Coordinates	51°30′26″N0°7′39″N
Native name	Socijalistička FederativnaRepublika JugoslavijaСоцијалистичка ФедеративнаРепублика Југославија
Conventional long name	Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Common name	Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Continent	Europe
Region	Balkan
Country	Yugoslavia
Government type	Federal socialist republic,Single-party socialist state
Era	Cold war
Year start	1943
Year end	1992
Date start	November 29
Date end	25 June 1991 - 27 April
Event start	Proclamation
Event end	Secessions
Event1	UN membership
Date event1	24 October 1945
Event2	Constitutional reform
Date event2	21 February 1974
P1	Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Flag p1	Flag of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.svg
S1	Croatia
Flag s1	Flag of Croatia.svg
S2	Slovenia
Flag s2	Flag of Slovenia.svg
S3	Macedonia (country)Macedonia
Flag s3	Flag of the Republic of Macedonia 1991-1995.svg
S4	Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Flag s4	Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1998).svg
S5	Serbia and MontenegroFederal Republic of Yugoslavia
Flag s5	Flag of FR Yugoslavia.svg
N/a	Kosovo
Image coat	Coat of Arms of SFR Yugoslavia.svg
National motto	Bratstvo i jedinstvo (English: )
National anthem	Hej, Slaveni/Хеј, Словени (English: )
Common languages	Serbo-Croatian, Slovene and Macedonian
Capital	Belgrade
Title leader	President
Leader1	Ivan Ribar (Croat)
Year leader1	1945 - 1953 (first)
Leader2	Josip Broz Tito (Croat)
Year leader2	1953 - 1980
Leader3	Stjepan Mesić (Croat)
Year leader3	1991 - 1992 (last)
Title deputy	Prime Minister
Deputy1	Josip Broz Tito (Croat)
Year deputy1	1945 - 1953 (first)
Deputy2	Ante Marković (Croat)
Year deputy2	1989 - 1991 (last)
Stat area1	255804
Stat pop1	23724919
Stat year1	July 1989
Gdp (ppp) per capita	$40.564
Currency	Yugoslav dinar (JSD)
Utc offset	+1
Calling code	38
Footnotes	a State name in Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian languages (the name is identical in both), spelled in the Latin alphabet. (See Etymology section for details.)

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) was the Yugoslav state that existed from the second half of World War II (1943)

The three main languages all belong to the South Slavic language group and are thus similar, allowing most people from different areas to understand each other. Intellectuals were mostly acquainted with all three languages, while people of more modest means from SR Slovenia and SR Macedonia were provided an opportunity to learn the Serbo-Croatian language during the compulsory service in the federal military. Serbo-Croatian itself is made-up of three dialects, Shtokavian, Kajkavian, and Chakavian, with Shtokavian used as the standard official dialect of the language. Official Serbo-Croatian (Shtokavian), was divided into two similar variants, the Croatian (Western) variant and Serbian (Eastern) variant, with minor differences telling the two apart.

Two alphabets used in Yugoslavia were: the Latin alphabet and the Cyrillic alphabet. Both alphabets were modified for use by the Serbo-Croatian language in the 19th century, thus the Serbo-Croatian Latin alphabet is more closely known as Gaj's Latin alphabet, while Cyrillic is referred to as the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet. Serbo-Croatian uses both alphabets, Slovene uses only the Latin alphabet, and Macedonian uses only the Cyrillic alphabet. It should be noted that the Croatian variant of the language uses almost exclusively Latin, while the Serbian variant uses both Latin and Cyrillic.

Name

The name "Yugoslavia", a transliteration of "Jugoslavija", is a composite word made-up of "jug" (with the "J" pronounced as a "y") and "slavija". The translation of the Serbo-Croatian word "jug" is "south", while "slavija" ("slavia") keeps its meaning ("land of the Slavs"). Thus a translation of "Jugoslavija" would be "South Slavia" or "Land of the South Slavs". The term unifies the six related South Slavic nations of Yugoslavia, Serbs, Croats, Muslims (Bosniaks), Slovenes, Montenegrins and Macedonians. The full official name of the country, however, varied significantly between 1943 and 1992. After the Kingdom was occupied during World War II, the new Yugoslav state was proclaimed in 1943 and named Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (DF Yugoslavia, DFY), with its name leaving the question of republic or kingdom open.

In 1946, it became the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPR Yugoslavia, FPRY), On both occasions, despite heavy casualties the Partisan commander Josip Broz Tito succeeded in evading the trap and retreating to safety.

