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, Austria and Hungary to the north, Bulgaria and Romania to the east, and Albania and Greece to the south.

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 1948 Tito–Stalin split; it became a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, and transitioned from a command economy to market-based socialism.

[31] In 1944-1945, the Wehrmacht staged its standard "scorched earth" policy while retreating, and systematically destroyed bridges, railroads, telephone lines, electrical plants, roads, factories and mines, leaving Yugoslavia in ruins.

[15][20] Yugoslavia dispatched significant assistance—arms and ammunition, supplies, and military experts on partisan warfare (such as General Vladimir Dapčević)—and even allowed the Greek Communist forces to use Yugoslav territory as a safe haven.

As these negotiations began, Yugoslav representatives Edvard Kardelj and Milovan Đilas were summoned to Moscow alongside a Bulgarian delegation, where Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov attempted to browbeat them into accepting Soviet control over the merger between the countries, and generally tried to force them into subordination.

The letter also named a number of high-ranking officials as "dubious Marxists" (Milovan Đilas, Aleksandar Ranković, Boris Kidrič, and Svetozar Vukmanović-Tempo) inviting Tito to purge them, and thus cause a rift in his own party.

[40] Yugoslavia refused to take part in the Communist Warsaw Pact and instead took a neutral stance in the Cold War, becoming a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement along with countries like India, Egypt and Indonesia, and pursuing centre-left influences that promoted a non-confrontational policy towards the United States.

[68] In 1971 the leadership of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, notably Miko Tripalo and Savka Dabčević-Kučar, allied with nationalist non-party groups, began a movement to increase the powers of the individual federated republics.

In 1979, seven selection criteria comprising Ohrid, Dubrovnik, Split, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Kotor, Stari Ras and Sopoćani were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, making it the first inscription of cultural and natural landmarks in Yugoslavia.

[90] The governments of Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Iran had thousands of copies of the Koran translated into Serbo-Croatian to be handed out for free in Yugoslavia, funded the training of Ulama (Islamic clergy) at madrassas; and financed much of the building of new mosques.

[93] In the late 1980s, the Belgrade elite was faced with a strong opposition force of massive protests by Kosovo Serbs and Montenegrins as well as public demands for political reforms by the critical intelligentsia of Serbia and Slovenia.

[98] As a consequence, Yugoslavia lost the economic and political support provided by the West, and increased pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reform its institutions made it impossible for the Yugoslav reformist elite to respond to rising social disorder.

[98] The collapse of communism throughout Eastern Europe in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 undermined the country's ideological basis and encouraged anti-communist and nationalist forces in the Western-oriented republics of Croatia and Slovenia to increase their demands.

[113] On 7 July 1991, whilst supportive of their respective rights to national self-determination, the European Community pressured Slovenia and Croatia to place a three-month moratorium on their independence with the Brijuni Agreement (recognized by representatives of all republics).

Carington's plan realized that Yugoslavia was in a state of dissolution and decided that each republic must accept the inevitable independence of the others, along with a promise to Serbian President Milošević that the European Community would ensure that Serbs outside of Serbia would be protected.

[115] In the beginning months of the war, the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army and navy deliberately shelled civilian areas of Split and Dubrovnik, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as nearby Croat villages.

Yugoslavia's military academies trained left-wing activists from both Swapo (modern Namibia) and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania as part of Tito's efforts to destabilize South Africa under apartheid.

[clarification needed] There have been rampant wage-price inflations, substantial rundown of capital plant and consumer shortages, while the income gap between the poorer Southern and the relatively affluent Northern regions of the country remained.

Various economic indicators around 1990 were:[140] In the interwar period, air transport in Yugoslavia was organised by the privately owned Aeroput company, but its post-war operations were suspended due to nationalization and near-total fleet destruction during the war.

[143] The plan envisaged a national network which would include Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Sarajevo, Titograd, Skopje, Novi Sad, Kraljevo, Niš, Borovo, Rijeka, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Banja Luka, Mostar, Maribor and Trieste.

All secondary airports such as the ones in Sarajevo, Skopje, Split or Ljubljana were directly linked to international flights through either Belgrade or Zagreb, while a number of tourism-oriented destinations were developed, such as Dubrovnik, Rijeka, Ohrid, Tivat and others.

Like the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that preceded it, the SFRY bordered Italy and Austria to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Romania and Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, Albania to the southwest, and the Adriatic Sea to the west.

[173] Yugoslav cinema featured notable actors such as Danilo Stojković, Mustafa Nadarević, Bata Živojinović, Dragan Nikolić, Ljubiša Samardžić, Boris Dvornik, Milena Dravić, Bekim Fehmiu, Rade Šerbedžija, among many others.

Many Yugoslav films featured eminent foreign actors such as Orson Welles, Sergei Bondarchuk, Franco Nero and Yul Brynner in the Academy Award nominated The Battle of Neretva, and Richard Burton in Sutjeska.

[187] Working with relative creative liberty, both mainstream and underground rock acts, although generally not questioning the socialist system, the rule of the League of Communists or the authority of president Tito, recorded songs that depicted negative aspects of Yugoslav socialism.

[188] The 1960s bands like Bijele Strijele, Iskre, Roboti, Siluete, Crveni Koralji, Elipse, Zlatni Dečaci, Crni Biseri, Sanjalice, Kameleoni, Mi, Bele Vrane, Grupa 220 and Žeteoci initially performed mostly covers of international beat, rhythm & blues and soul hits, introducing their own songs into their repertoire in the second half of the decade, achieving large popularity among the country's youth.

Yugoslavia was one of seven non-English-speaking countries that took part in the Live Aid initiative, contributing with the all-star charity single "Za milion godina" and the corresponding concert held on the Red Star Stadium.

The 1980s and early 1990s were the golden age for Yugoslav water polo during which players such as Igor Milanović, Perica Bukić, Veselin Đuho, Deni Lušić, Dubravko Šimenc, Milorad Krivokapić, Aleksandar Šoštar and others established themselves as among the best in the world.

Other notable players over the years included Abaz Arslanagić, Zoran "Tuta" Živković, Branislav Pokrajac, Zlatan Arnautović, Mirko Bašić, Jovica Elezović, Mile Isaković, etc.

Broken down by territory:[needs update] Remembrance of the time of the joint state and its perceived positive attributes, such as the social stability, the possibility to travel freely, the level of education and the welfare system, is typically referred to as Yugo-nostalgia.