Kakanj Какањ
Location of Kakanj within Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Country	Bosnia
Entity	The Federation
Canton	Zenica-Doboj
Government
• Municipality president	Mensur Jašarspahić (SDP)
Population (1991 census)
• Total	55,857
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Area code(s)	+387 32
Website	www.kakanj.com.ba/

Kakanj (Serbian Cyrillic: Какањ), is an industrial town and a municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, located north of Visoko and southeast of Zenica. It was built along the slopes of wide hills on either side of the Zgošća river. It is administratively part of the Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation.

View of Kakanj.

Demographics[link]

In the census of 1991, the city of Kakanj itself had 12,016 inhabitants.

In 2005, estimates of population of the municipality included 88% Bosniaks and 11% Croats.

History[link]

Old history[link]

Neolithic artifacts have been found in Obre, a nearby village.

Settlements in the region are very ancient. They are claimed to be historical landmarks of the early Bosnian state. Kraljeva Sutjeska, a Franciscan monastery, is of particular historical note. Near the monastery is Bobovac, scene of the last stand of Bosnian Queen Katarina Kosača and medieval residence of Bosnian kings. In Kraljeva Sutjeska is one of the oldest mosques in Bosnia, built by order of Sultan Mehmed II the Victorious during his expedition to Bosnia and conquest of Bobovac. The Kakanj area enjoyed a renaissance during the rule of the Kotromanic dynasty.

One of the most beautiful tombs ever found in Bosnia, with a carving of a hunting cavalier, was found in Kakanj; it is currently displayed in the botanic garden of The State Museum in Sarajevo.

Town Kakanj was the first mentioned 1468 as settlement with 90 houses. Coal mine Kakanj was founded in 1900 under Austro-Hungarian rule around a developing coal mine, which began production in 1902. In the next hundred years, Kakanj developed organically without any urban planning, initially around the coalmine, and later along the banks of the Zgošća and Bosna rivers.

Kakanj in the Bosnian Conflict[link]

The situation of Kakanj at the beginning of the Bosnian conflict was rather quiet, confronted with the frontlines in the area of Zavidovici. The town was in the middle of the Bosniak Sarajevo-controlled territory, along the communication path with Zenica. Most of the Serb minority soon left the town, while there came other Bosniaks, refugees from Serb-controlled towns.

The town was run over by the Croat-Bosniak conflict in April 1993. In the first half of June, around 10,000 Croats left the town towards Vares, from where they reached refugee camps and HVO-controlled areas. During this phase, 50-100 victims were reported. More than 400 houses, mostly Croat-owned, were destroyed or severely damaged; around 1000 were slightly damaged, do to vandalism and plunder, after Croats left, more than to actual fighting. Around 1,200 Croats from Kakanj gathered from Vares, in September 1993, at the Pineta Camping in Novigrad, Croatian Istria, that was set up as a refugee camp for the winter.

Between March and June 1994, Croats and Bosniaks signed the Washington Agreement, forming the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The situation in Kakanj improved, but refugees did not came back. Health and sanitation conditions are poor, even though not severe; an hepatitis epidemic is recorded in 1994. Food Security is under control, thanks to humanitarian aid, even though prices remain prohibitive and most of the family survive with company-organized distribution and kitchen gardens. Almost all productive activities are stopped, and nobody receive any salary, but monthly food packages. Most of the young people are enrolled in Armija BiH.

Kakanj after the war[link]

Mosque in Kakanj

After the war the population of Kakanj sum up to 48,000, of which 43,000 are Bosnjaks, 4,000 are Croats, and few hundreds are Serbs. No case of discrimination is recorded, and religious life carries on regularly. Around 10,000-14,000 people have left, and the same number came to Kakanj, strengthening the Bosniak community. The main problem is that of around 6,000 Bosnjak refugees from Republika Srpska, occupying formerly Croat houses. From 1995 to 1998, some hundreds of Croats made individual returns to Kakanj, and 3,000 Bosniak refugees came back to their original towns.

The municipality was managed by a Bosniak SDA majority, while HDZ Croat refugees from Kakanj constituted a "shadow Municipality" in Čapljina, Herzegovina, pressing for re-possessing their houses and forming a separate, Croat Kakanj Municipality.

