Croatian War of Independence | |||||||||
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Part of the Yugoslav Wars | |||||||||
Clockwise from top left: the central street of Dubrovnik, the Stradun, in ruins during the Siege of Dubrovnik; the damaged Vukovar water tower, a symbol of the early conflict, flying the Croatian tricolour; soldiers of the Croatian Army preparing to destroy a Serbian tank; the Vukovar Memorial Cemetery; a Serbian T-55 tank destroyed on the road to Drniš |
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Republic of Serbian Krajina Serbia)(1991–92) |
Croatia Bosnia and Herzegovina |
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Slobodan Milošević Milan Martić Milan Babić Goran Hadžić Mile Mrkšić Radovan Karadžić Ratko Mladić Veljko Kadijević Jovica Stanišić Franko Simatović |
Franjo Tuđman Gojko Šušak Anton Tus Janko Bobetko Zvonimir Červenko Petar Stipetić Atif Dudaković |
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Strength | |||||||||
JNA 145,000 (1991) RSK 50,000 (1995) |
Croatia 70,000 (1991) 200,000 (1995) |
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Casualties and losses | |||||||||
RSK 4,177 soldiers and 2,650 civilians killed or missing 300,000 displaced JNA 1,279 soldiers killed |
Croatia 6,788–8,784 soldiers and 4,508–7,186 civilians killed or missing 220,000 displaced |
Croatian victory
Republic of Serbian Krajina
Republika Srpska
(1992–95)
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat operations in Croatia by 1992. In Croatia, the war is primarily referred to as the "Homeland War" (Domovinski rat) and also as the "Greater-Serbian Aggression" (Velikosrpska agresija). In Serbian sources, "War in Croatia" (Rat u Hrvatskoj) and "War in Krajina" (Rat u Krajini) are used.
A majority of Croats wanted Croatia to leave Yugoslavia and become a sovereign country, while many ethnic Serbs living in Croatia, supported by Serbia, opposed the secession and wanted Serb-claimed lands to be in a common state with Serbia. Most Serbs effectively sought a new Serb state within a Yugoslav federation, including areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina with ethnic Serb majorities or significant minorities, and attempted to conquer as much of Croatia as possible. Croatia declared independence on 25 June 1991, but agreed to postpone it with the Brioni Agreement and cut all remaining ties with Yugoslavia on 8 October 1991.