Bosnia

A brief history. Yugoslavia was formed after WWI, changed governments and names many times, but fell apart completely in the early 1990s along with western communism in general. Serbia, the largest and most populated area in the former republic, tried to keep it all together for a "Greater Serbia".

Alas, each group has jumped ship by force or by vote. Most notably are the Bosnian and Croatian wars for independence and recently the Kosovo conflict. What once was Yugoslavia is now Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and the UN administered Kosovo. The history is all very complicated.

Serbia gets the bad guy award by far. When Yugoslavia fell apart Bosnia and the capital Belgrade were left with the weapon stockpiles. A land grab insued and Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic became very unpopular with the world. In the end, Milosevic was charged with war crimes and died of a heart attack in the Hague (2006).

Many may remember that Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, was under siege from 1992 to 1995 by Serbian forces. The city, with over 300,000 people, was cut off from the outside world for nearly 3 years - the longest siege in modern history. The Serbs took positions high above the city and could comfortably shell the city at will. An estimated 329 bombs fell per day and 20,000 people were killed - 85% of which were civilian.



Town of Mostar. Sadly this door is not so unusual. Look at the childs drawing on the right - Houston Rockets basketball fan.


Sarajevo, home to the 1984 winter olympics.







UN protection forces. Widely criticized for their impotence during the war. They could only stand back and watch as the Serbian forces shelled a largely civilian population.



The only lifeline into Sarajevo, built in 1993.



One surprise is the Muslim influence. Approximately 60% of the population. Same call to prayer 5 times a day.



Hotel Holiday Inn. Famous for being the only operating hotel during the siege. Most any footage or reporting was done in this hotel. The only connection to the world.





Throughout Bosnia new gravesites fill the landscape. Many of the dead were young men, fighting and dying while I was attending frat parties in college. This young man would have been my age.







Sarajevo Rose. Note the bomb fragment pattern in the concrete. The arc of the shells left this pattern all over the city. Most have been repaired but many are kept as a memorial to the dead.



Sarajevo: Home to one more tragedy, the birthplace of WWI. The Great War was begun when an assassin gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The left side of this photo is the spot where he fell. One bullet sparked empires to take sides and over 10 million to die.