AP European History

## Learning Outcomes

- Explain how the collapse of communism after **1989** allowed nationalism to reappear in Yugoslavia
- Identify why **Bosnia-Herzegovina** became the most violent part of the Yugoslav breakup
- Distinguish clearly between **ethnic cleansing** and **genocide**
- Recall the key events of the **Bosnian War, 1992-1995**, including the **Siege of Sarajevo** and **Srebrenica**
- Analyse the role of **Slobodan Milošević** and Bosnian Serb leadership in worsening the conflict
- Evaluate the strengths and limits of the international response, including **NATO** and the **Dayton Accords**
- Use Bosnia as evidence in AP Euro arguments about nationalism, European stability, and postwar atrocities

## AP European History Syllabus

For the AP European History, you are expected to understand postwar nationalism, ethnic conflict, and atrocities in contemporary Europe, with a focus on the following syllabus points:

- Know that the breakup of **Yugoslavia** followed the weakening of communist authority after **1989**
- Identify the sequence of independence: **Slovenia and Croatia in 1991**, **Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992**
- Explain why **Bosnia** faced worse violence than Slovenia, especially because of its mixed population and rival territorial claims
- Understand the role of **Serbian nationalism** under **Slobodan Milošević**
- Explain the difference between **ethnic cleansing** and **genocide**
- Know that the **Bosnian War lasted from 1992 to 1995**
- Recall the importance of the **Siege of Sarajevo**, **Srebrenica genocide** in **July 1995**, and the **Dayton Accords** in **1995**
- Understand how this topic fits AP themes of **national and European identity** and **states and other institutions of power**

## Test Your Knowledge

_Attempt these questions before reading this article. If you find some difficult or cannot remember the answers, look more closely at that area during your revision._

1. Why did the breakup of Yugoslavia become especially violent in Bosnia?
2. What is the difference between ethnic cleansing and genocide?
3. Why is **Srebrenica** the most important atrocity to remember for this topic?
4. How did **Milošević** use nationalism in the 1990s?
5. What did the **Dayton Accords** achieve, and what did they fail to solve?

## Introduction

The Balkans are one of the clearest reminders that nationalism did not disappear after **1945**. In AP European History Unit 9, Bosnia matters because it shows that even after decades of talk about European recovery, stability, and integration, ethnic nationalism could still produce mass killing in Europe itself.

The key argument you need is this: after the collapse of communist authority, Yugoslavia lost the political force that had been holding its different peoples together. Nationalism then shifted from something claimed in the name of self-determination to something far more exclusionary. In Bosnia, that shift helped produce ethnic cleansing, atrocity, and genocide.

> **Key Term: nationalism**
> Political loyalty based on a shared national identity. In the Balkans in the 1990s, nationalism often became exclusive, territorial, and hostile to other groups.

### Why Yugoslavia broke apart after the Cold War

Yugoslavia had been a **multiethnic federation** that included **Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Montenegro**. Under **Josip Broz Tito**, especially after the Second World War, the state stayed together partly because Tito was a strong leader and partly because communist rule pushed ethnic rivalries into the background.

That did not mean the rivalries vanished. It meant they were contained. Once Tito died in **1980**, the system became weaker. Once communism weakened across eastern Europe after **1989**, that container broke.

Several forces came together:

- the loss of strong central authority
- economic stress
- disputes over political power inside the federation
- the return of older ethnic and religious loyalties
- politicians who found that nationalism could win support
  > **Key Term: breakup of Yugoslavia**
  > The collapse of the Yugoslav federation in the early 1990s as its republics declared independence and competing national movements fought over territory and power.

Students often miss the link between **communism’s collapse** and **nationalism’s rise**. The fall of communism did not automatically create democracy and peace. In Yugoslavia, it removed the system that had restrained open ethnic competition. Once power was up for grabs, leaders could claim to defend “their people” against neighbouring groups.

This is why AP questions may frame Bosnia as both a **post-Cold War** event and a **nationalism** event. Those are not separate ideas. They are part of the same cause-and-effect chain.

