On March 24, 1999, NATO bombed Yugoslavia in order to stop egregious human rights violations against Kosovo. But this is a very complicated and contentious topic - learn more about what drove NATO to take action in this board.
The former Yugoslavia was a territory positioned at the crossroads of East and West. It was made up of seven different modern day nations.
It was formed in 1945, shortly after World War II and began to break up in 1991 after the fall of the USSR.
The seven modern day nations that made up Yugoslavia are:
Slovenia
Croatia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Serbia
Montenegro
Macedonia
Kosovo
There used to be an 8th, Vojvodina, but today it is a part of Serbia.
Yugoslavia is and was a melting pot of ethnicities and religions. As one country, Yugoslavia's rich multiculturalism was a source of contention, culminating in a series of bloody conflicts in the early 1990s.
See this website for maps and more information about Yugoslavia.
This article details the complicated breakup of Yugoslavia, which began in 1990. A summary of the events:
Josip Tito ruled & held together Yugoslavia from its formation in 1945 until his death in 1980.
When Tito died, the constitution took all real power away from the federal govt. of Yugoslavia and passed it down to the eight republics and autonomous provinces that made up Yugoslavia.
Those eight were the seven modern day countries (see learning above) plus Vojvodina.
Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia's president, took advantage of the power vacuum that was happening in the 80s and took over Kosovo, Vojvodina, and Montenegro.
In 1991 the more autonomous republics that had been a part of Yugoslavia began to vote to be their own nations. Much fighting ensued as some people in these nations fought to be independent, and others wanted to remain bound together.
Milosevic forcefully held on to Kosovo, Vojvodina, Montenegro, and Bosnia Herzegovina.
As this wikipedia page on the Kosovo War describes, in 1998-1999 Kosovo fought to break away from Serbia and from the Yugoslav Republic. This highly disputed territory lies in the south of Serbia, and is slightly larger than Delaware.
The dominate ethnic group is Albanian, making up about 80% of residents in Kosovo. The growth of the Albanian community led to increased demands for greater minority rights by ethnic Albanians, particularly during the 1980s. Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic eventually authorized the forceful use of troops to attempt to subdue Kosovo.
On March 24, 1999, NATO began air strikes against Yugoslavia by bombing Serbian military positions in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo.
NATO mostly used a large-scale air campaign to destroy Yugoslav military infrastructure. After three days of bombing, almost all targets were destroyed. But the Yugoslav army still managed to function and attack Kosovo, committing numerous human rights violations along the way.
Next, strategic economic and society targets, such as bridges, military facilities, official government facilities, and factories, were bombed. This caused much economic and environmental damage.
On June 10th, the bombings finally ended and Milosevic agreed to peace talks.
In 2008, Kosovo finally declared its independence.
It was overseen by a group of 23 European Union countries for the first few years of its independence from Serbia.
In 2012, it was announced that the supervision of Kosovo by the EU was finished, meaning it was completely independent, however a NATO peace keeping force remains.
Most of the world recognizes Kosovo's independence today with a few exceptions: Russia, Serbia, Georgia, and China.
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