole) were
protected by official imperial decree, although on the ground these
guarantees were often disregarded and their numbers dwindled. The
Orthodox community in
Bosnia, initially confined to Herzegovina and Podrinje, spread
throughout the country during this period and went on to experience
relative prosperity until the 19th century. Meanwhile, the
schismatic Bosnian Church disappeared altogether.
As the Ottoman Empire thrived and expanded into Central Europe,
Bosnia was relieved of the pressures of being a frontier province
and experienced a prolonged period of general welfare and
prosperity.
A number of cities, such as Sarajevo and
Mostar
, were established and grew into major regional
centers of trade and urban culture. Within these cities,
various Sultans and governors financed the construction of many
important works of Bosnian
architecture (such as the Stari most
and Gazi Husrev-beg's Mosque
). Furthermore, numerous Bosnians played
influential roles in the Ottoman Empire's cultural and political
history during this time.
Bosnian soldiers formed a large component of
the Ottoman ranks in the battles of Mohács
and Krbava
field, two decisive military victories, while numerous other
Bosnians rose through the ranks of the Ottoman military bureaucracy
to occupy the highest positions of power in the Empire, including
admirals, generals, and grand viziers. Many Bosnians also
made a lasting impression on Ottoman culture, emerging as mystics,
scholars, and celebrated poets in the Turkish, Arabic, and Persian
languages.
By the late 17th century, however, the Ottoman Empire's military
misfortunes caught up with the country, and the conclusion of the
Great Turkish War with the
Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 once
again made Bosnia the empire's westernmost province. The following
hundred years were marked by further military failures, numerous
revolts within Bosnia, and several outbursts of plague. The
Porte's efforts at
modernizing the Ottoman
state were met with great hostility in Bosnia, where local
aristocrats stood to lose much through the proposed reforms. This,
combined with frustrations over political concessions to nascent
Christian states in the east, culminated in a famous (albeit
ultimately unsuccessful) revolt by
Husein Gradaščević in
1831. Related rebellions would be extinguished by 1850, but the
situation continued to deteriorate. Later, agrarian unrest
eventually sparked the
Herzegovinian rebellion, a
widespread peasant uprising, in 1875. The conflict rapidly spread
and came to involve several Balkan states and Great Powers, which
eventually forced the Ottomans to cede administration of the
country to
Austria-Hungary through
the
Treaty of Berlin in 1878.
Austro-Hungarian Era (1878–1918)
The progression of the Balkans
[[Image:Religions in Bosnia, 1901.GIF|200px|thumb|right|Religious
confessions in the
Austro-Hungarian
region of Bosnia-Herzegovina and surroundings in 1901:
]]Though an Austro-Hungarian occupying force quickly subjugated
initial armed resistance upon take-over, tensions remained in
certain parts of the country (particularly Herzegovina) and a mass
emigration of predominantly Muslim dissidents occurred. However, a
state of relative stability was reached soon enough and
Austro-Hungarian authorities were able to embark on a number of
social and administrative reforms which intended to make Bosnia and
Herzegovina into a "model
colony". With the
aim of establishing the province as a stable political model that
would help dissipate rising South Slav
nationalism, Habsburg rule did much to codify
laws, to introduce new political practices, and generally to
provide for modernization.
Although successful economically, Austro-Hungarian policy - which
focused on advocating the ideal of a pluralist and
multi-confessional Bosnian
nation (largely
favored by the Muslims) - failed to curb the rising tides of
nationalism. The concept of Croat and Serb nationhood had already
spread to Bosnia and Herzegovina's Catholics and Orthodox
communities from neighboring Croatia and Serbia in the mid 19th
century, and was too well-entrenched to allow for the widespread
acceptance of a parallel idea of Bosnian nationhood. By the latter
half of the 1910s, nationalism was an integral factor of Bosnian
politics, with national political parties corresponding to the
three groups dominating elections.
The idea of a
unified South Slavic state
(typically expected to be spear-headed by independent Serbia)
became a popular political ideology in the region at this time,
including in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Austro-Hungarian
government's decision to formally annex Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908
(the
Bosnian Crisis) added to a sense
of urgency among these nationalists.
