Bosnia and Herzegovina

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Bosnia and Herzegovina fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇮🇹 Roman Empire35 BC to 9

   Octavian campaigned against the Illyrians from 35 BC. In AD 6 the Daesitiates under Bato and the Breuci rose in a great revolt that took Rome three years and huge armies to crush.

2. 🇭🇺 Kingdom of Hungary1137 to 1463

   Hungarian kings claimed Bosnia from the twelfth century and sent armies against its bans and kings, also in the name of fighting the Bosnian Church, which Rome treated as heretical.

3. 🇹🇷 Ottoman Empire1388 to 1878

   Bosnians beat an Ottoman raid at Bileca in 1388, but the sultans conquered the kingdom in 1463. Bosnian notables later revolted against Istanbul, in 1831, and Christian peasants rose in 1875.

4. 🇦🇹 Habsburg Monarchy1683 to 1791

   Habsburg armies attacked Ottoman Bosnia repeatedly. Prince Eugene burned Sarajevo in 1697, but Bosnian forces beat the Habsburgs at Banja Luka in 1737, and the border held.

5. 🇦🇹 Austria-Hungary1878 to 1918

   Austro-Hungarian troops met fierce resistance when they occupied Bosnia in 1878. Annexation in 1908 fed the anger of young nationalists, one of whom shot Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914.

6. Independent State of Croatia1941 to 1945

   The Axis puppet state annexed all of Bosnia in 1941. Its Ustasha regime ran camps such as Jasenovac and killed Serbs, Jews and Roma, while Partisans fought it across the mountains.

7. 🇷🇸 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia1992 to 1995

   Serbia's government backed Bosnian Serb forces with arms and officers during the war. In 2007 the International Court of Justice ruled that Serbia had failed to prevent the Srebrenica genocide.

8. 🇭🇷 Republic of Croatia1992 to 1994

   Croatia backed Bosnian Croat forces, which fought the Bosniak-led army in 1993 around Mostar and central Bosnia, until the Washington Agreement of March 1994 ended the fighting.

Today

Bosnia and Herzegovina now

After four centuries of Ottoman rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary took control in 1878 and held the region until 1918, when it was incorporated into the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. After World War II, Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). Bosnia and Herzegovina declared sovereignty in October 1991 and independence from the SFRY on 3 March 1992 after a referendum boycotted by ethnic Serbs.

Capital

Sarajevo

Government

parliamentary republic

Head of government

Borjana Krišto

Head of state

Željko Komšić

Languages

Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian

Area

51,210 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population3.2 million2023 · 2.7 million in 1950
• Life expectancy77.9 years2023 · 47.3 years in 1950
• GDP per person$12,1422022
• Living in cities53%2025 · 14% in 1950
• Literacy97%2013
• Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
• Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
• Military spending0.7% of GDP2025
• War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.