The Fall of Yugoslavia 1991-1999, map

Presenting the wars of 1991–1999 on a single page required exceptional skill in condensing complex historical processes and adapting them to the format of a printed historical map. Achieving clarity and accuracy in this form was a unique challenge, successfully met through careful data selection and precise visualisation. Recognising that the war assumed distinct characteristics not only in each of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia but also in individual cities across Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, we decided to visually represent the types of war in each of these areas. It was imperative to explain that the four wars fought in this territory shared a common framework.

In 1980, following the death of Josip Broz Tito, the unifier of the new Yugoslavia, the dissolution of Europe’s most tolerant communist country began.

The centre of the Yugoslav drama kept shifting, international and local actors changed, players disappeared from the stage, and new ones emerged… Only one figure remained on the scene the entire time – Slobodan Milošević. His war machinery continued its destruction relentlessly for more than a decade (his power in Serbia had been growing since 1987). The Yugoslav People’s Army, which both international and local analysts warned could destroy Yugoslavia if democratic reforms did not take place, was used by Milošević for the project of creating a Greater Serbia, carefully orchestrated so it would appear that the JNA was intervening in a civil war, thus shielding Serbia from accusations of uninvited aggression. Slobodan Milošević once stated: “Borders are always dictated by the strongest. We believe it is the legitimate right of Serbs to live in a single country. That is the beginning and the end. And if we have to fight for it, God is my witness - we will fight!”

War was needed as a mechanism to relocate people and divide the entire state. Ethnically pure regions were not the consequence of war - they were its goal. The same applies to the concentration camps, the siege of Sarajevo, massacres, genocide in Srebrenica, the siege of Vukovar, scorched villages, the destruction of Dubrovnik, the demolition of urban infrastructure, the rape of women, the targeting of cultural and historical monuments, the destruction of religious buildings, the collapse of the economy, media warfare, the killing and displacement of Albanians in Kosovo…

Additional context
Slobodan Milošević and his regime caused and led four wars across the territory of the former Yugoslavia: in 1991 in Slovenia; in 1991 in Croatia; in 1992 in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and in 1999, the grand finale in Kosovo and the NATO airstrikes on Serbia.

The Fall of Yugoslavia 1991–1999 map is our contribution to the documentation and archiving of events in the former Yugoslavia during that period. The map was created by establishing a chain of causes and consequences. When the crisis in Kosovo began, we realised it was essential to connect all events from 1991 to 1999 and to explain that the conflict in Kosovo was not an isolated incident, but the result of the wars that took place between 1991 and 1995, ending with the Dayton Peace Agreement. Special attention was given to understanding the different types of wars fought in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, as well as the unique forms of conflict in various cities across the former Yugoslavia.

We begin the chronology of Yugoslavia’s collapse with Tito’s death in 1980, though we are fully aware that the roots of the conflict go much further back. This chronology, along with the dossiers on the wars in various cities of Croatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, represents our contribution to the documentation, research, and final reconstruction of what truly happened in the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 1999.

Note:
All of these projects have since demonstrated that this method is key to documenting events if we want our efforts to serve as a meaningful contribution to the interpretation and understanding of the 1991–1999 period in the former Yugoslavia, for both local and global education. This project has already proven and continues to prove its value as a contribution to the process of truth and reconciliation, as well as to the democratisation of post-war society.