The political tensions
caused by all this culminated on 28 June 1914, when Serb
nationalist youth Gavrilo Princip
assassinated
the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, in Sarajevo; an event that proved to be the spark
that set off World War I.
Although 10% of the Bosniak population died serving in the armies
or being killed by the various warring states, Bosnia and
Herzegovina itself managed to escape the conflict relatively
unscathed.
Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941)
Following
World War I, Bosnia was incorporated into the South Slav kingdom of
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
(soon renamed Yugoslavia).Political life in
Bosnia at this time was marked by two major trends: social and
economic unrest over "
Agrarian Reform 1918-1919"
manifested through mass colonization and property confiscation;
also formation of several political parties that frequently changed
coalitions and alliances with parties in other Yugoslav regions.
The dominant ideological conflict of the Yugoslav state, between
Croatian regionalism and Serbian centralization, was approached
differently by Bosnia's major ethnic groups and was dependent on
the overall political atmosphere. Although the initial split of the
country into 33
oblasts erased the presence
of traditional geographic entities from the map, the efforts of
Bosnian politicians such as
Mehmed
Spaho ensured that the six oblasts carved up from Bosnia and
Herzegovina corresponded to the six sanjaks from Ottoman times and,
thus, matched the country's traditional boundary as a whole.
The establishment of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929, however,
brought the redrawing of administrative regions into
banates that
purposely avoided all historical and ethnic lines, removing any
trace of a Bosnian entity. Serbo-Croat tensions over the
structuring of the Yugoslav state continued, with the concept of a
separate Bosnian division receiving little or no consideration. The
famous
Cvetković-
Maček
agreement that created the Croatian banate in 1939 encouraged what
was essentially a partition of Bosnia between Croatia and Serbia.
However, outside political circumstances forced Yugoslav
politicians to shift their attention to the rising threat posed by
Adolf Hitler's
Nazi Germany. Following a period that saw
attempts at
appeasement, the signing of
the
Tripartite Treaty, and a
coup d'état, Yugoslavia was finally
invaded by Germany on 6 April 1941.
World War II (1941–1945)
Once the
kingdom of Yugoslavia was conquered by Nazi forces in World War II, all of Bosnia was ceded to the
Nazi-puppet
state of Croatia
. The Nazi rule over Bosnia led to widespread
persecution. The Jewish population was nearly exterminated. Over a
million Serbs died in Croat concentration camps. Many Serbs in the
area took up arms and joined the
Chetniks;
a Serb nationalist and royalist resistance movement that both
conducted
guerrilla warfare
against the Nazis but also committed numerous atrocities against
chiefly Bosnian Muslim civilians in regions under their
control.Consequently, several Bosnian Muslim paramilitary units
joined the Axis powers(ustase) to counter their own persecution in
the hands of the Serbs in Bosnia.
Starting in 1941, Yugoslav communists under the leadership of
Josip Broz Tito organized their own
multi-ethnic resistance group, the
partisans, who fought against Axis
,Ustase and Chetnik forces. On 25 November 1943 the
Anti-Fascist
Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia with Tito at its
helm held a founding conference in
Jajce where
Bosnia and Herzegovina was reestablished as a republic within the
Yugoslavian federation in its Ottoman borders.
Military success
eventually prompted the Allies to support the Partisans, and
the end of the war resulted in the establishment of the Socialist
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
, with the constitution
of 1946 officially making Bosnia and Herzegovina one of six
constituent republics in the new state.
Socialist Yugoslavia (1945–1992)
Because of its central geographic position within the Yugoslavian
federation, post-war Bosnia was strategically selected as a base
for the development of the military defense industry. This
contributed to a large concentration of arms and military personnel
in Bosnia; a significant factor in the
war that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia in
the 1990s. However, Bosnia's existence within Yugoslavia, for the
large part, was peaceful and prosperous. Being one of the poorer
republics in the early 1950s it quickly recovered economically,
taking advantage of its extensive natural resources to stimulate
industrial development. The Yugoslavian communist doctrine of
"
brotherhood and unity"
particularly suited Bosnia's diverse and multi-ethnic society that,
because of such an imposed system of tolerance, thrived culturally
and socially.
