The Collapse of Yugoslavia: How One Country Became Seven After the death of its long-time leader Josip Broz Tito in 1980, Yugoslavia’s fragile unity began to fall apart. Rising ethnic tensions, political struggles, and economic crises led to wars, declarations of independence, and ultimately the complete breakup of a once-powerful Balkan state. | Geographic Enigma

Josip Broz Tito led Yugoslavia from 1945 until his death in 1980, becoming one of the Cold War's most distinctive Communist leaders. Born to a Croatian peasant family in 1892, he fought in World War I, was captured by the Russians, and embraced Bolshevism during the Russian Revolution. After rising through Yugoslavia's Communist Party ranks and surviving Stalin's purges in the 1930s, Tito organized the Partisan resistance that liberated Yugoslavia from Axis occupation during World War II, comman