In the beginning, the former Yugoslavia consisted of six republics and two independent.
Today Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia are.
independent nations and the rest form the country of Yugoslavia. Bosnia-Herzegovina had.
a population of 4.4 million, before the war. It also consisted of several mixes of religious.
groups. About 45% were Bosnian Muslims, 30% Bosnian Serbs (Eastern Orthodox), and.
15% Bosnian Croats (Roman Catholics). Bosnian Muslims are known as the Slavs, who.
had converted to Islam after the Ottoman Empire conquered the region, in the 14th and.
15th century. Bosnia had been part of Yugoslavia from World War I until the end of the.
Cold War. In March of 1992, Bosnia had declared independence. .
During World War II, armed groups claiming loyalty to various ethnic parties.
fought both against each other and against the Nazi Party. By 1945, about one-million.
Yugoslavs had lost their lives, by their very own people. Croatian fascists were known.
widely for killing Communists, Gypsies, Jews, Serbs, and political opponents. The.
Communist-led Partisans fought against them with the support of the Allies. They were.
victorious at the end of the war. The Partisan leader, Josip Broz known as Tito, ruled the.
country as a one-party socialist state. Tito understood the importance of dividing power.
fairly among the Yugoslav ethnic groups, without using restraining plans and centralized.
control. It was a serious crime to openly express ethnic desires of any kind, under the.
communist rule. .
After Tito's death in 1980, the nation collapsed into economic and political decline.
as a joint leadership began to fight over power. Finally later on in the 1980's, communism.
had collapsed. The impatient population started to look for solutions to provide economic.
