Tito

I've racked my brains and the only benevolent dictator I could come up with was Yugoslavia's Marshal Josip Broz Tito. Richard West writes a favourable, even-handed, and comprehensible account of Tito, who ruled Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1980. He even provides a background to the South Slavs before talking about Tito, because it is important to understand the dynamics going on under the Ottoman Empire and later the Balkan absorption by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1878.Tito, a Croat, was indeed born during an interesting period, when tensions were growing in Europe between the two alliance blocs, the Entente and Central Powers. He had his brush with Pan-Slavism, as he went to help the Czechs and Slovaks during his military service.West also takes time to talk about the Independent State of Croatia, the fascist puppet state under Ante Pavelic, the mastermind of Yugoslavian King Alexander's assassination in 1934. That regime was brutal, as Serbs were butchered, bombed while in worship, and hurled off cliffs. Even the Franciscan priests participated in the killing.Tito's wartime exploits make interesting reading, as he was besieged from all sides, by Germans, Italians, the Ustasha (Croatian fascists), and monarchist Serbs under Draza Mihailovic. It didn't help matters that the Allies saw Mihailovic as the more viable threat against the Germans. Only when Churchill got information from the code-breaking Ultra did he realize that Tito was the greater danger against the Nazis and hence recognized that they had better give Tito higher priority.His own brand of Communism, Titoism, was freer than Soviet Russia, Maoist China, or Hoxha's Albania, but also tried to make the various nationalities live together in collective brotherhood. That hope would turn out to be unrealistic, but he did try to clamp down on nationalism. True, he did jail some opponents and nationalists, such as future Croatian president Franjo Tudjman, but he didn't carry out large scale massacres like Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot. He was one of two "good Communists" in the eyes of the West, the other one being Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania.His role as one of the leaders of the non-aligned third bloc, along with India's Jawaharlal Nehru and Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser holds relevance today. 11 Sept has made non-alignment a non-option. Unfortunately I haven't seen any countries who have made a firm stance of neutrality.This book was written before the outbreak of the war in Bosnia despite its publication in 1994. In light of what happened in Bosnia and Kosovo, critics might tear into Tito for keeping the genie of nationalism firmly stoppered. It was a little after a decade when Yugoslavia disintegrated. Like leaders such as Charlemagne and Louis XIV, his death left a leadership vacuum that led to political fragmentation.

During the recent troubles in former Yugoslavia we learned to hate the Serbs for their policy of ethnic cleansing. But this book explains that the Serbs had ample reason for their hatred of the Croats and for their desire to turn the tables on their former tormenters. The one ray of hope is that many Yugoslavs live in peace with their neighbors and intermarry regardless of ethnicity or religion, not obsessed with prolonging the hatred.The atrocities against humanity committed by the Croats against Serbs, Jews and Gypsies (500,000 murdered) were more sadistic and horrifying than anything since. The evil Ustasha, the terrorist arm of the Croats, specialized in sadistic torture prior to murder, all in the name of religion.I picked this book up to learn about Marshall Tito, the fascinating political figure who successfully resisted both Hitler and Stalin, and who kept the tinderbox of Yugoslavia at peace throughout his life. Tito must have been an amazing man. And he didn't do it with terror. It is incredible how he maintained independence in that part of the world surrounded by such aggressive nations. The Tito period was a time of prosperity for Yugoslavia, making even their Italian neighbors envious.

This is an excellent history of Yugoslavia over the past critical fifty years, and sheds light on the roots of Yugoslavia's violent breakup in the 1990's. Reading this book will give insight into the sinister nature of the communist dictator Tito, who like Ceaucescu of Romania was one of the Western powers' favored, "good" communist despots. The chapters on Tito's rise to power during World War 2 and subsequent years of control will let readers in on the reasons for the 1990's Yugoslavian wars. Well worth the cover price.

A good read! This book is well-researched and contains information that everyone and their brother and sister should read. This man knows Yugoslavia, knows the history of the country, and demonstrates that the world had done nothing toward solving the "nationalities" problem after the fall of Nazi Germany, when a reconciliation was possible. The author demonstrates how the world stood by and allowed the Ustasha to highjack planes, to blow them up in mid-air, to run rampant with their terrorist ideals while the Communists were in power, even going so far as to give them the places to train their terrorist soldiers. While the author condemns Tito for not confronting the problem in Yugoslavia and dealing with it while he was in power, the author also condemns the rest of the world for their complicity to the crime.

This is really a book about Yugoslavia, skillfully interwoven with a history of the major character during the 20th century; Tito.Very readable, a real page-turner considering it's a history book. Also very informative about the underlying tensions of the Yugoslav region. If you're interested in some background on the current crisis in Bosnia etc. this is a great book to read.