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Yugoslavia. Information.

Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija), Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, is a country in South-East Europe.

Area            was 255 804 sq. km.
Population  was 23 724 919 (1989)
A Capital    was Belgrade.

Yugoslavia borders with Italy and Austria on north-west
   Hungaria in the north-eastt, 
   Roumania and Bulgaria in the east
   Greece in the south
   Albania  in the south-west.	 		.

On January 31, 1946 the new constitution of Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, modeling the Soviet
Union, established six constituent republics and two autonomous provinces.

In 1974, the two provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo as well as the republics of Bosnia & Herzegovina and
Montenegro were granted greater autonomy to the point that Albanian and Hungarian became nationally recognised minority 
languages and the Serbo-Croat of Bosnia and Montenegro altered to a form based on the speech of the local people and 
not on the standards of Zagreb and Belgrade.

On April 7, 1963 the nation changed its official name to Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Tito was named 
President for life.

In SFRY, each republic and province had its own constitution, supreme court, parliament, president and prime minister.
At the top of the Yugoslav government were the President (Tito), the federal Prime Minister, and the federal Parliament 
(a collective Presidency was formed after Tito's death in 1980). Also important were the Communist Party presidents for 
each republic and province, and the president of Central Committee of the Communist Party.

The suppression of national identities escalated with the so-called Croatian Spring of 1970-71, when students in Zagreb 
organized demonstrations for greater civil liberties and greater Croatian autonomy. The regime stifled the public protest 
and incarcerated the leaders, but many key Croatian representatives in the Party silently supported this cause, so a new 
Constitution was ratified in 1974 that gave more rights to the individual republics and provinces. According to this 
constitution, individual republics had a right to self-determination, including secession, which made later break-up easier.

After Tito's death in 1980, ethnic tensions grew in Yugoslavia. Considering long-standing Serbo-Croat disputes, which had 
been suppressed under Tito, no one knew what the future had in store. Legacy of Constitution of 1974 threw the system of 
decision-making into a state of paralysis, all the more hopeless as the conflict of interests between the republics had 
become irreconciable. Not a single important decision that might have eased the situation could be taken. The constitutional
crisis that inevitably followed played in favour of Slovenia and Croatia and their strongly expressed demands for looser 
ties within Federation. Economic crisis at the time only made everything harder. As a result, Serbian Academy of Sciences 
and Arts drafted a memorandum addressing these issues. It said unless timely steps were taken, these matters would prove 
catastrophic for entire country. It also addressed issues concerning position of Serbs as the most numerous people in 
Yugoslavia. Although the largest Yugoslav republic in territory and population, Serbia had been dispossessed of its attributes of statehood by the new 1974 Constitution. Because its two autonomous provinces had de facto prerogatives of full-fledged republics, Serbia found that its hands were tied, for the republican government could not take nor carry out decisions that would apply to the provinces. Since the provinces had a vote in the Federal Presidency Council, they even entered into coalition with other republics, thus outvoting Serbia. Serbia's political impotence made it possible for others to exert pressure on 2 million Serbs (20 % of total Serbian population) living outside Serbia. Serbian communist leader Slobodan Milošević sought to restore pre-1974 Serbian sovereignty, which republics of Slovenia and Croatia denounced as the revival of great Serbian hegemonism. Autonomy of Vojvodina and of Kosovo and Metohija was reduced, though both entities retained a vote in the Yugoslav Presidency Council.

In January 1990, the extraordinary 14th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia was convened. For the most time, 
the Slovenian and Serbian delegations were arguing over the future of the League of Communists and Yugoslavia. The Serbian 
delegation, led by Milošević, insisted on a policy of "one person, one vote", which would empower the majority population, 
the Serbs. In turn, the Slovenians, supported by Croatians, sought to reform Yugoslavia as to devolve power even more to 
republics, but were voted down. As a result, the Slovenian, and eventually Croatian delegation left the Congress, and the 
all-Yugoslav Communist party was dissolved.

Various dates are considered as the end of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia:

June 25, 1991, when Croatia and Slovenia declared independence 
October 8, 1991, when the July 9th moratorium on Slovenian and Croatian secession was ended and Croatia restated its independence in Croatian Parliament (that day is celebrated as Independence Day in Croatia) 
January 15, 1992, when Slovenia and Croatia were internationally recognized 
April 28, 1992, the formation of FRY

Money system: 1 Yugoslav dinar (YD) = 100 paras.