This page contains a summary of Sarajevo history from ancient times, through the 1900’s and then Independence Movements 1991-1996.
| Sarajevo Area History | |
| Year | Ancient Events |
| 200BC | Romans conquer Balkans |
| 700 AD | Slavs arrive in Balkans |
| 1189 | Kulin Ban, ruler of Bosnia, allows Dubrovnik Republic to trade freely with Bosnian Republic |
| 1200 | Orthodox church arrives in Bosnia |
| 1290 | Franciscans arrive in Bosnia |
| 1448 | Stephan Herceg establishes State of Herzegovina |
| 1463 | Ottoman Empire conquers Bosnia |
| 1482 | Ottoman Empire conquers Herzegovina |
| 1539 | Serbian Orthodox church in Sarajevo |
| 1565 | First Jews arrive |
| 1581 | First Jewish synagogue in Sarajevo |
| 1697 | Eugene of Savoy destroys most of Sarajevo |
| 1878 | End of Ottoman rule, Congress of Berlin grants Bosnia & Herzegovina to Austro-Hungarian empire |
| 1879 | First BiH census (69% Muslim, 17% Serb, 9.5% Jewish, 3.5% Croat) |
| 1900’s | |
| 1906 | BiH general strike led by Serbs |
| 1907 | Austo-Hungry annexes BiH |
| 1910 | BiH census (36% Muslim, 35% Croat, 17% Serb, 4% Jewish) |
| 1914 | June 28, Serb member of Young Bosnia assassinates Archduke Ferdinand and wife Sophia which sets stage for WWI |
| 1914 | July 28, WWI begins |
| 1918 | November 11, WWI ends. Austro-Hungry, Russian, Ottoman and German empires destroyed & 37 million people are dead. |
| 1918 | Dec 12, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats & Slovenes established (including previously independent Macedonia and Montenegro). |
| 1919 | Communist Party is founded |
| 1929 | Kingdom of SC&S changed to Yugoslavia (Yugo=South) and King establishes a dictatorship. |
| 1939 | Sept 1, Hitler invades Poland & WWII begins |
| 1941 | Kingdom of Yugoslavia joins Axis (Germany, Japan & Italy) & protests breakout. |
| 1941 | German & Italian forces overrun Yugoslavia. Resistance split between Chetniks (mostly Serbs of the Kingdom) and Partisans (Communists led by Tito). |
| 1941 | April 18, Yugoslavian Army captulates, King Peter II flees to London. |
| 1943 | Tito’s Partisans form provisional government in liberated area after ruthless civil war with the Chetniks, while the two groups are fighting the Axis occupiers. |
| 1944 | Soviet Army enters Belgrade |
| 1945 | May 9, WWII ends |
| 1946 | Communist-controlled elections, Soviet style constitution establishes federation of 6 republics, and Tito becomes Prime Minister. |
| 1948 | Tito & Stalin split |
| 1950 | Tito establishes first system of social ownership (worker self-management). |
| 1953 | Tito becomes President (until his death in 1980) |
| 1955 | Relations with Moscow normalized after Stalin’s death |
| 1971 | Tito establishes collective leadership system with rotating posts in hopes of uniting the diverse nationalities and to prevent careerism. |
| 1972 | Croatian immigrants from Australia kill Serbs near Krajina. Army capture and kill rebels. Serbs blame Croatia as a nation; tensions between groups rise. |
| 1974 | Constitution amended to allow Republics to withdraw from Yugoslavia if majority in Republic vote to do so. Serbs oppose the amendment. |
| 1979 | Rotating leadership system extended to Communist Party leadership. |
| 1980 | Tito dies. Government restructured into eight-member presidency. |
| 1981 | Kosovo Albanians agitate to withdraw from Yugoslavia |
| 1984 | Sarajevo hosts XIV Olympic Winter Games. |
| 1988 | Milosevic, Serbian Communist Party chief move to authority over autonomous Serbian province of Kosovo. |
| 1988 | Milosevic forces retirement of all non-Serb army officers in Belgrade headquarters. |
| 1990 | Bitterly divided party congress renounces its constitutionally guaranteed leadership role and calls for a multiparty system. First post-Tito democratic elections held. |
|
Independence Movements 1991-1996 |
|
| 1991 June |
One week war of independence by Slovenia. |
| June | Croatia’s war of independence begins. |
| December | Germany recognizes Croatia & Slovenia. |
| 1992 February |
UN sends 14,000 peacekeeper troops to Croatia. |
| February | BiH hold referendum on independence from Yugoslavia (64% vote for independence). Tensions and rallies mount. Bosnian Serbs proclaim separate state. |
| March | SDS party setup barricades in Sarajevo. |
| April 5 | Bosnian Serb gunners begin siege. |
| April 6 | EU recognizes Bosnia (US on April 7th). |
| April 6 | First victims; two innocent girls killed at a rally by a Serb sniper. Opposition to independence, by Yugoslavian troops and radicals, begins (civil war). |
| May 5 | Yugoslavian army relinquishes its command to create a 10,000 troop Bosnian Serb army. |
