The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serbo-Croatian: Republika Bosna i Hercegovina / Република Босна и Херцеговина) was a state in Southeastern Europe, existing from 1992 to 1995.

Leaders from two of the three main ethnicities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely the Serbs and the Croats, separately established the entities of the Republika Srpska and the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, respectively, which were unrecognized by the Bosnian state and international governments.

[4][5][6] Under the Washington Agreement of 1994, however, Bosniaks were joined by Herzeg-Bosnia, in support for the Republic by the formation of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a sub-state joint entity.

The 1990 Bosnian general election led to a national assembly dominated by three ethnically based parties, which had formed a loose coalition to oust the communists from power.

Croatia and Slovenia's subsequent declarations of independence and the warfare that ensued placed Bosnia and Herzegovina and its three constituent peoples in an awkward position.

The referendum was boycotted by the great majority of Bosnian Serbs, so with a voter turnout of 64%, 99% of which voted in favor of the proposal, Bosnia and Herzegovina became a sovereign state.

"[10] In March 1994, the signing of the Washington accords between the Bosniak and ethnic-Croatian leaders led to the creation of a joint Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The signing of the Dayton Agreement in Paris by Alija Izetbegović, Franjo Tuđman and Slobodan Milošević brought a halt to the fighting, roughly establishing the basic structure of the present-day state.

The Republic's official documents and passports were valid until the end of 1997 when the implementation of the Dayton Agreement commenced the modern-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In besieged Sarajevo, schools operated in dispersed basement classrooms in neighborhoods across the capital city, under the constant threat of enemy guns and mortar fire.