Economy in Kakanj as in Central Bosnia, notwithstanding promises, does not start off, and many young people leave or do not come back from gastarbeiter workplaces in Germany and elsewhere. Over 16,000 town inhabitants, more than 4,000 are unemployed. The cement factory (owned by a German company by 51%) does not work fully, and all the cement goes for construction works in Sarajevo. The coal mine hardly works: its coal is out of market because it's polluting. Cement factory workers earns the most, 800 DM/months; then came powerplant workers, and last the miners. The cost of life for a 4 persons family is around 1000 DM/month.

On 29 Septembre 1999, the High Representative (OHR) Wolfgang Petrisch removed from office the mayor of Kakanj, Kemal Brodilija, for obstructing the implementation of the Dayton Agreements and pursuing an extra-legal agenda.^[1]

Sport[link]

• The city is home to the football club FK Rudar Kakanj.
• The city is home to the volleyball club OK Kakanj.

Villages in the municipality (1991)[link]

The name "Kakanj" also refers to one of the many villages in the municipality: Alagići • Bastašići • Bašići • Bičer • Bijele Vode • Bijelo Polje • Bilješevo • Bistrik - Crkvenjak • Bištrani • Bjelavići • Bosna • Brežani • Brnj • Brnjic • Bukovlje • Crnač • Čatići • Danci • Desetnik • Doboj • Donja Papratnica • Donji Banjevac • Donji Kakanj • Donji Lučani • Dračići • Drijen • Dubovo Brdo • Dumanac • Gora • Gornja Papratnica • Gornji Banjevac • Gornji Lučani • Govedovići • Gradac • Groce • Halinovići • Haljinići • Hausovići • Hodžići • Hrasno • Hrastovac • Ivnica • Javor • Jehovina • Jerevice • Jezero • Kakanj • Karaula • Karaulsko Polje • Klanac • Kondžilo • Koprivnica • Kraljevska Sutjeska • Krševac • Kučići • Kujavče • Lipnica • Lučići • Lukovo Brdo • Marijina Voda • Miljačići • Mioči • Modrinje • Mramor • Nažbilj • Obre • Papratno • Pavlovići • Pedići • Podbjelavići • Podborje • Poljani • Poljice • Pope • Popržena Gora • Ratanj • Ribnica • Ričica • Rojin Potok • Saranovići • Sebinje • Semetiš • Seoce • Slagoščići • Slapnica • Slivanj • Slivnice • Sopotnica • Starposle • Subotinje • Termoelektrana • Teševo • Tičići • Tršće • Turalići • Turbići • Varalići • Veliki Trnovci • Viduša • Vrtlište • Vukanovići • Zagrađe • Zgošća • Zlokuće • Željeznička Stanica Kakanj i Živalji.

Ethnic structure by settlements, 1991 census[link]

Absolute ethnic majority:

Relative ethnic majority:

References[link]

1. ^ http://www.ohr.int/decisions/removalssdec/default.asp?content_id=273

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kakanj

External links[link]

• kakanj.com.ba (Bosnian)

v t e Municipalities of the Zenica-Doboj Canton Breza Doboj Jug Kakanj Maglaj Olovo Tešanj Usora Vareš Visoko Zavidovići Zenica Žepče

v t e Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina v t e Entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Republika Srpska v t e Cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina      Una-Sana  Central Bosnia  Posavina  Herzegovina-Neretva  Tuzla  West Herzegovina  Zenica-Doboj  Sarajevo  Bosnian Podrinje  Canton 10 v t e Districts of Bosnia and Herzegovina Brčko distrikt v t e Municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina Capital Sarajevo Municipalities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Banovići Bihać Bosanska Krupa Bosanski Petrovac Bosansko Grahovo Bugojno Busovača Bužim Čapljina Cazin Čelić Centar, Sarajevo Čitluk Drvar Doboj East Doboj South Dobratići Domaljevac-Šamac Donji Vakuf Foča-Ustikolina Fojnica Glamoč Goražde Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje Gračanica Gradačac Grude Hadžići Ilidža Ilijaš Jablanica Jajce Kakanj Kalesija Kiseljak Kladanj Ključ Konjic Kreševo Kupres Livno Ljubuški Lukavac Maglaj Mostar Neum Novi Grad, Sarajevo Novo Sarajevo Novi Travnik Odžak Olovo Orašje Pale-Prača Posušje Prozor-Rama Ravno Sanski Most Sapna Široki Brijeg Srebrenik Stari Grad, Sarajevo Stolac Teočak Tešanj Tomislavgrad Travnik Trnovo (FBiH) Tuzla Usora Vareš Velika Kladuša Visoko Vitez Vogošća Zavidovići Zenica Žepče Živinice Municipalities of Republika Srpska Berkovići Bijeljina Bileća Brod Bratunac Čajniče Čelinac Derventa Doboj Donji Žabar Foča Gacko Grad Banja Luka Grad Istočno Sarajevo Gradiška Han Pijesak Istočni Drvar Istočna Ilidža Istočni Mostar Istočni Stari Grad Istočno Novo Sarajevo Jezero Kalinovik Kneževo Kostajnica Kozarska Dubica Kotor Varoš Krupa na Uni Kupres Laktaši Ljubinje Lopare Milići Modriča Mrkonjić Grad Nevesinje Novi Grad Novo Goražde Osmaci Oštra Luka Pale Pelagićevo Petrovac Petrovo Prijedor Prnjavor Ribnik Rogatica Rudo Šamac Šekovići Šipovo Sokolac Srbac Srebrenica Teslić Trebinje Trnovo Ugljevik Višegrad Vlasenica Vukosavlje Zvornik

