Battle of Borovo Selo 1991
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 2 May 1991 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1991 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Post-1945 (1946 onwards) | derived from year |
| Location | Croatia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Croatian War of Independence | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 45.3810, 18.9575 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Borovo Selo of 2 May 1991, known in Croatia as the Borovo Selo massacre (Croatian: Pokolj u Borovom Selu) and in Serbia as the Borovo Selo incident (Serbian: Инцидент у Боровом Селу), was one of the first armed clashes in the conflict which became known as the Croatian War of Independence. The clash was precipitated by months of rising ethnic tensions, violence, and armed combat in Pakrac and at the Plitvice Lakes in March. The immediate cause for the confrontation in the heavily ethnic Serb village of Borovo Selo, just north of Vukovar, was a failed attempt to replace the Yugoslav flag in the village with the flag of Croatia. The unauthorised effort by four Croatian policemen resulted in the capture of two by a Croatian Serb militia. To rescue the captives, the Croatian authorities deployed additional police, who drove into an ambush. Twelve Croatian policemen and one Serb paramilitary were killed before the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) intervened and put an end to the clashes.
The confrontation resulted in a further deterioration of the overall situation in Croatia, leading Croats and Serbs to accuse each other of overt aggression and of being enemies of their nation.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Borovo Selo (revision 1371742901), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
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- Battle of Haram 1125 · 38 km
- Battle of Orašje 1995 · 48 km
Other battles of the Croatian War of Independence
- Battle of Gospić 1991
- Battle of Kusonje 1991
- Battle of Logorište 1991
- Battle of Osijek 1991
- Battle of Vukovar 1991
- Battle of Zadar 1991
- Battle of the Barracks 1991
- Battle of the Dalmatian Channels 1991
- Battle of Šibenik 1991
- Battles of Glina (1991) 1991
All 21 battles of the Croatian War of Independence →
Browse more: battles in Croatia · Europe · Post-1945 battles