Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in <a href="/facts/Central_Europe/VdxzSbJz">Central</a> and <a href="/facts/Southeast_Europe/zxgEvCdQ">Southeast Europe</a>. It was established in 1945, following <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>, and lasted until 1992, <a href="/facts/Breakup_of_Yugoslavia/5UGMPyCf">dissolving</a> amid the onset of the <a href="/facts/Yugoslav_Wars/CUoVQ6Y9">Yugoslav Wars</a>. Spanning an area of 255,804 square kilometres (98,766 sq mi) in the <a href="/facts/Balkans/5Hy8ly0d">Balkans</a>, Yugoslavia was bordered by the <a href="/facts/Adriatic_Sea/v5I5Jl3f">Adriatic Sea</a> and <a href="/facts/Italy/tUf0PDYF">Italy</a> to the west, <a href="/facts/Austria/4qWIMIyc">Austria</a> and <a href="/facts/Hungarian_People%2527s_Republic/IbhUc1vu">Hungary</a> to the north, <a href="/facts/People%2527s_Republic_of_Bulgaria/yCW1fYUn">Bulgaria</a> and <a href="/facts/Socialist_Republic_of_Romania/sIqLNfBy">Romania</a> to the east, and <a href="/facts/People%2527s_Socialist_Republic_of_Albania/P0M3yl47">Albania</a> and <a href="/facts/Greece/lqHw8bTB">Greece</a> to the south. It was a <a href="/facts/One-party_state/bTmHoaGu">one-party</a> <a href="/facts/Socialist_state/SCSD8x2m">socialist state</a> and <a href="/facts/Federation/R846sufb">federation</a> governed by the <a href="/facts/League_of_Communists_of_Yugoslavia/sm2Gx3Gf">League of Communists of Yugoslavia</a>, and had six constituent republics: <a href="/facts/Socialist_Republic_of_Bosnia_and_Herzegovina/YPGD7MsL">Bosnia and Herzegovina</a>, <a href="/facts/Socialist_Republic_of_Croatia/LT1sxuFe">Croatia</a>, <a href="/facts/Socialist_Republic_of_Macedonia/oAU4f9mI">Macedonia</a>, <a href="/facts/Socialist_Republic_of_Montenegro/hDGwF7ET">Montenegro</a>, <a href="/facts/Socialist_Republic_of_Serbia/jekllxlU">Serbia</a>, and <a href="/facts/Socialist_Republic_of_Slovenia/MbLG9l8q">Slovenia</a>. Within Serbia was the Yugoslav capital city of <a href="/facts/Belgrade/Xeaz5zIy">Belgrade</a> as well as two autonomous Yugoslav provinces: <a href="/facts/Socialist_Autonomous_Province_of_Kosovo/S5MmUPId">Kosovo</a> and <a href="/facts/Socialist_Autonomous_Province_of_Vojvodina/Tfdx0Lms">Vojvodina</a>.
The country emerged as <a href="/facts/Democratic_Federal_Yugoslavia/rvD2tGbx">Democratic Federal Yugoslavia</a> on 29 November 1943, during the second session of the <a href="/facts/Anti-Fascist_Council_for_the_National_Liberation_of_Yugoslavia/zNHBWuuS">Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia</a> midst <a href="/facts/World_War_II_in_Yugoslavia/GbILh6Mt">World War II in Yugoslavia</a>. Recognised by the <a href="/facts/Allies_of_World_War_II/YzCdtjDY">Allies of World War II</a> at the <a href="/facts/Tehran_Conference/deY7MKrr">Tehran Conference</a> as the legal successor state to <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Yugoslavia/IRNUtvxW">Kingdom of Yugoslavia</a>, it was a <a href="/facts/Provisional_Government_of_the_Democratic_Federal_Yugoslavia/mHGTCBq1">provisionally governed state</a> formed to unite the <a href="/facts/Yugoslav_Partisans/jsvsMrsj">Yugoslav resistance movement</a>. Following the country's liberation, King <a href="/facts/Peter_II_of_Yugoslavia/cqDxy9Ew">Peter II</a> was deposed, the <a href="/facts/Monarchy_of_Yugoslavia/M2GevxbB">monarchical rule</a> was ended, and on 29 November 1945, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed. Led by <a href="/facts/Josip_Broz_Tito/GeEzIuNT">Josip Broz Tito</a>, the new <a href="/facts/Communist_government/oYaCr1Av">communist government</a> sided with the <a href="/facts/Eastern_Bloc/12f32hA7">Eastern Bloc</a> at the beginning of the <a href="/facts/Cold_War/spJdJQ3q">Cold War</a> but pursued a policy of <a href="/facts/Neutrality_(international_relations)/Ig022QPh">neutrality</a> following the 1948 <a href="/facts/Tito%25E2%2580%2593Stalin_split/BoHworpK">Tito–Stalin split</a>; it became a founding member of the <a href="/facts/Non-Aligned_Movement/PIdnjRvD">Non-Aligned Movement</a>, and transitioned from a <a href="/facts/Command_economy/TCMJrC5M">command economy</a> to <a href="/facts/Market_socialism/7YPfNDgX">market-based socialism</a>. The country was renamed Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1963.
After Tito died on 4 May 1980, the <a href="/facts/Economy_of_the_Socialist_Federal_Republic_of_Yugoslavia/dvw0m5H2">Yugoslav economy</a> began to collapse, which increased unemployment and inflation. The economic crisis led to rising <a href="/facts/Ethnic_nationalism/2ytdsKMg">ethnic nationalism</a> and political dissidence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With the <a href="/facts/Revolutions_of_1989/gLWM6JLk">fall of communism</a> in <a href="/facts/Eastern_Europe/f5CDGzNA">Eastern Europe</a>, efforts to transition into a <a href="/facts/Confederation/5MPbBSCS">confederation</a> 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 a reconstituted state known as the <a href="/facts/Federal_Republic_of_Yugoslavia/FR15c0Jn">Federal Republic of Yugoslavia</a>, or FR Yugoslavia, but this state was not recognized internationally as the <a href="/facts/Agreement_on_Succession_Issues_of_the_Former_Socialist_Federal_Republic_of_Yugoslavia/bEMWKrI5">sole successor state to SFR Yugoslavia</a>. "<a href="/facts/Former_Yugoslavia/PXRlHx9q">Former Yugoslavia</a>" is now commonly used retrospectively.
The FPR Yugoslavia and, later SFRY, was a founding member of the <a href="/facts/United_Nations/fgXLnmgT">United Nations</a>, the <a href="/facts/Non-Aligned_Movement/PIdnjRvD">Non-Aligned Movement</a> and the <a href="/facts/Organization_for_Security_and_Co-operation_in_Europe/Lo5lUrA6">Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe</a>.

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia open-in-new

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia