After World War II, Yugoslavia and its six republics were unified under the communist rule of Josip Broz Tito. But by the early 1990s, it all fell apart. More than 100,000 people were killed in Yugoslavia’s wars of independence, many of them in deliberate campaigns of ethnic cleansing. what happened? Why did Serbs, Bosnian Muslims, and Croats fall into civil war? And what role exactly did UN peacekeeping forces have to play during the ongoing war? In episode 4 of “The Forgotten Wars,” we explore the history of the Yugoslav War of Independence with guest Sandra Peron. She was Canada’s first female infantry officer and served in both Bosnia and Croatia. Peron described the difficulties of being a peacekeeper “in a situation where there is no peace to maintain,” the ethnic tensions that have flared up across the region, and personal concerns within the military that are not ready to accept women in combat roles. Describe the battle. This video was created in partnership with a Canadian company.