Coordinates: 44°07′52″N 18°05′50″E / 44.13111°N 18.09722°E / 44.13111; 18.09722

Marshal Josip Broz Tito
1st President of Yugoslavia
In office 14 January 1953 – 4 May 1980
Prime Minister	Himself (1953–1963) Petar Stambolić (1963–1967) Mika Špiljak (1967–1969) Mitja Ribičič (1969–1971) Džemal Bijedić (1971–1977) Veselin Đuranović (1977–1980)
Succeeded by	Lazar Koliševski (as President of the Presidency of SFR Yugoslavia)
1st Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement
In office 1 September 1961 – 5 October 1964
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Gamal Abdel Nasser
22nd Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
In office 29 November 1943 – 29 June 1963
Monarch	Peter II (1943-1945)
President	Ivan Ribar (1945–1953) Himself (1953–1963)
Preceded by	Ivan Šubašić
Succeeded by	Petar Stambolić
1st Federal Secretary of People's Defence
In office 7 March 1945 – 14 January 1953
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Ivan Gošnjak
7th Chairman of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia
In office November 1936 – 4 May 1980
Preceded by	Milan Gorkić
Succeeded by	Branko Mikulić
Personal details
Born	Josip Broz (1892-05-07)7 May 1892[nb 1] Kumrovec, Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary (modern Croatia)
Died	4 May 1980(1980-05-04) (aged 87) Ljubljana, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia
Resting place	House of Flowers 44°47′12″N 20°27′06″E / 44.78667°N 20.45167°E / 44.78667; 20.45167
Nationality	Yugoslav[1]
Political party	League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ)
Spouse(s)	Pelagija Broz (1919–1939), div. Herta Haas (1940–1943) Jovanka Broz (1952–1980)
Domestic partner	Davorjanka Paunović
Children	Zlatica Broz, Hinko Broz, Žarko Leon Broz and Aleksandar Broz
Occupation	Machinist, revolutionary, resistance commander, statesman
Religion	None (Atheist)[2][3] (formerly Roman Catholic)[4]
Ethnicity	Croat
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Austria-Hungary Yugoslavia
Service/branch	Yugoslav People's Army All (supreme commander)
Years of service	1913–1915 1941–1980
Rank	Marshal of Yugoslavia
Commands	Yugoslav Partisans Yugoslav People's Army
Battles/wars	World War I Spanish Civil War World War II
Awards	98 international and 21 Yugoslav decorations, including Order of the Yugoslav Star Légion d'honneur Order of the Bath Order of Lenin Order of Merit of Italy (short list below, full list in the article)

Marshal Josip Broz Tito (Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [jɔ̂sip brɔ̂ːz tîtɔ]; born Josip Broz; Cyrillic: Јосип Броз Тито; 7 May 1892^{[nb 1]} – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman, serving in various roles from 1945 until his death in 1980.^[5] While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian,^[6][7][8] due to his successful economic and diplomatic policies, Tito was seen by most as a benevolent dictator,^[9] and was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad.^[10] Viewed as a unifying symbol,^[11] his internal policies successfully maintained the peaceful coexistence of the nations of the Yugoslav federation. He gained international attention as the chief leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, working with Jawaharlal Nehru of India and Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt.^[12]

Josip was born as the seventh child of Franjo and Marija Broz in the village of Kumrovec within Austria-Hungary (modern-day Croatia). Drafted into the army, he distinguished himself, becoming the youngest Sergeant Major in the Austro-Hungarian Army.^[13] After being seriously wounded and captured by the Russians, Josip was sent to a work camp in the Ural Mountains. He participated in the October Revolution, and later joined a Red Guard unit in Omsk. Upon his return home, Broz found himself in the newly established Kingdom of Yugoslavia, where he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia.

