Vukovar was the first major European town to be entirely destroyed since the Second World War. It was defended by around 1,800 lightly armed soldiers of the Croatian National Guard against as many as 36,000 JNA soldiers. The battle exhausted the JNA and proved a turning point in the Croatian war. Most of Vukovr was ethnically cleansed of its non-Serb population and became part of the self-declared Republic of Serbian Krajina. The town remained in Serb hands until 1998, when it was peacefully reintegrated into Croatia with the signing of the Erdut Agreement.
About Battle of Vukovar in brief
Vukovar was the first major European town to be entirely destroyed since the Second World War. It was defended by around 1,800 lightly armed soldiers of the Croatian National Guard against as many as 36,000 JNA soldiers and Serb paramilitaries equipped with heavy armour and artillery. The battle exhausted the JNA and proved a turning point in the Croatian war. At least 20,000 inhabitants were expelled. Most of Vukovr was ethnically cleansed of its non-Serb population and became part of the self-declared proto-state Republic of Serbian Krajina. The town remained in Serb hands until 1998, when it was peacefully reintegrated into Croatia with the signing of the Erdut Agreement. It has since been rebuilt but has less than half of its pre-war population and many buildings are still scarred by the battle. Its two principal ethnic communities remain deeply divided and it has not regained its former prosperity. The current border between Serbia and Croatia was defined in 1945 by a Yugoslav federal government commission which assigned areas with a Serb majority to the Socialist Republic of Serbia and those with a Croat majority to Socialist of Croatia. Following the death of Josip Broz Tito in 1980, long-suppressed ethnic nationalism and individual republics began to assert their authority more strongly. In Croatia, the Democratic Union of Croatia, led by Franjo Tuđman, moved towards multi-party democracy and economic reform. Serbia’s authoritarian President Slobodan Milošević opposed this programme and sought to increase the power of the Yugoslav government.
In 1990, Croatia held elections that ended communist rule and brought pro-independence parties to power in both republics. In the 1990s, Croatia and Slovenia held elections and Croatia held pro- independence elections. In 1998, Slovenia and Croatia. held elections which ended communist. rule and ended pro- Independence parties in both Republics. In the 1998 elections, Croatia. and Slovenia. took power, with many members of Croatia’s Serb minority opposed by many Serb members of the Slovenian government. Croatia’s president was opposed by members of Slovenia’s SerB minority, many of whom opposed Croatia’s programme of reform. In 1991, the last Yugoslav census recorded the town and surrounding villages, as having 84,189 inhabitants, of whom 43. 8 percent were Croats, 37. 5 percent were Serbs and the remainder were members of other ethnic groups. The town’s population was 47 percent Croat and 32. 3 percent Serb. The last Yugoslav Census recorded the Vucovar municipality, which included the towns and villages, in 1991, ashaving 84, 189 inhabitants. It is situated in eastern Slavonia on the west bank of the Danube river. The region underwent major demographic changes following the second World War, when its ethnic German inhabitants were expulsion and replaced with settlers from elsewhere in Yugoslavia. The area has a diverse population ofCroats, Serbs, Hungarians, Slovaks, Ruthenians and many other nationalities.
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