1993

1993

1993 saw no major changes in the front lines against Serbs. Instead, this year marked the start of the Bosniak-Croat war in Central Bosnia and in Herzegovina, notably the Mostar region. Pressured and contained by heavily armed Serb forces in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Croatia, Croat forces - HVO (Croatian Defence Council) shifted their focus from defending their parts of Bosnia from Serbs to trying to capture remaining teritory held by Bosnian Army. It is widely believed that this was due to a agreement reached between Slobodan Milosevic and Franjo Tudjman to split Bosnia between Croatia and Serbia. In order to acomplish this Croatian forces would have to defeat Bosnian Army, since the teritory that they wanted was under Bosniak govt. control. HVO with great engagement from Military of Republic of Croatia and material support from Serbs, attacked Bosnian government forces in Hercegovina and in Central Bosnia. Wastly underequipped Bosnian forces, fighting on two fronts, were able to repell Croats and gain teritory against them on every front. At this time, due to its geographic position, Bosnia was surrounded by Croat and Serb forces from all sides. There was no way to Import weapons or food. What saved Bosnia at this time was its wast Industrial complex (Steel and Heavy Industries) that was able to switch to military hardware production. After short but bloody war and once Croats realized that their partnership with Serbs will not bring them any teritorial gains they agreed to US leadership's "Washington treaty" peace agreement. From that point on, Bosnian Croat and Muslim forces continued to fight as allies against Serbs.