Ten-Day War (1991): Slovenia's Short Fight for Independence

The Ten-Day War was the brief conflict between Slovenia and the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) that followed Slovenia’s declaration of independence in June 1991. Fought from 27 June to 7 July 1991, it was the first of the wars that accompanied the breakup of Yugoslavia. It was also by far the shortest and least deadly, and it left Slovenia as the first republic to leave the Yugoslav federation successfully.

Background

Slovenia was the most prosperous and ethnically uniform of Yugoslavia’s six republics. During the late 1980s, as Slobodan Milošević rose to power in Serbia and the federation’s economy faltered, Slovenian politicians and civil society pushed for greater autonomy and then for independence.

Relations with the army were already tense. In 1988 the JNA arrested the journalist Janez Janša and three others and tried them before a military court in Ljubljana, in Serbo-Croatian rather than Slovene. The case, known as the JBTZ trial, provoked mass protests and a broad Slovenian civil rights movement.

Multi-party elections in April 1990 brought the DEMOS coalition to power, while the reform communist Milan Kučan was elected president. In May 1990 the JNA ordered the weapons of Slovenia’s Territorial Defence, the republic’s reserve militia, to be handed over to army depots. Slovenian officials managed to keep part of them, and a secret network called the Manoeuvre Structure of National Protection was organised to build up an armed force. In a referendum on 23 December 1990, about 88 percent of all registered voters supported an independent Slovenia.

On 25 June 1991 Slovenia and Croatia both declared independence. Slovenia immediately took over its border crossings and customs posts with Italy, Austria and Hungary.

The fighting

On 27 June the JNA moved units towards the borders and Ljubljana airport to restore federal control. Slovenian Territorial Defence and police forces responded with roadblocks, often made of lorries and buses, and surrounded army barracks across the country. On the first day a JNA helicopter was shot down over Ljubljana, killing its pilot.

Clashes followed at border posts such as Holmec, Šentilj and Rožna Dolina, at Trzin near Ljubljana, at Brnik airport and around Gornja Radgona. Yugoslav aircraft attacked some targets, including the airport and radio transmitters. Many JNA soldiers were young conscripts from other republics, poorly supplied and uncertain why they were fighting, and several thousand surrendered or were captured.

Slovenia’s defence minister Janez Janša and interior minister Igor Bavčar directed the military and police effort. The Slovenian government also ran an effective media campaign, presenting the war to foreign journalists as a small democracy defending itself against a communist army.

The Brioni Agreement

The European Community sent a “troika” of foreign ministers, Hans van den Broek of the Netherlands, Jacques Poos of Luxembourg and João de Deus Pinheiro of Portugal, to mediate. A ceasefire was arranged within days, and on 7 July 1991 the parties signed the Brioni Agreement on the Brijuni islands off the Croatian coast.

Under the agreement, Slovenia and Croatia suspended the implementation of their independence for three months. Slovenia kept control of its borders, and the JNA returned to its barracks. In mid-July the Yugoslav presidency decided to withdraw the army from Slovenia altogether, and the last JNA soldiers left the port of Koper in late October 1991.

Consequences

Slovenia emerged as a functioning independent state with few losses. The European Community member states recognised it on 15 January 1992, and it joined the United Nations on 22 May 1992. It later became a member of NATO and the European Union in 2004 and adopted the euro in 2007.

Historians often explain the quick result by more than Slovenian preparation. Slovenia had almost no Serb minority, so leaders in Belgrade, including Slobodan Milošević, had little interest in a long war there. Many historians see the JNA’s limited effort as a sign that the army and Serbia’s leadership were already turning their attention to Croatia.

For the rest of Yugoslavia the outcome was much darker. The JNA’s withdrawal from Slovenia allowed it to concentrate on Croatia, where the Croatian War of Independence was already escalating, and later on Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the Bosnian War broke out in 1992.

By the numbers

Timeline

• 1990, 23 December: Slovenians vote overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum.
• 1991, 25 June: Slovenia and Croatia declare independence.
• 1991, 27 June: The Yugoslav army moves on border crossings and the airport; fighting begins.
• 1991, 28–30 June: Heaviest clashes at border posts, barracks and roadblocks.
• 1991, 7 July: The Brioni Agreement ends the fighting.
• 1991, 18 July: The Yugoslav presidency decides to withdraw the army from Slovenia.
• 1991, October: The last Yugoslav army units leave Slovenia.
• 1992, 15 January: European Community states recognise Slovenia.

Why it matters

The Ten-Day War showed that the Yugoslav federation could not be held together by force, and it opened the door to the independence of the other republics. Its short length and low death toll also stand in stark contrast to the much longer and bloodier wars in Croatia and Bosnia that followed.