Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995): Vukovar to Storm

The Croatian War of Independence, known in Croatia as the Homeland War, was fought from 1991 to 1995 after Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia. Croatian forces fought Croatian Serb rebels, who were backed by the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) and Serbia, for control of about a third of the country. The war, part of the wider breakup of Yugoslavia, included the siege of Vukovar and ended with Croatian offensives in 1995 and a negotiated return of the last occupied territory.

Background

In April and May 1990 Croatia held its first multiparty elections since the Second World War. The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of Franjo Tuđman won, and Tuđman became president. A new constitution in December 1990 defined Croatia as the national state of the Croatian people, which many of the republic’s Serbs, about 12 per cent of the population, saw as a downgrading of their status.

Memories of the Second World War, when the Ustaša regime of the Independent State of Croatia killed large numbers of Serbs, Jews and Roma, were revived by propaganda on both sides. In August 1990 Serbs around Knin, in the hinterland of Dalmatia, blocked roads with logs in what became known as the “Log Revolution”. They proclaimed Serb autonomous regions, later united as the Republic of Serbian Krajina, with support from Slobodan Milošević’s Serbia.

Armed clashes began in spring 1991, at the Plitvice Lakes on 31 March and at Borovo Selo near Vukovar on 2 May, where twelve Croatian policemen were killed. On 19 May 1991 a large majority of voters in a Croatian referendum backed independence, and Croatia declared independence on 25 June 1991.

The war of 1991

Fighting escalated over the summer of 1991. Serb rebels, joined by the JNA, which was increasingly dominated by Serbian officers, and by paramilitary groups from Serbia, took control of large parts of Slavonia, Banovina, Kordun, Lika and northern Dalmatia. Croatian civilians were expelled from these areas, and many villages were destroyed.

The Croatian side, at first poorly armed, blockaded JNA barracks across the country and seized weapons. On 7 October 1991 the JNA air force struck the presidential palace in Zagreb. The next day Croatia’s parliament cut all remaining ties with Yugoslavia.

The siege of Vukovar, a town on the Danube, became the defining battle of 1991. From late August the JNA and Serb paramilitaries surrounded and shelled the town, which was defended by a few thousand Croatian fighters. Vukovar fell on 18 November 1991, almost completely destroyed. Two days later around 200 prisoners, mostly wounded men and hospital staff, were taken from the town’s hospital and killed at the Ovčara farm nearby.

In the south, JNA and Montenegrin forces besieged Dubrovnik from October 1991. The shelling of its historic Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in particular on 6 December 1991, drew strong international condemnation.

Ceasefire and the frozen conflict

A ceasefire negotiated by UN envoy Cyrus Vance took effect on 3 January 1992. The UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) deployed to four UN Protected Areas covering the Serb-held regions. On 15 January 1992 the European Community recognised Croatia, and the country joined the United Nations on 22 May 1992.

The plan foresaw the return of displaced people and the demilitarisation of the protected areas, but this never happened. For three years the front lines stayed largely frozen, broken by Croatian operations such as Maslenica in January 1993 and the Medak Pocket in September 1993. Meanwhile Croatia was also drawn into the Bosnian War. Bosnian Croat forces backed by Zagreb were at first allied with the Bosniaks, fought them in 1993–1994, and then renewed the alliance under the Washington Agreement of March 1994.

Operations Flash and Storm

By 1995 the Croatian army had been reorganised and rearmed. In Operation Flash, on 1–3 May 1995, it retook Western Slavonia. In retaliation, Krajina Serb leader Milan Martić ordered rocket attacks on Zagreb on 2 and 3 May that killed seven civilians.

On 4 August 1995 Croatia launched Operation Storm (Oluja), its largest offensive of the war. Within days Croatian forces took Knin, the rebel capital, on 5 August, and most of the Krajina region. The Republic of Serbian Krajina collapsed. Around 150,000 to 200,000 Serbs fled to Bosnia and Serbia, one of the largest single displacements of the Yugoslav wars. Elderly Serbs who stayed behind were victims of killings, looting and arson in the following weeks.

The defeat of the Krajina Serbs also shifted the balance in Bosnia and helped lead to the Dayton Agreement later that year.

Peaceful reintegration and aftermath

The last Serb-held area, Eastern Slavonia around Vukovar, was handled by negotiation. Under the Erdut Agreement of 12 November 1995 it was placed under a UN Transitional Administration (UNTAES) and peacefully returned to Croatian control on 15 January 1998.

The war killed around 20,000 people, according to commonly cited estimates. Hundreds of thousands were displaced: Croats expelled in 1991 and Serbs who fled in 1995. Only part of the Serb population later returned, and Croatia’s Serb minority is today much smaller than before the war.

Key people

Franjo Tuđman, a former Partisan general turned historian and nationalist dissident, led Croatia as president from 1990 until his death in 1999. He oversaw the creation of the Croatian army and the 1995 offensives, but his government was also criticised for its nationalist rhetoric and its policy in Bosnia.

Slobodan Milošević, president of Serbia, supported the Krajina Serbs politically, financially and militarily, although in 1995 he did not intervene to save them. Milan Babić, a dentist from Knin, and Milan Martić, a former police officer, led the rebel Serb authorities at different stages of the war.

On the battlefield, Croatian commanders such as Ante Gotovina led the 1995 operations, while officers of the JNA, including those who commanded at Vukovar, later faced charges in The Hague. On all sides, ordinary civilians bore the heaviest burden, through shelling, expulsions and the loss of homes.

War crimes trials and legacy

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) tried cases from both sides. Milan Babić and Milan Martić, leaders of the Krajina Serbs, were convicted, as were JNA officers for the Ovčara killings. Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač were convicted in 2011 of crimes during Operation Storm, but acquitted on appeal in 2012. In 2015 the International Court of Justice rejected genocide claims brought by Croatia and Serbia against each other.

In Croatia, 5 August is celebrated as Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day, and 18 November is a day of remembrance for Vukovar. In Serbia and among Croatian Serbs, the anniversary of Operation Storm is marked as a day of mourning, showing how differently the war is still remembered.

Timeline

• 1990, 17 August: The “Log Revolution” begins around Knin.
• 1991, 19 May: Croatians vote for independence in a referendum.
• 1991, 25 June: Croatia declares independence.
• 1991, 18 November: Vukovar falls after a siege of nearly three months.
• 1992, 3 January: A UN-brokered ceasefire takes effect.
• 1992, 15 January: The European Community recognises Croatia.
• 1995, 1–3 May: Operation Flash retakes Western Slavonia.
• 1995, 4–7 August: Operation Storm retakes most of the Krajina.
• 1998, 15 January: Eastern Slavonia is peacefully returned to Croatia.

Why it matters

The Croatian War of Independence established Croatia as an independent state, today a member of NATO and the European Union. It also caused great loss of life, mass displacement on both sides and lasting divisions between Croats and Serbs. Its key events, from Vukovar to Operation Storm, remain central to national memory and to debates about justice after the Yugoslav wars.