312-602: The League of Communists of Yugoslavia , known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia , was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia . It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and after its initial successes in the elections , it was proscribed by the royal government and was at times harshly and violently suppressed. It remained an illegal underground group until World War II when, after
624-489: A market economy under the leadership of Prime Minister Ante Marković , who advocated shock therapy tactics to privatize sections of the Yugoslav economy. Marković was popular, as he was seen as the most capable politician to be able to transform the country to a liberalized democratic federation, though he later lost his popularity, mainly due to rising unemployment. His work was left incomplete as Yugoslavia broke apart in
936-748: A one-party state and was considered in its earliest years a model of Communist orthodoxy. The Yugoslav government allied with the Soviet Union under Stalin and early in the Cold War shot down two American airplanes flying in Yugoslav airspace, on 9 and 19 August 1946. These were the first aerial shootdowns 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. The new Yugoslavia also closely followed
1248-511: A 'land of the Slavs '. Thus, a translation of Jugoslavija would be 'South-Slavia' or 'Land of the South Slavs '. The federation's official name varied considerably between 1945 and 1992. Yugoslavia was formed in 1918 under the name Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes . In January 1929, King Alexander I assumed dictatorship of the kingdom and renamed it the Kingdom of Yugoslavia , for
1560-522: A Serbian paramilitary group led by Vojislav Šešelj , moved into the Serb-populated village of Borovo Selo just north of Vukovar. On 2 May in Battle of Borovo Selo , Serb paramilitaries ambushed two Croatian police buses in the centre of Borovo Selo, killing 12 policemen and injuring 22 more. One Serb paramilitary was also killed. On 19 May 1991, a Croatian nationwide referendum on sovereignty
1872-519: A clique with the intention of taking power. That year (1966), more than 3,700 Yugoslavs fled to Trieste with the intention to seek political asylum in North America , United Kingdom or Australia . Ranković was forced to resign all party posts and some of his supporters were expelled from the party. Throughout the 1950s and '60s, the economic development and liberalization continued at a rapid pace. The introduction of further reforms introduced
2184-453: 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 republics. 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
2496-442: 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
2808-696: A common state with Serbia and Montenegro. In public, pro-state media in Serbia claimed to Bosnians that Bosnia and Herzegovina could be included a new voluntary union within a new Yugoslavia based on democratic government, but this was not taken seriously by Bosnia and Herzegovina's government. On 9 January 1992, the Bosnian Serb assembly proclaimed a separate Republic of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the soon-to-be Republika Srpska ), and proceeded to form Serbian autonomous regions (SARs) throughout
3120-458: A drive to completely oust the Germans and the remaining collaborating forces. By the end of April, the remaining northern parts of Yugoslavia were liberated, and Yugoslav troops occupied chunks of southern German (Austrian) territory and Italian territory around Trieste. Yugoslavia was now once more a fully intact state, with its borders closely resembling their pre-1941 form, and was envisioned by
3432-655: A federalisation of the state, while the others pushed for limited regional autonomy only. The leftists prevailed at the January 1924 Third Land Conference held covertly in Belgrade where the KPJ proclaimed the right of each nation to secede and form its national state. In June, the Comintern instructed the KPJ that self-determination should take shape of independent Slovenian, Croatian, and Macedonian republics. The stance taken by
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#17327657954993744-608: A few occasions in the 1980s he made inflammatory speeches in support of Albanians in Kosovo against the Yugoslav government, when public sentiment in Albania was firmly in support of Kosovo's Albanians. The armed forces of SFR Yugoslavia consisted of the Yugoslav People's Army ( Jugoslovenska narodna armija , JNA), Territorial Defense (TO), Civil Defense (CZ) and Milicija (police) in wartime. Socialist Yugoslavia maintained
4056-547: A group within the Communist leadership to advocate greater decentralization. These liberals were opposed by a group around Aleksandar Ranković. In 1966 the liberals (the most important being Edvard Kardelj, Vladimir Bakarić of Croatia and Petar Stambolić of Serbia) gained the support of Tito. At a party meeting in Brijuni , Ranković faced a fully prepared dossier of accusations and a denunciation from Tito that he had formed
4368-888: A haven for the resistance. On 17 June 1944, the Partisan base on the island of Vis housed a conference between Prime Minister Tito of the NKOJ (representing the AVNOJ) and Prime Minister Ivan Šubašić of the royalist Yugoslav government-in-exile in London. The conclusions, known as the Tito-Šubašić Agreement , granted the King's recognition to the AVNOJ and the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (DFY) and provided for
4680-530: A large company. These were organized into enterprises which in turn associated into composite organizations of associated labor , 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. Vukovar Vukovar ( pronounced [ʋûkoʋaːr] ; Serbian Cyrillic : Вуковар , Hungarian : Vukovár , German: Wukowar )
4992-633: A leading role in the 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. Yugoslavia provided major assistance to anti-colonialist movements in the Third World. The Yugoslav delegation was the first to bring the demands of the Algerian National Liberation Front to
5304-557: A makeshift KPJ training school as the prison allowed grouping of political prisoners. On instructions from the Comintern, non- Serb members of the KPJ were to advocate breakup of Yugoslavia as a construct of the Western Powers. However at the time, most of their efforts were invested in struggle against the JSDS and debating revolutionary merits of literature written by Miroslav Krleža . By 1932, membership dwindled to less than 500,
5616-582: A mayor of Vukovar at that time. Croat refugees from the town were located at refugee centers around the country and the community published the Vukovarske Novine (Vukovar Newspaper) outside of the town. When the main portion of the RSK was defeated in 1995 Operation Storm the new agreement was reached for peaceful settlement of the conflict in Vukovar and the rest of Croatian Podunavlje area known as
5928-460: A new Balkan 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 browbeat them into accepting Soviet control over the merger between the countries, and generally tried to force them into subordination. The Soviets did not express
6240-581: A new, unique economic system, and a diplomatic policy of non-alignment. Yugoslavia refused to take part in the Communist Warsaw Pact and instead took a neutral stance in the Cold War, becoming a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement along with countries like India, Egypt and Indonesia, and pursuing centre-left influences that promoted a non-confrontational policy towards the United States. The country distanced itself from
6552-740: 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 (CPSU), and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ). In the first CPSU letter of 27 March 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
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#17327657954996864-526: A pan-Yugoslav referendum on the question. Among other decisions, the AVNOJ formed a provisional executive body, the National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia (NKOJ, Nacionalni komitet oslobođenja Jugoslavije ), appointing Tito as prime minister. Having achieved success in the 1943 engagements, Tito was also granted the rank of Marshal of Yugoslavia . Favourable news also came from
7176-592: 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. However, that same year, Yugoslavia no longer recognized Israel. In 1968, following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia , Tito added an additional defense line to Yugoslavia's borders with
7488-669: A political confrontation with the USSR. The clash culminated in the Tito–Stalin split and the KPJ was expelled from the Cominform in 1948. For political reasons, the rift was presented as ideological rather than geopolitical one. The KPJ initially reacted to Stalin's criticism by adopting corrective measures in the field of collectivisation described as more Stalinist than those employed by Stalin himself. The KPJ saw purges of real or perceived Stalin supporters and other political opponents of
7800-584: A reconstituted state known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , or FR Yugoslavia, but this state was not recognized internationally as the sole successor state to SFR Yugoslavia . " Former Yugoslavia " is now commonly used retrospectively. The name Yugoslavia , an anglicised transcription of Jugoslavija , is a compound word made up of jug ('yug'; with the 'j' pronounced like an English 'y') and slavija . The Slavic word jug means 'south', while slavija ("Slavia") denotes
8112-490: A result of protest votes against the regime on account of past or expected actions coming from unemployed urban voters and from voters in regions having no other attractive national or regional opposition parties found in the Slovene lands, Croatia-Slavonia , and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In light of difficult economic and social circumstances, the regime viewed the KPJ as the main threat to the system of government. In response to
8424-471: 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,
8736-511: A separatist momentum, but they were unsuccessful, sometimes even gaining the animosity of fellow Roman Catholic Croatian Yugoslavs. From 1971 on, the republics had control over their economic plans. This led to a wave of investment, which in turn was accompanied by a growing level of debt and a growing trend of imports not covered by exports. Many of the demands made in the Croatian Spring movement in 1971, such as giving more autonomy to
9048-544: A significant alteration, and it was reported that many Yugoslavs openly mourned his death. In the Split soccer stadium, Serbs and Croats visited the coffin among other spontaneous outpourings of grief, and a funeral was organized by the League of Communists with hundreds of world leaders in attendance (See Tito's state funeral ). After Tito's death in 1980, a new collective presidency of the Communist leadership from each republic
9360-577: A significant military industry of its own. With the American response in the Korean War serving as an example of the West's commitment, Stalin began backing down from war with Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia began a number of fundamental reforms in the early 1950s, bringing about change in three major directions: rapid liberalization and decentralization of the country's political system, the institution of
9672-401: A socialist policy for the emancipation of women, targeting in particular the most backward rural areas. AFŽ activists were immediately confronted with the gap between officially proclaimed rights and women's daily lives. The reports drawn up by local AFŽ sections in the late 1940s and 1950s testify to the extent of patriarchal domination, physical exploitation and poor access to education faced by
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9984-491: A special-purpose prison camp built on the uninhabited Adriatic islands of Goli Otok and Sveti Grgur in 1949. In view of the circumstances and the ideological aspect of the Yugoslav–Soviet split, the KPJ found it necessary to differentiate the Yugoslav political system from the Soviet one. Since the KPJ labelled the USSR undemocratic, it was necessary to devise and highlight KPJ's innovative approach to communist rule. This
10296-408: A specific view on Yugoslav-Bulgarian unification but wanted to ensure Moscow approved every decision by both parties. 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
10608-603: A speech asserting that Croatian ethnic songs were not only better than Serbian ones but also the best among all the world's cultures. After 1941 Yugoslav coup d'état Luka Puljiz, editor of Srijemski Hrvat , received advance instructions on the procedure of the town capture following the Invasion of Yugoslavia . When the Independent State of Croatia was declared on April 10, 1941, following morning Puljiz group took control of Vukovar by seizing key locations such as
10920-453: A strong military force. The JNA was the main organization of the military forces, and was composed of the ground army, navy and aviation. Militarily, Yugoslavia had a policy of self-sufficiency. Due to its policy of neutrality and non-alignment, efforts were made to develop the country's military industry to provide the military with all its needs, and even for export. Most of its military equipment and pieces were domestically produced, while some
11232-474: A total of 8,000 Croatian civilians and POWs (many following the fall of Vukovar) went through Serb prison camps such as Sremska Mitrovica camp , Velepromet camp , Stajićevo camp , Begejci camp , Niš camp and many others where many were heavily abused and tortured. A total of 300 people never returned from them. A total of 4570 camp inmates have started legal action against the former Republic of Serbia and Montenegro (now Serbia ) for torture and abuse in
11544-516: 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
11856-475: A visa on arrival and, later onward, were issued a tourist card for short stays. Numerous reciprocal agreements for abolishing visas were implemented with other countries (mainly Western European), through the decade. For the International Year of Tourism in 1967 Yugoslavia suspended visa requirements for all countries it had diplomatic relations with. In the same year, Tito became active in promoting
12168-722: A waiting tactic. In February 1942, the KPH leadership under Hebrang saw this as an opportunity for the Croatian Partisans to wrest the position of the central patriotic force among Croats from the HSS. In effect, Hebrang thus pursued a policy close to the wartime Soviet coalitionist views, supporting a certain level of involvement of the former members of the HSS, and the Independent Democratic Party , as well as representatives of associations and trade unions in
12480-414: A week later by Tito on 9 June during his televised speech. In 1971 the leadership of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, notably Miko Tripalo and Savka Dabčević-Kučar , allied with nationalist non-party groups, began a movement to increase the powers of the individual federated republics. The movement was referred to as MASPOK, a portmanteau of masovni pokret meaning mass movement , and led to
12792-586: Is a city in Croatia , in the eastern regions of Syrmia and Slavonia . It contains Croatia's largest river port , located at the confluence of the Vuka and the Danube . Vukovar is the seat of Vukovar-Syrmia County and the second largest city in the county after Vinkovci . The city's registered population was 22,616 in the 2021 census, with a total of 23,536 in the municipality. The name Vukovar means 'town on
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13104-568: Is most commonly called by that name, which it held for the longest period. Of the three main Yugoslav languages, the Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian names for the state were identical, while Slovene slightly differed in capitalization and the spelling of the adjective Socialist . The names are as follows: Due to the name's length, abbreviations were often used for the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, though it
13416-604: The 2011 Croatian census , the Serb population of the city has exceeded one third, which is the legal prerequisite for the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet to gain constitutionally protected co-official status. In 2013, this re-ignited political discussion on the matter, which had already arisen in 2009 after the local promulgation of Serbian Cyrillic as available for public use. According to the 2021 census, Serbs make up less than one third which removes constitutional guarantees on