He was Secretary-General (later President) of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (1939–80), and went on to lead the World War II Yugoslav guerrilla movement, the Partisans (1941–45).^[14] After the war, he was the Prime Minister (1943–63) and later President (1953–80) of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). From 1943 to his death in 1980, he held the rank of Marshal of Yugoslavia, serving as the supreme commander of the Yugoslav military, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). With a highly favourable reputation abroad in both Cold War blocs, Josip Broz Tito received some 98 foreign decorations, including the Legion of Honour and the Order of the Bath.

Tito was the chief architect of the "second Yugoslavia", a socialist federation that lasted from World War II until 1991. Despite being one of the founders of Cominform, he was also the first (and the only successful) Cominform member to defy Soviet hegemony. A backer of independent roads to socialism (sometimes referred to as, although incorrectly, "national communism" or more correctly "Titoism"), he was one of the main founders and promoters of the Non-Aligned Movement, and its first Secretary-General. He supported the policy of nonalignment between the two hostile blocs in the Cold War. Such successful diplomatic and economic policies allowed Tito to preside over the Yugoslav economic boom and expansion of the 1960s and 1970s.^[15][16][17] His internal policies included the suppression of nationalist sentiment and the promotion of the "brotherhood and unity" of the six Yugoslav nations. After Tito's death in 1980, tensions between the Yugoslav republics emerged and in 1991 the country disintegrated and went into a series of civil wars and unrest that lasted the rest of the decade and continue to impact most of the former Yugoslav republics to this day. He remains a controversial figure in the Balkans.

Early life[link]

Pre-World War I[link]

Tito's birthplace in the town of Kumrovec, Croatia.

Josip Broz was born on 7 May 1892 in Kumrovec, in the northern Croatian region of Hrvatsko Zagorje in Austria-Hungary.^{[nb 1]} He was the seventh child of Franjo and Marija Broz.^[18] His father, Franjo Broz (26 November 1860–16 December 1936, Zagreb, buried at Mirogoj), was a Croat, while his mother Marija (born Javeršek, 25 March 1864, Loka pri Podsredi–14 January 1918, Kupinec), was a Slovene. His parents were married on 21 January 1891. After spending part of his childhood years with his maternal grandfather Martin Javeršek in the Slovenian village of Podsreda, he entered primary school in 1900 at Kumrovec, he failed the 2nd grade and graduated in 1905. In 1907 he moved out of the rural environment and started working as a machinist's apprentice in Sisak.^[19] There, he became aware of the labour movement and celebrated 1 May – Labour Day for the first time. In 1910, he joined the union of metallurgy workers and at the same time the Social-Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia.^[20] Between 1911 and 1913, Broz worked for shorter periods in Kamnik (1911-1912, factory "Titan"), Cenkovo, Munich and Mannheim, where he worked for the Benz car factory; then he went to Wiener Neustadt, Austria, and worked as a test driver for Daimler.^[21]

In the autumn of 1913, he was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army.^[22] He was sent to a school for non-commissioned officers and became a sergeant, serving in the 25th Croatian Regiment based in Zagreb.^[23] In May 1914, Broz won a silver medal at an army fencing competition in Budapest. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, he was sent to Ruma, where he was arrested for anti-war propaganda and imprisoned in the Petrovaradin fortress. In January 1915, he was sent to the Eastern Front in Galicia to fight against Russia. He distinguished himself as a capable soldier, becoming the youngest Sergeant Major in the Austro-Hungarian Army.^[13] For his bravery in the face of the enemy, he was recommended for the Silver Bravery Medal but was taken prisoner of war before it could be formally presented. On 25 March 1915, while in Bukovina, he was seriously wounded and captured by the Russians.^[24]

Prisoner and revolutionary[link]

Josip Broz Tito in 1928 as an agent of the Comintern, also known at the time as "Agent Walter"

After 13 months at the hospital, Broz was sent to a work camp in the Ural Mountains where prisoners selected him for their camp leader. In February 1917, revolting workers broke into the prison and freed the prisoners. Broz subsequently joined a Bolshevik group. In April 1917, he was arrested again but managed to escape and participate in the July Days demonstrations in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) on 16–17 July 1917. On his way to Finland, Broz was caught and imprisoned in the Petropavlovsk fortress for three weeks. He was again sent to Kungur, but escaped from the train. He hid out with a Russian family in Omsk, Siberia where he met his future wife Pelagija Belousova.^[25] After the October Revolution, he joined a Red Guard unit in Omsk. Following a White counteroffensive, he fled to Kirgiziya and subsequently returned to Omsk, where he married Belousova. In the spring of 1918, he joined the Yugoslav section of the Russian Communist Party. By June of the same year, Broz left Omsk to find work and support his family, and was employed as a mechanic near Omsk for a year. In January 1920, he and his wife made a long and difficult journey home to Yugoslavia where he arrived in September.^[26]

Upon his return, Broz joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. The CPY's influence on the political life of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was growing rapidly. In the 1920 elections the Communists won 59 seats in the parliament and became the third strongest party.^[27] Winning numerous local elections, they even gained a stronghold in the second largest city of Zagreb, electing Svetozar Delić for mayor. However, after the assassination of Milorad Drašković, the Yugoslav Minister of the Interior, by a young communist on 2 August 1921, the CPY was declared illegal under the Yugoslav State Security Act of 1921.^[28] During 1920 and 1921 all Communist-won mandates were nullified. Broz continued his work underground despite pressure on Communists from the government. As 1921 began he moved to Veliko Trojstvo near Bjelovar and found work as a machinist.^[29] In 1925, Broz moved to Kraljevica where he started working at a shipyard.^[30] He was elected as a union leader and a year later he led a shipyard strike. He was fired and moved to Belgrade, where he worked in a train coach factory in Smederevska Palanka. He was elected as Workers' Commissary but was sacked as soon as his CPY membership was revealed. Broz then moved to Zagreb, where he was appointed secretary of Metal Workers' Union of Croatia. In 1928, he became the Zagreb Branch Secretary of the CPY. In the same year he was arrested, tried in court for his illegal communist activities, and sent to jail.^[31] During his five years at Lepoglava prison he met Moša Pijade, who became his ideological mentor.^[31] After his release, he lived incognito and assumed a number of noms de guerre, among them "Walter" and "Tito".^[32]

In 1934 the Zagreb Provincial Committee sent Tito to Vienna where all the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia had sought refuge.^[33] He was appointed to the Committee and started to appoint allies to him, among them Edvard Kardelj, Milovan Đilas, Aleksandar Ranković and Boris Kidrič. In 1935, Tito travelled to the Soviet Union, working for a year in the Balkans section of Comintern.^[34] He was a member of the Soviet Communist Party and the Soviet secret police (NKVD). Tito was also involved in recruiting for the Dimitrov Battalion, a group of volunteers serving in the Spanish Civil War.^[35] In 1936, the Comintern sent "Comrade Walter" (i.e. Tito) back to Yugoslavia to purge the Communist Party there. In 1937, Stalin had the Secretary-General of the CPY, Milan Gorkić, murdered in Moscow.^[36] Subsequently Tito was appointed Secretary-General of the still-outlawed CPY.

World War II leader[link]

People's Liberation War[link]

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v t e

Josip Broz Tito during World War II, as commander of the Partisans.

On 6 April 1941, German, Italian and Hungarian forces launched an invasion of Yugoslavia. On 10 April 1941, Slavko Kvaternik proclaimed the Independent State of Croatia, Tito responded by forming a Military Committee within the Central Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party.^[37] Attacked from all sides, the armed forces of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia quickly crumbled. On 17 April 1941, after King Peter II and other members of the government fled the country, the remaining representatives of the government and military met with the German officials in Belgrade. They quickly agreed to end military resistance. On 1 May 1941, Tito issued a pamphlet calling on the people to unite in a battle against the occupation.^[38] On 27 June 1941, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia appointed Tito Commander in Chief of all project national liberation military forces. On 1 July 1941, the Comintern sent precise instructions calling for immediate action.^[39]

Despite conflicts with the rival monarchic Chetnik movement, Tito's Partisans succeeded in liberating territory, notably the "Republic of Užice". During this period, Tito held talks with Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović on 19 September and 27 October 1941.^[40] It is said that Tito ordered his forces to assist escaping Jews, and that more than 2,000 Jews fought directly for Tito.^[41]

