Yugoslav Civil War (21st Century Crisis)

Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav wars, also known as the Balkan Wars, known in Yugoslavia as the Patriotic War Against Traitors (Serbo-Croatian: Патриотски рат против издајника, Patriotski rat protiv izdajnika) was fought between 1990 through 1996, between the established government of the Federal Republics of Yugoslavia, and that of Croatian, Bosniak, Macedonian and Slovenian separatists. The collapse of the Warsaw Pact had weakened communist nations, and ethnic nationalists used this in an attempt to force Belgrade into granting them their independance. Croatian paramilitaries committed attacks against ethnic Serb communities in Croatia (specifically Krajina), as well as retaliatory attacks by Serb paramilitary groups. NATO supported the seperatists, however the Soviet Union supported Belgrade. After having withdrawn from the rest of Europe, the Soviets were able to focus their overseas forces into Yugoslavia, and deployed heavy sophisticated weapons into Yugoslavia, ranging from the S-300 and hundreds of aircraft.

The fight featured the first such incident in which shots were fired between NATO and Soviet troops.

Fighting was fierce, and took place for a total of about six years, however in the end, both sides grew weared out from years of fighting, and both also feared for an eventual lead to World War III.

The Soviets successfully helped Yugoslavia defeat the nationalists, and was able to help Yugoslav troops consolidate control of half of Kosovo, while the southern half remained under NATO control. The Pristina Accord was signed between the two camps, which created demilitarized zones in Kosovo.