Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia Jugoslavija / Југославија[a]
1918–1992 1941–1945: Axis occupation
Top: Flag (1918–41) Bottom: Flag (1946–92) Top: Coat of arms (1918–41) Bottom: Emblem (1963–92)
Anthem:  "National Anthem of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia" (1919–1941) "Hey, Slavs" (1945–1992)
Yugoslavia during the Interwar period (top) and the Cold War (bottom)
Capital and largest city	Belgrade 44°49′N 20°27′E / 44.817°N 20.450°E / 44.817; 20.450
Official languages	Serbo-Croato-Slovene (before 1944) Serbo-Croatian (de facto; from 1944)
Demonym(s)	Yugoslav
Government	Hereditary monarchy (1918–1941) Federal republic (1945–1992) Details[excessive detail?] Unitary constitutional monarchy (1918–1929, 1931–1939) Unitary absolute monarchy under a royal dictatorship (1929–1931) Federal constitutional monarchy (1939–1941) Government-in-exile (1941–1945) Provisional socialist government presiding over liberated territories (1943–1945) Federal Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic (1945–1948) Federal Titoist one-party socialist republic (1948–1990) Federal parliamentary constitutional republic (1990–1992)
History
• Creation	1 December 1918
• Axis invasion	6 April 1941
• Abolition of monarchy	29 November 1945
• Disintegration	27 April 1992
Population
• 1955	17,522,438[1]
• 1965	19,489,605[2]
• 1975	21,441,297[3]
• 1985	23,121,383[4]
• 1991	23,532,279[5]
Currency	Yugoslav dinar
Calling code	38
ISO 3166 code	YU
Internet TLD	.yu
Preceded by Succeeded by Serbia Montenegro State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs Austria-Hungary Fiume Croatia Slovenia Macedonia Bosnia and Herzegovina Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia (/ˌjuːɡoʊˈslɑːviə/; lit. 'Land of the South Slavs')^[a] was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 to 1992. It came into existence following World War I,^[b] under the name of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from the merger of the Kingdom of Serbia with the provisional State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, and constituted the first union of South Slavic peoples as a sovereign state, following centuries of foreign rule over the region under the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy. Under the rule of the House of Karađorđević, the kingdom gained international recognition on 13 July 1922 at the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris and was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 3 October 1929. Alexander I was the longest reigning of the three Yugoslav monarchs.^[7]

The kingdom was invaded and occupied by the Axis powers in April 1941, marking the start of World War II in Yugoslavia. The Communist-led Partisan resistance went on to proclaim the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia in November 1943, having acquired the backing of the Allies earlier that year. In 1944, King Peter II, then living in exile, gave his recognition to the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia as the legitimate government. In November 1945, after the war ended, through King's abdication, a parliamentary election was held and marked the onset of a four-decade long uncontested communist rule of the country. The newly proclaimed Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia acquired the territories of Istria, Rijeka, and Zadar from Italy. Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito ruled the country from 1944 until his death in 1980, first as the prime minister and later as the president. In 1963, the country was renamed for the final time, as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY).

The six constituent republics that made up the SFRY were the socialist republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. Within Serbia were the two socialist autonomous provinces, Kosovo and Vojvodina, which following the adoption of the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution were largely equal to the other members of the federation.^[8][9] After an economic and political crisis and the rise of nationalism and ethnic conflicts following Tito's death, Yugoslavia broke up along its republics' borders during the Revolutions of 1989, at first into five countries, leading to the Yugoslav Wars. From 1993 to 2017, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia tried political and military leaders from the former Yugoslavia for war crimes, genocide, and other crimes committed during those wars.

After the breakup, the republics of Montenegro and Serbia formed a reduced federative state, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). This state aspired to the status of sole legal successor to the SFRY, but those claims were opposed by the other former republics. Eventually, it accepted the opinion of the Badinter Arbitration Committee about shared succession^[10] and in 2003 its official name was changed to Serbia and Montenegro. This state dissolved when Montenegro and Serbia each became independent states in 2006, with Kosovo having an ongoing dispute over its declaration of independence in 2008.

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