Josip Broz Tito

Table of Contents

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

For Students

Germany invades Poland, September 1, 1939, using 45 German divisions and aerial attack. By September 20, only Warsaw held out, but final surrender came on September 29.

Pop Quiz: 17 Things to Know About World War II

Josip Broz Tito summary

Josip Broz Tito

Q: What was Josip Broz Tito’s family like?

Josip Broz was born to a large peasant family in Kumrovec, northwest of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, of a Croat father and a Slovene mother.

Q: What was Josip Broz Tito’s first job?

Before his career as a statesman, Josip Broz Tito worked as a locksmith and as an itinerant metalworker in various Austro-Hungarian and German centres. He also worked as a mill mechanic.

Q: How did Josip Broz Tito come to power?

From 1920 Josip Broz Tito was an organizer with the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY). Tito survived Joseph Stalin ’s purges to become secretary-general of the CPY in 1939. Following the Soviet seizure of Yugoslavia , with the help of Tito’s Partisans , from its Axis occupiers, Tito consolidated his control over Yugoslavia, becoming its premier in 1945.

Q: Why was Josip Broz Tito significant?

In his role as premier and, later, president of Yugoslavia , Josip Broz Tito became the first Communist leader in power to defy Soviet hegemony. In so doing, he argued for independent roads to socialism (sometimes referred to as “national communism”) and promoted the policy of nonalignment with either of the two hostile blocs in the Cold War.

president of Yugoslavia

Also known as: Josip Broz

Written by Ivo Banac

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Mar 9, 2024 • Article History

Josip Broz Tito

See all media

Category: History & Society

Original name:: Josip Broz

Born:: May 7, 1892, Kumrovec, near Zagreb, Croatia, Austria-Hungary [now in Croatia]

Died:: May 4, 1980, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia [now in Slovenia] (aged 87)

Title / Office:: president (1953-1980), Yugoslavia

Founder:: Partisan

Political Affiliation:: Communist Party of Yugoslavia

See all related content →

What was Josip Broz Tito’s family like?

What was Josip Broz Tito’s first job?

How did Josip Broz Tito come to power?

Why was Josip Broz Tito significant?

Josip Broz Tito (born May 7, 1892, Kumrovec, near Zagreb, Croatia, Austria-Hungary [now in Croatia]—died May 4, 1980, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia [now in Slovenia]) Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. He was secretary-general (later president) of the Communist Party (League of Communists) of Yugoslavia (1939–80), supreme commander of the Yugoslav Partisans (1941–45) and the Yugoslav People’s Army (1945–80), and marshal (1943–80), premier (1945–53), and president (1953–80) of Yugoslavia. Tito was the chief architect of the “second Yugoslavia,” a socialist federation that lasted from World War II until 1991. He was the first Communist leader in power to defy Soviet hegemony, a backer of ...(100 of 2126 words)

Access the full article

Help support true facts by becoming a member.