Following the withdrawal of the main Axis forces, the Partisans emerged stronger than before and occupied a more significant portion of Yugoslavia. The events greatly increased the standing of the Partisans, and granted them a favorable reputation among the Yugoslav populace - leading to increased recruitment. On 8 September 1943, Fascist Italy capitulated to the Allied powers, leaving their occupation zone in Yugoslavia open to the Partisans. Tito took advantage of the events by briefly liberating the Dalmatian shore and its cities. This granted the Partisans Italian weaponry and supplies, volunteers from the cities previously annexed by Italy, and Italian recruits crossing over to the Allies (the Garibaldi Division). reviewing the Partisan 1st Proletarian Brigade during World War II.]]

After the highly favorable chain of events, the AVNOJ decided to meet for the second time - now in Partisan-liberated Jajce. The Second Session of the AVNOJ lasted from November 21 to November 29, 1943 (right before and during the Tehran Conference), and came to a number of significant conclusions. The most significant of these was the establishment of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, a state that would be a federation of six equal South Slavic republics (as opposed to the Serbian predominance in pre-war Yugoslavia). The council decided on a "neutral" name and deliberately left the question of "monarchy vs. republic" open, ruling that Peter II would only be allowed to return from exile in London upon a favorable result of a pan-Yugoslav referendum on the question.

Among other decisions, the AVNOJ decided on forming a provisional executive body, the National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia or NKOJ (Nacionalni komitet oslobođenja Jugoslavije), appointing Josip Broz Tito the Prime Minister. Having achieved success in the 1943 engagements, Tito was also granted the rank of Marshal of Yugoslavia. Favorable news also came from the Tehran Conference taking place at almost the same time in Iran, the Allied powers concluded that the Partisans would be recognized as the Allied Yugoslav resistance movement and granted supplies and wartime support against the Axis occupation.

As the war turned decisively against the Axis in 1944, the Partisans continued to hold significant chunks of Yugoslav territory. With the Allies in Italy, the Yugoslav islands of the Adriatic Sea were a haven for the resistance. On 17 June 1944, the Partisan base on the island of Vis housed a conference between Josip Broz Tito, Prime Minister of the NKOJ (representing the AVNOJ), and Ivan Šubašić, Prime Minister of the royalist Yugoslav government-in-exile in London.

Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, was liberated with the help of the Soviet Red Army in October 1944, and the formation of a new Yugoslav government was postponed until 2 November 1944, when the Belgrade Agreement was signed and the provisional government formed. The agreements also provided for the eventual post-war elections that would determine the state's future system of government and economy.

By 1945 the Partisans were mopping up Axis forces and liberating the remaining parts of occupied territory. On 20 March 1945, the Partisans launched their General Offensive in a drive to completely oust the Germans and the remaining collaborating forces. By the end of April 1945 the remaining northern parts of Yugoslavia were liberated, and chunks of southern German (Austrian) territory, and Italian territory around Trieste were occupied by Yugoslav troops.

The Democratic Federal Yugoslavia was now a fully intact state, including its six federal states: the Federal State of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FS Bosnia and Herzegovina), Federal State of Croatia (FS Croatia), Federal State of Macedonia (FS Macedonia), Federal State of Montenegro (FS Montenegro), Federal State of Serbia (FS Serbia), and Federal State of Slovenia (FS Slovenia). As early as January 1945, while the enemy was still occupying the northwest, Josip Broz Tito commented:

and Ivan Šubašić at the front]] However, while the elections themselves were fairly conducted by secret ballot, the campaign that preceded them was highly irregular. Opposition newspapers were banned on more than one occasion, and in Serbia the opposition leaders such as Milan Grol received threats via the press. The opposition withdrew from the election in protest to the hostile atmosphere. In spite of this, the election ballot still included the option to vote for the opposition by way of printing with a "box without a list" representing the alternative to the People's Front. The election results of 11 November 1945 were decisively in favor of the latter, with an average of 85% of voters of each federal state casting their ballot for the People's Front. On 29 November 1945, second anniversary of the Second Session of the AVNOJ, the Constituent Assembly of Yugoslavia declared the state a republic. The Democratic Federal Yugoslavia became the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPR Yugoslavia, FPRY), and the prefixes to the names of the six republics changed accordingly, from "Federal State" to "People's Republic".

The Yugoslav government allied with the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin and early on in the Cold War shot down two American airplanes flying over Yugoslav airspace on August 9 and August 19 of 1946. These were the first aerial shoot downs of western aircraft during the Cold War and caused deep distrust of Tito in the United States and even calls for military intervention against Yugoslavia. Having liberated most of the Julian March and Carinthia, and with historic claims to both those regions, the Yugoslav government began diplomatic maneuvering to include them in Yugoslavia. Both these demands were opposed by the West. The greatest point of contention was the port-city of Trieste. The city and its hinterland were liberated mostly by the Partisans in 1945, but pressure from the western Allies forced them to withdraw to the so-called "Morgan Line". The Free Territory of Trieste was established, and separated into Zone A and Zone B, administered by the western Allies and Yugoslavia respectively. Initially, Yugoslavia was backed by Stalin, but by 1947 the latter had begun to cool towards the new state's ambitions. The crisis eventually dissolved as the Tito–Stalin split started, with Zone A being granted to Italy, and Zone B to Yugoslavia.

