Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country on the Balkan peninsula of Southern Europe. Formerly one of the six federal units constituting the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina gained its independence during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Bordered by Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina is mostly landlocked, except for 26 kilometers of the Adriatic Sea coastline.

Slavs began settling the region during the 7th century. Ottoman Empire ruled Bosnia and Herzegovina for 450 years started in the middle of 15 Century, made many Christian Slavs to become Muslim. Following the end of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Austria-Hungary Empire was given a mandate to occupy and govern Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although the provinces were still officially part of the Ottoman Empire, they were annexed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire on Oct. 7, 1908. As a result, relations with Serbia, which had claims on Bosnia and Herzegovina, became embittered. The hostility between the two countries climaxed in the assassination of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, by a Serbian nationalist. This event precipitated the start of World War I (1914–1918). Bosnia and Herzegovina were annexed to Serbia as part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes on Oct. 26, 1918. The name was later changed to Yugoslavia in 1929.

When Germany invaded Yugoslavia in 1941, Bosnia and Herzegovina were made part of Nazi-controlled Croatia. During the German and Italian occupation, Bosnian and Herzegovinian resistance fighters fought a fierce guerrilla war against the Croatian Fascist troops. At the end of WW II, Bosnia and Herzegovina were reunited into a single state as one of the six republics of the newly reestablished Communist Yugoslavia under Marshall Tito.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's declaration of sovereignty in October 1991 was followed by a declaration of independence from the former Yugoslavia on 3 March 1992 after a referendum boycotted by ethnic Serbs. Unlike the other former Yugoslav states, which were generally composed of a dominant ethnic group, Bosnia was an ethnic tangle of Muslims (44%), Serbs (31%), and Croats (17%), and this mix contributed to the duration and savagery of its fight for independence. A civil war among three ethnic groups lasted more than three years, cost 2500000 lives. The result of this war was reflected by the country’s political structure, which is politically decentralized and comprises two governing entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, with District Brčko as a de facto third entity.