13728-589: The Axis invasion of the country , Tito was in Zagreb. Two days after outbreak of hostilities, the KPJ and the KPH requested arms from the 4th Army headquarters to help defend the city, but they were denied. With the Yugoslav defeat imminent, the KPJ instructed its 8,000 members to stockpile weapons in anticipation of armed resistance, which would spread, by the end of 1941 to all areas of the country except Macedonia. Building on its experience in clandestine operation across
14040-599: The Bihać Republic . In the town, a pan-Yugoslav assembly – the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia ( Antifašističko vijeće narodnog oslobođenja Jugoslavije , AVNOJ) – was established in the town at the initiative of Tito and the KPJ later that month. At its founding meeting, the AVNOJ adopted the principle of federal state as the solution for future. In the wake of
14352-664: The Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), its editor, Luka Puljiz, was a committed Ustaša and leader in the movement's local cell. On 15 November 1939 Srijemski Hrvat discussed local Germans' support for the central government in Belgrade and invited them to back the Croatian Peasant Party-led regime in Zagreb instead. While it mentioned Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Ukrainians, and Slovaks as relevant national minorities, Jews, Serbs, and Roma were notably excluded. On November 5, 1939 Nikola Andrić gave
14664-588: The Croatian Spring . Tito responded to the incident by purging the League of Communists of Croatia , while Yugoslav authorities arrested large numbers of the Croatian protesters. To avert ethnically driven protests in the future, Tito began to initiate some of the reforms demanded by the protesters. At this time, Ustaše -sympathizers outside Yugoslavia tried through terrorism and guerrilla actions to create
14976-569: The Erdut Agreement . By 1996, Vukovar became demilitarised after local Serb units demobilised and transferred their heavy weapons across the border to Yugoslavia. The agreement led to the establishment of the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) which effectively governed the region from its seat in Vukovar until 1998 when the region
15288-494: The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later renamed " Serbia and Montenegro "). The Badinter Commission later (1991–1993) noted that Yugoslavia disintegrated into several independent states, so it is not possible to talk about the secession of Slovenia and Croatia from Yugoslavia. In September 1992, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (consisting of Serbia and Montenegro ) failed to achieve de jure recognition as
15600-685: The German defeat at Moscow in late 1941, the KPJ leadership thought that the war was nearly over and went to ensure full control by the KPJ in the country. In the period until spring of 1942, this policy was generally confined to Montenegro and eastern Herzegovina , and in a lesser draconian form to the area of present-day Vojvodina and Slovenia . It largely consisted of killing of class enemies where individual Partisan units were given quotas of required executions. It also meant forced labour for peasants deemed idle or even untidy. The targeted populations were driven to support Chetniks or other Axis forces, and
15912-510: The Habsburg monarchy , Slavonia ( Transleithania after the compromise of 1867 ), and soon after in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia , created when the Kingdom of Slavonia and the Kingdom of Croatia were merged in 1868. Vukovar was left with an almost empty town, with only about fifty houses. The indigenous population is returning to the devastated area, as well as new residents. Because of
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#173276579549916224-661: The Independent State of Croatia ( Nezavisna Država Hrvatska , NDH). In Macedonia, the regional organisation led by Metodi Shatorov switched allegiance from the KPJ to the Bulgarian Communist Party , practically recognising Bulgarian annexation of the area. Collapse of Užice Republic , a Partisan-controlled territory in occupied Serbia in 1941 during a German and Chetnik offensive was, in part, helped by views of local peasants who viewed Chetnik propaganda more favourably than communist social radicalism in light of preservation of their property. Following
16536-485: The League of Communists of Croatia ( Savez komunista Hrvatske , SKH) and the League of Communists of Macedonia ( Сојуз на комунистите на Македонија , SKM). They were joined in an informal national-reformist coalition by the League of Communists of Slovenia ( Zveza komunistov Slovenije , ZKS) and, in a less prominent role, by the leadership of Vojvodina . In early 1963, Tito was compelled to publicly warn about chauvinism and reassure non-Serbs that merger of nations
16848-495: The League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY/SKJ), becoming a federation of six republican Communist parties. The result was a regime that was somewhat more humane than other Communist states. However, the LCY retained absolute power; as in all Communist regimes, the legislature did little more than rubber-stamp decisions already made by the LCY's Politburo. The UDBA, while operating with considerably more restraint than its counterparts in
17160-413: The Non-Aligned Movement , and transitioned from a command economy to market-based socialism . The country was renamed Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1963. After Tito died on 4 May 1980, the Yugoslav economy began to collapse, which increased unemployment and inflation. The economic crisis led to rising ethnic nationalism and political dissidence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With
17472-406: The People's Front represented all the Yugoslav people. The People's Front coalition, headed by the KPJ and its general secretary Tito, was a major movement within the government. Other political movements that joined the government included the "Napred" movement represented by Milivoje Marković. Belgrade , Yugoslavia's capital, was liberated with the Soviet Red Army 's help in October 1944, and
17784-455: The Republic of China were established with the Soviet Union's permission. Simultaneously, Yugoslavia maintained close contacts with the Chinese Communist Party and supported its cause in the Chinese Civil War . The Tito–Stalin, or Yugoslav–Soviet split, took place in the spring and early summer of 1948. Its title pertains to Tito, at the time the Yugoslav Prime Minister (President of the Federal Assembly), and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. In
18096-406: The Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) on 19 December 1991. The influence of xenophobia and ethnic hatred in the collapse of Yugoslavia became clear during the war in Croatia. Propaganda by Croatian and Serbian sides spread fear, claiming that the other side would engage in oppression against them and would exaggerate death tolls to increase support from their populations. In the beginning months of
18408-456: The Social Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia (SDPCS) came into existence in 1894, two years before the Yugoslav Social-Democratic Party ( Jugoslovanska socialdemokratska stranka , JSDS) was set up in Slovene lands . The Serbian Social Democratic Party (SSDP) was founded in 1903. In Bosnia and Herzegovina , the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDPBH) was established in 1909. The SSDP deemed it natural to serve, as
18720-406: The Stalinist Soviet model of economic development in this period, some aspects of which achieved considerable success. In particular, the public works of the period organized by the government rebuilt and even improved Yugoslav infrastructure (in particular the road system) with little cost to the state. Tensions with the West were high as Yugoslavia joined the Cominform , and the early phase of
19032-421: The United Nations Charter using only Yugoslavia as an official name, with no reference to either a kingdom or a republic. Acting as head of state on 7 March, the King appointed to his Regency Council constitutional lawyers Srđan Budisavljević, Ante Mandić , and Dušan Sernec. In doing so, he empowered his council to form a common temporary government with NKOJ and accept Tito's nomination as prime minister of
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#173276579549919344-420: The Vučedol locality, is particularly significant for the Vukovar area. In 1938, the Vučedol dove was found at that location, which later became a symbol of the town. The Vučedol Orion, also found on Vučedol, is equally important and is considered the oldest Indo-European calendar. In the area of Vukovar, there are numerous archaeological sites from the Bronze , Early and Younger Iron Ages , from which we can see
19656-453: The Yugoslav Republican Party , the Independent Democratic Party, the Agriculturalist's Union, the Socialist Party , the JSDS, the Croatian Republican Peasant Party ( Hrvatska republikanska seljačka stranka , HRSS), and a group of politicians organised as the Forward ( Napred ) group. While non-communist parties in the NFJ hoped for equality, Tito primary saw the NFJ as a tool for neutralization of political opposition by allying them with
19968-441: The Yugoslav Wars and breakup of Yugoslavia . The party, which was led by Josip Broz Tito from 1937 to 1980, was the first communist party in power in the history of the Eastern Bloc that openly opposed the Soviet Union and thus was expelled from the Cominform in 1948 in what is known as the Tito–Stalin split . After internal purges of pro-Soviet members, the party renamed itself the League of Communists in 1952 and adopted
20280-416: The Yugoslav government-in-exile and forbade the King Peter II return to the country. A month before the Jajce meeting, the central committee of the KPJ created the National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia as the new Yugoslav government, and the AVNOJ confirmed its composition – including Tito as its president. Tito's position was reinforced through the Tito–Šubašić Agreements he concluded with
20592-413: The fall of communism in Eastern Europe , efforts to transition into a confederation failed; the two wealthiest republics, Croatia and Slovenia, seceded and gained some international recognition in 1991. The federation dissolved along the borders of federated republics, hastened by the start of the Yugoslav Wars, and formally broke up on 27 April 1992. Two republics, Serbia and Montenegro, remained within
20904-425: The forced labour of detainees; the "extermination or murder of hundreds of Croat and other non-Serb civilians" in ten Croatian towns and villages including Vukovar; and the "torture, beatings and killings of detainees", including 264 victims seized from Vukovar Hospital. His trial was abandoned in 2014 after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer ; he died two years later at the age of 57. The battle exhausted
21216-401: The invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, the military arm of the party, the Yugoslav Partisans , became embroiled in a bloody civil war and defeated the Axis powers and their local auxiliaries. After the liberation from foreign occupation in 1945, the party consolidated its power and established a one-party state , which existed in that form of government until 1990, a year prior to the start of
21528-411: The republic -or- kingdom question open. In 1945, King Peter II was officially deposed, with the state reorganized as a republic, and accordingly renamed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPR Yugoslavia or FPRY), with the constitution coming into force in 1946. In 1963, amid pervasive liberal constitutional reforms, the name Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was introduced. The state
21840-429: The royal army and restrictions on communist propaganda . The violence served as a pretext for prosecution of the KPJ. On 30 December, the government issued a Proclamation ( Obznana ) outlawing the KPJ. A faction of the KPJ named Red Justice ( Crvena pravda ) attempted to assassinate the Regent Alexander on 28 June, and then killed former Interior Minister Milorad Drašković on 21 July. This led to proclamation of
22152-442: The "greatest crime in contemporary history". Yugoslavia's military academies trained left-wing activists from both Swapo (modern Namibia ) and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania as part of Tito's efforts to destabilize South Africa under apartheid . In 1980, the intelligence services of South Africa and Argentina plotted to return the favor by covertly bringing 1,500 anti-communist urban guerrillas to Yugoslavia. The operation
22464-668: The 1943 Session of AVNOJ that coincidentally fell on the same date. The first Yugoslav post-World War II elections were set for 11 November 1945 . By that time, the coalition of parties backing the Partisans, the People's Liberation Front ( Jedinstveni narodnooslobodilački front , JNOF), had been renamed the People's Front ( Narodni front , NOF). The People's Front was primarily led by the KPJ and represented by Tito. The reputation of both benefited greatly from their wartime exploits and decisive success, and they enjoyed genuine support among
22776-415: The 1946 Yugoslav constitution followed the model of the Soviet federation in which the federal parliament legislates laws applicable to the federal units and has the power to overrule the units' legislation. In 1952, Kardelj drafted constitutional amendments to reflect the reality of the reforms of 1950–1951. This led to codification of the reforms as 1953 Yugoslav constitutional amendments seeking to reflect
23088-488: The 1948 census, Vukovar had over 17,000 inhabitants. Croats and Serbs tensions in the town escalated during the latter half of the 1930s. An incident in 1937 involved a Serb student bringing a pistol to Vukovar High School and threatening to kill a Croat classmate. At the time of 1938 Yugoslavian parliamentary election , Vukovar's Ustaša used a slogans referencing an Ustaša paramilitary training camps in Hungary. After
23400-413: The 1970s, the economy was reorganized according to Edvard Kardelj's theory of associated labor, in which the right to decision-making and a share in profits of worker-run cooperatives is based on the investment of labour. All companies were transformed into organizations of associated labor . The smallest, basic organizations of associated labor , roughly corresponded to a small company or a department in
23712-515: The 1974 Constitution. Public opinion in Slovenia in 1987 saw better economic opportunity in independence from Yugoslavia than within it. There were also places that saw no economic benefit from being in Yugoslavia; for example, the autonomous province of Kosovo was poorly developed, and per capita GDP fell from 47 percent of the Yugoslav average in the immediate post-war period to 27 percent by
24024-474: The 1980s only due to the safety valve provided by sending one million guest workers yearly to advanced industrialized countries in Western Europe . The departure of Yugoslavs seeking work began in the 1950s, when individuals began slipping across the border illegally. In the mid-1960s, Yugoslavia lifted emigration restrictions and the number of emigrants increased rapidly, especially to West Germany . By
24336-526: The 1980s, but its good relations with the United States led to an American-led group of organizations called the "Friends of Yugoslavia" to endorse and achieve significant debt relief for Yugoslavia in 1983 and 1984, though economic problems would continue until the state's dissolution in the 1990s. Yugoslavia was the host nation of the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. For Yugoslavia, the games demonstrated Tito's continued vision of Brotherhood and Unity , as
24648-472: The 1980s. However, economic issues have not been demonstrated to be the sole determining factor in the break up, as Yugoslavia in this period was the most prosperous Communist state in Eastern Europe, and the country in fact disintegrated during a period of economic recovery after the implementation of the economic reforms of Ante Marković's government. Furthermore, during the break up of Yugoslavia,
24960-415: The 1990s. Tensions between the republics and nations of Yugoslavia intensified from the 1970s to the 1980s. The causes for the collapse of the country have been associated with nationalism, ethnic conflict, economic difficulty, frustration with government bureaucracy, the influence of important figures in the country, and international politics. Ideology, and particularly nationalism, has been seen by many as
25272-704: The 6th century. In the 9th century the region was part of the Slavic Principality of Lower Pannonia ruled by prince Pribina , and part of the Bulgarian Empire . In the first half of the 10th century, the Vukovo fortress was looted by the Hungarians . In the 11th–12th century, the region was part of the Kingdom of Croatia ; from the 13th to 16th century part of the Kingdom of Hungary ; and between 1526 and 1687 under Ottoman rule. Vukovar
25584-838: The Action Committee of the Left ( Akcioni odbor ljevice ) and opted for the unified social-democratic party with the SSDP and the SDPBH. Soon afterwards, the Vojvodina social-democrats reversed their decision. The Unification congress of the Socialist Labor Party of Yugoslavia ( Communists ) ( Socijalistička radnička partija Jugoslavije (komunista) , SRPJ(k)) was held in Belgrade on 20–23 April 1919 as consolidation on
25896-540: The Albanian administration of SAP Kosovo. Milošević had been, up to this point, a hard-line Communist who had decried all forms of nationalism as treachery, such as condemning the SANU Memorandum as "nothing else but the darkest nationalism". However, Kosovo's autonomy had always been an unpopular policy in Serbia, and he took advantage of the situation and made a departure from traditional Communist neutrality on
26208-567: The Bihać meeting, there were land councils established as political bodies representative of individual parts of the future federation. The AVNOJ convened for the second time in Jajce in November 1943, declaring itself as the future parliament of the new Yugoslav state, affirmed commitment to forming a democratic federation without specifying any details of such federation. It also denied authority of
26520-482: The Cold War began with Yugoslavia pursuing an aggressive foreign policy. 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. The West opposed both these demands. The greatest point of contention was the port city of Trieste . The city and its hinterland were liberated mostly by
26832-627: The Cominform was influenced by Moscow visit by Stjepan Radić , the leader of the Croatian Peasant Party ( Hrvatska seljačka stranka , HSS) when Radić added the HSS to the Peasant International (Krestintern) – itself an agency of the Cominform. Furthermore, the Comintern criticised the factional clashes in the KPJ over the national question in its 1924 Resolution of National Question which linked social emancipation to national one in strategic considerations. In response, Milojković
27144-766: The Comintern for guidance. By 1924, the KPJ membership was reduced to 688. Additionally, some members emigrated abroad – most to Moscow , but also to Vienna , Prague , and Paris . Indeed, the KPJ held a land conference in Vienna in 1922, where the party leadership moved the year before. In the early 1920s, KPJ saw more factional struggle between its right wing led by Marković and Belgrade-based trade union leaders Lazar Stefanović and Života Milojković advocating work through legal means to regain government approval, and leftists, including Đuro Cvijić, Vladimir Ćopić , Triša Kaclerović, Rajko Jovanović, and Kosta Novaković , favouring Leninist undercover struggle. The leftists also supported
27456-591: The Comintern mandate to lead the KPJ in 1939. Miletić was released from prison that year and sought to replace Tito. Months later he disappeared after he was summoned to Moscow and arrested by the NKVD as a victim of a series of purges in the KPJ in 1937–1940 which strengthened Tito's position. In 1940, the KPJ successfully completed the campaign to diminish influence of Krleža and his literary adherents who were advocating Marxist ideas and opposed Stalinisation fearing totalitarianism . Also, Tito removed Kraš and Žaja from
27768-490: The Comintern. Filip Filipović and Sima Marković , both former SSDP activists, were elected to lead the KPJ. By May 1920, the KPJ had about 50,000 members, and numerous sympathisers largely drawn from among 300,000 members of trade unions and youth organisations. In the 1920 Constitutional Assembly election , the KPJ won 58 out of 419 seats. The best results were achieved in large cities, in Montenegro and Macedonia as
28080-533: The Croat-led coalition won the town election, a group of Croat high school students celebrated the victory by chanting pro-Croatian and anti-Yugoslav sentiments in the streets. The local newspaper Srijemski Hrvat , which was published in Vukovar from November 1939 to January 1941, showed a clear increase in Ustašist influence as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia approached its collapse. Although it was officially aligned with
28392-485: The Croatian federal unit which would ensure their political representation and preservation of their culture. Nonetheless, the increased Croatian character of the KPH caused anxiety among the Serbs. The independent policy pursued by the KPH brought Tito and Hebrang into conflict with pursuit of nationalist policy as the principal charge against the KPH. Due Hebrang's popularity, the KPJ wanted to avoid antagonising Croats during
28704-616: The Croatian government and Serbian newspapers joined in the warmongering. Serbia had by now printed $ 1.8 billion worth of new money without any backing of the Yugoslav central bank . In the Slovenian independence referendum , held on 23 December 1990, a vast majority of residents voted for independence. 88.5% of all electors (94.8% of those participating) voted for independence – which was declared on 25 June 1991. Both Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence on 25 June 1991. On
29016-629: The Croatian government and the rebel ethnic Serbs of the SAO Krajina (heavily backed by the by-now Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army). On 1 April 1991, the SAO Krajina declared that it would secede from Croatia. Immediately after Croatia's declaration of independence, Croatian Serbs also formed the SAO Western Slavonia and the SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia . These three regions would combine into
29328-523: The Cyrillic Script was introduced on April 25, 1941. Ustaša regime spread its ideology in Vukovar through various means, including the weekly newspaper Hrvatski Borac (" Croat Fighter "), which circulated from December 1941 to June 1942. The paper was edited by Dr. Vilko Anderlić, a Catholic priest from a nearby village of Sotin . In the Vukovar area, Ustaša authorities did not immediately launch large-scale killings against Serb communities in
29640-472: The Danube Valley through the Vukovar area. After steam ships were introduced in the mid-19th century, and with the arrival of present-day tourist ships, Vukovar is connected with Budapest and Vienna upstream and all the way to Romania downstream. The Vukovar harbour is an important import and export station. The Danube has always been and remains the connection of the people of Vukovar with Europe and
29952-494: The Danube countries by ship. Numerous guild organizations were founded to protect craftsmen. Vukovar is the main center of trade for the entire western Srijem. The Vukovar area has very good conditions for agriculture. Almost 80% of the population lived from agriculture. In addition to basic grain production, viticulture is also important, and horse studs are also famous. Since 1840, Vukovar has had permanent steamboat lines on
30264-513: The Danube, and since 1878 it has been connected to the railway. The port of Vukovar is the largest port in Croatia. The industry developed slowly due to lack of capital. According to the population census from 1900, Vukovar has 10,400 inhabitants, including about 4,000 Croats, 3,500 Germans, about 1,600 Serbs, 950 Hungarians, etc. In 1905, the first major industrial enterprise, the spinning mill, began operating in Vukovar. In 1745, Vukovar became
30576-617: The Eastern Bloc. The date of the meeting, 28 June, 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
30888-521: The European Community would ensure that Serbs outside of Serbia would be protected. Milošević refused to agree to the plan, as he claimed that the European Community had no right to dissolve Yugoslavia and that the plan was not in the interests of Serbs as it would divide the Serb people into four republics (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Croatia). Carington responded by putting
31200-479: The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the SFRY mission, continuing work in various United Nations organs. It was only after the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević , that the government of FR Yugoslavia applied for UN membership in 2000. The Yugoslav Constitution was adopted in 1946 and amended in 1953 , 1963 , and 1974 . The League of Communists of Yugoslavia won the first elections, and remained in power throughout
31512-557: The Fifth Vojvodina Strike Brigade and 62 Red Army soldiers. In 2008 an unexploded bomb was found in the city from this period. Between 1945 and 1991, Vukovar was part of the Socialist Republic of Croatia within the new Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . During this period Vukovar developed into a multicultural community and an important industrial centre with a standard of living among
31824-516: The HRSS was aligned with the KPJ (81%), followed by Slovenia (78%) despite non-participation by the pre-war parties in the NFJ slate there, and the lowest support in Serbia (67%). This result is attributed to monarchism and the boycott. Ultimately, 88,43% of the electorate voted, and the NFJ was supported by 88,69% of the votes cast. The suffrage was universal for everyone over the age of 18 (including women for
32136-757: The Independent State of Croatia during the World War II in Yugoslavia . The monument at the Dudik Memorial Park, built from 1978 to 1980, is designed by Bogdan Bogdanović , for which he won the International Piranesi Award . At least 1027 soldiers of the Bulgarian Armed Forces who fought on Syrmian Front died during the liberation of Vukovar and related fights and are today commemorated at
32448-524: The JNA and proved a turning point in the Croatian War of Independence . A ceasefire was declared a few weeks later. Vukovar served as de facto seat of the self-proclaimed Serbian Autonomous Oblast SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia , the entity which joined the separatist self-declared proto-state Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) in 1992 as an exclave. Vojislav Stanimirović served as
32760-633: The KPJ at odds with the Comintern which continued to advocate breakup of Yugoslavia until signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939. Still, Gorkić largely stayed out of Yugoslavia. In 1934, he appointed Tito, just released from jail, to organise secret KPJ congress in Ljubljana later that year. Gorkić was appointed the general secretary of the KPJ in 1936, with Sreten Žujović and Rodoljub Čolaković as central committee members. Tito
33072-463: The KPJ maintained its leadership divided in at least two locations at all times in 1928–1935, including at least one abroad in Moscow, Prague, Vienna, or Paris. Also acting on Comintern July 1932 instructions to promote and aid national revolt in Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, and Macedonia, the KPJ sought to establish ties with the Bulgaria -based Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization , but
33384-624: 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: We are not going to pay the balance on others' accounts, we are not going to serve as pocket money in anyone's currency exchange, we are not going to allow ourselves to become entangled in political spheres of interest. Why should it be held against our peoples that they want to be completely independent? And why should autonomy be restricted, or
33696-419: The KPJ of creating its own army. In response, Slovene Partisan commissars' caps were adorned with red stars defaced with letters "OF" instead. By 1942, typically 30–50 percent of Partisan unit personnel declared themselves as communists. Selection of personnel deemed the best for 14 Proletarian Brigades increased this share in those units – to more than 60 percent in some instances. According to Yugoslav sources,
34008-459: The KPJ of elitism and enjoying privileges. In response, Đilas was removed from the KPJ central committee in January 1954 and soon he left the party altogether. In a subsequent The New York Times interview, he called for a multi-party system in Yugoslavia – and this led to his imprisonment. Đilas was pardoned in 1966. At the 7th Congress of the SKJ held in 1958, the party became more centralised. This
34320-451: 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
34632-577: The KPJ was suspended. The move left Tito in de facto control of the KPJ as his position was ranked second only to the one held by Gorkić. Tito spent 1937 and early 1938 in Yugoslavia organising the KPJ there as a disciplined covert organisation drawing new members loyal to the communist ideas and Tito personally from all nations within Yugoslavia, except Macedonians . During this period, Tito intervened in conflict among groups of KPJ members incarcerated in Sremska Mitrovica. The conflict centred on
34944-672: The KPJ's electoral success at the local and regional level including Belgrade and Zagreb earlier that year in March–August, and at the national level the Democratic Party and the People's Radical Party advocated prohibition of communist activity. The regime saw the KPJ as the greatest impediment to realisation of views held by King Peter I on resolution of Serbian national question . In December 1920, KPJ-led miner strikes in Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina led to suppression by
35256-473: The KPJ. Due to weakness of the non-communist parties in the NFJ, the KPJ dominated the group. In preparation of the 1945 elections, the AVNOJ was expanded by addition of pre-war members of parliament deemed not compromised by cooperation with the Axis powers. In effect, this meant the addition of liberal and left-leaning politicians who could not be accused of collaborating with the Axis. Civil rights were curbed in
35568-554: The KPJ. This was later the precedent for establishment of communist parties in other parts of Yugoslavia. Still the KPH leadership headed by Kraš and Žaja came into conflict with Tito in 1938 when the KPH supported the HSS instead of the Party of the Working People as the KPJ front founded for participation in 1938 parliamentary elections . The temporary leadership put together by Tito remained largely unchanged when Tito received
35880-587: The Law on the Protection of the Realm turning the KPJ ban into legislation on 2 August, annulment of the KPJ seats in the national assembly two days later, and numerous covert police agents infiltrating the KPJ. Despite the electoral success, the ban and KPJ's consequent move to covert operation took a heavy toll on the party in the next decade and a half when, faced with factional struggle, it would increasingly look to
36192-427: The League of Communists of Yugoslavia (January 1990), effectively dissolving the all-Yugoslav party. Along with external pressure, this caused the adoption of multi-party systems in all of the republics. When the individual republics organized their multi-party elections in 1990, the ex-Communists mostly failed to win re-election. In Croatia and Slovenia, nationalist parties won their respective elections. On 8 April 1990
36504-555: The Muslim people maybe into extinction. Because the Muslim people cannot defend themselves if there is war here. In the meantime, behind the scenes, negotiations began between Milošević and Tuđman to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina into Serb and Croat administered territories to attempt to avert war between Bosnian Croats and Serbs. Bosnian Serbs held the November 1991 referendum which resulted in an overwhelming vote in favor of staying in
36816-434: The Partisan forces grew to 800,000 by 1945 through volunteers, conscription of men aged 17–50, and defections of enemy troops promised amnesty. KPJ's strategic approach was complex because of pressures from the Comintern prioritising social struggle competing with the national liberation in substantially regionally uneven circumstances resulting from Axis partitioning of Yugoslavia, especially from creation of Axis-satellite of
37128-509: The Partisans as a "Democratic Federation", including six federated states : the Federated State of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FS Bosnia and Herzegovina), Federated State of Croatia (FS Croatia), Federated State of Macedonia (FS Macedonia), Federated State of Montenegro (FS Montenegro), Federated State of Serbia (FS Serbia), and Federated State of Slovenia (FS Slovenia). But the nature of its government remained unclear, and Tito
37440-640: 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 Zones A and B, administered by the western Allies and Yugoslavia, respectively. Yugoslavia was initially backed by Stalin, but by 1947 he had begun to cool toward its ambitions. The crisis eventually dissolved as the Tito–Stalin split started, with Zone A granted to Italy and Zone B to Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, civil war raged in Greece – Yugoslavia's southern neighbour – between Communists and
37752-575: The Partisans relied on those among its ranks who had completed the mandatory national service in the Royal Yugoslav Army or fought in the Spanish Civil War . Many KPJ members were veterans of that conflict, and would go on to assume commanding positions in the Partisan ranks. In addition to military training, political training was given increasing importance as the war progressed. It was provided by political commissars based on
38064-534: The Partisans' standing and granted them a favourable reputation among the Yugoslav populace, leading to increased recruitment. On 8 September 1943, Fascist Italy capitulated to the Allies , leaving their occupation zone in Yugoslavia open to the Partisans. Tito took advantage of this by briefly liberating the Dalmatian shore and its cities. This secured Italian weaponry and supplies for the Partisans, volunteers from
38376-654: The People's Front, which received an average of 85% of the vote in each federated state . On 29 November, the second anniversary of the Second Session of the AVNOJ, the Constituent Assembly of Yugoslavia formally abolished the monarchy and declared the state a republic. The country's official name became the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPR Yugoslavia, FPRY), and the six federated states became "People's Republics". Yugoslavia became
38688-738: The President of the Presidency from SR Croatia Ivo Latin , president of the Trade Union of Yugoslavia Marjan Orožen and the President of the Assembly Dušan Popovski . After that, they returned to Dom Sindikata from where they returned to Vukovar late at night. The conflict between Serbs and Croats spread to eastern Slavonia in early 1991. On 1 April, Serb villagers around Vukovar and other towns in eastern Slavonia began to erect barricades across main roads. The White Eagles ,
39000-532: The Provisional Assembly. The Tito-Šubašić agreement of 1944 declared that the state was a pluralist democracy that guaranteed democratic liberties; personal freedom; freedom of speech , assembly , and religion ; and a free press . But by January 1945, Tito had shifted his government's emphasis away from pluralist democracy, claiming that though he accepted democracy, multiple parties were unnecessarily divisive amid Yugoslavia's war effort, and that
39312-671: The Republic Square in front of the Workers’ Hall . On evening of 5 July 1988 a group of workers decided to travel to Belgrade to share their dissatisfaction with the federal institutions, with formal union buses and trucks joining this action once the initial group already reached Tovarnik . At 3 am next day a group of 1,500 workers arrived at the Dom Sindikata where they kept trying to present their case until 9 am, to no avail. They decided to move their action to
39624-669: The Royal Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Communist Yugoslav Partisans . The Partisan supreme commander was Josip Broz Tito . Under his command, the movement soon began establishing "liberated territories" that attracted the occupying forces' attention. Unlike the various nationalist militias operating in occupied Yugoslavia, the Partisans were a pan-Yugoslav movement promoting the " brotherhood and unity " of Yugoslav nations and representing
39936-551: The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) published the SANU Memorandum . In it, Serbian writers and historians voiced "various currents of Serb nationalist resentment." The SKJ was at the time united in condemning the memorandum, and continued to follow its anti-nationalist policy. In 1987, Serbian Communist official Slobodan Milošević was sent to bring calm to an ethnically driven protest by Serbs against
40248-619: The Serbian Prime Minister Dragutin Zelenović , who contended that Dubrovnik was historically Serbian, not Montenegrin. The international media gave immense attention to the bombardment of Dubrovnik and claimed this was evidence of Milošević pursuing the creation of a Greater Serbia as Yugoslavia collapsed, presumably with the aid of the subordinate Montenegrin leadership of Bulatović and Serb nationalists in Montenegro to foster Montenegrin support for
40560-415: The Soviet Union, North Korea and finally China, where the post-Mao leadership finally made peace with him after more than 20 years of denouncing the SFRY as "revisionists in the pay of capitalism". This was followed by a tour of France, Portugal, and Algeria after which the president's doctors advised him to rest. In August 1978, Chinese leader Hua Guofeng visited Belgrade, reciprocating Tito's China trip
40872-439: The Soviet Union. From the beginning, the foreign policy of the Yugoslav government under Tito assigned high importance to developing strong diplomatic relations with other nations, including those outside the Balkans and Europe. Yugoslavia quickly established formal relations with India , Burma , and Indonesia following their independence from the British and Dutch colonial empires . Official relations between Yugoslavia and
41184-434: The Soviet foreign policy gradually brought the USSR in conflict with the KPJ. Their relationship was complicated as the KPJ led armed resistance against the Axis while the Soviet foreign relations were initially constrained by provisions of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and then with alliance with the Western Allies who supported the Yugoslav government-in exile until shortly after the initial Tito–Šubašić Agreement. As Yugoslavia
41496-445: The Soviet model. The commissaries were a part of the detachment staff, units originally ranging in size from 50 to 500 or even 1,000. A commissar's cap badge was made distinct from other Partisans. Namely, the red star on their cap was defaced with the hammer and sickle . The move drew criticism from the Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation ( Osvobodilna fronta slovenskega naroda , OF) civil resistance organisation – which accused
41808-420: The Soviets in 1948 and started to build its own way to socialism under the strong political leadership of Tito, sometimes informally called " Titoism ". The economic reforms began with the introduction of workers' self-management in June 1950. In this system, profits were shared among the workers themselves as workers' councils controlled production and the profits. An industrial sector began to emerge thanks to
42120-406: The Tehran Conference when the Allies 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
42432-407: The USSR, Đilas feared Yugoslavia would switch to full control of the society by the central government. He thought that was possible due to influence of Ranković–the Đilas's primary competitor as a potential successor to Tito. Đilas wrote a series of articles for Borba criticising bureaucratism and Communist exclusive claim to power. He took the criticism further in a compilation of essays, accusing
42744-400: The United Nations. In January 1958, the French Navy boarded the Slovenija cargo ship off Oran , whose holds were filled with weapons for the insurgents. Diplomat Danilo Milic explained that "Tito and the leading nucleus of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia really saw in the Third World's liberation struggles a replica of their own struggle against the fascist occupants. They vibrated to
43056-402: The Vuka River' ( Vuko from the Vuka River, and vár from the Hungarian word for 'fortress'). The river was called "Ulca" in antiquity, probably from an Illyrian language. Its name might be related to the name of the river "Volga". In other languages, the city in German is known as Wukowar and in Hungarian as Vukovár or Valkóvár . In the late 17th century, the medieval Croatian name Vukovo
43368-418: The Vukovar suburb Borovo Naselje. Vukovar is located in the Eastern part of Croatia and is the centre of the Vukovar-Syrmia County defined part of the Pannonian Plain . Its location places it at the border of historical provinces Eastern Slavonia and Western Syrmia . The city is positioned on important transport routes. Since time immemorial transport routes from the northwest to the southeast were active in
43680-399: The Warsaw Pact countries. Later in 1968, Tito then 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 towards Enver Hoxha 's Albania . Initially Yugoslav-Albanian relations were forthcoming, as Albania adopted
43992-471: The West, Tito was thought of as a loyal Communist leader, second only to Stalin 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
44304-413: The Yugoslav Army completed its pull-out from Slovenia. Negotiations to restore the Yugoslav federation with diplomat Lord Peter Carington and members of the European Community were all but ended. Carington's plan realized that Yugoslavia was in a state of dissolution and decided that each republic must accept the inevitable independence of the others, along with a promise to Serbian President Milošević that
44616-511: The Yugoslav political spectrum's republican, left-wing, and socialist elements. The coalition of political parties, factions, and prominent individuals behind the movement was the People's Liberation Front ( Jedinstveni narodnooslobodilački front , JNOF), led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ). The Front formed a representative political body, the Anti-Fascist Council for the People's Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ, Antifašističko Veće Narodnog Oslobođenja Jugoslavije ). The AVNOJ met for
44928-432: The Yugoslav reformist elite to respond to rising social disorder. The collapse of communism throughout Eastern Europe in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 undermined the country's ideological basis and encouraged anti-communist and nationalist forces in the Western-oriented republics of Croatia and Slovenia to increase their demands. Nationalist sentiment among ethnic Serbs rose dramatically following
45240-432: The Yugoslav resistance once and for all. In the Battle of the Neretva and the Battle of the Sutjeska , the 20,000-strong Partisan Main Operational Group engaged a force of around 150,000 combined Axis troops. In both battles, despite heavy casualties, the Group evaded the trap and retreated to safety. The Partisans emerged stronger than before, occupying a more significant portion of Yugoslavia. The events greatly increased
45552-424: The Yugoslav-Soviet rift and, in 1949 commenced a flow of economic aid, 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
45864-417: The appearance of the Red Army there). This time, the Soviets named Tito and 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 on 17 May 1948 with a letter which sharply criticized Soviet attempts to devalue
46176-404: The armed clash between the KPJ and the far-right Yugoslav National Movement in October leaving five dead and 120 wounded. The structural changes of the KPJ, strategic use of the national question and social emancipation to mobilise supporters made the party ideologically and operationally ready for armed resistance in the approaching war. During brief resistance of the Royal Yugoslav Army against
46488-431: The authorities, with numerous arrests and prison sentences handed down over the years for separatist activities. Dissent from a radical faction within the party led by Milovan Đilas, advocating the near-complete annihilation of the state apparatus, was at this time put down by Tito's intervention. In the early 1960s concern over problems such as the building of economically irrational "political" factories and inflation led
46800-412: The battle for the town, 1,800 self-organised lightly armed defenders and civilian volunteers (the army of Croatia was still in its infancy at this time) defended the city for 87 days against approximately 36,000 troops of the Serb-dominated JNA equipped with heavy armour and artillery who lost 110 vehicles and tanks and dozens of planes during the battle. The city suffered heavy damage during the siege and
47112-404: The birth of 'illegitimate' children. Article 24 of the Constitution affirmed the equality of women in society, stating that: "Women have equal rights with men in all areas of state, economic and socio-political life." At the end of the 1940s, the Women's Antifascist Front of Yugoslavia (AFŽ), an organization founded during the Resistance to involve women in politics, was tasked with implementing
47424-438: The border with the Hungarian People's Republic , 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. The West welcomed
47736-514: The borders, the Slovenians were able to establish defensive positions against an expected YPA attack. This meant that the YPA would have to fire the first shot. It was fired on 27 June at 14:30 in Divača by an officer of YPA. The conflict spread into the Ten-Day War , with many soldiers wounded and killed, in which the YPA was ineffective. Many unmotivated soldiers of Slovenian, Croatian, Bosnian or Macedonian nationality deserted or quietly rebelled against some (Serbian) officers who wanted to intensify
48048-441: The bulk of contact with them was limited to contact with fellow prison inmates trying to engage them over the shared goal of breakup of Yugoslavia. The "ultra-leftist" line pursued since 1928 was abandoned in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany . Instead, the KPJ turned the idea of forming a popular front together with other anti-fascist organisations . The strategy aimed to attract broad coalition of allies since it
48360-416: The camps. The damage to Vukovar during the siege has been called the worst in Europe since World War II , drawing comparisons with Stalingrad . The city's water tower , riddled with bullet holes, was retained by city planners to serve as a testimony to the events of the early 1990s. On 18 November 2006 approximately 25,000 people from all over the country gathered in Vukovar for the 15th anniversary of
48672-463: The changes was 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, and were represented in the Serbian assembly. The 1946 Yugoslav Constitution aimed to unify family law throughout Yugoslavia and to overcome discriminatory provisions, particularly concerning economic rights, inheritance, child custody and
48984-421: The cities previously annexed by Italy, and Italian recruits crossing over to the Allies (the Garibaldi Division ). After this favourable chain of events, the AVNOJ decided to meet for the second time, in Partisan-liberated Jajce . The Second Session of the AVNOJ lasted from 21 to 29 November 1943 (right before and during the Tehran Conference ) and came to a number of conclusions. The most significant of these
49296-414: The city was bombed by the Allies. The first Yugoslav Partisans uprising in the district ( kotar ) of Vukovar happened on 26 August 1941 in the village of Bobota with subsequent continued dominant role of ethnic Serbs in the uprising who will constitute 75% of Yugoslav Partisans in the area as of late 1943. Today, Dudik Memorial Park commemorates 455 individuals who were executed by the authorities of
49608-419: The city was recorded in documents as Walco, Vlcou, Volkow, Walko, Wlkoy, and then the Hungarian variant of the city's name – Wolcowar (for the first time in 1323) was mentioned more and more often. Since 1691, the town has been developing on the right bank of the Vuka, initially under the name Vukovarski otok (Insula Vukovariensis); since then, the Hungarian name Vukovar has supplanted the medieval Croatian name of