Meanwhile, civil war raged in Greece – Yugoslavia's southern neighbor – and the Yugoslav government was determined to bring about a communist victory. Yugoslavia dispatched significant assistance, in terms of arms and ammunition, supplies, military experts on partisan warfare (such as General Vladimir Dapčević), and even allowed the Greek forces to use Yugoslav territory as a safe-haven. Although the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, and (Yugoslav-dominated) Albania had granted military support as well, Yugoslav assistance was far more substantial. However, this Yugoslav foreign adventure also came to an end with the Tito–Stalin split, as the Greek communists, expecting an overthrow of Tito, refused any assistance from his government. Without it, however, they were greatly disadvantaged and were defeated in 1949.

The only communist neighbor of the People's Republic of Albania was Yugoslavia, and in the immediate post-war period the country was effectively a Yugoslav satellite. Neighboring Bulgaria was under increasing Yugoslav influence as well, and talks began to negotiate the inclusion of Albania and Bulgaria into Yugoslavia. The major point of contention was that Yugoslavia wanted to absorb the two as federal republics. Albania was in no position to object, but the Bulgarian view was that the new federation would see Bulgaria and Yugoslavia as a whole uniting on equal terms. As these negotiations began, Yugoslav representatives Edvard Kardelj and Milovan Đilas were summoned to Moscow alongside a Bulgarian delegation, where Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov attempted to brow-beat them both into accepting Soviet control over the merge between the countries, and generally tried to force them into subordination. The Soviets did not express a specific view on the issue of Yugoslav-Bulgarian unification, but wanted to ensure both parties first approved every decision with Moscow. The Bulgarians did not object, but the Yugoslav delegation withdrew from the Moscow meeting. Recognizing the level of Bulgarian subordination to Moscow, Yugoslavia withdrew from the unification talks, and shelved plans for the annexation of Albania in anticipation of a confrontation with the Soviet Union.

Informbiro Period

The Tito–Stalin, or Yugoslav–Soviet split took place in the spring and early summer of 1948. Its title pertains to Josip Broz Tito, at the time the Yugoslav Prime Minister (President of the Federal Assembly), and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. In the West, Tito was thought of as a loyal communist leader, second only to Stalin himself in the Eastern Bloc. However, having largely liberated itself with only limited Red Army support, Yugoslavia steered an independent course, and was constantly experiencing tensions with the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav government considered themselves allies of Moscow, while Moscow considered Yugoslavia a satellite and often treated it as such. Previous tensions erupted over a number of issues, but after the Moscow meeting, an open confrontation was beginning.

Next came an exchange of letters directly between the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (KPSS), and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ). In the first KPSS letter of March 27, 1948, the Soviets accused the Yugoslavs of denigrating Soviet socialism via statements such as "socialism in the Soviet Union has ceased to be revolutionary". It also claimed that the KPJ was not "democratic enough", and that it was not acting as a vanguard that would lead the country to socialism. The Soviets said that they "could not consider such a Communist party organization to be Marxist-Leninist, Bolshevik". The letter also named a number of high-ranking officials as "dubious Marxists" (Milovan Đilas, Aleksandar Ranković, Boris Kidrič, and Svetozar Vukmanović-Tempo) inviting Tito to purge them, and thus cause a rift in his own party. Communist officials Andrija Hebrang and Sreten Žujović supported the Soviet view. Tito, however, saw through it, refused to compromise his own party, and soon responded with his own letter. The KPJ response on 13 April 1948 was a strong denial of the Soviet accusations, both defending the revolutionary nature of the party, and re-asserting its high opinion of the Soviet Union. However, the KPJ noted also that "no matter how much each of us loves the land of socialism, the Soviet Union, he can in no case love his own country less". In a speech, the Yugoslav Prime Minister stated

The 31 page-long Soviet answer of 4 May 1948 admonished the KPJ for failing to admit and correct its mistakes, and went on to accuse it of being too proud of their successes against the Germans, maintaining that the Red Army had "saved them from destruction" (an unlikely statement, as Tito's partisans had successfully campaigned against Axis forces for four years before the appearance of the Red Army there). This time, the Soviets named Josip Broz Tito himself, alongside Edvard Kardelj, as the principal "heretics", while defending Hebrang and Žujović. The letter suggested that the Yugoslavs bring their "case" before the Cominform. The KPJ responded by expelling Hebrang and Žujović from the party, and by answering the Soviets with the 17 May 1948 letter which sharply criticized to Soviet attempts to devalue the successes of the Yugoslav resistance movement.

