In 1990, the Yugoslav Communist Party divided into several separate parties, one for each of the six Yugoslav Republics. Tensions among the ethnic groups of Yugoslavia, divided among the republics, led to an outbreak of a civil war by 1991. This map demonstrates the complexity of the Yugoslav situation, as few of the republics were populated by just one ethnic group. This is especially important for the central province of Bosnia, with a population consisting of significant numbers of Serbs, Croats, and Muslims. As a result, Bosnia, and its capital of Sarajevo, became the central battleground of the Yugoslav Civil War.

Central Intelligence Agency, "Former Yugoslavia," The Former Yugoslavia: A Map Folio, (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1992), University of Texas (accessed May 6, 2008) and Nyrop, Richard F., ed. "Peoples of Yugoslavia," Yugoslavia: A Country Study, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1982), 61.