49920-513: The city. The administrative municipal area of the city contains the following settlements : In SFR Yugoslavia , the municipalities were generally larger, and the Vukovar municipality spanned the region from Vera and Borovo in the north, Ilok in the east and Tovarnik in the south, but it has since been divided into several municipalities. Historically, Vukovar was divided into the Old Vukovar, New Vukovar and former workers' Bata village with Bata Shoes (now Borovo) factory, today known as
50232-495: The conflict. It also marked the end of the YPA, which was until then composed by members of all Yugoslav nations. After that, the YPA consisted mainly of men of Serbian nationality. On 7 July 1991, whilst supportive of their respective rights to national self-determination, the European Community pressured Slovenia and Croatia to place a three-month moratorium on their independence with the Brijuni Agreement (recognized by representatives of all republics). During these three months,
50544-419: The continuation of the Socialist Federal Republic in the United Nations. It was separately recognised as a successor alongside Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia. Before 2000, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia declined to re-apply for membership in the United Nations and the United Nations Secretariat allowed the mission from the SFRY to continue to operate and accredited representatives of
50856-477: The controversial nationalist leader Radovan Karadžić of the largest Serb faction in the parliament, the Serb Democratic Party , gave a grave and direct warning to the Bosnian parliament should it decide to separate, saying: This, what you are doing, is not good. This is the path that you want to take Bosnia and Herzegovina on, the same highway of hell and death that Slovenia and Croatia went on. Don't think that you won't take Bosnia and Herzegovina into hell, and
51168-492: 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 (UDBA) led by Aleksandar Ranković, was quick and efficient in cracking down on insurgent activity. Invasion appeared imminent, as Soviet military units massed along
51480-403: The country's liberation, King Peter II was deposed, the monarchical rule was ended, and on 29 November 1945, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed. Led by Josip Broz Tito , the new communist government sided with the Eastern Bloc at the beginning of the Cold War but pursued a policy of neutrality following the 1948 Tito–Stalin split ; it became a founding member of
51792-449: The country, the KPJ proceeded to organise the Yugoslav Partisans , as resistance fighters led by Tito. The KPJ assessed that the German invasion of the Soviet Union had created favourable conditions for an uprising and its politburo founded the Supreme Headquarters of the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia ( Narodonooslobodilačka vojska Jugoslavije ) with Tito as commander in chief on 27 June 1941. In terms of military training,
52104-462: The country. At its peak, the company contributed 3/4 of the municipal tax revenue. Following the 1970s energy crisis the company started producing for other companies in the world including for Puma in 1979. As the economic crisis in the country deepened workers from Borovo started their first strike action, which lasted between 19 and 24 August 1987. The " Large Strike " ( Croatian : Veliki štrajk ) started on 2 July 1988 with daily rallies at
52416-403: The deportation of Serb agricultural colonists. On April 19, 1941 the regime appointed commissioners to Jewish and Serb firms. Additionally local Ustašas executed several individuals suspected of anti-Croat activities. More decrees suspended judiciary staff and public employees, giving the state the power to dismiss Jews, Serbs, and Croats with Yugoslav affiliations. Decree on the Prohibition of
52728-408: The direction of driving the occupying forces from our country, when the homeland has been razed to the ground when we have nothing but our awareness and our hands ... we have no time for that now. And here is a popular movement [the People's Front]. Everyone is welcome within it, both communists and those who were Democrats and radicals, etc., whatever they were called before. This movement is the force,
53040-453: The early 1970s, 20% of the country's labor force or 1.1 million workers were employed abroad. This was also a source of capital and foreign currency for Yugoslavia. 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. In
53352-484: The economic power of each constituent republic, while ensuring equal representation of each federal unit in the assembly to counterbalance this. The KPJ proclaimed shift from party monopolising power to the ideological leader of the society, decentralised its structure, and rebranded itself (and correspondingly its republican organisations) as the League of Communists of Yugoslavia ( Savez komunista Jugoslavije , SKJ) at its sixth congress held in Zagreb in 1952 . The name
53664-448: The election in protest of the hostile atmosphere, which caused the three royalist representatives, Grol, Šubašić, and Juraj Šutej , to secede from the provisional government. Indeed, voting was on a single list of People's Front candidates with provision for opposition votes to be cast in separate voting boxes, a procedure that made electors identifiable by OZNA agents. The election results of 11 November 1945 were decisively in favour of
53976-400: The establishment of a joint Yugoslav coalition government headed by Tito with Šubašić as the foreign minister, with the AVNOJ confirmed as the provisional Yugoslav parliament. Peter II's government-in-exile in London, partly due to pressure from the United Kingdom, recognized the state in the agreement, signed by Šubašić and Tito on 17 June 1944. The DFY's legislature, after November 1944, was
54288-428: The existing situation into resolution of the conflict, persuaded the delegates to conference of the Zagreb KPJ organisation to adopt a resolution seeking the Comintern to intervene and end the factional struggle in the KPJ entirely. The KPJ also led some of street protests in Croatia over assassination of Radić later that year. The Comintern Sixth World Congress held that year sought to increase revolutionary struggle and
54600-456: The fall of the city to commemorate those who were killed during the siege. A museum dedicated to the siege was opened in the basement of a now rebuilt hospital that had been damaged during the battle. On 27 September 2007 the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia convicted two former JNA officers, Mile Mrkšić and Veselin Šljivančanin , for their involvement in the Vukovar massacre . The International Criminal Tribunal for
54912-423: The federation. Initially, there were initiatives to create several autonomous units within some federal units, but that was enforced only in Serbia, where two autonomous units (Vojvodina and Kosovo) were created (1945). In alphabetical order, the republics and provinces were: Under Tito, Yugoslavia adopted a policy of nonalignment in the Cold War. It developed close relations with developing countries by having
55224-455: The final days of the war in May 1945, the KPJ founded the Communist Party of Serbia ( Komunistička partija Srbije , Комунистичка партија Србије ). By the end of the war, the KPJ's membership reached just over 141,000. In 1945, the KPJ worked to broaden its support, and discredit its political opponents. Since the politicians included in the government-in-exile only returned to Yugoslavia in March 1945, and Vladko Maček remained abroad, there
55536-444: The first day of the meeting, 28 June, 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
55848-454: The first inscription of cultural and natural landmarks in Yugoslavia. Tito died on 4 May 1980 due to complications after surgery. While it had been known for some time that the 87-year-old president's health had been failing, his death nonetheless came as a shock to the country. This was because Tito was looked upon as the country's hero in World War II and had been the country's dominant figure and identity for over three decades. His loss marked
56160-421: The first mass killing phase from April to May 1941 which targeted area that lacked significant economic value. Wealthier regions such as Vukovar saw a more restrained approach, as peace and order were crucial for the continuity of industry and agriculture. Mass shootings in town began in late July 1941 after the first act of resistance in the Serb village of Bobota . The following day, the Ustaša forces encircled
56472-514: The first multiparty elections in Slovenia (and Yugoslavia) since the Second World War were held. Demos coalition won the elections and formed a government which started to implement electoral reform programs. In Croatia, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won the election promising to "defend Croatia from Milošević" which caused alarm among Croatia's large Serbian minority. Croatian Serbs , for their part, were wary of HDZ leader Franjo Tuđman 's nationalist government and in 1990, Serb nationalists in
56784-440: The first normal government. The Regency Council thus accepted Tito's nomination on 29 November 1945 when FPRY was declared. By this unconditional transfer of power, King Peter II abdicated to Tito. This date, when the second Yugoslavia was born under international law, was thereafter marked as Yugoslavia's national holiday Day of the Republic , but after the Communists' switch to authoritarianism , this holiday officially marked
57096-406: The first time in Partisan-liberated Bihać on 26 November 1942 ( First Session of the AVNOJ ) and claimed the status of Yugoslavia's deliberative assembly (parliament). In 1943, the Yugoslav Partisans began attracting serious attention from the Germans. In two major operations, Fall Weiss (January to April 1943) and Fall Schwartz (15 May to 16 June 1943), the Axis attempted to stamp out
57408-457: The first time making "Yugoslavia"—which had been used colloquially for decades (even before the country was formed)—the state's official name. After the Axis occupied the kingdom during World War II, the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) announced in 1943 the formation of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (DF Yugoslavia or DFY) in the country's substantial resistance-controlled areas. The name deliberately left
57720-402: The first time), except those charged with Axis collaboration. Former Partisans could vote even if under 18. The KPJ received 404 representatives of 524 (77%) in the bicameral Constituent Assembly. According to Đilas and Vladimir Velebit , the KPJ expected to win a majority of 60–65% even if the election were to guarantee fair competition. They based the opinion on the belief that the KPJ offered
58032-449: The first to open fire. By this time, the Slovenian government had already put into action its plan to seize control of both the international Ljubljana Airport and the Slovenia's border posts on borders with Italy, Austria and Hungary. The personnel manning the border posts were, in most cases, already Slovenians, so the Slovenian take-over mostly simply amounted to changing of uniforms and insignia, without any fighting. By taking control of
58344-413: The formation of a new Yugoslav government was postponed until 2 November 1944, when the Belgrade Agreement was signed. The agreements also provided for postwar elections to determine the state's future system of government and economy. By 1945, the Partisans were clearing out Axis forces and liberating the remaining parts of occupied territory. On 20 March, the Partisans launched their General Offensive in
58656-418: The former Yugoslavia's last remaining fugitive, Goran Hadžić, was captured by Serbian authorities in 2011. Hadžić was indicted on 14 counts, including multiple related to Vukovar. The charges included criminal involvement in the "deportation or forcible transfer of tens of thousands of Croat and other non-Serb civilians" from Croatian territory between June 1991 and December 1993, including 20,000 from Vukovar;
58968-411: The further development of the city. The citizens of Vukovar received privileges from King Ludovik of Anjou, which included the holding of weekly fairs, which led to further stronger economic growth. Due to trade levies, the city's income also increases. The county was densely populated, and according to written sources, it had 33 forts, 34 shops and 1,182 villages, settlements and inhabited estates. Vukovar
59280-433: The government's implementation of industrial and infrastructure development programs. Exports of industrial products, led by heavy machinery , transportation machines (especially in the shipbuilding industry), and military technology and equipment rose by a yearly increase of 11%. All in all, the annual growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) through to the early 1980s averaged 6.1%. Political liberalization began with
59592-449: The government-in-exile in the second half of 1944 and early 1945. On the basis of those agreements, the government-in-exile was replaced with the Provisional Government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia with Tito as the Prime Minister on 7 March 1945. During the war, the KPJ added new organisations based on foreseen federal units. In 1943, it established the Communist Party of Macedonia ( Комунистичка партија на Македонија ) and, in
59904-426: The governments of Croatia and Slovenia, along with the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo ( SR Bosnia and Herzegovina and SR Macedonia remained relatively neutral). Fed up by Milošević's manipulation of the assembly, first the delegations of the League of Communists of Slovenia led by Milan Kučan , and later the League of Communists of Croatia , led by Ivica Račan , walked out during the extraordinary 14th Congress of
60216-466: The governments of Vojvodina, 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 Montenegro and his own Serbia, Milošević now directly controlled four out of eight votes in the collective head-of-state by January 1990. This only caused further resentment among
60528-529: The highest in Yugoslavia. One of the symbols of this industrialization was the Borovo company with over 22,000 employees in late 1980s. The company already reached its prewar employment levels in 1949, with the number of employees growing to 5,215 in 1955 and 10,572 in 1965, many of whom were from surrounding villages as well as from the rest of Slavonia, Vojvodina and other parts of Yugoslavia. Separate production sites were open in Prijedor , Sombor , Donji Miholjac , Odžak and Lovas with 622 shops all around
60840-452: The hiring and firing of managers. 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. Unemployment was a chronic problem for Yugoslavia: the unemployment rates were amongst the highest in Europe during its existence and they did not reach critical levels before
61152-407: The individual republics, became reality with the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution . While the constitution gave the republics more autonomy, it also awarded a similar status to two autonomous provinces within Serbia: Kosovo , a largely ethnic Albanian populated region, and Vojvodina , a region with Serb majority but large numbers of ethnic minorities, such as Hungarians . These reforms satisfied most of
61464-561: The inter-war period. Yet full equality was far from being achieved. Internally, the Yugoslav federation was divided into six constituent states . Their formation was initiated during the war years, and finalized in 1944–1946. They were initially designated as federated states , but after the adoption of the first federal Constitution, on 31 January 1946, they were officially named people's republics (1946–1963), and later socialist republics (from 1963 forward). They were constitutionally defined as mutually equal in rights and duties within
61776-523: The issue of Kosovo. Milošević assured Serbs that their mistreatment by ethnic Albanians would be stopped. He then began a campaign against the ruling Communist elite of SR Serbia, demanding reductions in the autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina. These actions made him popular amongst Serbs and aided his rise to power in Serbia. Milošević and his allies took on an aggressive nationalist agenda of reviving SR Serbia within Yugoslavia, promising reforms and protection of all Serbs. Milošević proceeded to take control of
