Martin Špegelj (11 November 1927 – 11 May 2014) was a Croatian army general and politician who served as the second defense minister of Croatia and, later, the chief of staff of the newborn Croatian army and inspector-general of the army. His efforts to organize and equip the army from scratch were seen as instrumental in helping Croatia survive the first year of the Croatian War of Independence. Partly owing to disagreements with president Franjo Tuđman, he retired in 1992, after the war froze with the permanent ceasefire at the end of 1991.

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Špegelj Tapes
• 3 Return to Croatia
• 4 Post-war and criticism
• 5 References

Early life

Martin Spegelj was born 11 November 1927 in Stari Gradac, Pitomača. He was a partisan soldier during World War II. Eventually, he rose to become General of the 5th Yugoslav Army (JNA) Army District based in Zagreb, Croatia.

After the first free elections in Croatia, he was second Defence Minister. Špegelj was one of the few in the top leadership of Croatia who saw the impending war as unavoidable. Together with the Slovenian command, Špegelj formulated a joint defence plan in case either country was attacked by the JNA. At the same time he was smuggling weapons into Yugoslavia, arming paramilitary troops and organizing them for attacks on legitimate JNA forces.

Špegelj Tapes

At the onset of the war in Croatia in mid 1990, the Croatian Serbs orchestrated an armed rebellion (known as the Log Revolution), refusing to accept Croatian government authority. As they were supported by the JNA (first covertly, then openly), Croatian forces were poorly armed, so Špegelj undertook a campaign of acquiring arms through the black market community, importing weapons from former Warsaw Pact countries like Hungary and Romania.

He was caught on tape in October 1990 talking to an *istant who was actually an undercover KOS operative. At the time, war in Croatia had not started yet.In the conversations, Špegelj talks of arming Croatians in preparation for secession of Croatia and the impending civil war.The so-called Špegelj tapes were turned into a do*entary film by Zastava military film center and aired in January 1991 to the larger Yugoslav public. They were made public in order to bolster the attack of the Belgrade government against the newly elected Croatian government.

The Croatian leadership, including the main "actors" themselves, initially quickly dismissed the tapes as fake, claiming that the presumably innocuous videotaped conversations were subsequently dubbed. Their authenticity, however, was later confirmed by Stipe Mesić, the president of Croatia, who was one of the first on the Croatian side to admit that the tapes were authentic, although he claimed some of the sentences were taken out of context.

The JNA leadership in Belgrade wanted Špegelj to face trial for treason for this. As a result of the affair, and to calm tensions, Tuđman dismissed him from his post. Fearing for his life, Špegelj fled to Austria, where he remained for several months.

Return to Croatia

Considering the rising tensions and the fall of first deaths of the impending war, Špegelj was persuaded to return to Croatia to become the chief of staff of the new army that was in the process of forming.

When the Slovenian War occurred in June 1991, Špegelj advocated activating the joint defence plan, which would put Croatia into war against the JNA by attacking its army barracks in Croatia (Špegelj's plan). However, Tuđman feared confrontation and refused to support the Slovenes.

Špegelj was then made inspector-general of the Croatian army, replaced partly owing to his disagreements with Tuđman.

Only several months later, full-scale war broke out, and Špegelj's plan for attacking JNA's army barracks in Croatia was implemented and resulted in the Battle of the Barracks, bringing much-needed heavy weapons to Croatia.

The war in Croatia entered a phase of lower intensity after the signing of a UN-brokered ceasefire at the start of 1992. Špegelj then officially retired.

Post-war and criticism

Following the war, Špegelj became a fierce critic of Tuđman's politics, accusing him and his followers of war profiteering. In 2001, he published his autobiography, in which he was very critical of the Tuđman's HDZ and its political maneuverings, which he argued needlessly escalated the war. He also accused them of supporting Bosnian Croat separatism, which led to their conflict with the Bosniaks during the Bosnian War.

Špegelj was in turn criticized by pro-Tuđman elements of the Croatian military, notably Davor Domazet-Lošo, who considers that the June 1991 Slovenian War was just an excuse to draw Croatia into the conflict.

