The charismatic, near-mythological figure of Josip Broz Tito was many things: an inspirational partisan leader and scourge of the Germans during their occupation of Yugoslavia in the Second World War; a doctrinaire communist but an ever-present thorn in Moscow’s side; an oppressor, a dictator, a reformer, and a playboy.
He managed Yugoslavia’s internal tensions through personality, the force of will, and political oppression. It was only after his death in 1980 that the true scale of this feat was understood.