Former U.S. president joins four others as contributors to the encyclopedia

Encyclopaedia Britannica has published a new article about the 1995 Dayton Accords written by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the company said today.

The article, about the agreement signed in Paris fourteen years ago today ending the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is now available on Britannica’s Web sites.

Mr. Clinton’s article recounts one of the bloodiest chapters in post-World War II European history.

It explains the origins of the fighting among ethnic Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims that erupted in the early 1990s after the breakup of the Yugoslav federation, the suffering of civilians, the early attempts to make peace and changes in U.S. and NATO policy, including willingness to use force against Bosnian Serb aggressors, that brought all parties to the table.

The agreement, reached during a conference near Dayton, Ohio, in November 1995, brought the conflict to an end.

“The Bosnian peace plan was hard-won, but it would bring an end to four bloody years that claimed more than 250,000 lives and caused more than two million people to flee their homes,” writes Mr. Clinton, whose administration drove the negotiations.

Mr. Clinton joins four other former U.S. presidents who have written articles for the Britannica. Jimmy Carter is author of the encyclopedia’s entry on the Camp David Accords of 1978, which established peace between Egypt and Israel.

John F. Kennedy wrote about Oliver Ellsworth, the third U.S. chief justice. Lyndon Johnson authored part of the Britannica article on the late speaker of the U.S. House or Representatives Sam Rayburn.

Herbert Hoover wrote about his brother, the naturalist Theodore Jesse Hoover.

About Encyclopaedia Britannica

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. is a leader in educational publishing. The company’s encyclopedias and other products can be found in many media, from the Internet to wireless devices to books.

A pioneer in electronic publishing since the early 1980s, the company still publishes the 32-volume Encyclopaedia Britannica, along with educational online services such as Britannica SmartMath and Britannica Online School Edition and new printed products such as Britannica Illustrated Science Library.

The company makes its headquarters in Chicago.