Slovenia and Croatia declared independence in **1991**. Bosnia-Herzegovina followed in **1992**. But the consequences were not equal.

### Why Bosnia became the centre of the bloodiest violence

Bosnia was much more vulnerable than Slovenia. Slovenia was relatively more homogeneous and was less entangled in competing ethnic territorial claims. Bosnia was the opposite. Its population included **Bosniaks** (mostly Muslim), **Serbs** (mostly Eastern Orthodox), and **Croats** (mostly Roman Catholic), living mixed together across towns, villages, and regions.

That mix mattered. In a place where groups live side by side, it is much harder to draw borders without deciding who belongs, who rules, and who must leave. That is exactly where the conflict became most brutal.

> **Key Term: Bosniaks**
> The mainly Muslim South Slavic ethnic group in Bosnia-Herzegovina, distinct from the broader term Bosnians.

Bosnia’s independence created a crisis for Bosnian Serb leaders, who did not want to become a minority inside an independent Bosnian state. With support from **Slobodan Milošević**, Serbian nationalism increasingly argued that Serbs in Bosnia should remain linked to a larger Serbian political project.

> **Key Term: Slobodan Milošević**
> Serbian leader associated with aggressive Serbian nationalism during the Yugoslav breakup and with support for Serb forces in Bosnia and later Kosovo.

This is where students need a distinction. Not all nationalism in the Yugoslav breakup was identical. Slovenian, Croatian, and Bosnian independence movements often claimed **self-determination**: the right of a people to govern itself. Serbian nationalism under Milošević often took a different form: it aimed to keep or gather Serb populations across borders, even by force.

That difference helps explain why Bosnia became a battleground. Bosnia’s leaders sought an independent, internationally recognised state. Bosnian Serb leaders sought to prevent that state from functioning over territories they claimed. Since populations were mixed, the struggle became one over territory and population at the same time.

> **Test Tip:** In an LEQ or SAQ, do not say “ancient hatreds” and stop there. AP examiners want causation. Link long-term ethnic tension to short-term triggers such as communist collapse, weak federal government, economic stress, and nationalist leaders.

### Ethnic cleansing, siege warfare, and genocide in Bosnia

The **Bosnian War** lasted from **1992 to 1995** and was the bloodiest conflict of the Yugoslav breakup. It involved siege warfare, detention camps, rape, forced deportation, mass killing, and the destruction of civilian life.

One of the most important terms here is **ethnic cleansing**.

> **Key Term: ethnic cleansing**
> The forcible removal of an ethnic or religious group from a territory through intimidation, deportation, violence, or murder.

Ethnic cleansing is about making territory more ethnically uniform. The aim is removal. That may include killing, but the legal idea is not exactly the same as genocide.

> **Key Term: genocide**
> Acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.

This distinction matters a lot on the exam. During the Bosnian conflict, many acts were described as ethnic cleansing. The clearest legal example of **genocide** was **Srebrenica**.

Before that, however, the conflict had already become notorious through the **Siege of Sarajevo**. From **1992 to 1995**, Bosnian Serb forces besieged the Bosnian capital. Civilians faced shelling, sniper fire, fear, shortages, and constant danger. Sarajevo became a symbol of two things at once: the brutality of the war and the weakness of the early international response.

The significance of Sarajevo is not just that civilians suffered. It showed how a nationalist war could target ordinary urban life itself. Markets, streets, homes, and public spaces became military targets. This made the war impossible to dismiss as simply a border dispute.

The central atrocity to know is the **Srebrenica genocide** in **July 1995**. Bosnian Serb forces killed more than **8,000 Bosniak men and boys** and forcibly deported thousands of women, children, and elderly people.

Why is Srebrenica so important?

First, it is the strongest evidence that this conflict included genocide, not only displacement.

Second, international courts later gave it that legal status. Both the **ICTY** and the **ICJ** recognised Srebrenica as genocide.

Third, for AP Euro, Srebrenica is the best example to use if asked to explain postwar atrocities in Europe after **1945**.

