Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Communist Party president and war hero Tito emerged as a political leader after World War
II. With a Slovene for a mother, a Croat for a father, a Serb for a wife, and a home in Bel-
grade,TitowasatrueYugoslav.Titohadacompellingvisionthatthisfracturedunionofthe
South Slavs could function.
But Tito's new Yugoslavia could not be forged without force. In the first several years of
his rule, Tito sometimes resorted to ruthless strong-arm tactics to forcibly persuade his sub-
jects. Many soldiers who had fought against the Partisans were executed to create an intim-
idating example. To this day, Croatians—many of whose grandparents fought proudly with
the Ustaše, furthering their ideal of an independent Croatian state—feel that they were dis-
proportionately targeted by Tito, and in some cases, denied development funding in retali-
ation for their prior support of Partisan enemies. In particular, Croats resented Tito's treat-
ment of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, the spiritual leader who (like many Croats) had suppor-
ted the Ustaše. Stepinac was arrested, sham-tried, convicted, and died under house arrest.
(CroatiaistheYugoslavsuccessorstatewhereyou'llfindtheleastTitonostalgia.)Similarly,
the
Č
etniks—who had also fought Tito's Partisans in the war—felt bruised as they gave up
on their dreams of reinstalling the Serbian king. Ultimately Tito prevailed, and while many
Yugoslavsweren'tentirelyconvincedofhisvision,theywentalongwithit...forthetimebe-
ing.
Tito's new incarnation of Yugoslavia aimed for a more equitable division of powers.
It was made up of six republics, each with its own parliament and president:
Croatia
(mostly Catholic Croats),
Slovenia
(mostly Catholic Slovenes),
Serbia
(mostly Orthodox
Serbs),
Bosnia-Herzegovina
(the most diverse—mostly Muslim Bosniaks, but with very
largeCroatandSerbpopulations),
Montenegro
(mostlyOrthodox—sortofaSerb/Croathy-
brid), and
Macedonia
(with about 25 percent Muslim Albanians and 75 percent Orthodox
Macedonians). Within Serbia, Tito set up two autonomous provinces, each dominated by an
ethnicity that was a minority in greater Yugoslavia: Albanians in
Kosovo
(to the south) and
Hungarians in
Vojvodina
(to the north). By allowing these two provinces some degree of
independence—including voting rights—Tito hoped they would balance the political clout
of Serbia, preventing a single republic from dominating the union.
Tito (1892-1980)
TheRepublicofYugoslaviawasthevisionofasingleman,whomadeitreality.Josip
Broz—better known as Marshal Tito—presided over the most peaceful and prosper-
ous era in this region's long and troubled history. Three decades after his death, Tito
