Josip Broz Tito

Josip Broz (7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito, was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who led Yugoslavia as prime minister from 1943 to 1963 and as president from 1953 until his death in 1980. He was the longtime leader of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, supreme commander of the Yugoslav Partisans during World War II, and one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement. The political ideology and policies associated with his rule are known as Titoism.

Tito was born in Kumrovec in present-day Croatia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Drafted into military service, he distinguished himself, becoming the youngest sergeant major in the Austro-Hungarian Army. After being wounded and captured by the Russians during World War I, he was sent to a work camp in the Ural Mountains. Tito participated in the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the Russian Civil War. Upon his return to the Balkans in 1920, he entered the newly established Kingdom of Yugoslavia, where he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Tito assumed control of the party by 1937, became its general secretary in 1939 and led it until his death. During World War II, after the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, he led the Yugoslav guerrilla movement, the Partisans (1941–1945), often regarded as the most effective resistance movement in German-occupied Europe. By the end of 1943, the Partisans, with the Allies' backing, took power in Yugoslavia.