On 19 May 1948, a correspondence by Mikhail A. Suslov informed Josip Broz Tito that the Communist Information Bureau, or Cominform (Informbiro in Serbo-Croatian), would be holding a session on 28 June 1948 in Bucharest almost completely dedicated to the "Yugoslav issue". The Cominform was an association of communist parties that was the primary Soviet tool for controlling the political developments in the Eastern Bloc. The date of the meeting, June 28, was carefully chosen by the Soviets as the triple anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo Field (1389), the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo (1914), and the adoption of the Vidovdan Constitution (1921). Tito, personally invited, refused to attend under a dubious excuse of illness. When an official invitation arrived on 19 June 1948, Tito again refused. On the first day of the meeting, June 28, the Cominform adopted the prepared text of a resolution, known in Yugoslavia as the "Resolution of the Informbiro" (Rezolucija Informbiroa). In it, the other Cominform (Informbiro) members expelled Yugoslavia, citing "nationalist elements" that had "managed in the course of the past five or six months to reach a dominant position in the leadership" of the KPJ. The resolution warned Yugoslavia that it was on the path back to bourgeois capitalism due to its nationalist, independence-minded positions, and accused the party itself of "Trotskyism". This was followed by the severing of relations between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, beginning the period of Soviet–Yugoslav conflict between 1948 and 1955 known as the Informbiro Period.

After the break with the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia found itself economically and politically isolated as the country's Eastern Bloc-oriented economy began to falter. At the same time, Stalinist Yugoslavs, known in Yugoslavia as "cominformists", began fomenting civil and military unrest. A number of cominformist rebellions and military insurrections took place, along with acts of sabotage. However, the Yugoslav security service led by Aleksandar Ranković, the UDBA, was quick and efficient in cracking down on insurgent activity. Invasion appeared imminent, as Soviet military units massed along the border with the People's Republic of Hungary, while the Hungarian People's Army was quickly increased in size from 2 to 15 divisions. The UDBA began arresting alleged Cominformists even under suspicion of being pro-Soviet.

However, from the start of the crisis, Tito began making overtures to the United States and the West. Consequently, Stalin's plans were thwarted as Yugoslavia began shifting its alignment. Welcoming the Yugoslav–Soviet rift, the West commenced a flow of economic aid in 1949, assisted in averting famine in 1950, and covered much of Yugoslavia's trade deficit for the next decade. The United States began shipping weapons to Yugoslavia in 1951. Tito, however, was wary of becoming too dependent on the West as well, and military security arrangements concluded in 1953 as Yugoslavia refused to join NATO and began developing a significant military industry of its own.

This and other significant economic reforms of the period, helped along by western aid, revived Yugoslavia and created an economic boom. Employment doubled between 1950 and 1964, with unemployment falling to 6% in 1961. Despite the new mass of industrial laborers, the annual increase in wages was 6.2% per year, while industrial productivity increased by 12.7% annually. Exports of industrial products, led by heavy machinery, transportation machines (esp. shipbuilding industry), and military technology and equipment, rose dramatically by a yearly increase of 11%. All in all, the annual growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) all through to the early 1980s averaged 6.1%. Literacy was increased dramatically and reached 91%, medical care was free on all levels, and life expectancy was 72 years.

In the early sixties concern over problems such as the building of economically irrational "political" factories and inflation led a group within the communist leadership to advocate greater decentralization. The introduction of further reforms introduced a variant of market socialism, which now entailed a policy of open borders. With heavy federal investment, tourism in SR Croatia was revived, expanded, and transformed into a major source of income. With these successful measures, the Yugoslav economy achieved relative self-sufficiency and traded extensively with both the West and the East. By the early 1960s, foreign observers noted that the country was "booming", and that all the while the Yugoslav citizens enjoyed far greater liberties than the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc states.

In 1987, an official of the ruling League of Communists of Serbia (SKS) (SR Serbian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia), Slobodan Milošević, was dispatched to SAP Kosovo to quell the latest demonstration by the Kosovar Serbs. Up to this point, all branches of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, including Slobodan Milošević himself, unanimously condemned all nationalist outcries. However, at this rally, Milošević abandoned party policy: he supported the claims of the gathered crowd - instantly casting himself as the "defender of the Serbs". This image was further promoted by his increasing personal control over the Serbian media, which he was establishing at this time. With his new-found popularity, Milošević managed to wrest control of the League of Communists of Serbia from his one-time political ally Ivan Stambolić, effectively becoming the most powerful politician in SR Serbia.

