Painting by Hieronymus Bosch

Born in a poor farmer’s family on 7 July, 1892. Tito rose to be what can at best be described as the peoples’ leader. Tito had seen many ups and downs in his life but he remained steadfast in his loyalty towards his motherland and her independence. After his preliminary education, Tito joined the army during the First World War. He was imprisoned in Russia. He was greatly impressed by communist ideology during his stay in Russia and had helped the communist forces during the Bolshevik revolution in that country.

His dream was to unify his country into one strong nation and he realized it much before his death. Yugoslavia was made up of many ethnic groups like Serbians, Croatians, etc. In 1937, he became General Secretary of the Communist party of his country. Yugoslavia was occupied by the Nazis in 1941. He and his fellow partisans relentlessly fought a guerilla war against the occupation forces and eventually succeeded in driving out the Germans. Tito was elected as life President of erstwhile Yugoslavia in 1953.

Being fiercely independent by nature, Tito could not tolerate the iron hold of Soviet Union on communist countries of eastern Europe. He fearlessly fought the Russian pressure and made his country free from Russian tentacles. Tito, a nationalist as well as communist wanted to make Yugoslavia, (which has now disintegrated into several ethnic states) a neutral, strong, independent socialist state.

Tito will be remembered for his part in founding and strengthening the Non-Aligned Movement. With Pt. Jawharlal Nehru of India and Col. Nasser of Egypt, he founded this movement that aimed to steer clear of the two power blocs led by former Soviet Union and America. At the time of his death in 1980, he was at the peak of popularity as a seasoned statesman.