The Bosnian War was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started on 6 April 1992, following several earlier violent incidents. It ended on 14 December 1995 when the Dayton Accords were signed. The main belligerents were the forces of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, and the Republika Srpska, the latter two entities being proto-states led and supplied by Croatia and Serbia, respectively.
The military history of Croatia encompasses wars, battles and all military actions fought on the territory of modern Croatia and the military history of the Croat people regardless of political geography.
The Croatian Defence Forces were the paramilitary arm of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) from 1991 to 1992, during the first stages of the Yugoslav wars. During the Croatian War of Independence, the HOS organised several early companies and participated in Croatia's defence. At the peak of the war in Croatia, the HOS was several battalions in size. The first HOS units were headed by Ante Paradžik, a HSP member who was killed by Croatian police in September 1991. After the November 1991 general mobilisation in Croatia and the January 1992 cease-fire, the HOS was absorbed by the Croatian Army.
The Saborsko massacre was the killing of 29 Croat residents of the village of Saborsko on 12 November 1991, following the seizure of the village in a Yugoslav People's Army and Croatian Serb offensive during the Croatian War of Independence. The fall of the town occurred as part of a JNA and Croatian Serb operation to capture a Croatian-held pocket centered on the town of Slunj, southeast of Karlovac. While the bulk of the civilian population fled with the surviving Croatian forces, those who remained in Saborsko were rounded up and either killed or expelled. The bodies of the victims were retrieved from two mass graves and several individual graves in 1995.
The Croat–Bosniak War was a conflict between the internationally recognized Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the so-called Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, supported by Croatia, that lasted from 18 October 1992 to 23 February 1994. It is often referred to as a "war within a war" because it was part of the larger Bosnian War. In the beginning, the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) fought together in an alliance against the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS). By the end of 1992, however, tensions between the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian Defence Council increased. The first armed incidents between them occurred in October 1992 in central Bosnia. The military alliance continued until early 1993, when it mostly fell apart and the two former allies engaged in open conflict.
Operation Corridor 92 was the largest operation conducted during the Bosnian War by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) against the forces of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and the Croatian Army (HV) in the Bosanska Posavina region of northern Bosnia and Herzegovina between 24 June and 6 October 1992. The objective of the offensive was to re-establish a road link between the city of Banja Luka in the west of the country and the eastern parts of the territory controlled by the Bosnian Serbs. The offensive was prompted by the capture of Derventa by the HV and the HVO – a move that blocked the single overland road between the VRS-controlled territories.
Operation Winter '94 was a joint military offensive of the Croatian Army (HV) and the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) fought in southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina between 29 November and 24 December 1994. The operation formed part of the Croatian War of Independence and the Bosnian War fought between Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and two unrecognized para-states proclaimed by Croatian Serbs and Bosnian Serbs. Both para-states were supported by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and Serbia. The JNA pulled out in 1992, but transferred much of its equipment to the Bosnian Serb and Croatian Serb forces as it withdrew.
The Siege of Mostar was fought during the Bosnian War first in 1992 and then again later in 1993 to 1994. Initially lasting between April 1992 and June 1992, it involved the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) fighting against the Serb-dominated Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) after Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence from Yugoslavia. That phase ended in June 1992 after the success of Operation Jackal, launched by the Croatian Army (HV) and HVO. As a result of the first siege around 90,000 residents of Mostar fled and numerous religious buildings, cultural institutions, and bridges were damaged or destroyed.
The Battle of Kupres was a battle of the Bosnian War, fought between the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) and the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) on one side and the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) on the other from 20 October to 3 November 1994. It marks the first tangible evidence of the Bosniak–Croat alliance set out in the Washington Agreement of March 1994, brokered by the United States to end the Croat–Bosniak War fought between the ARBiH and the HVO in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ARBiH and the HVO were not coordinated at first, rather they launched separate operations aimed at capture of Kupres.
Operation Jackal (Serbo-Croatian: Operacija Čagalj, also known as Operation June Dawns, was an offensive of the Bosnian War fought between a combined Croatian Army and Croatian Defence Council army against the Army of Republika Srpska from 7–26 June 1992. The offensive was a Croatian pre-emptive strike against the VRS, a Bosnian Serb military formed in May 1992 from Yugoslav People's Army units that were stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The HV concluded that the JNA offensive operations of April and May 1992, resulting in the capture of Kupres and much of the Neretva River valley south of Mostar, were aimed at capturing or threatening the Croatian Port of Ploče and possibly Split. To counter this threat, the Croatian leadership deployed the HV, under the command of General Janko Bobetko, to the "Southern Front" including the area in which Operation Jackal was to be conducted.
Operation Tiger was a Croatian Army (HV) offensive conducted in areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina near Dubrovnik between 1 and 13 July 1992. It was designed to push the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) away from the city towards Popovo field and secure a supply route via Rijeka Dubrovačka, which was gained in early June as the siege of Dubrovnik by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) was lifted. The operation's success was facilitated by the establishment of the HV's Southern Front command and the successful conclusion of the May–June 1992 operations against the VRS in the Neretva River valley, which concluded with Operation Jackal.
The Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia was signed by Alija Izetbegović, President of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Franjo Tuđman, President of the Republic of Croatia, in Zagreb on 21 July 1992 during the Bosnian and Croatian wars for independence from Yugoslavia. It established cooperation, albeit inharmonious, between the two and served as a basis for joint defense against Serb forces. It also placed the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) under the command of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH).
The 1991 Yugoslav campaign in Croatia was a series of engagements between the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), the Yugoslav Navy and the Yugoslav Air Force, and the Croatian National Guard (ZNG) then the Croatian Army (HV) during the Croatian War of Independence. The JNA was originally deployed in order to preserve Yugoslavia, and the initial plan of the campaign entailed the military occupation of Croatia and the removal of the Croatian leadership elected in 1990. The JNA intervention was the culmination of its involvement in the confiscation of weapons from Croatia's Territorial Defence, and in the Croatian Serb revolt that had begun in August 1990. From that time, the JNA had been frequently deployed to form a buffer zone between the Croatian Serb guerrillas and the ZNG or the Croatian police. In effect, these JNA buffer zones often secured the territorial gains of the insurgents and led to an increasingly hostile relationship between the JNA and Croatia. The JNA campaign plan was amended shortly before the campaign to include the relief of JNA barracks besieged by the ZNG. The besieging and subsequent capture of several JNA facilities allowed Croatia to arm its previously poorly equipped military and to equip and recruit new ethnic Croat conscripts and officers of the Yugoslav People's Army.
The Battle of Orašje was fought during the Bosnian War, from 5 May to 10 June 1995, between the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska and the Bosnian Croat Croatian Defence Council for control of the town of Orašje and its surrounding area on the south bank of the Sava River. The offensive codenamed Operation Flame-95 and referred to by Croatian sources as Operation Revenge was actually fought with varying intensity, with periods of combat interspersed by lulls lasting two to seven days. The heaviest fighting was reported on 15 May, when the VRS managed to break through a portion of the HVO defences near the village of Vidovice, but the breach was successfully contained and the lost ground was recovered by the HVO.
The Tovarnik massacre was the mass murder of Croat civilians by the JNA and other Serb forces on 22 September 1991 in the village of Tovarnik.
The Berak killings was the mass murder of Croat civilians by Serb rebels and paramilitaries from September until December 1991, in the village of Berak, near Vukovar, during the Croatian War of Independence.
The Battle of Hrvatska Kostajnica was a military engagement fought between the proclaimed Croatian-Serb Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Krajina supported by the Yugoslav People’s Army and local Territorial Defense based in Bosanska Kostajnica, against the Croatian National Guard (ZNG) and Croatian policemen. Fought between July 17th to the capture of Kostajnica on September 13th, mainly aimed to kill Croatian President Franjo Tuđman, whom was inspecting Croatian National Guard personnel there.
The Battle for Glina was an armed conflict between a Knindža unit supported by the JNA against the joint forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian Army. Two battles were fought in Glina and both ended in serbian victories as they managed to capture of the police station, which became part of SAO Krajina.
The Fighting in Petrinja refers to a set of combat activities undertaken by Croatian forces at the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence to defend town of Petrinja. Due to the weak armament of Croatian forces, the still unfavorable international environment, the great superiority in technology and manpower of Serb forces, the strong fifth column, and the numerous rebellions, the city fell into the hands of rebel Serb forces.
The Battle of Jasenovac occurred during the Croatian War of Independence. In September 1991, Serb forces had taken the village of Jasenovac on 7 October, but on 8 October, the HV tried an unsuccesful counter-offensive.
SAO Krajina 
Yugoslavia 
Croatia 
Željko Ražnatović 
Croatian Defence Forces 
over 200 killed
