His state funeral was held four days later on 8 May, drawing a significant amount of statesmen from Western, Eastern and Non-Aligned countries across the world.

His left leg was amputated soon afterwards due to arterial blockages, and he died of gangrene at the Medical Centre Ljubljana on 4 May 1980 at 3:05 pm, three days short of his 88th birthday.

The Plavi voz, Tito's personal train, brought his body to Belgrade where it lay in state at the Federal Parliament building until the funeral.

As Tito had been viewed as the central unifying figure of culturally, religiously diverse and throughout times ethnically antagonistic nations of Yugoslavia, his death is considered to be one of key catalysts for the dissolution and destruction of the Yugoslav state a mere decade later.

On January 3, 1980, Tito was admitted to the Ljubljana University Medical Centre for tests on blood vessels in his leg.

The medical council consisted of eight Yugoslav doctors, Michael DeBakey from the United States and Marat Knyazev from the Soviet Union.

[citation needed] By the beginning of January 1980, however, it became clear that Tito's life was in grave danger and Yugoslav political leadership secretly began preparations for his funeral.

[citation needed] Tito's wish was that he be buried in the House of Flowers on Dedinje hill, that overlooks Belgrade.

Moma Martinovic, a director for Radio Television Belgrade, was summoned by Dragoljub Stavrev, a vice president in the federal government, to devise plans for broadcasting the funeral.

Josip Broz Tito died in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the University Medical Centre, Ljubljana on May 4, 1980, at 3:05 pm, due to complications of gangrene, three days before his 88th birthday.

Immediately afterwards, the Federal Executive Council (government of Yugoslavia) decided to announce a week of national mourning across the country formally and cancelled all entertainment, cultural and sporting events.

Once the stadium announcer said "May he rest in peace", the entire stadium of 50,000 football fans spontaneously started to sing Comrade Tito we swear to you, from your path we will never depart [sr] (Druže Tito mi ti se kunemo, da sa tvoga puta ne skrenemo).

He had led the resistance movement against Axis occupation in the Second World War, helped create a socialist federation principled on 'brotherhood and unity' of Yugoslav nations, stood for self-determination and political independence of post-war Yugoslavia from both Western and Eastern Bloc,[18] co-initiated the Non-Aligned Movement at the time of peak tensions of possible nuclear warfare between the blocs; all of which contributed to his general popularity in the country and abroad.

[citation needed] Tito's blue train brought an empty coffin to the capital Belgrade, due to the bad condition of his deceased body.

The coffin was enclosed with a copper mask and interred again into a much deeper grave which was sealed with cement and topped with a 9-ton sarcophagus.

stated that the burial location, which was the garden of the place he lived during the post-war years more popularly known as the House of Flowers, was selected according to Tito's wishes.

[19] The House of Flowers, together with the Museum of Yugoslavia, has since become a tourist destination and landmark of Belgrade visited by millions of people.

[citation needed] The pomp and scale of the funeral had been widely documented and the event was a source of pride for the country for years to come.

Two notably absent statesmen were President of the United States Jimmy Carter and First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Fidel Castro.

After realizing that leaders of all Warsaw Pact nations would attend the funeral, Carter's decision was criticized by presidential candidate George H. W. Bush as a sign that the United States "inferentially slams Yugoslavs at time that country has pulled away from Soviet Union".

British prime minister Margaret Thatcher sought to rally world leaders in order to harshly condemn the Soviet invasion.

[citation needed] While she was in Belgrade, she held talks with Kenneth Kaunda, Schmidt, Francesco Cossiga, and Nicolae Ceaușescu.

James Callaghan, leader of the British Labour Party, explained his presence in Belgrade as an attempt to warm relations between his party and Yugoslav communists, which was severed more than a decade ago after dissident Milovan Đilas was welcomed by Jennie Lee, Minister for the Arts under Harold Wilson.

[citation needed] During the funeral, Yasser Arafat tapped on the shoulder of Margaret Thatcher, after which she swung and shook his hand.