62088-425: The issue to a vote in which all the other republics, including Montenegro under Momir Bulatović , initially agreed to the plan that would dissolve Yugoslavia. However, after intense pressure from Serbia on Montenegro's president, Montenegro changed its position to oppose the dissolution of Yugoslavia. With the Plitvice Lakes incident of late March/early April 1991, the Croatian War of Independence broke out between
62400-413: The largest ethnic group in the country as a whole. From 1967 to 1972 in Croatia and 1968 and 1981 protests in Kosovo , nationalist doctrines and actions caused ethnic tensions that destabilized the country. The suppression of nationalists by the state is believed to have had the effect of identifying nationalism as the primary alternative to communism itself and made it a strong underground movement. In
62712-406: The largest social-democratic party in the new state, to unify like-minded political groups in the country. The SDPBH formally proposed a merger of such parties, but the SDPCS, the JSDS, and Serbian– Bunjevac social-democrats from Vojvodina declined. In turn, only the SSDP and the SDPBH formally agreed to a merger by January 1919. A minority group on the left wing of the SDPCS split from the party as
63024-539: The late 1980s as protests against the alleged injustice and bureaucratization of the political elite. Members of the political elite managed to redirect these protests against "others". Serb demonstrators were worried about the disintegration of the country and alleged that "the others" (Croats, Slovenes, and international institutions) were deemed responsible. The Slovene intellectual elite argued that "the others" (Serbs) were responsible for "Greater Serbian expansionist designs", for economic exploitation of Slovenia, and for
63336-523: The late 1980s, the Belgrade elite was faced with a strong opposition force of massive protests by Kosovo Serbs and Montenegrins as well as public demands for political reforms by the critical intelligentsia of Serbia and Slovenia. In economics, since the late 1970s a widening gap of economic resources between the developed and underdeveloped regions of Yugoslavia severely deteriorated the federation's unity. The most developed republics, Croatia and Slovenia, rejected attempts to limit their autonomy as provided in
63648-468: The latter favouring pursuit of reforms through a parliamentary system. The leftist faction prevailed at the second congress held in Vukovar on 20–24 June 1920 and adopted a new statute. That aligned the party entirely with the Communist International (Comintern), implementing all instructions received from the Comintern. Furthermore, the party was renamed the Communist Party of Yugoslavia ( Komunistička partija Jugoslavije , KPJ) to allow its membership in
63960-444: The latter. In 1963, Serbia and Montenegro concluded several agreements on strengthening economic and cultural ties, including construction of the Belgrade–Bar railway . The campaign was publicly criticised through an exchange of letters published in Borba . The proponents of the campaign, largely ethnic Serbs, were accused of scheming to abolish republics and resurrect Greater Serbian chauvinism . Particular opposition came from
64272-519: The leaders of Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, all declined an unofficial offer by the European Community to provide substantial economic support to them in exchange for a political compromise. However, the issue of economic inequality between the republics, autonomous provinces, and nations of Yugoslavia resulted in tensions with claims of disadvantage and accusations of privileges against others by these groups. Political protests in Serbia and Slovenia, which later developed into ethnic-driven conflict, began in
64584-408: The leading positions in the KPH and replaced them by Rade Končar . In October 1940, the Fifth Land Conference of the KPJ was held covertly in Zagreb, as the final act of Tito's campaign to assume full control of the party. The conference represented a full takeover of now organisationally stronger, centralized, disciplined, and bolshevized , but politically isolated KPJ by Tito in full alignment with
64896-432: The left of the political spectrum. The new party was joined by the SSDP en masse, and by independent leftists who splintered away from various nationalist youth organisations and social democratic parties. The Labour Socialist Party of Slovenia ( Delavska socialistična stranka za Slovenijo ) split from the JSDS and joined the SRPJ(k) on 13 April 1920. Clashes continued within the party between leftists and centrists –
65208-471: The leftist line pursued by the Comintern at the time. The national question was placed at the centre of the KPJ policy at the conference where Tito criticised long gone Marković and Gorkić for lack of understanding of the issue. As Tito consolidated his control, the KPJ membership grew to 6,000 in 1939 and to 8,000 by 1941, with many more other supporters. The final months of 1940 were marked by militarisation of politics in Yugoslavia leading to incidents such as
65520-443: The local Bulgarian Military Cemetery . An additional monument was erected in Borovo Naselje to commemorate the soldiers of the Yugoslav and the Soviet Red Army who lost their lives in the liberation of the region between April 8 and 12 of 1944. The monument was built by workers from the Borovo factory. Vukovar's memorial ossuary contains the remains of 388 victims transferred from the Dudik memorial area, including 155 soldiers from
65832-409: The majority in most villages and in the region's eastern part, whereas the Serbs dominated in the northwest. Vukovar's population was ethnically mixed and had 28 ethnic groups before the war. Since the boundaries of the municipality have changed a few times, there are significant differences in the population census between 1961 and 1971, and 1991 and 2001. Particularly since the war in Croatia, much of
66144-511: The majority of women, particularly in the countryside. AFŽ also led a campaign against the full veil, which covered the whole body and face, until it was banned in the 1950s. By the 1970s, thirty years after women's rights were enshrined in the Yugoslav Constitution, the country had undergone a rapid process of modernisation and urbanisation. Women's literacy and access to the labour market had reached unprecedented levels, and inequalities in women's rights had been considerably reduced compared to
66456-413: The morning of 26 June, units of the Yugoslav People's Army 's 13th Corps left their barracks in Rijeka , Croatia, to move towards Slovenia's borders with Italy. The move immediately led to a strong reaction from local Slovenians, who organized spontaneous barricades and demonstrations against the YPA's actions. There was, as yet, no fighting, and both sides appeared to have an unofficial policy of not being
66768-403: The multi-party system of government, justifying suppression of political opposition parties in the post-war context–calling the multi-party system incompatible with the socialist order and unnecessary. In October 1948, the four existing republican communist parties were complemented by two more: the Communist Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina , and the Communist Party of Montenegro . Objectives of
67080-414: The multiple nationalities of Yugoslavia remained united in one team, and Yugoslavia became the second Communist state to hold the Olympic Games (the Soviet Union held them in 1980 ). However, Yugoslavia's games had Western countries participating, while the Soviet Union's Olympics were boycotted by some. In the late 1980s, the Yugoslav government began to deviate from communism as it attempted to transform to
67392-672: The native Croat population has moved to other areas of Croatia or emigrated to Western Europe (notably Germany or Austria) and many Serbs have either moved to Serbia or to Canada and Western Europe. Fifteen years after the war, in 2006, the city's ethnic makeup showed equal percentages of Croat and Serb residents. The city remains very divided, as a deeper sense of reconciliation has failed to take root. The ethnic communities remain separated by mistrust, divided institutions and disappointment. Separate schooling for Croat and Serb children remains in place. Incidents involving Croats and Serbs occur regularly, and public spaces have become identified not by
67704-412: The nearby building of the Parliament of Yugoslavia afterwards. After nobody addressed them for hours the group decided to push through the police cordons and to enter the building of parliament while singing " Druže Tito, da ti je ustati, pa da vidiš kako narod pati " ( Comrade Tito if only you could raise and see how the people suffer ). They stayed in the building until 5 pm, meeting with
68016-432: The need for labor, Orthodox Serbs are settling. In the 18th and 19th centuries, a considerable number of Germans , Hungarians , Jews, Ruthenians , Slovaks and Ukrainians arrived. Thus, Vukovar becomes a multinational city. After the end of the Ottoman domination (in the 16th and 17th centuries), the German Counts of Eltz bought a large part of the Vukovar area which was known as the Lordship of Vukovar and for
68328-413: The new KPJ leadership put the Comintern's call to violence into practice, but instead of all-out revolt, the efforts were consisted of leaflets and several shoot-outs with the police. KPJ losses were heavy and included death of several significant leaders including Đaković and imprisonment of its most active members by specially convened antisubversive tribunals. In turn, the Sremska Mitrovica Prison became
68640-504: The newly established Bosnian Serb government; it was also largely boycotted by the Bosnian Serbs. According to the official results, the turnout was 63.4%, and 99.7% of the voters voted for independence. It was unclear what the two-thirds majority requirement actually meant and whether it was satisfied. Following the separation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 27 April 1992, the SFR Yugoslavia had, de facto, dissolved into five successor states: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia and
68952-459: The next two centuries they would have a great influence on the economy and culture of Vukovar. Counts Eltz , German nobility, come into possession of the manor in Vukovar. Philip Karl Eltz, Archbishop of Mainz , in 1736 buys this huge property with more than 30 inhabited places. At the beginning of this period, almost half of the inhabitants of Vukovar were craftsmen and merchants. Crafts, trade, shipbuilding are developing. Goods are shipped to
69264-539: The north, Bulgaria and Romania to the east, and Albania and Greece to the south. It was a one-party socialist state and federation governed by the League of Communists of Yugoslavia , and had six constituent republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina , Croatia , Macedonia , Montenegro , Serbia , and Slovenia . Within Serbia was the Yugoslav capital city of Belgrade as well as two autonomous Yugoslav provinces: Kosovo and Vojvodina . The country emerged as Democratic Federal Yugoslavia on 29 November 1943, during
69576-492: The official status of Serbian Cyrillic in the town. Croatian law, however, explicitly permits local authorities to introduce co-official languages even when there is less than one third of minority population (notably, but not exclusively, Istria County ) with domestic and internal stakeholders calling upon the town of Vukovar to consider this option even before 2011 census. Following the publication of 2021 census results, mayor of Vukovar nevertheless announced intention to scrap
69888-415: The only force which can now lead our country out of this horror and misery and bring it to complete freedom. While the elections themselves were fairly conducted by a secret ballot, the campaign that preceded them was highly irregular. Opposition newspapers were banned on more than one occasion, and in Serbia, opposition leaders such as Milan Grol received threats via the press. The opposition withdrew from
70200-422: The opportunity to live in peace, an agrarian reform, and on post-war euphoria. In 1946, the parliament adopted a new Constitution implementing the ethnic federalism as the KPJ's solution for the national question, modelled on the Soviet Union. By 1947, the KPJ declared that its programme was the NFJ's programme and that the KPJ is in the forefront of the NFJ. Tito linked the collapse of the pre-war Yugoslavia with
70512-418: The organisation was suffering from its internal weaknesses and suppressed by 1934. There were also overtures towards Italian -based Ustaše as a Croatian secessionist organisation. KPJ leaders praised the Ustaše-initiated Lika uprising in 1932, hoping to steer Ustaše to the political left. Even though support for Ustaše efforts in Lika and Dalmatia was declared through Proleter newspapers in December 1932,
70824-409: The people of Vukovar. From the contents of the charter, it can be seen that at that moment, an ethnically diverse population was already living in Vukovar. The inhabitants of Vukovar were engaged in trade and crafts. Vukovo County was quite densely populated in the Middle Ages. Vukovar entered the Middle Ages as a suburb with roads, and then a fortress was built. The royal administration is important for
71136-475: The point of view of international politics, it has been argued that the end of the Cold War contributed to the break up of Yugoslavia because Yugoslavia lost its strategic international political importance as an intermediary between the Eastern and Western blocs. As a consequence, Yugoslavia lost the economic and political support provided by the West, and increased pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reform its institutions made it impossible for
71448-410: The policy thus undermined the overall struggle – in turn causing the KPJ to criticise the perpetrators ignoring the role of its Central Committee in formulation of the policy. Similarly, the KPJ penalised Petar Drapšin and Miro Popara as proponents of the policy, but ignored similar roles played by Đilas, Ivan Milutinović , and Boris Kidrič . In spring of 1942, the policy known as the Leftist errors
71760-448: The political life as a form of a "mass movement", including in the work of the State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia as the top tier political body intended to grow into the future People's Parliament of Croatia . Furthermore, Hebrang declared support for more moderate social policies, and advocated Croatia's autonomy within the Yugoslav federation. He argued that Serbs of Croatia should be primarily loyal to
72072-404: The politics of workers' self-management and an independent path to achieving socialism, known as Titoism . The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed Yugoslavia) was established in late 1918 at the end of the World War I . Socialist movement in the territory of the new state reflected political divisions existing before the war. For example, in what was then Austria-Hungary ,
72384-420: The populace. But the old pre-war political parties were also reestablished. As early as January 1945, while the enemy was still occupying the northwest, Tito commented: I am not in principle against political parties because democracy also presupposes the freedom to express one's principles and one's ideas. But to create parties for the sake of parties, now, when all of us, as one, must direct all our strength in
72696-404: The popular front strategy advocated by Hebrang and supported by Moša Pijade , Josip Kraš , and Đuro Pucar and denounced by Petko Miletić backed by Milovan Đilas and Aleksandar Ranković – the latter labelled Wahhabites by Pijade because of their radicalism. The conflict escalated to an attempt to kill Hebrang. Tito worked with Pijade to arrange a compromise by including Đilas and Ranković in
73008-507: The post office, police station, and town hall. The Ustaša authorities across the NDH began issuing anti-Jewish and anti-Serb laws, effectively placing both groups outside the law. On April 10, 1941, a decree barred Serbs and Jews from serving in the NDH army. A subsequent decree on April 17, 1941 allowed for arrests based on "anti-Croat" activities without specifying exact crimes. Further decrees on April 18, 1941 targeted Serbs and Jews, nullifying legal contracts involving Jews and preparing for
