Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in all south Slavic languages) is a term used for three separate political entities that existed during most of the 20th century. Translated, the name means Land of the South Slavs (jug in Jugoslavija means south).

The first was a kingdom formed in 1918 as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was re-named the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929 and existed under that name until it was invaded in 1941 by the Axis powers.

The second was a Communist state established immediately after World War II in 1945 as Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, which in 1946 became the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia and in 1963 the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This remained in place until 1992, by which time four of its six constituent republics - Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina - had seceded.

A federation called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed between the remaining republics of Serbia and Montenegro. In 2003, Yugoslavia was officially abolished when the two republics formed a loose commonwealth called Serbia and Montenegro.

Country code: YU

See also History of Yugoslavia