The former Ottoman territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was mandated to the Austrian portion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1878. Austria formally annexed the territory in 1908. In 1914 a Bosnian-Serb terrorist assassinated the heir to the Austrian throne in Sarajevo, sparking off the First World War. From 1918 to 1941, the territory was denied any autonomy within the new Serb-dominated Yugoslavia. After 1945, a communist ruled Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was developed within the federal structure of the new Yugoslavia.
In 1990, a non-communist government was elected for the first time. Independence from Yugoslavia was declared on 6 April 1992. Serb and Croat nationalists then initiated a civil war, which saw many driven from their homes in the name of 'ethnic cleansing'. Bosnian government forces (which included troops of Moslem, Croat and Serb ethnic origin), together with NATO air power, forced a ceasefire in 1995, which was later turned into a multi-national peace agreement known as the Dayton peace accord. While NATO forces monitored the transition, the peace agreement partitioned Bosnia into a Moslem/Croat dominated region and a Serb dominated region. The former is known as the Bosniac & Croat Federation, while the Serb region is known as the Republike Srpska.