Former Yugoslavia

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The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the end of World War II to the Yugoslav wars. It was a communist republic that comprised the area of the present-day states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro and Slovenia.

The country was formed in 1945 from remains of the pre-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia under the name Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, in 1946 it changed its name to Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia and again in 1963 to Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Throughout the Cold War, Yugoslavia was an important member of the Non-Aligned Movement. The Economy of SFRY is known for the organization of that country, and its particular brand of workers' self-management system.

[edit] History

Democratic Federative Yugoslavia was reconstituted at the AVNOJ or the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia conference in Jajce (November 29 - December 4, 1943) while negotiations with the royal government in exile continued. On November 29, 1945 the Federative People's Republic of Yugoslavia was established as a socialist state (also by AVNOJ in Jajce). On January 31, 1946, the new constitution of FPR Yugoslavia established the six constituent republics.

The first president was Ivan Ribar and prime minister Josip Broz Tito. In 1953, Tito was elected as president and later in 1963 named "President for life".

Like the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that preceded it, the SFRY bordered Italy and Austria to the northwest, Hungary and Romania to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece and Albania to the south, and the Adriatic Sea to the west.

Yugoslavia, unlike other Eastern and Central European communist countries, chose a course independent of the Soviet Union (see Informbiro), and was not a member of the Warsaw pact nor NATO, but rather than that initiated a Non-Aligned Movement in 1956.

The most significant change to the borders of the SFRY occurred in 1954, when the adjacent Free Territory of Trieste was dissolved by the Treaty of Osimo. The Yugoslavian Zone B, which covered 515.5 km2, became part of the SFRY. Zone B was already occupied by the Yugoslav National Army.

After Tito's death in 1980, tensions between the various peoples grew, and in 1991 its constituent republics Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina started breaking away. After the initial Yugoslav wars, the process ended in 1992 when the remainder of Yugoslavia, now having only two republics, Serbia and Montenegro, formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which in 2002 was reformed and renamed to Serbia and Montenegro.