March 1993: The Bosnian Serb Army, backed by troops and weapons from neighboring Serbia, threatens to take Srebrenica. By now, 60,000 people have flooded into Srebrenica exhausted, starving and frightened.

March 12, 1993: It seems that salvation arrives. Fearing the total collapse of Srebrenica, French General Philippe Morillon (the U.N. Commander in Bosnia) bluffs his way through the Serb frontline and arrives in the town. He sees for himself the nightmare in Srebrenica and declares the refugees "under the protection of the U.N."

April 16, 1993: With the Serbs once again on the verge of taking the town, the U.N. Security Council passes Resolution 819, declaring that Srebrenica and a 30 square mile area around the town is now the first United Nations Safe Area.

January 1995: A Dutch battalion arrives in Srebrenica. They assemble in their base at Potocari, an old factory just three miles north of the town, looking like an impressive force.

May 22, 1995: General Bertrand Janvier, the United Nations Commander in Bosnia, confronts the U.N. in New York. He urges the Security Council either to protect the Safe Area with a massive increase of troops or withdraw the vulnerable peacekeepers in order to allow decisive air strikes. He is told to carry on as usual.

June 1995: From April through June, the Serbs tighten their stranglehold, cutting off convoys to the Safe Area.

July 5, 1995: Shelling erupts in the southern part of Srebrenica.

July 8, 1995: Serb soldiers take over the Muslim defender's Observation Post Uniform, instruct men and women of Srebrenica to surrender their weapons and leave.

July 9, 1995: Shelling is constant as refugees flee from the advancing Serbs in the south. The Muslim defenders abandon their final position. Meanwhile, the Serbs advance to ½ a mile from the town, with the road to Srebrenica now open. The Serbs take 30 Dutch peacekeepers hostage.

July 10, 1995: Colonel Karremans files his third request for air support with the United Nations. The Serbs shell Dutch positions. U.N. Commander General Janvier rejects the request for air support. Serbs are on the hillside over the town center. Karremans again makes a request for air support. General Janvier finally agrees to air support. The Serb attacks stop. General Janvier postpones the air strikes until morning. Karremans tells the town leaders that 50 NATO planes will bomb Serbs at 6 a.m. the next morning.

July 11, 1995, 9:00 am: Colonel Karremans is told that his request for close air support was submitted on the wrong form. He must re-submit the request.

10:30 am: The air support request reaches General Janvier. Airborne since 6 a.m., the NATO planes are out of fuel and must return to base in Italy.

11:00 am: General Janvier is unsure of Serb intentions and again hesitates over approving air support. More than 20,000 refugees - women, children, sick and elderly - flee for the main Dutch base at Potocari, three miles away.

12:05 pm: General Janvier authorizes air support four hours after the request is submitted.

2:40 pm: Two Dutch F-16 fighters drop two bombs on Serb positions. The Serbs threaten to kill Dutch hostages and shell refugees. Further strikes are abandoned.

4:15 pm: General Ratko Mladic, accompanied by Serb camera crews, enters Srebrenica to claim the town for the Bosnian Serbs. 5,000 refugees shelter inside the Dutch base. More than 20,000 people seek refuge in nearby factories and fields.

4:45 pm: Serb soldiers arrive at Potocari.

8:30 pm: Mladic summons Colonel Karremans to a meeting. Colonel Karremans asks for food and medicine. General Mladic delivers an ultimatum: The Muslims must hand over their weapons to guarantee their lives.

Midnight: The remaining weapons are carried away by Muslim defenders, who lead 15,000 men on a perilous 40-mile journey through mountains and minefields toward Muslim territory. Mladic and General Krstic meet a delegation of Srebrenicans. Mladic again demands that weapons must be surrendered. He says: "Allah can't help you but Mladic can."

July 12, 1995: Buses arrive to take women and children to Muslim territory while the Serbs begin separating out all men from age 12 to 77. The Serbs insist that the men must be questioned.

5:00 pm: The buses are too frequent for the Dutch to monitor. Twenty-three thousand women and children will be deported in the next 30 hours. Hundreds of men are held in trucks and warehouses. The Serbs shell men attempting to flee through the mountains. Hundreds are killed, while thousands wander the hills.

July 13, 1995: Hundreds of men are captured as they try to flee through the mountains.

10:00 am: 400 men are held in a Bratunac warehouse.

Noon: Dutch peacekeepers begin to carry out Serb demands to expel 5,000 refugees from their base. The Serb Army will later kill many of these people.

4 p.m.-midnight: Hundreds of exhausted men are captured trying to flee through the mountains. In a nearby warehouse in Kravica Village, hundreds of prisoners are gunned down. More than 1,000 men are killed in and around Srebrenica. Lt. Vincent Egbers and 13 peacekeepers leave the Serb base at Nova Kasaba after being held for 24 hours.

July 16, 1995: After five days of fleeing through the mountains from Serb attacks, the first refugees arrive in Muslim territory.

Following negotiations between the U.N. and the Bosnian Serbs, the Dutch are at last permitted to leave Srebrenica. Weapons, food and medical supplies are left behind.

First reports of the massacre are now emerging. The head of the U.N. Mission in Bosnia, Yasushi Akashi, fails to report evidence of atrocities.

Colonel Karremans calls the attack on Srebrenica "an excellently planned military operation." He makes no mention of the atrocities.

In the mountains around Srebrenica, the killing goes on for weeks.

July 12 - July 16, 1995, the Bosnian Serb Army kills over 7,000 Muslim men