References

• Špegelj, Martin: Sjećanje Vojnika (Memories of a Soldier), 2001

Prelude

• Milošević–Tuđman Karađorđevo meeting
• Zulfikarpašić–Karadžić agreement
• RAM Plan
• Serb Autonomous Regions
  • Bosanska Krajina
  • Herzegovina
  • North-East Bosnia
  • Romanija
• Establishment of Republika Srpska
• Bosnia and Herzegovina independence referendum
• Sarajevo wedding shooting
• Declaration of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Battle of Bosanski Brod
• Sijekovac killings
• Bijeljina m*acre
• 1992 anti-war protests in Sarajevo

1992

• Battle of Kupres
• Siege of Sarajevo
• Kazani pit killings
• Foča ethnic cleansing
• Bosanski Šamac ethnic cleansing
• Siege of Srebrenica
• Zvornik m*acre
• Doboj
• Snagovo m*acre
• Prijedor ethnic cleansing
• Sarajevo column incident
• Siege of Goražde
• Graz agreement
• Glogova m*acre
• Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing
• Tuzla column incident
• Zaklopača m*acre
• Siege of Doboj
• Bradina m*acre
• Bijeli Potok m*acre
• Pionirska Street fire
• Operation Jackal
• Višegrad m*acres
  • Bosanska Jagodina
  • Paklenik
  • Barimo
  • Sjeverin
• Čemerno m*acre
• Siege of Bihać
• Ahatovići m*acre
• Croat–Bosniak War
• Operation Vrbas '92
• Operation Corridor 92
• Bikavac fire
• :Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia
• Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia
• Korićani Cliffs m*acre
• Gornja Jošanica m*acre

1993

• Kravica attack
• Duša killings
• Skelani m*acre
• Štrpci
• Siege of Mostar
• Srebrenica shelling
• Ahmići m*acre
• Trusina killings
• Sovići and Doljani killings
• Zenica m*acre
• Vranica case
• Dobrinja mortar attack
• Battle of Žepče
• Operation Irma
• Operation Neretva '93
• Grabovica m*acre
• Mokronoge m*acre
• Stupni Do m*acre
• Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia
• Operation Deny Flight
• Križančevo Selo killings

1994

• Operation Tvigi 94
• First Markale m*acre
• Banja Luka incident
• Washington Agreement
• :Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Operation Bøllebank
• Attack on Spin magazine journalists
• Operation Tiger
• Battle of Kupres
• Operation Amanda
• Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 347
• Operation Spider
• Operation Winter '94

1995

• Operation Vlašić
• Operation Leap 1
• Battle of Orašje
• Operation Leap 2
• Split Agreement
• Operation Summer '95
• Pale air strikes
• Tuzla shelling
• Battle of Vrbanja Bridge
• Srebrenica m*acre
  • Kravica
• Battle of Vozuća
• Operation Miracle
• Operation Storm
• Second Markale m*acre
• NATO bombing campaign
• Operation Mistral 2
• Operation Sana
• Operation Una
• Operation Southern Move
• Exodus of Sarajevo Serbs
• Dayton Agreement
• :Bosnia and Herzegovina

Internment camps

• Silos
• Manjača
• Liplje
• Luka
• Vilina Vlas
• Omarska
• Keraterm
• Trnopolje
• Sušica
• Čelebići
• Musala
• Batković
• Dretelj
• Uzamnica
• Heliodrom
• Gabela
• Vojno

Aspects

• Ethnic cleansing and m*acres
  • Bosnian genocide
  • Bosnian genocide denial
• Internment camps
• Rape
• Peace plans
• NATO intervention
• Foreign support
• Foreign fighters

Timeline of the Bosnian War (Timeline of the Croat–Bosniak War)

• Category
• Commons

Consequences

• Yugoslav Wars (1991-2001)
• Ethnic cleansing
• Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995)
• Ten-Day War (1991)
• Bosnian War (1992–1995)
• Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992–)
• Graz agreement (1992)
• Sanctions against Yugoslavia (1991-2001)
• Hyperinflation in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992–1994)
• Dayton Agreement (1996)
• Joint Criminal Enterprise
• Agreement on Sub-Regional Arms Control (1996)
• International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (1993–2017)
• Overthrow of Slobodan Milošević (2000)

Nationalism

• Greater Albania
• Greater Croatia
• United Macedonia
• Greater Serbia
• United Slovenia
• Anti-Serbian sentiment
• Islamophobia
• Albanian nationalism
• Bosniak nationalism
• Croatian nationalism
• Macedonian nationalism
• Montenegrin nationalism
• Serbian nationalism
• Serbian–Montenegrin unionism
• Slovenian nationalism
• Yugoslavism

• Category

• Category
• Commons