On 21 December 1941, the Partisans created the First Proletarian Brigade (commanded by Koča Popović) and on 1 March 1942, Tito created the Second Proletarian Brigade.^[42] In liberated territories, the Partisans organised People's Committees to act as civilian government. The Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) convened in Bihać on 26–27 November 1942 and in Jajce on 29 November 1943.^[43] In the two sessions, the resistance representatives established the basis for post-war organisation of the country, deciding on a federation of the Yugoslav nations. In Jajce, a 67-member "presidency" was elected and established a nine-member National Committee of Liberation (five communist members) as a de facto provisional government.^[44] Tito was named President of the National Committee of Liberation.^[45]

With the growing possibility of an Allied invasion in the Balkans, the Axis began to divert more resources to the destruction of the Partisans main force and its high command.^[46] This meant, among other things, a concerted German effort to capture Josip Broz Tito personally. On 25 May 1944, he managed to evade the Germans after the Raid on Drvar (Operation Rösselsprung), an airborne assault outside his Drvar headquarters in Bosnia.^[46]

After the Partisans managed to endure and avoid these intense Axis attacks between January and June 1943, and the extent of Chetnik collaboration became evident, Allied leaders switched their support from Draža Mihailović to Tito. King Peter II, American President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill joined Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin in officially recognising Tito and the Partisans at the Tehran Conference.^[47] This resulted in Allied aid being parachuted behind Axis lines to assist the Partisans. On 17 June 1944 on the Dalmatian island of Vis, the Treaty of Vis (Viški sporazum) was signed in an attempt to merge Tito's government (the AVNOJ) with the government in exile of King Peter II.^[48] The Balkan Air Force was formed in June 1944 to control operations that were mainly aimed at aiding his forces.^[49]

On 12 September 1944, King Peter II called on all Yugoslavs to come together under Tito's leadership and stated that those who did not were "traitors."^[50] On 28 September 1944, the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) reported that Tito signed an agreement with the U.S.S.R. allowing "temporary entry" of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory which allowed the Red Army to assist in operations in the northeastern areas of Yugoslavia.^[51] With their strategic right flank secured by the Allied advance, the Partisans prepared and executed a massive general offensive which succeeded in breaking through German lines and forcing a retreat beyond Yugoslav borders. After the Partisan victory and the end of hostilities in Europe, all external forces were ordered off Yugoslav territory.

Aftermath of World War II[link]

On 7 March 1945, the provisional government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (Demokratska Federativna Jugoslavija, DFY) was assembled in Belgrade by Josip Broz Tito, while the provisional name allowed for either a republic or monarchy. This government was headed by Tito as provisional Yugoslav Prime Minister and included representatives from the royalist government-in-exile, among others Ivan Šubašić. In accordance with the agreement between resistance leaders and the government-in-exile, post-war elections were held to determine the form of government. In November 1945, Tito's pro-republican People's Front, led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, won the elections with an overwhelming majority, the vote having been boycotted by monarchists.^[52] During the period, Tito evidently enjoyed massive popular support due to being generally viewed by the populace as the liberator of Yugoslavia.^[53] The Yugoslav administration in the immediate post-war period managed to unite a country that had been severely affected by ultra-nationalist upheavals and war devastation, while successfully suppressing the nationalist sentiments of the various nations in favor of tolerance, and the common Yugoslav goal. After the overwhelming electoral victory, Tito was confirmed as the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the DFY. The country was soon renamed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY) (later finally renamed into Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFRY). On 29 November 1945, King Peter II was formally deposed by the Yugoslav Constituent Assembly. The Assembly drafted a new republican constitution soon afterwards.

Yugoslavia organized the Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslavenska narodna armija, or JNA) from the Partisan movement and became the fourth strongest army in Europe at the time.^[54] The State Security Administration (Uprava državne bezbednosti/sigurnosti/varnosti, UDBA) was also formed as the new secret police, along with a security agency, the Department of People's Security (Organ Zaštite Naroda (Armije), OZNA). Yugoslav intelligence was charged with imprisoning and bringing to trial large numbers of Nazi collaborators; controversially, this included Catholic clergymen due to the widespread involvement of Croatian Catholic clergy with the Ustaša regime. Draža Mihailović was found guilty of collaboration, high treason and war crimes and was subsequently executed by firing squad in July 1946.