Having secured his position in SR Serbia, Milošević proceeded to take control of the governments of SAP Vojvodina, SAP Kosovo, and the neighboring Socialist Republic of Montenegro in what was dubbed the "Anti-Bureaucratic Revolution" by the Serbian media. Both the SAPs possessed a vote on the Yugoslav Presidency in accordance to the 1974 constitution, and together with SR Montenegro and his own SR Serbia, Milošević now directly controlled four out of eight votes in the collective head-of-state by January 10, 1989. This situation severely aggravated the governments of SR Croatia and SR Slovenia, along with the ethnic Albanians of SAP Kosovo, all of whom soon found themselves in conflict with Milošević (SR Bosnia and Herzegovina and SR Macedonia remained relatively neutral). water tower during the Siege of Vukovar. The tower came to symbolize the town's resistance to Serb forces.]] During the extraordinary 14th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (January 1990), the delegations of the League of Communists of Croatia, led by Ivica Račan, and the League of Communists of Slovenia both walked-out of the congress frustrated by Milošević's stranglehold on the assembly. Thus the unitary League of Communists of Yugoslavia was dissolved, leading to the establishment of a multi-party system in the individual republics. The separate Leagues of Communists (most under new names) failed to win in the majority of republics. In SR Croatia, the nationalist Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won the election promising to "defend Croatia from Milošević", and quickly reduced the status of the republic's large Serbian minority from "constituent nation" to "national minority" on 22 December 1990, causing great alarm among the Croatian Serbs.

Both Croatia and Slovenia under new nationalist governments declared publicly their intention to secede from Yugoslavia. After referendums (boycotted by Serbs), the two countries declared their secession on 25 June 1991, but were stalled for three months by international efforts (the Brijuni Agreement). Immediately after the Slovene declaration, the Yugoslav Presidency ordered the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) to take control over the international border crossings in Slovenia. Thus began the half-hearted JNA effort to prevent the Slovene secession known as the Ten-Day War. Frustrated by the Slovene Territorial Defence (TO), the federal army was denied permission to occupy the Republic fully, and soon withdrew.

In Croatia the Croatian War of Independence soon began, with Croatian Serb rebels (assisted by the JNA) consolidating their hold on chunks of Croatian territory, and declaring that their entities would not secede from Yugoslavia if Croatia followed through with independence (after the Brijuni Agreement three-month moratorium passed). In October 1991 Croatia and Slovenia finally declared independence, leading to full-scale war in Croatia. Serbian rebels and Serb-controlled JNA units succeeded in occupying large chunks of Croatia. A temporary armistice took hold in January 1992, with attention quickly shifting to SR Bosnia and Herzegovina. In September 1991, Macedonia also declared its independence. Five hundred US soldiers were then deployed under the UN banner to monitor Macedonia's northern borders.

The federal institutions of SFR Yugoslavia by this time all but ceased to function. The state was still formally in existence, comprising Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It housed a vast majority of ethnic Serbs, and was completely controlled by Serbian President Slobodan Milošević. After Croatia's secession, Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Muslims no longer desired to remain in a completely Serb-dominated federation ("Serboslavia"), Bosnian Serbs on the other hand, were firmly against separation from Serbia (and the other Serb populations). This led to mutually boycotted referendums by the Muslim-dominated Bosnian government and the newly formed Serbian entity, the Republic of the Serb people of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the soon-to-be Republic of Srpska). Soon after its referendum, the Bosnian government declared its secession from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, triggering the Bosnian War between the mutually hostile ethnic groups.

After the secession of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia was officially dissolved by its two remaining members of Serbia and Montenegro. The two states then formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FR Yugoslavia, FRY), and claimed succession to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This move, however, was not granted legitimacy by the international community, and Yugoslavia was considered completely dissolved into five successor states: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia and FR Yugoslavia (later renamed into "Serbia and Montenegro").

Politics

Constitution

The Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was amended in 1963 and 1974.

The League of Communists of Yugoslavia won the first elections, and remained in power throughout the state's existence. It was composed of individual communist parties from each constituent republic. The party would reform its political positions through party congresses in which delegates from each republic were represented and voted on changes to party policy, the last of which was held in 1990.

Yugoslavia's parliament was known as the Federal Assembly which was housed in the building which currently houses Serbia's parliament. The Federal Assembly was completely composed of Communist members.

The primary political leader of the state was Josip Broz Tito, but there were several other important politicians, particularly after Tito's death: see the list of leaders of communist Yugoslavia. In 1974, Tito was proclaimed President-for-life of Yugoslavia. After Tito's death in 1980, the single position of president was divided into a collective Presidency, where representatives of each republic would essentially form a committee where the concerns of each republic would be addressed and from it, collective federal policy goals and objectives would be implemented. The head of the collective presidency was rotated between representatives of the different republics. The head of the collective presidency was considered the head of state of Yugoslavia. The collective presidency was ended in 1991, as Yugoslavia fell apart.

In 1974, major reforms to Yugoslavia's constitution occurred. Among the changes were the right of any republic to unilaterally secede from Yugoslavia as well as the controversial internal division of Serbia, which created two autonomous provinces within it, Vojvodina and Kosovo. Each of these autonomous provinces had voting power equal to that of the republics, but unlike the republics, the autonomous provinces could not unilaterally separate from Yugoslavia.

Yugoslav-Sovjet relations

Tito-Stalin split

Federal subjects

Internally, the Yugoslav federation was divided into six constituent Socialist Republics established in 1944 and two Socialist Autonomous Provinces (Kosovo/Metohija and Vojvodina) within the Socialist Republic of Serbia. The federal capital was Belgrade. In alphabetical order, the republics and provinces were:

Foreign Policy

Under Tito, Yugoslavia adopted a policy of neutrality in the Cold War. It developed close relations with developing countries (see Non-Aligned Movement) as well as maintaining cordial relations with the United States and Western European countries. Stalin considered Tito a traitor and openly offered condemnation towards him. In 1968, following the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union, Tito added an additional defense line to Yugoslavia's borders with the Warsaw Pact countries.

On 1 January 1967, Yugoslavia was the first communist country to open its borders to all foreign visitors and abolish visa requirements.

In the same year Tito became active in promoting a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. His plan called for Arab countries to recognize the State of Israel in exchange for Israel returning territories it had gained. The Arab countries rejected his land for peace concept.

In 1968, Tito to offered Czechoslovak leader Alexander Dubček that he would fly to Prague on three hours notice if Dubček needed help in facing down the Soviet Union which was occupying Czechoslovakia at the time.

Yugoslavia had mixed relations with the communist regime of Enver Hoxha of Albania. Initially Yugoslav-Albanian relations were forthcoming, as Albania adopted a common market with Yugoslavia and required the teaching of Serbo-Croatian to students in high schools. At this time, the concept of creating a Balkan Federation was being discussed between Yugoslavia, Albania, and Bulgaria. Albania at this time was heavily dependent on economic support of Yugoslavia to fund its initially weak infrastructure. Trouble between Yugoslavia and Albania began when Albanians began to complain that Yugoslavia was paying too little for Albania's natural resources. Afterward, relations between Yugoslavia and Albania worsened. From 1948 onward, the Soviet Union backed Albania in opposition to Yugoslavia. On the issue of Albanian-dominated Kosovo, Yugoslavia and Albania both attempted to neutralize the threat of nationalist conflict, Hoxha opposed nationalist sentiment in Albania as he officially believed in the communist ideal of international brotherhood of all people, though on a few occasions in the 1980s, Hoxha did make inflammatory speeches in support of Albanians in Kosovo against the Yugoslav government, when public sentiment in Albania was firmly in support of Kosovo Albanians.

In 1992, the United Nations imposed a sanction on Yugoslavia as a form of protest against the war brutalities going on. The sanction encompassed everything from trade relations and even the national football team and clubs were banned from all international/continental competitions.

Economy

model of the Zastava automobile company.]] Despite their common origins, the economy of socialist Yugoslavia was much different from the economies of the Soviet Union and other Eastern European communist countries, especially after the Yugoslav-Soviet break-up of 1948. Rather than being owned by the state, Yugoslav companies were socially owned and managed with workers' self-management much like the Israeli kibbutz and the anarchist communes of Spanish Catalonia. Unlike the Soviet Union and other East European economies, Yugoslavia's socialist economy was not centrally planned. The occupation and liberation struggle in World War II left Yugoslavia's infrastructure devastated. Even the most developed parts of the country were largely rural, and the little industry the country had was largely damaged or destroyed.

With the exception of a recession in the mid-1960s, the country's economy prospered formidably. Unemployment was low and the education level of the work force steadily increased. Due to Yugoslavia's neutrality and its leading role in the Non-Aligned Movement, Yugoslav companies exported to both Western and Eastern markets. Yugoslav companies carried out construction of numerous major infrastructural and industrial projects in Africa, Europe and Asia.

The fact that Yugoslavs were allowed to emigrate freely from the 1960s on prompted many to find work in Western Europe, notably West Germany. This contributed to keeping unemployment in check, and also acted as a source of capital and foreign currency.

In the 1970s, the economy was reorganized according to Edvard Kardelj's theory of associated labour, in which the right to decision-making and a share in profits of socially owned companies is based on the investment of labour. All companies were transformed into organizations of associated labour. The smallest, basic organizations of associated labour, roughly corresponded to a small company or a department in a large company. These were organized into enterprises which in turn associated into composite organizations of associated labour, which could be large companies or even whole industry branches in a certain area. Most executive decision-making was based in enterprises, so that these continued to compete to an extent, even when they were part of a same composite organization. In practice, the appointment of managers and the strategic policies of composite organizations were, depending on their size and importance, often subject to political and personal influence-peddling.

