Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia describes three political entities that existed successively on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century.

The first country to be known by this name was the "Kingdom of Yugoslavia", which before 3 October 1929 was known as the "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes". It was established on 1 December 1918 by the union of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of Serbia. It was invaded by the Axis powers in 1941, and because of the events that followed, was officially abolished in 1945.

The second country with this name was "Democratic Federal Yugoslavia", proclaimed in 1943 by the communist resistance movement in World War II. It was renamed to the "Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia" in 1946, when a communist government was established. In 1963, it was renamed again to the "Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia". The constituent Socialist Republics that made up the country, from north to south, were: SR Slovenia, SR Croatia, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Montenegro, SR Serbia (including the autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo and Metohija, later simply Kosovo) and SR Macedonia. Starting in 1991, the SFRY disintegrated in the Yugoslav Wars which followed the secession of most of the republic's constituent entities.

The last country to bear the name was the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" (FRY) established on March 27, 1992. It was a federation on the territory of the two remaining republics of Serbia (including the autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo) and Montenegro. On February 4, 2003, it was renamed to the "State Union of Serbia and Montenegro", and officially abolished the name "Yugoslavia." On June 3 and June 5, 2006, Montenegro and Serbia respectively declared their independences, thereby ending the last remnants of a Yugoslav state.