History, Facts, Breakup and Map of Yugoslavia

The establishment of Yugoslavia took place in the region after the end of Ottoman rule. It continued its existence from the north of the Balkans to the southeast and from 1918 to 2003 in the southeast of Europe. The neighboring countries of Yugoslavia, with a surface area of 255,804 kmΒ², were Italy, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania.

The formation of Yugoslavia is based on the political developments in the Balkan wars and World War I years, during the last period of the Ottoman rule. As in the aftermath of the Balkan wars, Serbia became one of the most profitable states after World War I.

Serbia and Bulgaria were attacked by Germany and Bulgaria. After the war, however, the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated, and the unification of the Slavs, which left the empire, with Serbia, laid the foundation for the foundation of Yugoslavia. As a result of this merger, on December 1, 1918, the state, which was ruled by the constitution, was considered as the Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian Kingdom.

A side-by-side comparison of two color-coded maps showing territorial changes between 1990 and 2018.
Yugoslavia Map

World War II and Yugoslavia

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With the outbreak of the Second World War, Yugoslavia had its share of the aggressive and greedy policies of the Germans. Adolf Hitler, who dreamed of the Empire of the World and shared his people with this dream, tried to invade Europe completely and consequently, the armies of Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria occupied Yugoslavia when the dates showed 1941. The king and government of Yugoslavia left the country after the occupation.

With the occupation of Yugoslavia, the people, especially the Muslims, suffered a great deal of pain and the country was under great destruction. On the other hand, the government in Yugoslavia was still in exile and this government was accepted as an official member of the Entente States.

While there was a great resistance against the occupation armies across the country, the power struggle within the country on the other side was getting better. These groups, which are struggling to become the power in the country, are the Communists of Yugoslavia (Partisans) under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito. Partisans, who separated from this struggle with the victory, became an ally of the Entente states in 1944.

Partisans, led by Tito, have triumphed from this struggle against their invading armies. The Partisans, who wiped out Yugoslavia from the occupation armies, formed the Democratic Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 2 December 1945 after they won the election in November 1945, and the new constitution prepared in 1963 was replaced by the official name of Yugoslavia as the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia.

The Death of Tito and The Death of Yugoslavia

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After the death of Josip Tito in May 1980, the difficulty of protecting the federal unity in an environment of economic depression and the ethnic conflict became more evident. During the 1980s, with the powers of the Constitution of 1974, the republics forming the Federation began to act almost independently from the center in the economic and political sphere.

The increasing debt burden necessitated deep-rooted reforms after 1983, in line with the economic stabilization program. Political demonstrations and actions that began in Kosovo in 1981 have spread to other republics over time. The tense relations between the republics led to frequent changes in government, leading to tremors in party and state levels.

With the reform of the communist party in Yugoslavia, the economic crisis and especially the conflict within the party, the weakening of the central structure and the strengthening of the autonomous administrations together with the reforms that have been made as a result of Tito’s support for the reformists; As a result of fascist attitudes, the unity of Yugoslavia, which held different nations together under the umbrella of socialism, broke down in the 1990s and the Socialist Federative People’s Republic of Yugoslavia was disbanded.

The Communist Party entered a process of disintegration as a result of the struggle of radical Serbs against the freedoms granted to post-1980 liberalization and the freedoms granted to the autonomous republics. Yugoslavia state began to disintegrate along with the party. Serbia began its attacks against the separatist elements in Yugoslavia, led by Milosevic, who held the Yugoslavian army.

As a result, Slovenia was the first state to leave Yugoslavia in 1991, and in June 1991 Croatia, under the leadership of Franjo Tudman, decided for independence. Serbia, which does not accept Croatia’s independence, has occupied Croatia by uprising the Serbian population there, but Croatia, which has received the support of European states, has re-controlled its territory.

Collapse of Yugoslavia

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Bosnia and Herzegovina, led by Alija Izetbegovic, declared its independence after the 1992 referendum. The independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina is recognized by the European states and the United States and the United Nations. On September 17, 1991, based on a referendum held in Macedonia on September 8, 1991, Macedonia declared its independence from Yugoslavia. In 1994, the United States became a member of the United Nations, and in 1994 the United States recognized Yugoslavia (Serbia-Montenegro). After Macedonia became independent, Yugoslavia was completely disbanded.

In 2003, with the name, Yugoslavia now named as Serbia-Montenegro, the state of Yugoslavia was erased from history. In 2006, Montenegro declared its independence by leaving Serbia. On the other hand, in the course of the ongoing process, Kosovo, whose security was provided by NATO, left Serbia by declaring independence in 2008. Finally, with the independence of Kosovo, seven states emerged as a result of the disintegration of Yugoslavia. These states; Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Kosovo.

Yugoslavia Flag Map and the Flag Meaning

A graphic map of former Yugoslavia in blue, white, and red, with a red star center and "YUGOSLAVIA" below.
Yugoslavia Flag Map

The design of the flag consists of three equal horizontal bands, blue, white and red. The flag was first used by the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1918 to 1943. In the Second World War, a red star was placed in the center by the victorious Yugoslav Partisans, and it was used until the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

The Yugoslavian flag consists of three colors, blue (top), white (middle) and red (bottom). The design and colors are based on the Pan-Slavic colors adopted in Prague at the 1848 Pan-Slav congress. After the end of World War I in 1918, the Southern Slavs became a single state of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenians, later known as Yugoslavia. The monarchy chose the pan-Slav design to symbolize the newly established unity of all the South Slavs. The red star in the middle of the flag symbolizes communism.