| May 27 | Bread line mortar attack kills 18. |
| May 30 | UN sanctions against Yugoslavia for fomenting war in Bosnia and Croatia. |
| June 29 | UN takes control of airport after Serbs leave. |
| July 3 | International airlift begins. |
| Sept 19 | UN drops Yugoslavia from General Assembly |
| Nov 16 | UN authorizes navel blockade of Serbia & Montenegro. |
| 1993 Feb 22 |
UN sets up War Crimes tribunal. |
| March | Bosnian Croats & Muslims begin fighting over 30% of Bosnia not seized by Bosnian Serbs. |
| April 12 | NATO jets enforce no-fly zone over Bosnia. |
| April 26 | Tighter trade sanctions. |
| May | Following Serb assault on Srebrenica, UN declares six “safe areas” for Bosnian Muslims. |
| May 31 | Yugoslav Parliament ousts Cosic and places Milosevic as President. Demonstrations and clashes in Belgrade streets. |
| Nov 9 | Croats shell and destroy bridge at Mostar, symbol of past ethnic unity. |
| 1994 Feb 5 |
68 people killed and 196 wounded when a mortar shell hits Sarajevo downtown market. |
| Feb 17 | Serbs agree to remove guns from around Sarajevo if Russian troops (historical Serb Ally) join peacekeepers. |
| Feb 20 | Russian peacekeepers arrive & heavy guns begin to move. |
| March 18 | Bosnia’s Muslims & Croats sign US-brokered accord to end the yearlong war. Now war is between Bosnian Muslim/Croats against Serbs. |
| Apr 22 | NATO air strikes on Serbs advancing on Gorazde and new ultimatums delivered. |
| Nov 25 | Serbs detain up to 400 peacekeepers as hostages. |
| 1995 Apr 8 |
US aid plane hit by gunfire and aid flights to Sarajevo cancelled. |
| May 1 | UN cease-fire expires and Croatia launches invasion blitz to recapture land from rebel Serbs. |
| May 24 | UN orders Serb heavy weapons to UN control and removed around Sarajevo. Order ignored so UN attacks Serb ammunition depot, so Serbs shell UN safe-areas (71 killed, 150 injured). |
| May 26 | NATO jets attack more Serb ammunition depots. Serbs take 370 UN peacekeepers hostage. |
| June 2 | Serbs shoot down US F-16 and release 121 UN hostages. |
| June 3 | NATO creates a Rapid Reaction Force to bolster UN Peacekeepers in Bosnia. |
| June 15 | Government launches offensive to break Sarajevo siege. Offensive stalls, Serbs begin shelling Sarajevo & other safe-areas. |
| June 18 | Last UN hostage released. |
| June 30 | Germany approves deployment of fighter jets to the UN Rapid Reaction Froce (RRF). |
| July 2 | French peacekeepers begin using 120mm mortars against Serbs. |
| July 11 | Serbs overrun Srebrenica safe area in spite of UN air strikes. |
| July 13 | 20,000 Muslim women, children & elderly expelled to Tuzla, bringing tales of atrocities and ethnic cleansing. |
| July 17 | 4,000 Muslim men marched through Serb-held land to reach Tuzla. 12,000 are reported missing. |
| July 25 | Serb troops take Zepa, sending thousands of civilians fleeing. War crimes tribunal indicts Karadzic & Mladic for genocide. |
| August 1 | NATO threatens air strikes. |
| August 3 | Serbs shell Dubrovnik, Croatia. |
| August 4 | Croatia launches massive assault on rebel Serbs in Knin, shelling UN peacekeepers and civilians alike. |
| August 8 | Croats recapture most of rebel Serb held land. |
| August 10 | US calls for war crimes tribunal to investigate spy photos showing mass graves of executed Bosnian Muslims. |
| August 22 | Serbs shell Sarajevo killing 6 and wounding 38. |
| August 28 | Bosnian shell hits market and kills 43, wounds 145. |
| August 30 | NATO planes support UN RRF ground troops & air strikes to silence Serb guns around Sarajevo. Serbs shell city in response. |
| Sept 14 | NATO suspends attacks. Yugoslavian Milosevic pledges that Bosnian Serbs will withdraw guns from Sarajevo. Red Cross says 8,000 Muslims from Srebrenica are missing. |
| Sept 15 | Serbs let Sarajevo airport reopen after five months. |
| Sept 29 | EU accuses Croatian army of murder, mass looting and arson. |
| Nov 16 | Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic and Gen Mladic, his military commander, indicted for war crimes against humanity. |
| Nov 21 | Balkan leaders agree to peace accord, granting 51% of Bosnian territory to Muslim-Croat federation and remaining 49% to Serbs. |
| Dec 1 | NATO authorizes 60,000 troops to Bosnia. |
| Dec 14 | Presidents of warring parties sign peace accord. |
| Dec 15 | UN transfers peacekeeping to NATO troops. |
| Dec 20 | NATO takes control of Bosnia. |
| Dec 22 | Thousands of Serbs flee Sarajevo suburbs. |
| Dec 27 | Government rebel Serb troops pull back from around Sarajevo and fragile peace begins. |
Visit Sarajevo War tour Page