73320-455: The primary source of the break up of Yugoslavia. Since the 1970s, Yugoslavia's Communist regime became severely splintered into a liberal-decentralist nationalist faction led by Croatia and Slovenia that supported a decentralized federation with greater local autonomy, versus a conservative-centralist nationalist faction led by Serbia that supported a centralized federation to secure the interests of Serbia and Serbs across Yugoslavia – as they were
73632-442: The process of reintegration where she was attacked by the Serbian population with eggs and stones at the local market. UNTAES facilitated reintegration by gradual transition and invitation of Croatian officials so that in late 1996 President of Croatia Franjo Tuđman visited Vukovar for the first time where he participated in the meeting between Serb and Croat delegation. President Tuđman visited Vukovar again on 8 June 1997 in what
73944-429: The ratification of the 1974 Constitution, which reduced the powers of SR Serbia over its autonomous provinces of SAP Kosovo and SAP Vojvodina . In Serbia, this caused increasing xenophobia against Albanians. In Kosovo (administered mostly by ethnic Albanian Communists), the Serbian minority increasingly put forth complaints of mistreatment and abuse by the Albanian majority. Feelings were further inflamed in 1986, when
74256-438: The recognition of Montenegrins and Macedonians as independent nationalities, as Serbian nationalists had claimed that there was no ethnic or cultural difference separating these two nations from the Serbs that could verify that such nationalities truly existed. Tito maintained a busy, active travelling schedule despite his advancing age. His 85th birthday in May 1977 was marked by huge celebrations. That year, he visited Libya ,
74568-502: The reduction of the massive state (and party) bureaucratic apparatus, a process described as the "whittling down of the state" by Boris Kidrič, President of the Yugoslav Economic Council (economics minister). On 2 November 1952, the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia introduced the "Basic Law", which emphasized the "personal freedom and rights of man" and the freedom of "free associations of working people". The Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) changed its name at this time to
74880-423: The regime. In 1948–1951 period, more than 50,000 KPJ members (nearly 20% of its membership) were registered as political opponents and ejected, but the party expanded its ranks by more than half a million members in the same time frame. Virtually all parties within the NFJ or otherwise were dismantled following the Stalin letters in which the Soviet leader accused the KPJ of being diluted by the NFJ. The only exception
75192-514: The republics, especially Croatia and the Albanians of Kosovo and the minorities of Vojvodina. But the 1974 constitution deeply aggravated Serbian Communist officials and Serbs themselves who distrusted the motives of the proponents of the reforms. Many Serbs saw the reforms as concessions to Croatian and Albanian nationalists, as no similar autonomous provinces were made to represent the large numbers of Serbs of Croatia or Bosnia and Herzegovina . Serb nationalists were frustrated over Tito's support for
75504-656: The republics. The 8th Congress thus abandoned Yugoslavism in favour of decentralisation. The SKJ promoted the notion of "Yugoslav socialist patriotism". The concept was described by its advocates as the feeling or awareness and love of the socialist self-management community. According to the SKJ, the concept was unrelated to nationalism and ethnicity. The notion was also claimed to support values and traditions of ethnic groups living in Yugoslavia. SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia ), commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia ,
75816-419: The rest of Eastern Europe, was nonetheless a feared tool of government control. UDBA was particularly notorious for assassinating suspected "enemies of the state" who lived in exile overseas. The media remained under restrictions that were somewhat onerous by Western standards, but still had somewhat more latitude than their counterparts in other Communist countries. Nationalist groups were a particular target of
76128-413: The retaking of Dubrovnik . In Vukovar , ethnic tensions between Croats and Serbs exploded into violence when the Yugoslav army entered the town in November 1991. The Yugoslav army and Serbian paramilitaries devastated the town in urban warfare and the destruction of Croatian property. Serb paramilitaries committed atrocities against Croats, killing over 200, and displacing others to add to those who fled
76440-418: The rhythm of the advances or setbacks of the FLN or Vietcong ." Thousands of Yugoslav military advisors travelled to Guinea after its decolonisation and as the French government tried to destabilise the country. Tito also covertly helped left-wing nationalist movements to destabilize the Portuguese colonial empire . Tito saw the murder of Patrice Lumumba by Belgian-backed Katangan separatists in 1961 as
76752-419: The right to levy taxes on passages along the Danube and the Vuka. In 1231, Vukovar received the status of a royal free city . Duke Koloman gave Vukovar the status of a free royal city, in order to encourage further development of the city. His charter meant that the residents of Vukovar were directly subject to the king, not the landowner. The charter of Duke Koloman confirmed the privileges that protected
77064-478: The right-wing government, and the Yugoslav government was determined to bring about a Communist victory. Yugoslavia dispatched significant assistance—arms and ammunition, supplies, and military experts on partisan warfare (such as General Vladimir Dapčević )—and even allowed the Greek Communist forces to use Yugoslav territory as a safe haven. Although the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, and (Yugoslav-dominated) Albania had also granted military support, Yugoslav assistance
77376-400: The seat of the Syrmia County of the Kingdom of Slavonia and from 1868 Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia . In 1918, Vukovar became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes ( Yugoslavia in 1929). Between 1918 and 1922, Vukovar was the administrative seat of the county of Syrmia (Srijem), and between 1922 and 1929 it was the administrative seat of Syrmia Oblast . Despite
77688-408: The second session of the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia midst World War II in Yugoslavia . Recognised by the Allies of World War II at the Tehran Conference as the legal successor state to Kingdom of Yugoslavia , it was a provisionally governed state formed to unite the Yugoslav resistance movement to the occupation of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers . Following
78000-469: The services they offer but by the ethnicity of those who gather there. Even coffee shops are identified as Croat or Serb. In 2013, the government's intention to implement in Vukovar the Constitutional Law on the Rights of Ethnic Minorities in Croatia that allowed for minorities, where they made up more than a third of a city's population, to be entitled to have their language used for official purposes, provoked considerable popular opposition. According to
78312-418: The single Serbo-Croatian language. Thus launched Yugoslavism campaign sought to replace federalism with unitarism. Ranković became the most prominent advocate of the campaign. He sought support from the League of Communists of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Savez komunista Bosne i Hercegovine , SKBiH) and from the League of Communists of Montenegro ( Savez komunista Crne Gore , SKCG) – with some success in
78624-407: The socialist economy of Yugoslavia was much different from the economy of the Soviet Union and the economies of the Eastern Bloc , especially after the Yugoslav–Soviet break-up of 1948. Though they were state-owned enterprises , Yugoslav companies were nominally collectively managed by the employees themselves through workers' self-management , albeit with state oversight dictating wage bills and
78936-516: The southern Croatian town of Knin organized and formed a separatist entity known as the SAO Krajina , which demanded to remain in union with the rest of the Serb populations if Croatia decided to secede. The government of Serbia endorsed the Croatian Serbs' rebellion, claiming that for Serbs, rule under Tuđman's government would be equivalent to the World War II fascist Independent State of Croatia (NDH) which committed genocide against Serbs during World War II. Milošević used this to rally Serbs against
79248-461: 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
79560-424: The state. The Serbian referendum on remaining in Yugoslavia and the creation of Serbian autonomous regions (SARs) were proclaimed unconstitutional by the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The independence referendum sponsored by the Bosnian government was held on 29 February and 1 March 1992. That referendum was in turn declared contrary to the Bosnian and federal constitution by the Federal Constitution Court and
79872-473: The status of administrative center the settlement will get the city status only on 23 November 1919 by the decision of regent of the new state Peter I of Serbia . After the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and in the wake of communism gaining popularity throughout Europe, Vukovar became the location of the 2nd congress of the Socialist Labor Party of Yugoslavia (Communists) ( Socijalistička radnička partija Jugoslavije – komunista ), where it
80184-454: The strategy was accepted by the KPJ at its Fourth Congress held in Dresden in October 1928. The appeal made at the initiative of Tito and Hebrang was accepted: Marković was expelled and his allies demoted, while new leadership was installed. Tito and Hebrang were bypassed because they were just imprisoned in Yugoslavia, and Đuro Salaj , Žika Pecarski, and Đuro Đaković were appointed instead as entirely Comintern-trained leadership. In 1929,
80496-447: The subject of dispute? We will not be dependent on anyone ever again! 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 implausible statement, as Tito's partisans had successfully campaigned against Axis forces for four years before
80808-417: The successes of the Yugoslav resistance movement. On 19 May 1948, a correspondence by Mikhail Suslov informed Tito that the 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
81120-435: The summer of 1945 when new legislation on crimes against the people and the state, curtailing the rights of assembly and freedom of the press. Middle and lower levels of bureaucracy were filled with the ranks of former Partisans. Following a boycott proclamation by the Grol's Democrats, the elections were carried out like a referendum–voting for the NFJ and against it. The NFJ slate received the highest approval in Croatia where
81432-435: The summer of 1991, Tomislav Merčep , at the time a leading official in the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and Secretary of People's Defense, was put in charge of the town. Ethnic Serbs in Vukovar were subjected to forced interrogations, kidnappings and summary executions in addition to having their homes and cafes blown up. NGOs in the city state that a total of 86 Serbs were killed or disappeared during Merčep's control of
81744-455: The suppression of Slovene national identity. These redirection actions of the popular protests allowed the authorities of Serbia and Slovenia to survive at the cost of undermining the unity of Yugoslavia. Other republics such as Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia refused to follow these tactics taken by Serbia and Slovenia, later resulting in the defeat of the respective League of Communists of each republic to nationalist political forces. From
82056-414: The swamps. One Scordisci archaeological site in Vukovar dating back to late La Tène culture was excavated in the 1970s and 1980s as a part of rescue excavations in eastern Croatia. Archaeological site was a part of the settlement network of Scordisci in the area of Vinkovci. The history of today's Vukovar begins very early, according to archaeological data. Slavic tribes settled in this area in
82368-440: The temporary KPJ leadership along with Croatian moderate popular front supporters Kraš and Andrija Žaja as well as Soviet-educated Slovene Edvard Kardelj . In 1937, the Comintern compelled the KPJ to formally establish the Communist Party of Croatia ( Komunistička partija Hrvatske , KPH) and the Communist Party of Slovenia ( Komunistična partija Slovenije ). The two parties were nominally independent, but actually within
82680-435: The time an ally of Milošević, appealed to Montenegrin nationalism, promising that the capture of Dubrovnik would allow the expansion of Montenegro into the city which he claimed was historically part of Montenegro, and denounced the present borders of Montenegro as being "drawn by the old and poorly educated Bolshevik cartographers". At the same time, the Serbian government contradicted its Montenegrin allies through claims by
82992-402: The town in the Vukovar massacre. With Bosnia's demographic structure comprising a mixed population of Bosniaks , Serbs and Croats, the ownership of large areas of Bosnia was in dispute. From 1991 to 1992, the situation in the multi-ethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina grew tense. Its parliament was fragmented on ethnic lines into a plurality Bosniak faction and minority Serb and Croat factions. In 1991,
83304-427: The town particularly. The region's population distribution changed notably too when the town of Ilok became the second largest town in the region. The most significant change was the forced displacement and internment of the German civilian population after World War II . The confiscated houses and properties were given to Croat and Serb colonists during the years of Socialist Yugoslavia . The Croats were in
83616-473: The town. Serbs have long voiced their concerns about the crimes committed against them in the months before the JNA took over the town after its fall in November of that year and the lack of accountability for the perpetrators. The matter has remained unresolved, with Merčep only being sentenced in 2017 for crimes committed by his units elsewhere. He died in November 2020. The Battle of Vukovar began on 25 August 1991 and lasted until 18 November 1991. During
83928-409: The underdeveloped nations, the clash between strict centralisation and decentralisation appeared as a conflict between political principle and economic priorities. In 1950, Yugoslav authorities sought to combat unsustainable labour practices and improve production efficiency through introduction of workers' councils and the system which later became known as " socialist self-management ". However,
84240-550: The village, interrogated and terrorized the inhabitants, and arrested 45 people. Thirty of them were sent to the Jadovno concentration camp , while 15 were sentenced to death by a hastily convened traveling summary court and execution being carried at the Dudik site. Over 500 people will be executed at the site during the war with the place being turned into the Dudik Memorial Park subsequently. Represion led to further resistance and imprisonment of 500 residents of Bobota, Trpinja and Vera in September 1941. During World War II
84552-504: The war, the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army and navy deliberately shelled civilian areas of Split and Dubrovnik, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as nearby Croat villages. Yugoslav media claimed that the actions were done due to what they claimed was a presence of fascist Ustaše forces and international terrorists in the city. UN investigations found that no such forces were in Dubrovnik at the time. Croatian military presence increased later on. Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović , at
84864-400: The wartime struggle and instead, just two weeks before the Red Army and the Partisans took the capital from Germans , reassigned Hebrang to Belgrade to become the minister of industry and filled the leading role in the KPH with Vladimir Bakarić . In November 1942, the Partisans captured the town of Bihać and secured control over a large part of western Bosnia, Dalmatia and Lika they named