In order to give all employees the same access to decision-making, the basic organisations of associated labour were also applied to public services, including health and education. The basic organizations were usually made up of no more than a few dozen people and had their own workers' councils, whose assent was needed for strategic decisions and appointment of managers in enterprises or public institutions.

The Yugoslav wars and consequent loss of market, as well as mismanagement and/or non-transparent privatization, brought further economic trouble for all the former republics of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Only Slovenia's economy grew steadily after the initial shock and slump. Croatia reached its 1990 GDP in 2003, a feat yet to be accomplished by other former Yugoslav republics.

The Yugoslavian currency was the yugoslav dinar.

GDP per Region: (source IMF/World Bank - 1990)

One glance at this table shows how significantly different the economies of the various republics and regions were. Slovenia had a GDP per capita that was like any that might be found in the smaller economies of Western Europe, while the Kosovo province of Serbia was perhaps the most economically backward in all of Europe.

Geography

Like the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that preceded it, the SFRY bordered Italy and Austria to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Romania and Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, Albania to the southwest, and the Adriatic Sea to the west.

The most significant change to the borders of the SFRY occurred in 1954, when the adjacent Free Territory of Trieste was dissolved by the Treaty of Osimo. The Yugoslav Zone B, which covered 515.5 km², became part of the SFRY. Zone B was already occupied by the Yugoslav National Army.

In 1992, the SFRY's territory disintegrated as the independent states of Slovenia, Croatia, Republic of Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina separated from it, though the Yugoslav military controlled parts of Croatia and Bosnia prior to the state's dissolution. By 1992, only the republics of Serbia and Montenegro remained committed to union, and formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) in 1992.

Demographics

The SFRY recognised "nations" (narodi) and "nationalities" (narodnosti) separately; the former included the constituent Slavic peoples, while the latter included other Slavic and non-Slavic ethnic groups such as Bulgarians and Slovaks (Slavic); and Hungarians and Albanians (non-Slavic). About a total of 26 known ethnic groups were known to live in Yugoslavia, including non-European originated Roma People or Gypsies.

The country consisted of six republics, with their appropriate constituent nations:

Slovenia (Slovenes)

Croatia (Croats and Serbs)

Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats)

Serbia (Serbs, Albanians, Hungarians, Bosniaks, Montenegrins and Bulgarians)

Central Serbia (Serbs, Bosniaks and Bulgarians)

Kosovo (Albanians, Serbs, Turks, Bosniaks, Montenegrins and Roma people)

Vojvodina (Serbs, Hungarians, Slovaks, Romanians, Rusyns, Croats and Roma people)

Montenegro (Montenegrins, Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats and Albanians) Macedonia (Macedonians, Albanians, Turks and Roma people)

There was also a Yugoslav ethnic designation, for the people who wanted to identify with the entire country, including people who were born to parents in mixed marriages.

Military

The armed forces of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia consists of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), Territorial Defense (TO), Civil Defense (CZ) and Milicija (police) in war time. Much like the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that preceded it, the socialist Yugoslavia maintained a strong military force. In fact, socialist Yugoslavia was considered to be the 4th strongest nation in Europe before its collapse and under Tito's rule after the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France.

The Yugoslav People's Army or JNA/JLA was the main organization of the military forces. It was composed of the ground army, navy and aviation. Most of its military equipment and pieces were domestically produced.

The regular army mostly originated from the Yugoslav Partisans and the People's Liberation Army of the Yugoslav People's Liberation War in the Second World War. Yugoslavia also had a thriving arms industry and sold to such nations as Kuwait, Iraq, and Burma, amongst many others (including a number of staunchly anti-Communist regimes like Guatemala). Yugoslavian companies like Zastava Arms produced Soviet-designed weaponry under license as well as creating weaponry from scratch. SOKO was an example of a successful design by Yugoslavia before the Yugoslav wars.

As Yugoslavia splintered, the army factionalized along cultural lines, by 1991 and 1992, Serbs and Montenegrins made up almost the entire army as the separating states formed their own.

Beside the federal army, each of the six republics had their own respective Territorial Defense Forces. They were a national guard of sorts, established in the frame of a new military doctrine called "General Popular Defense" as an answer to the brutal end of the Prague Spring by the Warsaw Pact in Czechoslovakia in 1968. It was organized on republic, autonomous province, municipality and local community levels.