Prime Minister Josip Broz Tito met with the president of the Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia, Aloysius Stepinac on 4 June 1945, two days after his release from imprisonment. The two could not reach an agreement on the state of the Catholic Church. Under Stepinac's leadership, the bishops' conference released a letter condemning alleged Partisan war crimes in September, 1945. The following year Stepinac was arrested and put on trial. In October 1946, in its first special session for 75 years, the Vatican excommunicated Tito and the Yugoslav government for sentencing Stepinac to 16 years in prison on charges of assisting Ustaše terror and of supporting forced conversions of Serbs to Catholicism.^[55] Stepinac received preferential treatment in recognition of his status^[56] and the sentence was soon shortened and reduced to house-arrest, with the option of emigration open to the archbishop. At the conclusion of the "Informbiro period", reforms rendered Yugoslavia considerably more religiously liberal than the Eastern Bloc states.

In the first post war years Tito was widely considered a communist leader very loyal to Moscow, indeed, he was often viewed as second only to Stalin in the Eastern Bloc. Yugoslav forces shot down American aircraft flying over Yugoslav territory, and relations with the West were strained. In fact, Stalin and Tito had an uneasy alliance from the start, with Stalin considering Tito too independent.

President of Yugoslavia[link]

Tito–Stalin split[link]

Prime Minister Josip Broz Tito greeted by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden in London, 1953.

Unlike the other new communist states in east-central Europe, Yugoslavia liberated itself from Axis domination with limited direct support from the Red Army. Tito's leading role in liberating Yugoslavia not only greatly strengthened his position in his party and among the Yugoslav people, but also caused him to be more insistent that Yugoslavia had more room to follow its own interests than other Bloc leaders who had more reasons (and pressures) to recognize Soviet efforts in helping them liberate their own countries from Axis control. Although Tito was formally an ally of Stalin after World War II, the Soviets had set up a spy ring in the Yugoslav party as early as 1945, giving way to an uneasy alliance.

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, there occurred several armed incidents between Yugoslavia and the Western Allies. Following the war, Yugoslavia acquired the Italian territory of Istria as well as the cities of Zadar and Rijeka. Yugoslav leadership was looking to incorporate Trieste into the country as well, which was opposed by the Western Allies. This led to several armed incidents, notably attacks by Yugoslav fighter planes on US transport aircraft, causing bitter criticism from the west. From 1945 to 1948, at least four US aircraft were shot down.^[57] Stalin was opposed to these provocations, as he felt the USSR unready to face the West in open war so soon after the losses of World War II. In addition, Tito was openly supportive of the Communist side in the Greek Civil War, while Stalin kept his distance, having agreed with Churchill not to pursue Soviet interests there, although he did support the Greek communist struggle politically, as demonstrated in several assemblies of the UN Security Council. In 1948, motivated by the desire to create a strong independent economy, Tito modeled his economic development plan independently from Moscow, which resulted in a diplomatic escalation followed by a bitter exchange of letters in which Tito affirmed that

We study and take as an example the Soviet system, but we are developing socialism in our country in somewhat different forms. (...) No matter how much each of us loves the land of socialism, the USSR, he can in no case love his own country less.

—Josip Broz Tito^[58]

Josip Broz Tito greeting Eleanor Roosevelt during her visit to the Brijuni islands, Croatia, Yugoslavia (July 1953)

The Soviet answer on 4 May admonished Tito and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) for failing to admit and correct its mistakes, and went on to accuse them of being too proud of their successes against the Germans, maintaining that the Red Army had saved them from destruction. Tito's response on 17 May suggested that the matter be settled at the meeting of the Cominform to be held that June. However, Tito did not attend the second meeting of the Cominform, fearing that Yugoslavia was to be openly attacked. At this point the crisis nearly escalated into an armed conflict, as Hungarian and Soviet forces were massing on the northern Yugoslav frontier.^[59] On 28 June, the other member countries 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 CPY. The expulsion effectively banished Yugoslavia from the international association of socialist states, while other socialist states of Eastern Europe subsequently underwent purges of alleged "Titoists". Stalin took the matter personally and attempted, unsuccessfully, to assassinate Tito on several occasions. In a correspondence between the two leaders, Tito openly wrote:

Stop sending people to kill me. We've already captured five of them, one of them with a bomb and another with a rifle (...) If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow, and I won't have to send a second.

—Josip Broz Tito^[60]

However, Tito used the estrangement from the USSR to attain US aid via the Marshall Plan, as well as to involve Yugoslavia in the Non-Aligned Movement, in which he assured a leading position for Yugoslavia. The event was significant not only for Yugoslavia and Tito, but also for the global development of socialism, since it was the first major split between Communist states, casting doubt on Comintern's claims for socialism to be a unified force that would eventually control the whole world, as Tito became the first (and the only successful) socialist leader to defy Stalin's leadership in the COMINFORM. This rift with the Soviet Union brought Tito much international recognition, but also triggered a period of instability often referred to as the Informbiro period. Tito's form of communism was labeled "Titoism" by Moscow, which encouraged purges against suspected "Titoites'" throughout the Eastern bloc.

