Otis's essay on the history of Yugoslavia.

THE HISTORY OF YUGOSLAVIA

World war I began in 1914. At the beginning of War in 1914, Croatia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The main cause of the start of WW1 was many acts of terrorism which motivated many countries to declare war on them. At the end of the war Croatia joined the state of Slovness, Croats, and Serbs.

  This “Kingdom of Yugoslavia” was a quick failure, declining into uprising and civil war, But after World War 2, Tito became the leader of communist Yugoslavia. Tito transformed Yugoslavia from a largely agricultural nation into an industrialized one, although he died in1980.

The Bosnian War lasted  from 1991 to 1995 and was a horrible battle among Serbs, Croats and Bosnians that to some people is known as the worst event in all of Europe since World War 2. Over 100,000 people died, many of them innocent Yugoslav citizens. Horrific war crimes were extremely common.

Yugoslavia was formed because its leaders thought it would be a good idea to unite these countries. Yugoslavia was one nation, that rose out of 6 countries, its primary goal to promote peace, and friendship throughout this group. Tito rose out of the ashes, as a big resistance to the Nazis, drove them out, and took over as a communist ruler.

Communism is a system of government/economy where the state is in charge of what everyone does. The idea is that everyone can do what they want, and each person can help each other without a need for any government, and everyone got a job, food, drink, and money, But for the most part, none of that happened, because most of the rulers took away those freedoms in order to try to enforce them. And, for the most part, it was a disaster, But Yugoslavia was one of the more successful countries.

For example, under Tito, Yugoslavia had rights that other communist countries didn’t, The economy was good, and the whole paradise-on-earth thing seemed to be coming true. People really liked Yugoslavia, but didn't know how fragile it was, Yugoslavia contained more than 1/2 of Europes political prisoners, or even what events would take place after Tito’s death in 1980.

After Tito’s death, things really began to fall apart. There were more acts of terrorism, not really any leader, and many people (correctly) thought that Yugoslavia would stop being communist altogether! Nationalism was the answer for some of Yugoslavia. It kept foreigners out, and citizens in.

But, Yugoslavia couldn’t agree - let’s use Croatia as an example. Croatians couldn’t decide whether to only let Croatians into Croatia, or to let all Yugoslavs in. This motivated Yugoslavia to split apart, causing many Civil Wars. Croatia fought theirs from 1991-1995, and won their freedom.

After Croatia left, the remaining 4 countries who still hadn’t rebelled completely fell apart, and by 2001, all of Yugoslavia became 6 countries again. But after much fighting, death, and civil war, Croatia was its own country once again with its own leader, its own government, economy, and rights.

In on June 25, 1991 Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia. That day is now known as Statehood Day to Croats. At that same time, Serbs living in a part of Croatian territory of called Krajina proclaimed their independence from Croatia. Civil war almost immediately followed.

Now, if you go to Croatia, you can get up in the morning, go for a swim if you are on the coast, eat some of the delicious food, and watch many beautiful sunsets at the end of the day, while eating ice cream from the local gelato store. After over 100 years of fighting and hardships, Croatia has become a beautiful place once again.