The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), commonly referred to as SFR

Yugoslavia or Socialist Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in

Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and
lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yugoslavia occurring as a consequence of the
Yugoslav Wars. Spanning an area of 255,804 square kilometres (98,766 sq mi) in the
Balkans, Yugoslavia was bordered by the Adriatic Sea and Italy to the west, by
Austria and Hungary to the north, by Bulgaria and Romania to the east, and by
Albania and Greece to the south. It was a one-party socialist state and federation
governed by the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, and had six constituent
republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and
Slovenia. Within Serbia was the Yugoslav capital city of Belgrade as well as two
autonomous Yugoslav provinces: Kosovo and Vojvodina.

The SFR Yugoslavia traces its origins to 26 November 1942, when the Anti-Fascist
Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia was formed during World War II to
resist Axis occupation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Following the country's
liberation, King Peter II was deposed, the monarchy was ended, and on 29 November
1945, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed. Led by Josip Broz
Tito, the new communist government sided with the Eastern Bloc at the beginning of
the Cold War but pursued a policy of neutrality following the Tito–Stalin split in
1948; it became one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement, and
transitioned from a command economy to market-based socialism.

Following the death of Tito on 4 May 1980, the Yugoslav economy started to
collapse, which increased unemployment and inflation.[9][10] The economic crisis
led to rising ethnic nationalism and political dissidence in the late 1980s and
early 1990s. With the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, efforts to transition
into a confederation failed; the two wealthiest republics, Croatia and Slovenia,
seceded and gained some international recognition in 1991. The federation dissolved
along the borders of federated republics, hastened by the start of the Yugoslav
Wars, and formally broke up on 27 April 1992. Two republics, Serbia and Montenegro,
remained within a reconstituted state known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
or FR Yugoslavia, but this state was not recognized internationally as the sole
successor state to SFR Yugoslavia. "Former Yugoslavia" is now commonly used
retrospectively.

Name
The name Yugoslavia, an anglicised transcription of Jugoslavija, is a compound word
made up of jug ('yug'; with the 'j' pronounced like an English 'y') and slavija.
The Slavic word jug means 'south', while slavija ("Slavia") denotes a 'land of the
Slavs'. Thus, a translation of Jugoslavija would be 'South-Slavia' or 'Land of the
South Slavs'. The full official name of the federation varied significantly between
1945 and 1992.[11] Yugoslavia was formed in 1918 under the name Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes. In January 1929, King Alexander I assumed dictatorship of the
kingdom and renamed it the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, for the first time making the
term "Yugoslavia"—which had been used colloquially for decades (even before the
country was formed)—the official name of the state.[11] After the Kingdom was
occupied by the Axis during World War II, the Anti-Fascist Council for the National
Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) announced in 1943 the formation of the Democratic
Federal Yugoslavia (DF Yugoslavia or DFY) in the substantial resistance-controlled
areas of the country. The name deliberately left the republic-or-kingdom question
open. In 1945, King Peter II was officially deposed, with the state reorganized as
a republic, and accordingly renamed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia
(FPR Yugoslavia or FPRY), with the constitution coming into force in 1946.[12] In
1963, amid pervasive liberal constitutional reforms, the name Socialist Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia was introduced. The state is most commonly referred to by
the latter name, which it held for the longest period of all. Of the three main
Yugoslav languages, the Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian name for the state was
identical, while Slovene slightly differed in capitalization and the spelling of
the adjective Socialist. The names are as follows: