July 11, 1995: The Srebrenica Massacre takes place during the Bosnian Civil War, with Eastern Orthodox Catholic Serbs killing over 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks. It is the single biggest war crime in Europe since V-E Day.
It was mainly perpetrated by units of the Bosnian Serb Army of Replublika Srpska under Ratko Mladić, Chief of that Army's General Staff. He becomes known as "The Butcher of Bosnia." Also participating was a Serbian paramilitary unit called "Scorpions."
Before the massacre, the United Nations had declared the besieged enclave of Srebrenica a "safe area" A UN Protection Force contingent of 370 lightly armed soldiers from the Netherlands failed to deter the town's capture and subsequent massacre.
It was this act that finally moved President Bill Clinton to rally NATO to take action against Serbia. Air strikes began on September 14. On September 26, the Serbs surrendered.
Mladić remained at large until 2011, when he was arrested by Serbian special police officers. He was extradited to The Hague, the Netherlands, home of the International Court of Justice. It took until 2017 to try him and convict him. As of July 11, 2022, he remains in prison in The Hague.
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July 11, 1995 was a Tuesday. Football player Joey Bosa was born.
There was only 1 score on this historic day. Major League Baseball held its All-Star Game at what was then known as The Ballpark in Arlington (now Choctaw Stadium), the home of the Texas Rangers, between Dallas and Fort Worth. Frank Thomas of the Chicago White Sox hit a home run for the American League. The National League got only 3 hits, but they were all solo home runs, giving them a 3-2 win, by Mike Piazza of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Craig Biggio of the Houston Astros, and Jeff Conine of the Florida Marlins.
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