Alternative History
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Federativna Republika Jugoslavija
Федеративна Република Југославија
Federativna republika Jugoslavija
Flag of Serbia and Montenegro Coat of arms of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (WFAC)
Anthem
Hej, Slaveni
Хеј, Словени
("Hey, Slavs")
Yugoslavia blank map (WFAC)
CapitalBelgrade
Official languages Serbo-Croat-Bosnian
Slovene
Montenegrin
Macedonian
Demonym Yugoslav
Government Federal parliamentary republic
 •  Chairman of the Presidency Aleksandar Vučić (Serb)
 •  Members of the Presidency Zoran Milanović (Croatian)
Borut Pahor (Slovene)
Šefik Džaferović (Bosniak)
Milo Đukanović (Montenegrin)
Stevo Pendarovski (Macedonian)
 •  Prime Minister Ana Brnabić
Legislature Federal Assembly
 •  Upper House Chamber of Republics
 •  Lower House Federal Chamber
Formation
 •  Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1 December 1918 
 •  6 January Dictatorship 6 January 1929 
 •  Assassination of Alexander I 9 October 1934 
 •  Yugoslav accession to the Anti-Comintern Pact 25 March 1940 
 •  AVNOJ 26 November 1940 
 •  King Peter II's Coup 12 October 1944 
 •  Abolition of monarchy 29 November 1945 
 •  Tito–Stalin Split 1948 
 •  Death of Josip Broz Tito 4 May 1980 
 •  Democracy restored 9 June 1990 
 •  Current constitution 27 April 1992 
 •  Joined the European Union 1 January 2007 
Time zone (UTC+1)
 •  Summer (DST)  (UTC+2)
Drives on the right
Internet TLD .yu   .eu
Calling code +38

Yugoslavia, officially the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbian, Montenegrin and Macedonian: Федеративна Република Југославија; Croatian, Slovene and Bosnian: Federativna Republika Jugoslavija) is a federal parliamentary republic in the Balkans made up of six republics: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia. In addition, it includes two autonomous provinces within Serbia: Kosovo and Vojvodina.

After initially siding with the Eastern bloc under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito at the beginning of the Cold War, Yugoslavia pursued a policy of neutrality after the Tito–Stalin split of 1948, and it became one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement. After the death of Tito in 1980, rising ethnic nationalism in the late 1980s led to dissidence among the multiple ethnicities within the constituent republics. Between 1989 and 1991, under the leadership of Ante Marković, Yugoslavia underwent economic reforms, including stabilization of currency, privatization, limited trade liberalization as well as political reforms, transferring Yugoslavia into a liberalized democratic federation. These reforms were supported economically and politically by the European Community and Czechoslovakia.

History[]

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 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.

After Tito's death in 1980, a new collective presidency of the communist leadership from each republic 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 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. Yugoslavia was the host nation of the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. For Yugoslavia, the games demonstrated the continued Tito's vision of Brotherhood and unity as 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 were participated in by Western countries while the Soviet Union's Olympics were boycotted by some.

In January 1986, the Yugoslav government began to make a course away from communism as it attempted to transform to 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 the 1990s.

Yugoslav federal Prime Minister Ante Marković

Federal subjects[]

Internally, the Yugoslav federation was divided into six constituent republics and two Autonomous Provinces (Kosovo and Vojvodina) within the Republic of Serbia. The federal capital was Belgrade. In alphabetical order, the republics and provinces were:

Name
Capital
Flag
Coat of Arms
Head of Government
Location
Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1998)
Coat of Arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1998)
Zoran Tegeltija
(since 2019)
Map of Yugoslavia with Republics (WFAC)
Republic of Croatia Zagreb
Flag of Croatia
Coat of arms of Croatia
Andrej Plenković
(since 2016)
Republic of Macedonia Skopje
Flag of Macedonia
Coat of arms of Macedonia (WFAC)
Zoran Zaev
(since 2020)
Republic of Montenegro Podgorica
Flag of Montenegro
Coat of arms of Montenegro
Zdravko Krivokapić
(since 2020)
Republic of Serbia
Autonomous Province of Kosovo
Autonomous Province of Vojvodina
Belgrade
Pristina
Novi Sad
Flag of Serbia
Coat of arms of Serbia small
Ivica Dačić
(since 2016)
Republic of Slovenia Ljubljana
Flag of Slovenia
Coat of arms of Slovenia
Janez Janša
(since 2020)

Sports[]

Sports play an important role in Yugoslav society, and the country has a strong sporting history. The Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, later the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, developed a strong athletic sports community, notably in team sports such as association football, basketball, handball, ice hockey, water polo, and volleyball.

Association football is the most popular sport. The Yugoslav Football Federation, with more than 300,000 registered players, is the largest sporting association in the country. On the national team level, FPR/SFR Yugoslavia qualified for seven FIFA World Cups, with the best result coming in 1998 in France with a bronze medal. Before this, their best result came in 1962 in Chile with a 4th-place finish (equalizing the result Kingdom of Yugoslavia archived in 1930). The country also played in four European Championships. The best results came in 1960 and 1968 when the team lost in the finals - in 1960 to Soviet Union and in 1968 to Italy. Additionally, the Yugoslav Olympic team (under-23) won gold at the 1960 Olympics in Rome after previously getting three silvers consecutively - 1948 in London, 1952 in Helsinki, and 1956 in Melbourne - as well as a bronze in 1984 in Los Angeles.

Yugoslavia is also one of the traditional powerhouses of world basketball, as Serbia men's national basketball team have won five World Championships (in 1970, 1978, 1990, 1998 and 2002), a gold medal at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, two Olympic silver medals (in 1996 and 2016) and eight European Championships (1973, 1975 1977, 1989, 1991, 1995, 1997, and 2001). A total of 22 Serbian players have played in the NBA in last two decades, including Predrag "Peja" Stojaković (three-time NBA All-Star) and Vlade Divac (2001 NBA All-Star and FIBA Hall of Famer). The renowned "Serbian coaching school" produced many of the most successful European basketball coaches of all times, such as Željko Obradović, who won a record 8 Euroleague titles as a coach. KK Partizan basketball club was the 1992 European champion.

Handball is also a popular sport. The national Yugoslav handball team have won two World Championships (1986, 2003), four gold medals at the Summer Olympics(1972, 1984, 1996, 2004) and four silver medals at the European Championships. The Yugoslav national handball team is currently ranked 10th in the world by the International Handball Federation.

The national ice hockey team, made up mostly by Slovenian players, has qualified for nine Ice Hockey World Championships, and the team played at five Winter Olympic games: in 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984, 2002, 2010, 2014 and is qualified for the 2018 Olympics. Anže Kopitar is the most notable Slovene ice hockey player, and is one of the best players in the world, having helped the Los Angeles Kings to the Stanley Cup Championship in 2012 and 2014.


See also[]

  • Countries (WFAC)