Socialist Republic of Serbia Социјалистичка Република Србија Socijalistička Republika Srbija |
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Constituent republic of Yugoslavia | ||||||
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Serbia within Yugoslavia | ||||||
Capital | Belgrade | |||||
Government | Socialist republic | |||||
Legislature | National Assembly | |||||
Historical era | Cold War, World War II | |||||
• | ASNOS | 9–12 November 1945 | ||||
• | End of World War II | 8 May 1945 | ||||
• | Federal Republic of Yugoslavia established | 28 April 1992 | ||||
Area | ||||||
• | 1991 | 88,361 km2(34,116 sq mi) | ||||
Population | ||||||
• | 1991 | 9,506,174 | ||||
Density | 107.6 /km2 (278.6 /sq mi) | |||||
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The Socialist Republic of Serbia (Serbo-Croatian: Социјалистичка Република Србија/Socijalistička Republika Srbija) was one of the six constitutional republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It was the largest republic in terms of population and territory. Its capital, Belgrade, was also the federal capital of Yugoslavia.
From 1945 to 1963, the republic was officially known as People's Republic of Serbia (Serbo-Croatian: Народна Република Србија/Narodna Republika Srbija), and from 1963 to 1990 as Socialist Republic of Serbia. The republic had two provinces, Vojvodina and Kosovo.
For most of its existence in the SFRY, Serbia was loyal and generally subordinate to the federal government. This changed after the death of Josip Broz Tito in 1980, when there was a rise in Albanian as well as Serbian nationalism in Kosovo. The League of Communists was split on how to respond. A successful round of coups in the Communist party leadership of Serbia as well as Montenegro occurred from 1988 to 1989, led by Slobodan Milošević; he supported Serbian nationalists in Kosovo to end the state's autonomy.
In 1989, Milošević was elected as President of the republic. He demanded that the federal Yugoslav government act for the interests of Serbia in Kosovo by sending in the Yugoslav People's Army to take control of the province. Serbia opposed such action and demanded a "one-member, one-vote" system in the Yugoslav League of Communists, which would have given a majority of votes to Serbs. Ethnic tensions increased and the League of Communists of Yugoslavia collapsed, followed by the fall of the government of Yugoslavia by 1991.
After 1990, the state was known simply as Republic of Serbia (Република Србија/Republika Srbija). In 1992, when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed, Serbia became one of its two constituent republics. In 2003 this state union was re-formed into Serbia and Montenegro, and in 2006 Serbia became an independent state.