User:Msr657/Franjo Tudjman
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| Franjo Tuđman | |
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| In office May 30, 1990 – December 10, 1999 |
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| Preceded by | none |
| Succeeded by | Stjepan Mesić |
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| Born | May 14, 1922 Veliko Trgovišće, Croatia |
| Died | December 10, 1999 Zagreb, Croatia |
| Political party | Croatian Democratic Union |
| Spouse | Ankica Tuđman |
Franjo Tuđman (May 14, 1922 - December 10, 1999), often spelled Tudjman in English, was the president(?) of the state of Croatia when it broke from the Republic of Yugoslavia in 1990, and became the new republic's first president. Tuđman remains a controversial figure after his death, as many Croats revere his role in leading the country to independence, while others condemn the ethnic cleansing and repression sustained by his government.
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[edit] Communist Years
Tuđman was a member of the Communist resistance that fought the fascist Ustaše government in World War II, and remained a member of the Communist Party when it gained power in Yugoslavia. Beginning the 1960s with a revisionist history of Croatia, he advocated for a stronger Croatian national identity that put him at odds with Party leadership. He was kicked out of the party in 1971, and later jailed twice and forbidden from public speaking.
[edit] Emergence of a Croatian Nationalist
Tuđman built connections with Croatian émigrés throughout the 1980s which culminated in the founding of a political party, the Croatian Democratic Union, or HDZ (from the Croatian "Hrvatska demokratska zajednica") in 1989. The primary goal of the HDZ was independence for the state of Croatia. At that time in Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic was using propaganda to rally nationalist support in part by exaggerating and fabricating threats to ethnic Serbs by Croats (as well as Bosnian Muslims and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo), Tuđman used the same tactics in Croatia. Both Tuđman and Milosevic were able to use the inflamatory rhetoric of the other to divide Serbs and Croats.
In 1989, Tuđman published The Horrors of War (Bespuća povijesne zbiljnosti or Wastelands of Historical Reality), in which he claimed that there were far fewer casualties (fewer than 60,000) in the Ustaše-run concentration camp at Jasenovac than modern historians believe. The revisionist history infuriated Serbs and Jews, the primary victims of the camp, whom Tuđman accused of attempting to weaken Croatia by damaging its international reputation.
The HDZ swept to power in Croatia in 1989, and Tuđman became leader(?) of the Croatian state(?) inside the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Slovenia also had separatist leaders, and the weak federal government descended into bitter disagreement over the future of the state. When Croatians and Slovenians overwhelmingly voted for independence in 1990, the specter of conflict loomed.
[edit] Role in the Yugoslav Wars
The sole strong institution in the Yugoslav government by now was the Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslavenska narodna armija, or JNA), whose forces and command were both largely Serbian. In preparation for war, Tuđman began secretly importing arms.
- Secession of the Croatian Serbs
- Recognition of Croatia by Germany, EU, US
- Cease fire, military inferiority
- Support from Western negotiators leading up to Dayton Accords/Operation Storm
[edit] Repression and Recession
- Electoral Fraud
- Party control of media, industry...
- Declining economy and declining popularity
- International rebukes/Refusal to turn over accused war criminals
[edit] End of an Era
- Upcoming elections of 2000
- Death
- ICTY indictment
[edit] Legacy of Nationalism
- Historical revisionism
- Nationalism as a means of maintaining power
- Rewritten school texts, etc.
- Continued Croat/Serb/Muslim antagonism
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