Yugoslavia

I

Introduction

Yugoslavia, former country on the Balkan Peninsula in south-eastern Europe which existed from 1918 to 1991, when political and ethnic conflicts dissolved the nation. Officially known as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia it encompassed six republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia; Serbia included the two politically autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. Yugoslavia covered an area of 255,803 sq km (98,766 sq mi), and was bounded by Austria and Hungary on the north, Romania and Bulgaria on the east, Greece on the south, and Albania and the Adriatic Sea on the west. The capital and largest city of Yugoslavia was Belgrade, in the republic of Serbia. For more information on the republics that made up Yugoslavia, see the specific articles on each republic. Also see the article on Serbia and Montenegro, the state formed in 2003 after the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (the successor nation to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) was voted out of existence.

II

Government

The former Yugoslavia was governed according to a 1974 constitution that was substantially amended following the death in 1980 of the powerful leader Josip Broz Tito, who had ruled the country since gaining power in 1945. The executive branch consisted of a collective presidency, which included a representative from each of the republics, and a federal executive council. A bicameral Federal Assembly handled legislative duties, and a federal court heard appeals of decisions by the supreme courts of the constituent republics. Local government was similar to the federal system, and included an executive council and a bicameral assembly. From 1945 until 1990, the Communist party (formally known since 1952 as the League of Communists of Yugoslavia) was the nation's sole legal political party.

A

Culture and Society

The cultural heritage of Yugoslavia combined the various cultures of its diverse regions. Yugoslav art varied from region to region, and resisted attempts by the government to impose Socialist realism. Croatia and Slovenia, for instance, were long influenced by Austria and Hungary, and by the Roman Catholic tradition that predominates in those cultures. In Serbia, for centuries a part of the Ottoman Empire, Islamic culture took root. Notable achievements included the tomb sculpture in medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina and the 19th-century tomb painting in Serbia. Modern painting, centred in Belgrade, Ljubljana, and Zagreb, reflected Western art movements such as Impressionism and Expressionism. Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović, who based many of his works on biblical themes, was among the most prominent 20th-century sculptors. At the end of the 19th century, groups of modernist and Expressionist writers emerged in Yugoslavia as well as in the rest of Europe. Yugoslav literature enjoyed diverse and fruitful development. Well-known Yugoslav writers included Milovan Djilas and Ivo Andrić ; Andrić was awarded the 1961 Nobel prize for literature for his distinguished work, including the 1945 novel The Bridge on the Drina. Yugoslav cinema also achieved international acclaim in the years following World War II, with such influential film-makers as Dušan Makavejev, Slobodan Sijan, and Emir Kusturica.

There were three official Yugoslav languages: Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, and Macedonian. Serbo-Croatian was the dominant language, spoken by about 75 per cent of the population, reflecting the dominance of the Serbs (36 per cent) and the Croats (20 per cent) in the ethnic makeup of the country, although they were located primarily in Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The federation also included Slovenians (in Slovenia) and Macedonians (in Macedonia), as well as large minorities of Muslims, ethnic Albanians, ethnic Hungarians, ethnic Turks, and Roma (Gypsies). The two main ethnic groups utilized different written languages, with the Serbs using the Cyrillic alphabet and the Croats the Latin alphabet. Slovenian and Macedonian are closely related to Serbo-Croatian, although Macedonian is not recognized as a separate language by either Bulgaria or Greece. The Yugoslav constitution guaranteed freedom of religion and the separation of church and state, and about half the population belonged to the Serbian or another Orthodox Church; another 30 per cent were Roman Catholic (mostly Croats and Slovenes), and about 10 per cent were Muslim.

III

History

The South Slavs (or Yugoslavs) are one of the five major ethnic groups of the Balkan Peninsula, incorporating the Serb, Croat, Slovene, and Montenegrin peoples. Although the movement for political unification of these people dated back to at least the early 19th century, the South Slavs had historically been separated and controlled by various neighbouring powers, such as Turkey, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Political entities in the period leading up to World War I included the independent states of Serbia and Montenegro; Bosnia and Herzegovina under the sovereignty of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; Croatia and Slavonia, a semi-autonomous dependency of Hungary and later an Austrian Crown land; and Dalmatia, a possession of Austria. Banat, Carniola, Istria, and Macedonia were also significant regions. But despite these divisions and profound ethnic and cultural differences among the South Slavs, the desire for statehood remained strong.