Tiny Kosovo, a province of the former state of Yugoslavia, has been the spark that has ignited Balkan fires. In the battle of Kosovo, fought in 1389, Ottoman forces defeated a coalition of Serbs, Albanians and Bosnians to claim the territory. That scar burned in the Serbian heart.
In 1989, the late Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic marked that anniversary by declaring the centrality of Kosovo in Serb identity, beginning a process that would unleash Serb nationalism, reverse the province's autonomy, and ultimately lead to the disintegration of Yugoslavia itself and Milosevic's imprisonment for war crimes.
The Kosovo wound festered throughout the unraveling of Yugoslavia, but Kosovo remained part of the rump state as other restive provinces broke away and claimed their independence. Eventually fierce Serb repression of Kosovar identity — 93 percent of the population claims ties to neighboring Albania — triggered open rebellion, which prompted acts of ethnic cleansing. It is estimated that 1 million people were forced from their homes, and at least 11,000 people lost their lives.