Kosovo : A Chronology of Crisis
The following is offered as a brief background chronology leading up to the crisis in Kosovo.
The following is offered as a brief background chronology leading up to the crisis in Kosovo. Although no US casualties have been reported to date, with the continuing conflagration and possibility of US ground forces being introduced, we provide the background as a reference. The literal veneration of Kosovo by the Serbs dates back to the defeat by the Ottoman Empire in 1389. The Serbs claim Kosovo as their ancestral homeland and still celebrate traditional dates such as Kosovo Polje.
• Previous to WW I - Kosovo was within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which claimed so many nations and regions illegitimately. From 1918 onward, when Galicia, Bohemia and Carpatho-Russe ceased to exist for the political gain of those more powerful and aggressive, Kosovo survived, but was made a part of The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
• 1929 - Without regard to ethnic identity, race, creed, cultural traditions or practice, the Kingdom's regions were re-divided and officially became Yugoslavia under an absolute monarch.
• 1941 through 1945 - Yugoslavia was invaded by Germany in 1941, and then was occupied at various points by Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary. At the conclusion of WW II, it established itself a Communist Republic and Kosovo was declared autonomous. Yugoslavia was in effect an umbrella under which a variety of ethnic and religious groups enjoyed self-identification and reasonable autonomy.
• 1981 - Although Kosovo remained 90% ethnic Albanian, the living conditions and unemployment escalated at a disproportionate rate prompting student revolt. Riots and protests ensued and an exodus of the minority groups such as Montenegrins and Serbs began. The issue of Serbs leaving Kosovo was a painful one because of the traditional identification with the region. Within 6 years the unrest grew to such a point that Slobodan Milosevic was able to assume power.
• 1987 - On a platform of Greater Serbia, Milosevic plowed through the region at the expense of everyone and everything else. Ethnic and religious targeting became a general practice.
• 1989 - As a result of the fear of Kosovo seceding, Milosevic strips Kosovo of her autonomy. Government police forces are sent into Kosovo to maintain order. Kosovo, a province of Serbia which was the core of Yugoslavia, remained 90% ethnic Albanian, primarily Muslim.
• 1991 - Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia and Slovenia declare Independence from Yugoslavia, provoking ethnic and cultural fighting that leads to an all-out war in Bosnia in 1992. Massacres of Bosnian Muslims and expulsions of non-Serbs escalates to such a degree that US President George Bush threatens military action if Kosovo is attacked. Killing fields and mass graves are unearthed over the years.
• 1995 - Peace Agreement is signed ending the Bosnian War.
• 1997 - In response to the continued revocation of rights, ethnic Albanians in the Kosovar region moved to restore their autonomy, cultural rights and patrimony. Stepping up their program of independence, Kosovar Albanians not only demanded autonomy from the Serbs, but initiated a movement to cede Kosovo from Serbia to become an Independent Kosovo, in a movement begun by the KLA - Kosovo Liberation Army. Determined to keep Kosovo, the Serbian government retaliated by increasing its anti-Albanian stance with continued school and business closures and organized pogroms. During this period, the KLA began attacks against Serb targets. The KLA stated that the extreme anti-Albanian policy was the root of the attacks.
• 1998 - Serbian leader Milosevic struck back at the KLA with a stepped-up assault against the guerilla group specifically and ethnic Albanians in general. Kosovar Albanians suffered the most in actions that were reminiscent of the atrocities committed in Bosnia. The Kosovo capital of Pristina erupted in riots, and the Serbians believed they had eradicated the KLA. However, the latest Serbian pogrom backfired and a grassroots movement of ethnic Albanians insured that the ranks of the KLA swelled enormously, with the attacks and counterattacks by both sides multiplying exponentially. Neighboring Albania poured materiel and weaponry into the Kosovar region, and Albanian militants and rebels were encouraged to escalate attacks on Serbs to draw NATO into the civil war, and hopefully to eventually cede Kosovo as an independent region. In September 1998, NATO issued an ultimatum to halt all aggression. Ethnic Albanians returned to destroyed Kosovar villages and to some degree the cease-fire was observed.
• January 1999 - The reinvented and reinvigorated KLA took 8 government soldiers hostage, triggering a renewed aggression on both sides. Serb forces systematically began massacres of ethnic Albanians. NATO demanded a forced peace accord, which was endorsed by the KLA, and rejected by Milosevic, stating he would rather be bombed out than surrender Kosovo to ethnic Albanians.
• February - March 1999 - With a peace process in shambles, NATO finds itself in a quagmire. The humanitarian disaster that is evolving leaves the entire region and quite possibly the continent in an upheaval. In addition to the massacres and genocide's occurring, the human wave of ŽmigrŽs fleeing the war torn region threatens stability throughout the Balkans. The probability of neighboring nations such as Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and others being sucked into the escalating war is real. Culturally or religiously tied nations such as Russia (ethnic and religious ties to Serbians) and Iran (religious ties to Muslim Albanians) means that sympathetic intervention is a real possibility, escalating the aggression and expanding the theatre enormously. NATO opposes an independent Kosovo on the basis it will create a domino-effect of defections by disillusioned cultural regions and destabilize an already fractured Balkans. However, NATO also opposes the anti-Albanian stance of the Serbs and recognizes that until a quid pro quo - ethnic Albanian Kosovo as an independent , autonomous region within the former Yugoslavia - peace will never be at hand.
Slobodan Milosevic not only needs Kosovo culturally as a significant element of his Greater Serbia program, but politically. The Milosevic led Serbian assaults in Bosnia and Croatia are a stinging reminder of his capabilities and failures, and losing Kosovo to the ethnic Albanians would undermine his entire political, cultural and social agenda. Neither side respects or wants a Western-authored Peace Agreement, and given the advances by the KLA over the past year, it is unlikely they will retreat to autonomy when they are on the road to independence. If history repeats itself, and it always does sooner or later, the Kosovo Crisis will mirror that of Bosnia, which mirrored that of Vietnam... getting in may be easy, but getting out is impossible. More than likely, the crisis and resulting military actions, will accomplish nothing more than antagonize the warring factions, deepening the intolerance. War crimes will undoubtedly ensue, not unlike those of Bosnia, and the slaughter of the Serbs that received far less press and sympathy. In the end, the region will remain in the grips of a never-ending silent civil war, with outside influence and personalities that can never hope to understand just what it is these people are fighting over and for.
US POWs :: Kosovo List
