Tito

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Tito (1892–1980) Yugoslav statesman, b. Croatia as Josip Broz. As a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army, he was captured by the Russians (1915), but released by the Bolsheviks in 1917. He helped to organize the Yugoslav Communist Party, and adopted the name Tito in 1934. He led the Partisans' successful campaign against the Germans in Yugoslavia (now Serbia and Montenegro) during World War 2. In 1945, Tito established a communist government and was prime minister (1945–53), and thereafter president, although virtually a dictator. Soviet efforts to control Yugoslavia led to a split between the two countries in 1948. At home, Tito sought to balance the ethnic and religious divisions in Yugoslavia and to develop an economic model of communist ‘self-management’. Abroad, he became an influential leader of the Non-Aligned Movement. As later events confirmed, Tito's greatest achievement was to hold Yugoslavia together.

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