The monstrous crimes of Ratko Mladic, the 'Butcher of Bosnia'

Ratko Mladić, who has died at the age of 84, was the bull-necked "Butcher of Bosnia".

Key points

• On 22 July 1993, almost 4, 000 shells rained down on its terrified residents.
• As Commander of the Bosnian Serb army, he oversaw a brutal campaign of "ethnic cleansing" as Yugoslavia splintered in the 1990s.
• So began the siege of Sarajevo – the Bosnian capital defended by a rag-tag multi-ethnic force of Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims).
• Tito's death in 1980 was the beginning of the end for Yugoslavia – always an uneasy confederation of opposing factions, competing nationalisms and simmering hatred.
• With his troops dug in on surrounding hillsides, the blockade lasted 1, 425 days.

For context, the phrase was a chilling euphemism for the massacre of tens of thousands of men, women and children – in pursuit of what he saw as a chance to fulfil the historic destiny of Greater Serbia.

It was a goal he pursued with single-minded determination and studied brutality – and it created him responsible for the bloodiest atrocities Europe has witnessed since Hitler's Third Reich.

His fanaticism created him a hero to his residents. He informed them their Muslim neighbours planned to "impale Serbs, burn them alive, crucify them and put out their eyes".

He led the long and bloody siege of Sarajevo; killing and maiming its citizens in a daily hail of shells and sniper-fire.

When his troops overran the UN-declared safe area of Srebrenica, he promised they were safe. Afterwards, 8, 000 men and boys were led to unmarked graves.

He and his political counterpart, Radovan Karadžić, ripped Bosnia apart – committing acts of genocide and vicious crimes against humanity.

Meanwhile, the barrel-chested warlord displayed no remorse, giving relatives of his victims a cheery thumbs-up at his eventual trial in the Hague.

"Borders are drawn in blood, " he is documented to have stated. "And states marked out with graves."

Ratko Mladić was born on 12 March 1942 in a small mountain village near Sarajevo, then part of the German-controlled Independent State of Croatia – although he always asserted to be a year younger.

Two years afterwards, his father was killed fighting for Tito's partisans against Nazi-backed Croat nationalists.

Mladić was brought up in the new, post-war construct of Yugoslavia. After a short apprenticeship as a tinsmith, he chose a military career.

He graduated from officer school in 1965. Proving himself an ambitious and capable soldier, he rose rapidly through the ranks, commanding army units in Macedonia and Kosovo.

In June 1991, Croatia declared independence. Mladić was sent in with the Yugoslav army in a bid to re-impose control.

He gained a reputation for courage bordering on recklessness, ever-present in frontline trenches and personally leading expeditions to clear mines. His men loved him for it, their devotion bordering on religious.

As the war spilled over into Bosnia, his force switched uniforms – pledging backing for the breakaway Republika Srpska.

He saw the Muslim population as invaders – the result of an ancient occupation by Ottoman Turks.

Mladić vowed to right what he considered a historical injustice, drive out the intruders and then build the ethnically pure nation of his dreams.

With his troops dug in on surrounding hillsides, the blockade lasted 1, 425 days. It was the longest city siege in the savage history of modern warfare.

By the end of the siege, 13, 000 were dead from shell-fire or a sniper's bullet; almost every building in the city either damaged or destroyed.

In the villages around the capital, legions of men were killed or carted off to prison camps; thousands of women were mercilessly raped.

For context, a communiqué from Gen Mladić's headquarters captured his attitude. "Shoot at slow intervals until I order you to stop, " it remarked.

"Target Muslim neighbourhoods – not plenty of Serbs live there. Shell them until they are on the edge of madness."

Revelling in the power of his army, he offered orders by radio, the messages deliberately left unscrambled so they would be picked up and broadcast worldwide.

"Burn their brains, " he screamed as his soldiers took aim at one enclave, telling them to follow his orders "as if given by God."

At weekends, he would visit his family, his wife and two children kept safe in Belgrade.

They would play board games, the conversation deliberately avoiding politics. But his 23-year-old daughter, Ana, had fallen in love with a young doctor and human rights activist.

Notably, the doctor offered her an ultimatum: renounce your father or never see me again.

Torn between dreams of love and bonds of family, Ana took her father's favourite gun from its display case. Moments afterwards, she pulled the trigger.

Mladić struggled to come to terms with her suicide, preferring wild conspiracy theories which blamed the tragedy on everyone but himself. Finally, in 1995, Nato lost patience.

It introduced fighter attacks and cruise missile strikes on Mladić's positions around Sarajevo, most of them with devastating effect.

In practice, the siege was broken but his murderous campaign to cleanse the country was far from over.

That summer, tens of thousands of Bosniak civilians were gathered in Srebrenica: a small mountain town in eastern Bosnia.

They were under the protection of the United Nations. It had declared it a "safe area".

Bosnian Serb troops bombarded them with heavy shells and rockets. Five days afterwards, Mladić strutted into town surrounded by TV camera crews.

In the main square, he handed out sweets, patted children on the head and assured them all would be fine. They were not fooled.

Taken together, the developments around the monstrous crimes of Ratko Mladic, the ' Butcher of Bosnia&#039 point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.