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Why did NATO use military force in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995?

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Flag of NATO featuring a white compass rose emblem with four lines radiating from the center on a blue background. — North Atlantic Treaty Organization Flag of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

In 1995, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervened in the Bosnian War by conducting concentrated air strikes against Bosnian Serb positions. This military action was a response to the failure of the United Nations to protect designated "safe areas," most notably following the Srebrenica massacre, where more than 7,000 Bosniak men were killed, and a subsequent Bosnian Serb attack on a marketplace in Sarajevo.123

These air strikes were intended to halt the aggression of Bosnian Serb forces and compel them to participate in peace negotiations. The intervention, combined with a large-scale land offensive by Bosniak-Croat forces, successfully pressured the Bosnian Serbs to agree to U.S.-sponsored peace talks in Dayton, Ohio. These negotiations resulted in the Dayton Accords, which established a framework for peace and led to the deployment of an international peacekeeping force to enforce the agreement.12