Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WarI,andwascapturedandsenttoRussiaasaprisonerofwar.FreedbyBolsheviks,
Broz fell in with the Communist Revolution...and never looked back.
At war's end, Broz returned home to the newly independent Yugoslavia, where he
worked alongside the Soviets to build a national Communist Party. As a clandestine
communist operative, he adopted the code name he kept for the rest of his life: Tito.
Some believe this was a Spanish name he picked up while participating in that coun-
try's civil war, while others half-joke that the name came from Tito's authoritarian
style:
“Ti, to!”
means “You, do this!” But one thing's clear: In this land where a per-
son's name instantly identifies his ethnicity, “Tito” is ethnically neutral.
When the Nazis occupied Yugoslavia, Tito raised and commanded a homegrown,
communist Partisan Army. Through guerilla tactics, Tito's clever maneuvering, and
sheer determination, the Partisans liberated their country. And because they did so
mostly without support from the USSR, Yugoslavia was able to set its own postwar
course.
The war hero Tito quickly became the “president for life” of postwar Yugoslavia.
But even as he introduced communism to his country, he retained some elements of
a free-market economy—firmly declining to become a satellite of Moscow. He also
pioneered the worldwide Non-Aligned Movement, joining with nations in Africa, the
Middle East, Asia, and Latin America in refusing to ally with the US or USSR (see
and West.
TherewasadarksidetoTito.Intheearlyyearsofhisregime,Titoresortedtobru-
tal,Stalin-esquetacticstoasserthiscontrol.ImmediatelyfollowingWorldWarII,the
Partisan Army massacred tens of thousands of soldiers who had supported the Nazis.
Then Tito systematically arrested, tried, tortured, or executed those who did not ac-
cept his new regime. Survivors whose lives were ruined during this reign of terror
will never forgive Tito for what he did.
But once he gained full control, Tito moved away from strong-arm tactics and
into a warm-and-fuzzy era of Yugoslav brotherhood. Tito believed that the disparate
peoples of Yugoslavia could live in harmony. For example, every Yugoslav male had
to serve in the People's Army, and Tito made sure that each unit was a microcosm
of the complete Yugoslavia—with equal representation from each ethnic group.
Yugoslavs from diverse backgrounds were forced to work together and socialize, and
as a result, they became friends. He also worked toward economic diversification:
Yugoslav tanks, some of the best in the world, were made of parts assembled in five
different republics.