On 26 June 1950, the National Assembly supported a crucial bill written by Milovan Đilas and Tito about "self-management" (samoupravljanje): a type of independent socialism that experimented with profit sharing with workers in state-run enterprises. On 13 January 1953, they established that the law on self-management was the basis of the entire social order in Yugoslavia. Tito also succeeded Ivan Ribar as the President of Yugoslavia on 14 January 1953. After Stalin's death Tito rejected the USSR's invitation for a visit to discuss normalization of relations between two nations. Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin visited Tito in Belgrade in 1955 and apologized for wrongdoings by Stalin's administration. Tito visited the USSR in 1956, which signaled to the world that animosity between Yugoslavia and USSR was easing.^[61] However, the relationship between the USSR and Yugoslavia would reach another low in the late 1960s. Commenting on the crisis, Tito concluded that:

To say the least – it was a disloyal, non-objective attitude towards our Party and our country. It's a consequence of a terrible delusion that has been blown up to monstrous dimensions in order to destroy the reputation of our Party and its leadership, to erase the glory of the Yugoslav people and their struggle. To trample everything great that our nation achieved with great sacrifice and blood loss – in order to break the unity of our Party, which represents a guarantee for successful development of socialism in our country and for the establishment of happiness of our people.

—Josip Broz Tito^{[citation needed]}

Non-aligned Yugoslavia[link]

Queen Elizabeth II with Josip Broz Tito during a visit to Yugoslavia, 1972; during her visit, Tito received the Order of the Bath

Tito´s calling card from 1967

Tito's foreign policy led to relationships with a variety of governments, such as exchanging visits (1954 and 1956) with Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, where a street was named in his honor.

Under Tito's leadership, Yugoslavia became a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement. In 1961, Tito co-founded the movement with Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser, India's Jawaharlal Nehru, Indonesia's Sukarno and Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah, in an action called The Initiative of Five (Tito, Nehru, Nasser, Sukarno, Nkrumah), thus establishing strong ties with third world countries. This move did much to improve Yugoslavia's diplomatic position. On 1 September 1961, Josip Broz Tito became the first Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement.

On 7 April 1963, the country changed its official name to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Reforms encouraged private enterprise and greatly relaxed restrictions on freedom of speech and religious expression.^[62] Tito subsequently went on a tour of the Americas. In Chile, two government ministers resigned over his visit to that country.^[63] Tito spoke at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, with his visit being protested by both Croat and Serb emigrants. US Senator Thomas Dodd subsequently said Tito had "bloodied hands." Prior to his visit to California at the invitation of Governor Pat Brown, protesters in San Pedro drowned an effigy of Tito.^[64]

In 1966 an agreement with the Vatican, spawned by the death of Stepinac in 1960 and the decisions of the Second Vatican Council, was signed according new freedom to the Yugoslav Roman Catholic Church, particularly to teach the catechism and open seminaries. The agreement also eased tensions, which had prevented the naming of new bishops in Yugoslavia since 1945. Tito's new socialism met opposition from traditional communists culminating in conspiracy headed by Aleksandar Ranković.^[65] In the same year Tito declared that Communists must henceforth chart Yugoslavia's course by the force of their arguments (implying a granting of freedom of discussion and an abandonment of dictatorship).^{[citation needed]} The state security agency (UDBA) saw its power scaled back and its staff reduced to 5000.

On 1 January 1967, Yugoslavia was the first communist country to open its borders to all foreign visitors and abolish visa requirements.^[66] In the same year Tito became active in promoting a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. His plan called for Arabs to recognize the state of Israel in exchange for territories Israel gained.^[67]

In 1967, Tito offered Czechoslovak leader Alexander Dubček to fly to Prague on three hours notice if Dubček needed help in facing down the Soviets.^[68] In April 1969, Tito sacked generals Ivan Gošnjak and Rade Hamović in the aftermath of the invasion of Czechoslovakia due to the unpreparedness of the Yugoslav army to respond to a similar invasion of Yugoslavia.^[69]

US President John F. Kennedy greeting Josip Broz Tito during his visit to the US