SUMMARY
[Note to reader: this Country page primarily contains brief information about state-based violence during the period 1946–1974, and to some extent 1975–1988. For more detailed information on organized violence after 1989, please consult the specific Conflict and Dyad pages available on the left-hand side of this page. These pages contain (when applicable) more detailed information regarding all three categories of organized violence in this country from 1989 and onward, as well as detailed information about state-based violence 1975–1988. The left-hand side menu also contains links to Actor pages for all groups involved in organized violence since 1989 in this country, as well as actors involved in state-based violence 1975–1988.]
Croatia became independent from Yugoslavia in 1991. For information on the armed conflict between the Croatian separatists and the government of Yugoslavia, see the Serbia (Yugoslavia): Croatia conflict.
The Republic of Croatia, in its modern form, was declared independent on 25 June 1991, and thus seceded from the Yugoslav federation. Franjo Tudjman, the nationalist leader of the HDZ party (Croatian Democratic Union, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica), became the first president of this independent state.
Before independence Croatia had been a constituent republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, created in 1946 by Josip Broz Tito. Tito’s death and the fall of communism led to an increase in nationalist rhetoric, however, as political elites scrambled for electoral support in the late 1980s. In the Croatian constituent republic, the HDZ nationalists were victorious in the 1990 elections and soon began a drive for self-rule for the Croatian people. Croatia’s declared independence came soon after the secession from Yugoslavia by Slovenia and precipitated the complete division of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as Bosnia and Herzegovina soon followed suit.
Initially the central government, controlled by Serbian politicians, resisted the Croatian secession, and an armed conflict broke out in 1991. This conflict is viewed by the UCDP as being an intrastate conflict within Yugoslavia. In April 1992 Croatia was recognized as an independent state and Yugoslavia withdrew its territorial claims, thus ending that particular conflict.
However, fighting continued between 1992 and 1995 since Croatian Serbs had declared the Serbian Republic of Krajina on Croatian territory in fear of becoming a minority within the new state. The Serbian Republic of Krajina fought the government of Croatia, supported by Yugoslavia and Serbian irregular forces, for the independence (or merger into Yugoslavia) of this political entity. UN peacekeeping troops were dispatched to the disputed territories in 1992, decreasing the overall level of violence to such a degree that the conflict became inactive in 1994. However, the UN failed to demilitarize the Serb-held areas and mediate a negotiated solution to the conflict. Subsequently, a built-up Croatian army decisively defeated the Croatian Serbs in 1995, ending the conflict. A peace agreement was also signed the same year, however, delineating Serbian civil rights in Croatia.
During the turbulent years of the early 1990s, Croatia supported the Bosnian Croat forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina in their armed conflict with the government of Bosnia. Croatia committed combat troops during 1993 (thus being a secondary warring party) to the Croatian Republic of Bosnian and Herzegovina.
In 2006 Croatia was a secondary warring party in the USA’s conflict with al-Qaida. Croatia has also been a secondary warring party on the side of the government of Afghanistan in the intrastate conflict with the Taleban that began in 2003.
Since 1946 Croatia has experienced the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organized violence.
