Who were Josip Broz Tito and Slobandan Milosevic?

Answer 1

Josip Broz Tito was the leader of the second Yugoslavia. He led the communist Partisans in World War II and they kicked out the Nazis and set up a communist government in Yugoslavia. However, Tito soon fell out with Stalin and began a non-aligned foreign policy. As a result, he was able to court support from both the capitalist and communist worlds. He ruled as a dictator and suppressed nationalist movements - and anyone who was too friendly with Moscow. Overall though, Yugoslavia was a lot better off than much of Eastern Europe, but it became dependent on Tito to stay united and when Tito died in 1980, the country's mix of religions and ethnicities started to squabble amongst each other. Tito himself was a Croat.

Slobodan Milosevic became the President of Serbia in 1989 during the dying days of Yugoslavia, helped by his fierce talk of Serb nationalism - he pledged to have Serbian regions of Croatia and Bosnia added to Serbia to form a "Greater Serbia" and overall these were supported by the Serbs both inside and outside of Serbia. His allies gained control over the Federal Government and as a result, the Serbian provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina were stripped of their autonomy.

Soon enough, all the other republics of Yugoslavia declared their independence (except Montenegro), resulting in two bloody wars in Croatia and Bosnia which killed over 150,000 people. Serbian forces committed ethnic cleansing in both wars, as thousands of Croats and Bosniaks were chased out of their homes and some were even murdered. In 1996, the conflict was resolved leaving Milosevic in charge of Serbia and Montenegro. Finally, Kosovo tried to become independent and there was yet another war with questionable conduct. Milosevic was ousted in 2000 and the new government handed him over to the United Nations.