All sides fought for ethnically pure territory. Bosnian Serb forces carried out the largest campaign of ethnic cleansing, and Croats and Bosniaks also fought each other.
"Ethnic cleansing" meant driving people of other groups out of an area by terror. It included killings, detention camps such as Omarska, mass rape and the destruction of homes and mosques.
Bosnian Serb forces under General Ratko Mladic carried out the largest campaign, especially in eastern and northern Bosnia. Serbia supplied money, weapons and officers.
In 1993 Bosnian Croat forces, backed by Croatia, fought the Bosniaks, most bitterly around Mostar. In March 1994 the USA brokered the Washington Agreement. It ended this fighting and created a Bosniak-Croat Federation.
By 1995 about 100,000 people had died. More than 2 million, about half the population, had been forced from their homes.
In 1995 the balance changed. Croatia's army recaptured Serb-held areas of Croatia in August, and Croat and Bosniak forces advanced in western Bosnia.
- Ethnic cleansing
- Driving out other groups by terror.
- Washington Agreement
- March 1994: Bosniak-Croat Federation.
- Human cost
- About 100,000 dead; over 2 million displaced.
Worked example: Roles of domestic and external actors
Who fought the war?
- Domestic state actor: the Bosnian government.
- Domestic non-state actors: Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat forces.
- External state actors: Serbia and Croatia.
- Others: paramilitary groups and foreign volunteers.
Watch out for this
The Bosnian War was fought only between Serbs and Muslims.
Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks also fought each other in 1993-1994, until the Washington Agreement.
Check your understanding
What did the Washington Agreement of March 1994 do?
- It ended Croat-Bosniak fighting and created a joint Federation.
- It ended the whole war.
- It gave Bosnia to Serbia.