85176-407: The way of life of the Illyrians and Celts , the original inhabitants of the Vukovar area. During the last decades of BC, the Romans reached the Danube in their conquests and built many forts on the border (the so-called Danube limes ) as a protection against the barbarian tribes . The Romans influenced the economy of the Vukovar region because they planted the first vineyards and drained
85488-465: The world. Vukovar is located 20 km (12 mi) northeast of Vinkovci and 36 km (22 mi) southeast of Osijek , with an elevation of 108 m (354 ft). Vukovar is located on the main road D2 Osijek—Vukovar— Ilok and on the Vinkovci—Vukovar railway (and road D55 ). The area of Vukovar has been continuously inhabited for five thousand years, which we know based on numerous archaeological sites. The Vučedol culture, which developed in
85800-481: The year before. This event was sharply criticized in the Soviet press, especially as Tito used it as an excuse to indirectly attack Moscow's ally Cuba for "promoting divisiveness in the Non-Aligned Movement". When China launched a military campaign against Vietnam the following February, Yugoslavia openly took Beijing's side in the dispute. The effect was a rather adverse decline in Soviet Union-Yugoslavia relations . During this time, Yugoslavia's first nuclear reactor
86112-403: Was "booming", and that all the while the Yugoslav citizens enjoyed far greater liberties than the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc states. Literacy was increased dramatically and reached 91%, medical care was free on all levels, and life expectancy was 72 years. On 2 June 1968, student demonstrations led to wider mass youth protests in capital cities across Yugoslavia. They were gradually stopped
86424-418: Was a country in Central and Southeast Europe . It was established in 1945 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia , following World War II , and lasted until 1992, breaking up as a consequence of the Yugoslav Wars . Spanning an area of 255,804 square kilometres (98,766 sq mi) in the Balkans , Yugoslavia was bordered by the Adriatic Sea and Italy to the west, Austria and Hungary to
86736-473: Was abandoned. Policies employed by the NDH, enforced by the Ustaše against Serbs and ceding of Dalmatia to Italy through the Treaties of Rome created a natural base for Partisan recruitment among the Serbs, and Croats (particularly in Dalmatia) respectively. Furthermore, establishment of the NDH fractured the HSS into three groups – one supporting the armed resistance, another supporting the NDH, and an indecisive group around HSS leader Vladko Maček employing
87048-448: Was achieved by largely revoking decision-making powers previously given to republican branches of the SKJ. The party programme published at the Congress praised emerging Yugoslav consciousness and a series of articles was published advocating creation of unified Yugoslav culture. This decision built on introduction of the option of declaring one's ethnicity as Yugoslav in the 1953 census, and the régime-sponsored 1954 Novi Sad Agreement on
87360-452: Was adopted. At the time of Tito's death the Federal government was headed by Veselin Đuranović (who had held the post since 1977). He had come into conflict with the leaders of the republics, arguing that Yugoslavia needed to economize due to the growing problem of foreign debt. Đuranović argued that a devaluation was needed which Tito refused to countenance for reasons of national prestige. Post-Tito Yugoslavia faced significant fiscal debt in
87672-439: Was aimed at overthrowing Tito and was planned during the Olympic Games period so that the Soviets would be too busy to react. The operation was finally abandoned due to Tito's death and the Yugoslav armed forces raising their alert level. After World War II, Yugoslavia became a leader in international tourism among socialist states, motivated by both ideological and financial purposes. In the 1960s, many foreigners were able to get
87984-428: Was an example of a successful military aircraft design by Yugoslavia before the Yugoslav wars. Beside the federal army, each of the 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
88296-459: Was an important church seat and a fortified city. The city occupied between 20 and 25 hectares of the city area. At the end of the 14th century, Vukovar was one of the largest medieval Slavonic towns with 350 houses and 2,000 to 2,500 inhabitants. During administration of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary , the town was a seat of Valkó (Croatian: Vuka) county, which was located between the Drava and Sava rivers, while during Ottoman administration it
88608-527: Was appointed by the Comintern as the organisational secretary of the KPJ in Moscow in September of the same year and he moved to Vienna a month later. In July 1937, Gorkić was summoned from his Paris base to Moscow where he was arrested. In addition to him, there were about 900 communists of Yugoslav origin or their supporters in the Soviet Union who fell victim to the Stalin's Great Purge as did 50 other KPJ officials posted in Moscow including Cvijić, Ćopić, Filipović, Marković, and Novaković. The Soviet subsidy to
88920-419: Was composed entirely 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. In 1974, Tito was elected 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
89232-415: Was dissatisfied with the inclusion in the new autonomous Banovina leading them to present their disagreement in the 1939 Vukovar resolution . The interwar period in Vukovar was marked with a significant growth of the shoe and textile industry that began operating in the town, including the shoe factory Bata in 1931, which was later renamed Borovo . This consequently led to a population growth–according to
89544-406: Was effectively a Yugoslav satellite. Neighboring Bulgaria was under increasing Yugoslav influence as well, and talks began to negotiate the political unification of Albania and Bulgaria with Yugoslavia. The major point of contention was that Yugoslavia wanted to absorb the two and transform them into additional federated republics . Albania was in no position to object, but the Bulgarian view was that
89856-428: Was eventually overrun. It is estimated that 1,800 defenders of Vukovar and civilians were killed, 800 went missing and 22,000 civilians were forced into exile. Several war crimes were committed by Serb forces after the battle, including the Vukovar massacre of up to 264 wounded patients and medical staff, taken from the Vukovar hospital. According to the Croatian Association of Prisoners in Serbian Concentration Camps ,
90168-509: Was expelled, but Marković remained a part of KPJ leadership. This changed in 1925 when he was denounced by the leader of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin personally before Yugoslav commission of the Comintern insisting that the KPJ must harness national movements for revolutionary aims. Regardless, the factional struggle continued. In 1927, the seat of the KPJ central committee in Yugoslavia was moved from Belgrade to Zagreb. In February 1928, Josip Broz Tito and Andrija Hebrang , seeking to stir
90480-403: Was far more substantial. But this Yugoslav foreign adventure also came to an end with the Tito–Stalin split, as the Greek Communists, expecting Tito's overthrow, refused any assistance from his government. Without it, they were greatly disadvantaged, and were defeated in 1949. As Yugoslavia was the country's only Communist neighbour in the immediate postwar period, the People's Republic of Albania
90792-532: Was fully reintegrated into Croatia. UNTAES headquarters were initially located at the United Nations Protection Force headquarters in Zagreb but the idea of priority of the administration was to move it to eastern Croatia . Croatian Government offered Osijek for that purpose but the administration refused it since it wanted to locate it on the territory under its control leading to selection of Vukovar. United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Vukovar in early 1996 to express her support to
91104-404: Was held in which 94% voted in favor. Violence in and around Vukovar worsened after the independence referendum, with gun and bomb attacks reported in the town and surrounding villages in June 1991. Borovo Naselje , the Croatian-held northern suburb of Vukovar, sustained a significant shelling on 4 July. Serb paramilitaries expelled thousands of non-Serbs from their homes in the municipality. In
91416-460: Was imported both from the East and the West. The regular army mostly originated from the Yugoslav Partisans of World War II. Yugoslavia had a thriving arms industry and exported to nations, primarily those who were non-aligned as well as others like Iraq , and Ethiopia . Yugoslav companies like Zastava Arms produced Soviet-designed weaponry under license as well as creating weaponry from scratch, ranging from police pistols to airplanes. SOKO
91728-416: Was inspired by the 1847–1852 Communist League founded by Marx , Engels and Schapper . The constitutional amendments, adopted in January 1953, were only the second step in a series of five constitutional reforms reflecting the social development of Communist-ruled Yugoslavia, but the principles introduced in 1953 were retained in all subsequent Yugoslav constitutions. After the Yugoslav rapprochement with
92040-399: Was known as the Train of Peace . As a result of the conflict, a deep ethnic divide exists between the Croat and Serb populations. OSCE Mission to Croatia was active in Vukovar and surrounding areas until 2007. In the years from 1948 until 1991 Vukovar's population increased quickly due to industrial development. Primarily it was immigration that fed the growth in the Vukovar region and in
92352-434: Was mentioned first in the 13th century as Volko , Walk , Wolkov, Wolcou, Walkov and numerous other versions (original Croatian/Slavic name of the town was Vukovo ). All these different forms of the city's name were used until the 14th century, when the name Vukovar began to be used more and more, to which the Hungarian suffix -var was added, which denotes a fortress. In 1231, Vukovo obtained its first privileges and later
92664-403: Was most commonly known simply as Yugoslavia . The most common abbreviation is SFRY, though "SFR Yugoslavia" was also used in an official capacity, particularly by the media. On 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers led by Nazi Germany ; by 17 April 1941, the country was fully occupied and was soon carved up by the Axis . Yugoslav resistance was soon established in two forms,
92976-498: Was no longer thought feasible to achieve quick introduction of communist rule. The popular front strategy coincided with assignment of Milan Gorkić to the KPJ leadership from his posting at the Comintern in 1932. Gorkić set about to introduce discipline to the KPJ top ranks and establish ties with the JSDS, the HSS, the Montenegrin Federalist Party , the Slovene Christian Socialists, and pro-Russian right wing organisations in Serbia with Moscow now advocating Yugoslav unity. This placed
93288-417: Was no well-organised political opposition to the KPJ. The People's Front of Yugoslavia ( Narodni front Jugoslavije , NFJ) was established in autumn of 1945, nominally a coalition of nearly all political parties in the country. A notable exception was Milan Grol 's Democratic Party which was charged with the Serbian nationalism . Besides the KPJ, the NFJ included weak and poorly organised bourgeois parties:
93600-477: Was not contemplated while defending the concept of Yugoslavism. Finally, at the 8th Congress of the SKJ held in 1964, Tito and Kardelj gave speeches criticising those thinking about merging nations of Yugoslavia as proponents of bureaucratic centralisation, unitarism and hegemony. There was no further mention of Yugoslavism at the Congress and the republican branches of the SKJ were given back their decision-making powers to reflect specificities and national character of
93912-420: Was not fully in the Soviet post-war sphere of influence, Tito pursued a foreign policy course seeking to integrate Albania into the Yugoslav federation, support the Greek communist guerrillas , and broaden ties between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria –potentially unifying the countries. Conclusion of the 1947 Bled Agreement seeking closer ties with Bulgaria, and imminent deployment of Yugoslav Army to Albania prompted
94224-446: 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
94536-425: Was organized on republic, autonomous province, municipality and local community levels. Given that its role was mainly defense, it had no formal officer training regime, no offensive capabilities and little military training. As Yugoslavia splintered , the army factionalized along ethnic lines, and by 1991–92 Serbs made up almost the entire army as the separating states formed their own. Despite their common origins,
94848-404: Was part of the Sanjak of Syrmia . The Turkish rule brought great changes to the Vukovar region. On their campaign in 1526, the Turks occupied Ilok and Vukovar. Vukovar lost its significance, but still remained an important trade center on an important trade route. Before liberation from the Turks, Vukovar had close to 3,000 inhabitants. After the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, Vukovar was part of
95160-476: 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-populated Kosovo, Yugoslavia and Albania both attempted to neutralize the threat of nationalist conflict, Hoxha opposed Albanian nationalism , as he officially believed in the world communist ideal of international brotherhood of all people, though on
95472-469: Was pursued through workers' self-management legislation introduced in 1950, as well as through opposition to Stalinism and inter-war Yugoslav unitarism . The approach led to a period of ideological revisionism in which established doctrines could be questioned. Even though Soviet and Cominform propaganda drew attention to inequalities in the economic development of various parts of Yugoslavia, alleging restoration of capitalism, and national oppression of
95784-411: Was reluctant to include the exiled King Peter II in post-war Yugoslavia, as Winston Churchill demanded. In February 1945, Tito acknowledged the existence of a Regency Council representing the King, but the council's first and only act was to proclaim a new government under Tito's premiership. The nature of the state was still unclear immediately after the war, and on 26 June 1945, the government signed
96096-407: Was renamed the Communist Party of Yugoslavia ( Komunistička partija Jugoslavije ). In 1920, ahead of the local elections, the Jewish Party was established in the town while Zionist Association was founded in 1926. After 1929, Vukovar was part of the Sava Banovina , and beginning in 1939 it was part of the Banovina of Croatia . Part of the Serb community in the town and neighbouring villages
96408-408: Was supplanted by the Hungarian Vukovár . In the Middle Ages , Vukovar was the seat of the great Vukovo County , which was first mentioned in 1220 as "Comitatus de Wolcou". On the right bank of the Vuka was the royal fortress castrum Walkow. A settlement developed in its suburb (suburbium), which was granted the privileges of a free royal city in 1231 by Duke Slavonia Koloman. Until the XIV century,
96720-439: Was the HRSS, which was temporarily allowed to continue operating. The exact number of those arrested remains uncertain, but in 1983, Radovan Radonjić stated that 16,288 were arrested and convicted, including 2,616 belonging to various levels of the KPJ leadership. According to Ranković, 51,000 people were killed, imprisoned or sentence to forced labour, a majority of them without trial. Prisoners were held at numerous sites, including
97032-417: 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 allegedly Serb 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 be allowed to return from exile in London only upon a favourable result of
97344-586: Was under construction in Krško , built by US-based Westinghouse . The project ultimately took until 1980 to complete because of disputes with the United States about certain guarantees that Belgrade had to sign off on before it could receive nuclear materials (which included the promise that they would not be sold to third parties or used for anything but peaceful purposes). In 1979, seven selection criteria comprising Ohrid , Dubrovnik , Split , Plitvice Lakes National Park , Kotor , Stari Ras and Sopoćani were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites , making it
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