Yugoslavia begins to break up

June 25, 1991

Slovenia and Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia, shattering the post-war federation that Tito had held together. The Yugoslav People's Army sent tanks; Slovenia slipped away after ten days of brief fighting, Croatia after four bloody years that saw the siege of Vukovar and the shelling of Dubrovnik. Within a year Bosnia would plunge into war and ethnic cleansing would return to Europe.