Though considered a political backwater of the federation for much
of the 50s and 60s, the 70s saw the ascension of a strong Bosnian
political elite. While working within the
communist system, politicians such as
Džemal Bijedić,
Branko Mikulić and
Hamdija Pozderac reinforced and protected
the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina Their efforts proved key
during the turbulent period following Tito's death in 1980, and are
today considered some of the early steps towards Bosnian
independence. However, the republic hardly escaped the increasingly
nationalistic climate of the time unscathed. With the fall of
communism and the start of the break-up of Yugoslavia, the old
communist doctrine of tolerance began to lose its potency, creating
an opportunity for nationalist elements in the society to spread
their influence.
Bosnian War (1992-1995)
[[Image:Eth relations 1991 bih.gif|thumb|left|200px|The
distribution of the three main ethnic groups in 1991 prior to the
Bosnian War.
]]
The 1990 parliamentary elections led to a national assembly
dominated by three ethnically-based parties, which had formed a
loose coalition to oust the communists from power.
Croatia and Slovenia
's subsequent declarations of independence and the
warfare that ensued placed Bosnia and Herzegovina and its three
constituent peoples in an awkward position. A significant
split soon developed on the issue of whether to stay with the
Yugoslav federation (overwhelmingly favored among Serbs) or seek
independence (overwhelmingly favored among Bosniaks and Croats). A
declaration of sovereignty in October 1991 was followed by a
referendum for independence from Yugoslavia in February and March
1992. The referendum was boycotted by the great majority of Bosnian
Serbs, so with a voter turnout of 64%, 98% of which voted in favor
of the proposal, Bosnia and Herzegovina became an independent
state.
While the first casualty of the war is debated, significant Serbian
offensives began in March 1992 in Eastern and Northern Bosnia.
Following a tense period of escalating tensions and sporadic
military incidents, open warfare began in Sarajevo on
April 6.International recognition of Bosnia and
Herzegovina meant that the
Yugoslav People's Army (JNA)
officially withdrew from the republic's territory, although their
Bosnian Serb members merely joined the
Army of Republika Srpska. Armed and
equipped from JNA stockpiles in Bosnia, supported by volunteers,
Republika Srpska's offensives in 1992 managed to place much of the
country under its control. By 1993, when an armed conflict erupted
between the Sarajevo government and the Croat statelet of
Herzeg-Bosnia, about 70%
of the country was controlled by the Serbs.
In March 1994, the signing of the
Washington accords between the Bosniak
and ethnic-Croatian leaders led to the creation of a joint
Bosniak-Croat
Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. This, along with international outrage at
Serb war crimes and atrocities (most
notably the
Srebrenica massacre
of as many as 8,000 Bosniak males in July 1995) helped turn the
tide of war.
The signing of the Dayton Agreement in Paris
by the
presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Alija Izetbegović), Croatia (Franjo Tuđman), and Yugoslavia (Slobodan Milošević) brought a
halt to the fighting, roughly establishing the basic structure of
the present-day state. The three years of war and bloodshed
had left between 95,000 and 100,000 people killed and more than 2
million displaced.
See also
References
Further reading
- Hoare, Marko Attila, The History of Bosnia: From the Middle
Ages to the Present Day, London: Saqi, 2007
- Cohen, Roger, Hearts Grown Brutal: Sagas of Sarajevo,
New York: Random House, 1998
- Lenard J. Cohen, Broken Bonds: The Disintegration of
Yugoslavia, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1993
- Roy Gutman, A Witness to Genocide: The 1993 Pulitzer
prize-winning dispatches on the "ethnic cleansing" of Bosnia, New
York: Macmillan, 1993
- Noel Malcolm, Bosnia: A Short
History, 1994
- Murray, Elinor et al., The Struggle for Peace in Bosnia:
Considering U.S. Options, Providence, RI: Center for
Foreign Policy Development of Brown University, 1992, ED 371
965
- Paolo Rumiz, Maschere per un massacro, Editori
Riuniti, Roma, 2000
- Joe Sacco, War's End Profiles from Bosnia 1995-96,
Drawn & Quarterly, 2005
- Michael Sells, The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide
in Bosnia, University of California Press, 1996
- Charles Shafer, Not My War, Williams and Wiliams
Press, 2004.
- Ed Vulliamy, Seasons in Hell: Understanding Bosnia's
War, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994
External links
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Bosnian War and post-war history
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