Formed after WWI from the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires.
Josip Broz Tito led the Partisan resistance against the Nazis and became the country’s undisputed leader. A History of Yugoslavia
Tito established a communist state but famously broke away from Stalin’s Soviet Union in 1948. Formed after WWI from the collapse of the
2. The Second Yugoslavia: Socialist Federal Republic (1945–1992) A History of Yugoslavia
After Tito died in 1980, economic crisis and rising nationalism (led by figures like Slobodan Milošević) began to pull the federation apart.
1. The First Yugoslavia: Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941)
Invaded and dismantled by Axis powers during WWII in 1941.