Culture

, awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize for Literature.]] Some of the most prominent Yugoslav writers were the Nobel Prize for Literature laureate Ivo Andrić, Miroslav Krleža, Meša Selimović, Branko Ćopić, Mak Dizdar and others. Notable painters included: Đorđe Andrejević Kun, Petar Lubarda, Mersad Berber, Milić od Mačve and others. Prominent sculptor was Antun Augustinčić who made a monument standing in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The pianist Ivo Pogorelić and the violinist Stefan Milenković were internationally acclaimed classical music performers, while Jakov Gotovac was a prominent composer and a conductor. The Yugoslav cinema featured the notable theatre and film actors Danilo Bata Stojković, Ljuba Tadić, Fabijan Šovagović, Mustafa Nadarević, Bata Živojinović, Boris Dvornik, Ljubiša Samardžić, Dragan Nikolić, Milena Dravić, Neda Arnerić, Rade Šerbedžija, Mira Furlan, Ena Begović and others. Film directors included: Emir Kusturica, Dušan Makavejev, Goran Marković, Lordan Zafranović, Goran Paskaljević, Živojin Pavlović and Hajrudin Krvavac. Many Yugoslav films featured eminent foreign actors such as Orson Welles, Franco Nero and Yul Brynner in the Academy Award nominated The Battle of Neretva, and Richard Burton in Sutjeska. Also, many foreign films were shot on locations in Yugoslavia including domestic crews, such as Force 10 from Navarone starring Harrison Ford, Robert Shaw and Franco Nero, Armour of God starring Jackie Chan, as well as Escape from Sobibor starring Alan Arkin, Joanna Pacuła and Rutger Hauer. Cultural events across the former Yugoslavia included Dubrovačke ljetne igre, Pula Film Festival, the Struga Poetry Evenings and many others. The Yugoslav pop and rock music was also a very important part of the culture. The Yugoslav New Wave was an esspecially productive musical scene, as well as the authentic subcultural movement called New Primitives. The former SFR Yugoslavia was the only communist state that was taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest and it was one of its oldest participants starting in 1961 even before some Western nations. Notable domestic popular music festival was the Split Festival. Prominent traditional music artists were the award winning Tanec ensemble, the Romani music performer Esma Redžepova and others.

Prior to the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Yugoslavia had a multicultural society based on the concept of brotherhood and unity and the memory of the communist Yugoslav Partisans' victory against fascists and nationalists as the rebirth of the Yugoslav people. In the SFRY the history of Yugoslavia during World War II was portrayed as a struggle not only between Yugoslavia and the Axis Powers, but as a struggle between good and evil within Yugoslavia with the multiethnic Yugoslav Partisans were represented as the “good” Yugoslavs fighting against manipulated “evil” Yugoslavs – the Croatian Ustaše and Serbian Chetniks. The SFRY was presented to its people as the leader of the non-aligned movement and that the SFRY was dedicated to creating a just, harmonious, Marxist world. Artists from different ethnicities in the country were popular amongst other ethnicities such as Bosniak Yugoslav pop-folk singer Lepa Brena from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who was popular in Serbia, and the film industry in Yugoslavia avoided nationalist overtones until the 1990s.

Sports

The SFRY enjoyed a strong athletic sports community, such as in football and basketball and there was great enthusiasm in Yugoslavia when the 1984 Winter Olympic Games were selected to be in Sarajevo.

Miscellaneous

Tito famously said of Yugoslavia, "I am the leader of one country which has two alphabets, three languages, four religions, five nationalities, six republics, surrounded by seven neighbours, a country in which live eight ethnic minorities."

Yugoslavia was also said to be surrounded "with worries" ("brigama" in Croatian and Serbian). That word could be constructed using the first letters of the names of the surrounding countries - Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Greece, Albania, Hungary (Mađarska in Croatian and Serbian) and Austria.

Yugoslavia shared the melody of its national anthem with Poland. Its first lyrics were written in 1834 under the title "Hey, Slovaks" (Hej, Slováci) and it has since served as the anthem of the Pan-Slavic movement, the anthem of the Sokol physical education and political movement, and the anthem of the WWII Slovak Republic, Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro. The song is also considered to be the second, unofficial anthem of the Slovaks. Its melody is based on Mazurek Dąbrowskiego, which has been also the anthem of Poland since 1926, but it is much slower and more accentuated. http://www.marxists.org/subject/yugoslavia/music/servie-serbian.mp3

See also

Yugoslavia

Brotherhood and unity

Timeline of Yugoslavian breakup

History of the Balkans

Music of Yugoslavia

SFR Yugoslav Pop and Rock scene

History of computer hardware in the SFRY

Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Unique Master Citizen Number

Timeline of Croatian history

References

External links

Orders and Decorations of the SFRY

List of leaders of SFRY

Sources Of The Democratic Deficit In The Yugoslav System Of "Self-Government" by Dan Jakopovich

"Yugoslavia: the outworn structure" (CIA) Report from November 1970

CWIHP at the Wilson Center for Scholars: Primary Document Collection on Yugoslavia in the Cold War

Category:1992 disestablishments Category:History of Europe Category:Second Yugoslavia Category:Former Slavic countries Category:States and territories established in 1943 Category:Single-party states Category:Former socialist republics Category:Communist states