> **Key Term: Srebrenica genocide**
> The July 1995 mass murder of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces, recognised in international law as genocide.

A common mistake is to treat all Yugoslav wars as one event. Bosnia is the key case here. Kosovo matters later, but Bosnia is the main example for Topic 9.5 because it most clearly combines post-Cold War nationalism, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.

### International response, legal judgment, and historical significance

The international response was hesitant at first. That hesitation is part of the story. European governments and international organisations were slow to stop the violence, even as evidence of atrocities mounted. This helps explain why Sarajevo and Srebrenica became symbols not only of nationalist brutality, but also of international failure.

Eventually, stronger action followed. **NATO intervention in 1995** helped pressure the belligerents toward settlement. This matters because it shows a new post-Cold War role for NATO: not simply deterring the Soviet Union, but intervening in European conflict after communism’s collapse.

The war ended with the **Dayton Accords**, negotiated in **November 1995** and signed in **December 1995**.

> **Key Term: Dayton Accords**
> The 1995 peace settlement that ended the Bosnian War and kept Bosnia-Herzegovina as one state divided internally between the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.

Dayton succeeded in one essential way: it stopped the war.

But it did not create a simple, unified national state. Bosnia remained one country, yet divided into major internal entities. That is why historians often describe the peace as fragile or uneasy. The settlement ended open warfare without solving all the political tensions that caused it.

You also need precision about later legal judgments. The **ICTY** dealt with **individual criminal responsibility**. It convicted figures including **Radovan Karadžić** and **Ratko Mladić** for genocide connected to Srebrenica.

The **ICJ**, by contrast, dealt with **state responsibility**. In its **26 February 2007** judgment, it recognised that genocide occurred at Srebrenica, but it did **not** rule that Serbia itself directly committed genocide. It did rule that Serbia failed to prevent genocide and failed to punish by not fully cooperating.

That is a distinction students often blur.

> **Test Tip:** If an essay asks about “atrocities,” use exact legal language carefully. Say that Srebrenica was recognised as genocide. Do not overstate the ICJ ruling by saying Serbia was found directly guilty of committing genocide.

For AP themes, Bosnia is powerful evidence in at least three ways:

- **National and European identity:** nationalism remained a dangerous force after the Cold War
- **States and other institutions of power:** weak states and collapsing federations could produce violence, while NATO and international courts tried to respond
- **Continuity and change:** nationalism in the 1990s still had destructive force, much as it had in earlier European crises, including the Balkans before **1914**

A strong AP argument would say that Bosnia proved Europe had not fully moved beyond ethnic conflict. The same continent that built the **European Union** and celebrated postwar stability could still experience atrocity when multinational states collapsed and exclusive nationalism took hold.

## Key Point Checklist

_This article has covered the following key knowledge points:_

- Yugoslavia was a multiethnic federation held together under **Josip Tito**
- The weakening of communist authority after **1989** allowed ethnic nationalism to reappear
- **Slovenia and Croatia declared independence in 1991**, and **Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992**
- Bosnia became the most violent arena because its population was highly mixed and rival groups claimed the same territory
- **Slobodan Milošević** promoted Serbian nationalism and supported Serb efforts in Bosnia
- **Ethnic cleansing** means forcible removal of a group from a territory
- **Genocide** requires intent to destroy a protected group in whole or in part
- The **Bosnian War lasted from 1992 to 1995**
- The **Siege of Sarajevo** symbolised civilian suffering and weak early international action
- The **Srebrenica genocide** in **July 1995** involved the killing of more than **8,000 Bosniak men and boys**
- **NATO intervention in 1995** helped force movement toward peace
- The **Dayton Accords** ended the war but left Bosnia politically divided and fragile

## Key Terms and Concepts

- nationalism
- breakup of Yugoslavia
- Bosniaks
- Slobodan Milošević
- ethnic cleansing
- genocide
- Srebrenica genocide
- Dayton Accords


Postwar Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and Atrocities - New nationalisms produced Balkan genocide