what happened to yugoslavia

Yugoslavia was a federation of six republics formed after World War II. After economic and political crises in the 1980s and the death of leader Josip Broz Tito in 1980, rising nationalism and ethnic tensions led to its breakup in the early 1990s. Starting in 1991, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and later other republics declared independence, which triggered a series of violent conflicts known as the Yugoslav Wars. Serbia and Montenegro initially formed a new federation called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, but this was not recognized as the continuation of the original state. The breakup was accompanied by brutal wars, ethnic cleansing, and genocide, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The wars ended with various peace accords, most notably the Dayton Agreement in 1995. Serbia and Montenegro eventually separated as well, with Montenegro declaring independence in 2006. Kosovo, an autonomous province of Serbia, declared independence in 2008, which remains disputed. Thus, Yugoslavia dissolved into several independent countries: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Kosovo.